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August Reading Wrap Up & September Plans

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It’s been a while since I posted a wrap up, huh? I’m not going to promise that this is my great blogging comeback or anything, because we all know how those have gone in the past. But I’m finding myself with a little more free time lately and a whole lot of motivation for various different projects of mine, so I thought I would write up a post about how I’ve been doing.

What happened in August

August was another incredibly busy month for me. Lockdown restrictions are completely gone here in the UK (for how long? Who can tell.) and so a lot of our friends are keen to meet up. I’m still being very cautious about meet ups and big groups of people, but I received my second vaccine at the beginning of the month so I’m starting to feel a bit more confident about everything.

My second dose (of the Pfizer variety) gave me more symptoms than the first dose did. Previously I only had a sore arm, and I think that was more from the kettlebell workout I had done than the jab. The second dose knocked me out about 24 hours later for an entire evening. But I had a long bath and slept a lot, and the next day I felt absolutely fine again. Not too bad, really!

A friend had a meet up in London one Saturday, and while I haaaated travelling by tube (only for a few stops, thankfully), it wasn’t too bad. The bar was nice, ish, but it didn’t really offer anything new. And the power went out a couple of times and the music was far too loud and it blew the speakers. It was nice to see a few people though!

A week later another friend had her wedding in Kent, which was lovely. I didn’t take many photos but I’m hoping their photographer captured at least a couple of decent ones of me and Quill. I had a lot of fun that evening dancing and exploring the massive grounds of the venue.

And then on the Bank Holiday, we travelled down to Longleat Safari Park and saw some animals! It was super busy and everyone there was quite annoying and weren’t able to follow directions, but we managed to distance ourselves from them for most of it and we didn’t miss any of the animals!

All in all, it was a pretty great month.

Books I Read in August

I’m slowly getting back on track with my reading after I completely (well, not completely, just mostly) dropped the ball after work became really busy. I read twelve books in August, so I’m almost back up to my average of 15! Speaking of averages, my average rating was a whopping 3.11 (it’s high for me, trust me) and I enjoyed pretty much every book I read. Here are some of the highlights from August!

 

★★★★

Allegedly was dark, thrilling, and everything I wanted from my first Tiffany D Jackson read.

★★★★

I picked this up from an Air BnB I was staying at in July and I absolutely adored it. The relationship between the two women was wonderful to read about. It turned out to be very timely considering the situation in Afghanistan at the moment too.

★★★★

The final book in one of my favourite series! It felt a little weird to read this one due to the turn it took in the middle, but I enjoyed reading about Pip nonetheless.

Plans Going Forward

September is going to be a great month, I already know it!

Firstly, I’m taking part in two readathons in September: the Magical Readathon, and the Bookoplathon. I’ve created a TBR for both of them with some books that I can mix and match, and I am HYPED.

I’m going away to the Lake District mid-month and I’ll be staying up there for a week. I’m planning on climbing Scafell Pike and Helvellyn, and we’re going to be doing some ghyll scrambling too. It’ll be a very adventurous holiday so I’ll probably need a break afterwards. I can’t wait!

Otherwise, not much is happening, which is probably good as I’ll need some time to myself after all the walking I’ll be doing and the reading I need to get done. What are your plans for September?

Want more? Check out some of my Booktube videos from August!

Book Review: The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins

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I finished The Woods Are Always Watching a couple of weeks ago and I can barely remember anything about it. That’s not a good sign.

I freaking love hiking, and finding out this one is about a killer on a hiking trail both put me on edge and also made me keen to settle in. I loved the setting of this book. Reading about the characters’ journey through the wilderness was SO much fun, up until the point things start to go wrong of course. Perkins did a great job of introducing the wilds.

The downside for me was the characters. They were so unprepared for their hike, for one thing. It was the most frustrating thing to read. Along with that, they had almost no personality between the two of them. I don’t know why they were arguing or what caused them to get so aggravated other than a couple of minor things. I think Perkins should have spent longer on her characterisation of the pair of them so that I actually cared when they were in danger.

While some parts of this book were interesting and a little suspenseful, for the most part this was just a quick read that I blitzed through and promptly forgot about. It did help me realise that I wanted to read more camping or hiking horror books though. 

Book Review: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

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The Heart Principle was not the cute romance book that I was expecting. While reading this book, I started to question the themes and the tones, and I was wondering what exactly the author was going for. I had a feeling it was a very personal book to Hoang, and after reading the author’s note at the end which confirmed by suspicions, I feel a bit bad only rating this three stars.

It’s just this book was not what I wanted or expected. The romance felt like it was taking a back seat here in order for the main characters to sort through their issues. I’m not even a hardcore reader of romance books, and I don’t sign up for loads of smut, but I was still expecting the focus to be on the characters’ relationship rather than on their trauma.

This book felt very dark, and I would say go into it knowing it’s not a fluffy light read. It covers topics such as anxiety, depression, burnout, cancer, death of a loved one… the list goes on. I think if I had gone into this knowing that it was such a book, I would have been a little prepared and I would have enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy such a book, anyway) a lot more. 

I think this kind of story, which is really half-memoir, would have been better told as a standalone book rather than a continuation of the Kiss Quotient trilogy. I have no doubt that the author tackled such topics well and that this was all true to her. I’m impressed that Hoang was brave enough to share this story. I just don’t think this trilogy was the correct place to tell it. (In my personal opinion, of course. If it helped the author to tell it this way then it’s definitely not the wrong place to do it.)

Book Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Going into this, I did wonder if it would beat Daisy Jones and the Six for the TJR top spot! I uploaded a whole video on my Booktube channel where I read all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books and decide which one I think is best. Malibu Rising did pretty well! 

I loved the setting of this one. I’ve never been to California, let alone Malibu, but the vibes I got from this book made me feel like I was there at the beach. I tend to really enjoy books about fame (in Hollywood more than bands or singers), and this one encompassed the glam outward lifestyle with the dirty undertones perfectly.

This family is a mess, mostly because the siblings’ dad is an absolute arse. But, they have each other. I love the siblings’ relationships in this one. I loved how Reid alternated back and forth, showing the reader how the parents and siblings’ lives led up to this point, and then snapping back to the “present” with the build up to the fiery party. 

While I didn’t love this one as much as Daisy, I think it holds up pretty nicely to Evelyn. I would love to read all three of them back to back to reaquaint myself with this world that Reid has built, and really dive into the character relationships again because it’s all just so interesting. 

I loved it!

Book Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

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I… really enjoyed this! I wasn’t expecting a lot from The Maidens because while I liked The Silent Patient, I had heard that The Maidens was Dark Arcademia which is, in my humble opinion, the most overrated sub genre. I just… can’t.

Anyway, The Maidens was really good! The pacing was quick (I read it in 4 hours), the mystery was intriguing, and I liked the main character. I very much enjoyed all the red herrings, and the throwback to The Silent Patient was so much fun. I think Michaelides might be building a world here like Jane Harper and her Dry series! 

You may find that the ending is rushed, but I think it worked well with the pacing of the rest of the book. 

One thing that really did annoy me was how many men were into the main female character. You can tell a guy wrote this. I don’t understand why everyone was so obsessed with her. There were men all over the place fawning over her and wanting to get in her pants. Just… nope.

Book Review: The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

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The Prison Healer was a surprise hit for me, and I’m now super excited to read the sequel! I kind of picked this up on a whim, although I had heard a few whisperings of this being a fun YA fantasy book. 

It’s certainly not the most unique YA fantasy. The setting has been done before, as has the plot and the trials, and the pacing was your usual for such a book. That said, I had so much fun with this one! 

I really liked the main character, whose whitty personality and determination really stuck out to me. I liked that this book had the slightest amount of mystery going on in the background that kept you wondering… but also made you forget about it to focus on the action packed plot from time to time. 

I flew through this one, and the ending really punched me in the face. I didn’t see that coming at all, even though I had seen hints of it. And it made so much sense? I love it when that happens. I feel like this is one of those books that you need to reread to pick up on all the subtleties.

Like I said, I’m excited for the sequel to come out this autumn!

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