October Wrap-Up / November TBR

October Wrap-Up

So, October was an interesting one? I thought it was going super well, but looking back at my ratings, I’m not quite sure how it went. I literally went through every single rating that I could this month, which is kind of a book mess. I tried to keep my reads to spooky reads, since Halloween always puts me super in the mood. I read a total of 14 books this month, so let’s take a look at what they actually were!

• Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George
• The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
• There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
• The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters
• Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm (review to come)
• Fragments of the Lost by Megan Miranda
• Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
• Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
• The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender
• Shutter by Laurie Faria Stolarz
• Invictus by Ryan Graudlin (review to come)
• The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (review to come much later in the month)
• Because You Love to Hate Me by Ameriie (review to come)
• Haven by Mary Lindsey (review to come Monday)

Um, no DNFs? That’s a record! There was one, but I ended up deciding to give it another shot and it turned out super well. That was Haven by Mary Lindsey, and I would super recommend adding it to your November TBR because it was a great autumn read despite my prior weirdness about it.

I actually had some super good reads this month. My two favorites – especially since they were added to the favorites shelf, which I mean, is a record since that elusive shelf is so hard to find for me – were Fragments of the Lost and Speak Easy, Speak Love. Fragments is by one of my favorite authors ever, so of course, I knew it would be good, but it ended up being so, so amazing. Speak Easy, Speak Love ended up surpassing all of my previous thoughts about it, and it has easily ended up jumping to the top of my 2017 reads. It’s so so close to nailing that top spot. 😉 SUPER SUPER RECOMMEND THESE TWO AND I’M TRYING SO HARD NOT TO FANGIRL TOO MUCH. Little Monsters was super good, too! I didn’t expect too much from it, but I devoured it two sittings.

The worst reads of the month? Wellllllllllllll, I have a few. There’s Someone Inside Your House and Shutter were my two one crown reviews. There were soooooooooooooo many issues with them despite my love for the authors. Because You Love to Hate Me, The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall, and The Hazel Wood had some big problems, but I liked them a tad bit more with two crowns for them.

The rest were just okay? A mix of three crowns and four crowns for them.

So, overall it wasn’t a bad month, since only 5 of them were super bad. And two favorites??? I call that a successful month for sure!

November TBR

I’m not doing official TBRs anymore, but I still like to set a few books up in my head that I would like to get to. In October, I was all about the spooky reads with a mixture of horror, ghosties, and mysteries. This month, I’m kind of feeling fantasy? Something about the fall season makes me want to just jump into other worlds. I was thinking about trying to tackle some rereads this month, and I just went to the library with my bag stuffed with some fantasy books that I want to tackle, so let’s see what Mandy actually gets to?

Also, I’m officially caught up on all my ARCs, and I don’t know what to do with myself other than party??? Depending on how well I can deal with this new status, I’m not sure if my whole November TBR will change.

• The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (I read the first one last year, but I can’t remember a thing, so I should probably try it again??)
• Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie Dao
• Renegades by Marissa Meyer (I AM SCREAMING I AM SCREAMING I AM SCREAMING)
• Legend by Marie Lu
• Um, um, I don’t know??? I’m just going to let November take me where I need to go. 😉

What did you read in October? What are you reading for November? Do we have any of the same? And did you have a good/bad one? Let’s discuss in the comments below!