October Reading Wrap Up- A Month of Fall Reads!

I can scarcely believe it is November already, wow! The holiday season is upon us, which is very exciting! Fall semester is also nearing the end, which is exciting because my Shakespeare class will be the death of me if I have to be in it too much longer.

Anyways, I had a great month, and I did a pretty good job sticking to my TBR, and read some books I’ve been wanting to get to awhile!

Also, this is the 4th month in a row I’ve read 17 books!

Stats

Books Read: 17
Physical Books Read: 7
Audiobooks read: 7
E-books read: 4
DNFs: 1

5 stars: 1
4 stars: 3
3.75 stars: 1
3.5 stars: 3
3 stars: 4
2.5 stars: 1
2 stars: 3
no rating: 2

In the order I read them (and if you want a full review, click on the title of the book):

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee / DNF- Ahh, nothing like starting out the month strong with a DNF, right? This sounded like the perfect spooky book- the main villain is called The Spider King. However, I just couldn’t get into the world and the characters felt surface level. After spending more than a week trying to finish it, I decided it was going to be a DNF.

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha / 3 stars- I picked this up on a whim, and originally thought it was a memoir. However, it is a fictional story about 4 women living in the same apartment building in Seoul. This was interesting, and I learned a lot about South Korean culture. However, since there were 4 POVs and the book was fairly short, I felt a bit disconnected from their stories. I wanted to know more.

When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk / 3 stars – This was a quick read, even if it wasn’t my absolute favorite. This book follows the main character, Cleo, as her and her best friend Layla begin drifting apart. I haven’t read many YA books that surround friendships rather than a love interest, so that was interesting. But I found Cleo to be super toxic and so I couldn’t really sympathize with her, even when she tried to redeem herself.

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson / 2 stars – I mean, what was this guy one when he wrote this? I literally cannot name one cohesive thing that I got from this essay. I understand that maybe there are a few one liners that stood out to some people, but this was just far too philosophical for me.

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson / 3 stars- This book has been everywhere lately! This book had its moments, but I felt like the pacing was a bit off. It started off super strong, but the middle was slow and I got bored. But it did pick up by the end, so I am happy I read it. The atmosphere was also perfect for October! This was a great debut novel, and I would definitely read the sequel that is supposedly coming out next year.

The Paper Girls of Paris by Jordyn Taylor / 3.5 stars- Overall, I enjoyed this read and it got me back into historical fiction! This is a dual POV book, and I was definitely into one character’s story more than the other, hence the lower rating. But again, I believe this was a debut novel and it was very solid. I would definitely read from this author in the future!

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass / no rating- Obviously, this is a book that everyone should read at some point in their life. The writing style was easy to understand, and the story this man tells will leave you disgusted. It is so important that stories like these are taught in our schools. The brutality of slavery is not something we learn about enough, and so I really do think this should be a required reading (instead of To Kill a Mockingbird).

The Diviners by Libba Bray / 3.75 stars – This is a very specific rating, but I just couldn’t decide if it was a 3.5 or 4 star read! This was another great atmospheric fall read, with touches supernatural elements and a spooky ghost story. I also loved the 1920s NYC setting! But the plot fell a tiny bit flat for me, and I don’t think I loved the characters as much as other people. I think it could have been about 100 pages shorter and I would have liked it better!

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown / 4 stars – This is a book that caught be totally by surprise! This is a fantastical memoir, told about a teenage wizard living in Cleveland, Ohio. This book will make you cry and be prepared for lots of triggers. But it is definitely worth the read and will have a big impact on you.

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria / 3.5 stars- This was super cute! This followed two actors who starred opposite each other on a TV show, and we slowly see them starting to fall for one another. This also had a lot of added elements of Hispanic culture, which I really enjoyed reading about. All in all, this was very fun and quick but not super memorable.

Othello by William Shakespeare / 3 stars- I mean… at this point all Shakespeare plays kind of feel the same to me. I’m sorry if there are any die hard fans out there, but I just cannot get into his plays. I didn’t hate this, but I didn’t like it anymore than I did Hamlet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I am very excited for my Shakespeare in film class to be over.

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon / 2.5 stars- Ugh, I’m so sad I didn’t love this! I have really mixed feelings about Sandhya Menon’s books. I’ve found a few of them cute, but I just haven’t been able to mesh with her more recent ones. I found this one boring and didn’t really like the Beauty and the Beast aspect of it. I don’t think I’ll continue with this series.

Parachutes by Kelly Yang / 5 stars – So, I literally love this book with all my heart. This is one of the greatest books I have ever read in my entire life, and I will never be over it. I will gush about it until I die. This book follows Claire, a Chinese student studying at an American prep school, and Dani, a daughter in her host family. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this book will make you cry yet leave you with a message of hope and love.

Vicious Spirits by Kat Cho / 2 stars – Sooo, I’m very sad I didn’t love this book. I had high expectations since I enjoyed Wicked Fox so much. My biggest problem with this was the pacing. There were big action scenes, but a lot of the book was just the characters standing around a talking. I honestly couldn’t tell you much what this was about, which makes me very sad.

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao / 3.5 stars – This was very cute! This is a fake dating romance book following Chloe, who “rents a boyfriend” to please her strict Chinese parents. This was a super fun contemporary with a lot of Chinese culture interspersed throughout. The main character did annoy me at times, but overall I felt like it was very enjoyable! This book comes out Nov. 10 so make sure you pick up a copy!

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne / 2 stars – Listen, I know Nathaniel Hawthorne is supposedly the greatest writer of the 19th century, but I just could not deal. Even though I was invested in the plot of the story, this writing was so unreadable that I got 0 enjoyment out of the book. I’m in college and I barely understood it, and I’m hearing some people say they read it in high school? Kudos to you guys.

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton / 4 stars- This is my third Chanel Cleeton book, and was a solid read! This takes place in 1930s Key West, and follows three woman as one of the deadliest hurricanes documented hits The Florida Keys. This reminded me a bit of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, taking an unknown disaster and creating a fictional story out of it. I really enjoyed it, even if not as much as Next Year in Havana.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black / 4 stars- I finally got around to this, after 6 months of saying I wanted to read it! This book definitely took some unexpected twists and turns, and was a great ending to the series! Overall, The Folk of the Air isn’t the greatest series I’ve ever read, but it is just so entertaining that I can’t complain! Maybe next I’ll read How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories? We shall see!

And that concludes this month’s wrap up! I am quite happy with how many books I read, and a lot of them I have been procrastinating so I’m happy to be able to cross them off my TBR. Leave your wrap ups in the comments below!