Hi dear friends,
I will combine The Sunday Post with my September Wrap-Up today. I realized that I have read some great books this month so time to share with you πΒ And as usual I am linking up to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @caffeinatedreviewer .
In my private life first
Not much to say this week except that I got a big cold that seems to affect many of you on all continents! So it’s been hot tea with lemon, some essential oils and basically resting if I was not working! I’ve been so tired that I could barely blog hop…
We seem to settle in a new normal at home with my daughter sleeping in her university dorm five days and coming back home on the weekends. And of course she came back with some friends as they had a party planned in my town and “Mom are my friends allowed to eat and sleep with us?”. But of course! Old habits die hard πΒ
My other kid is also getting driving lessons and it seems going at a fast pace. I dread the time when I’ll have to lend my car!!!!
It seems like yesterday when they barely learned to walk!
And I am also working with a bookstagrammer friend to have a photo challenge for the release of The Beautiful by RenΓ©e Ahdieh. It’s the same friend who helped me schedule our fanfic that will be published by the end of October. And let’s not forget our #OwnVoices event either!!!!
Oh and here you’ll get “Meet the Blogger” as I told you last week that I did one hour of spinning to finance charity right? Well we had a friend taking pictures and I got mine this week so you can admire me in all my sweating glory πΒ
On the blog this month (click on the graphic to read the post)
I am amazed to realize that I have read thirteen books even if you’ll only get twelve reviews (the other is scheduled tomorrow: Perfectly Adequate by Jewel E Ann and it’s a 4,5 stars of a brilliant romcom). Without further ado, let’s list them going from “lower rating” and ending with my favorites of the month!
Rebel Born by Amy Bartol was the conclusion of a trilogy that I really adored but completely missed the mark with me in this last one! 3 stars and it’s a case of it’s me not the book because if you are fans of Matrix I bet you could love this one!
King Unveiled by Taralynn Moore was a physical book sent by the author and a very solid first work! Not much to dislike in thie romantic and scientific thriller! 4 stars
Fair Catch by Kate Stewart, one of the novellas part of Team Player 2 anthology was a very good sportsromance with an open ending. I need the full story that will be published in a few months! 4 stars.
Handle With Care by Helena Hunting was such a great romcom with a Nanny MacPhee for adults! 4 stars.
Fighting Absolution by Kate McCarthy was an emotional military/second chance romance! 4 stars
Rage by Cora Carmack was a good sequel but something was missing to give it more than 4 stars!
Now we get to the difficult part of this post as the ratings get higher and I will have real difficulties to narrow down my winners of the month!
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater was the book where everything and everyone is unravelling! Poor Gansey he had som much on his plate with all his friends feeling lost and wild! 4,5 stars.
Then … I have four books with five stars that I consider “winners” and one book with 6 stars that is unique and amazing!
The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang was brilliant but excruciating to listen to! It is an audiobook review and the narrator Emily Woo Zeller is simply brilliant! I can’t wait for the third book but I finished this one exhausted, like I went to war alongside the characters! 5 stars.
The Beautiful by RenΓ©e Ahdieh is an historical fantasy and so gorgeous! Part of a series it ends on a cliffhanger and I so need the second book yet knowing this book has not released yet!!!! 5 stars
The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves is another phenomenal audiobook. This is a pure romance with an autistic female character and just a fantastic human story. I loved it so much that I have ordered the hardback even knowing that it will cost me a lot of money! I don’t care I just need that one on my shelf! 5 stars.
Anothe ARC that I have been lucky to get and that was simply amazing: The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys! This is historical fiction at its best. I can’t recommend this one enough!!!! Amazing prose and enlightening story. 5 stars.
And “The Winner Takes it Almost All” is ….The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood! So unique! So bold! So beautiful! So rawa! So unexpected ….. 6 stars!
Now this last week I also posted about my top fall recommendations as in “books that give a fall vibe” and my discussion was a fun post about “How come it never happens in real life like it happens in romance books?”. I had a blast taking romance tropes and developping them “the book says” and then “my life says” πΒ
In the blogosphere and literary world
A quiz of course to know if you can “verify” some YA facts by Epic Reads!
And this one made me think of Greg @BookHaven as I know that Greg loves vintage books and covers so Simon Teen ask you to
“Pick a Vintage Nancy Drew Files Cover and We’ll Give You A Book Rec”
And some very interesting posts from fellow bloggers this week!
Jackie B about books banned and how censor affects everyone
http://deathbytsundoku.com/censorship-leaves-us-all-in-the-dark/
βWithout being able to read controversial and challenging content how can we grow? How can we begin to understand the rest of the world?β
Rendz revisits her ratings and maybe she was too generous with hyped books
Pfew that’s it! How was your week? And your month guys?
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
I love that your daughter comes home on the weekend, I hope my kiddos will be close enough to do that too when they’re older. And driving lessons, ack, hugs, I can’t even imagine having to go through that. I’ll be the one shouting I’m not ready lol! And I love your picture exercising, go you!!
Ohhh I hope you rest up as much as possible and heal from your cold as soon as possible, Sophie! And I always found the perspective of parents when kids grow old enough to drive and then get their licences in hand to drive the family car! π
Not the cold! I’m not really for cold season to be back! I love this time of year and the run up to Christmas but I’m just not ready to accept the sickness that inevitably comes with it! π I hope you feel better soon.
The spinning for charity is awesome. Sweaty glory and all! (P.S you don’t look sweaty, lol)
Oh I was sweaty believe me Nicci! LOL
That quiz was hard!! I only got 7 right and 5 of those were guesses
Well Brittany I only got 8 !!!
You’ve been busy, Sophie! Like you, I always tell my son his friends are welcome here anytime. Love having them around. Nice pic of you spinning!
Thank you Teri! And I love having her friends around because it makes me see how happy she is. Friendship is so important!
Whew!! What a month Sophie. I applaud you, with blog, reading, bookish events and kids who are in their hardest stage. I remember when I turned 24, my mom just hugged me and said, now you’re really, REALLY, OFFICIALLY, an adult, and I’m done with you. She was joking of course. I just laughed and laughed like everyone else in my birthday dinner. Because everyone knows I was the worst growing up. haha.
Lili I think 24 is about right to decide you are adult LOL
Haha.
I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been sick, Sophie. I hope that you’ll be feeling better soon. And I love that spinning photo. You look so determined.
Hahaha thank you Suzanne!
Aww, sorry you caught a cold. I had one recently and can relate! It took me a week and the hot weather didn’t help. My TBR keeps growing. You’ve read some awesome books!
Thank you Laura and good luck with the TBR lol!
I hope you feel better soon! It looks like you had a pretty great reading month though. I hope you have a good October.
Thank you AJ! And I hope you’ll get more free time to sleep and still want to blog π
Wow, very productive month with lots of books read and posts! Sorry to hear you are down with a cold, with the changing seasons the illnesses are really flying around lately!
I know Mogsy but I feel much better now!
You had a great reading month, Sophie! I’m sorry you’re currently not feeling well! I hope you get well soon! That was a great pic btw!
Thank you Raven and yes I am feeling much better!
I’m sorry you weren’t feeling well. But wow, you got a lot of reading and reviews completed. I hope this week you feel amazing and enjoy some new reads!
Anne – Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post Β Β
Thank you so much Anne!
sorry you are sick. That sucks. That that picture of you is great! You look determined! Have a great week!
Thank you Samantha!!!
So many wonderful choices! I have Team Player 2 and Perfectly Adequate queued up to read, and after your review, now I want to buy The Reckless Oath We Made! I may land in the poor house with all my book purchases, but at least I’ll be happy π
Hope you get some rest and feel better soon {{hugs}}
Well Jacquie we’ll both land in the poor house LOL Maybe we could join our meager income?
O boy you have been a busy reader! I also want to read Maggie Stiefvaters book The Dream Thieves and Scorpio Races. Can’t say I’ve read anything else but now I want to read “The Reckless Oath We Made”. Have a great week and recovery!
Thank you Jackie!!!
Sorry to hear you’re sick! Seems like half the blogs I’ve visited this weekend have been filled with tales of sickness. Great pic of you at the charity event! Lots of good reading this month!!
yes I know everyone seems to be sick but I am as good as new now Tanya π
Hope you’re feeling better from that awful cold.
Congrats on reading thirteen books. =D I can’t wait to read The Beautiful. Counting the days until its release.
Happy readings! π
TΓ’nia @MyLovelySecret
Thank you Thannya! I am feeling much better!
You look fierce on that cycle. It’s so nice that your daughter comes home every weekend. What a treat for you. I hope you are recovering from your cold and are feeling better.
Hahaha thank you Sam! And yes I am feeling much better!
13 books is a great month! I really, really need to read The Poppy War and the sequel before the end of the year. I’m missing out!
Oh jen I hope you’ll love the Poppy War! I was sceptical at first when I saw it months and months ago on other’s feed but now I am just cursing myself for having waited so long!
The fit blogger, well, soul cycle is one way to be the flu blues! Just take good care of you, I think your family would grind to halt without mum at the helm!!!
That’s what I love to remind them Alexandra but they don’t seem to believe me!!!
Hey Sophie happy weekend! You’ve been sick too? Same here. And nice that your daughter brings her crew home- that’s always nice.
Okay very nice on the quizzes this week! I got 8/13 on the first one which earned me a frowning face so I guess I didn’t do too good on that one lol. And my book rec turned out to be She’s The Worst- I took it again and got Slayer.
Bwahahah I will take quizes twice too Greg! Just for fun π
Hope you feel better fast π
I do Tracey I swear!
That pic of you is positively inspiring Sophie!
Thank you Kim! It makes it worth it to have displayed my face for once π
wow! You are looking real fierce in that pic. Lots of hard work I’m sure.
Hahaha I was focused that’s for sure!