October Wrap-Up

Hiya bookworms!

How was everyone’s Halloween? I can’t believe it’s already November… It’s almost Christmas woohoo! But based off my TBR for November, it’s basically my Halloween 2.0 😂 Anyhoo, I ended up reading 9 books and listening to 2 short audiobooks. I barely read anything at the beginning of the month and ended up speed-reading through the last week and half. So here are my reviews 😊

My Home Library

I didn’t read anything from my personal library, but that’s ok because November is spooky month 2.0 and I’ll read all my horrors then 😂

Netgalley eARCs

Muskets and Minuets by Lindsey S. Fera

Review:

TW: Sexual assault and miscarriage

So I almost DNF this because I was a bit confused with all the events and characters and the switching of POVs in the beginning of the book. There are a lot of historical events that happen and this book covers the POV of three people: Jack, Annalisa, and George. This book also spans a long time period of many years. I ended up really enjoying that because you got to see Annalisa and Jack’s relationship grow at a decent pace. I’m really glad I didn’t DNF this because as soon as I read about 50 pages, I was hooked. I loved reading about Annalisa and Jack’s relationship and Annalisa’s adventures in the army. I also didn’t know much about this historical time period so it was nice to learn something new. I also really liked the language Fera uses in her writing because it felt very authentic to the time period and helped immerse me in the story. There’s a glossary at the end of the book which will be very useful to the reader. I didn’t realize it was there until I finished the book, but I understood most of the vocab by context and Google. One character is sexually assaulted in the book and her attacker is still in the picture for the whole book. To add to that, a close friend tells about her assault to someone else. Also when she ends up telling someone close to her about her assault, they don’t believe her and react in a terrible and hurtful way. In regards to character development, I wasn’t a huge fan of Annalisa’s change in perspective when she ends up with Jack because she goes from being a strong, independent woman who wants to fight in the army to being like “I want to have 15 of Jack’s babies, I love him so much I’ll give up the army.” Regardless, the book ended in a very satisfying way with no cliffhangers and everyone’s storylines neatly tied up. Poor George though 😅 But overall, a very good book and I highly recommend it.

4/5⭐

Springtime by the Window Volume 1 by Suzuyuki

Review:

This was such a cute manga. I was a bit hesitant when I started reading it because the text was very “telling” not “showing.” But as I read more, it grew on me and I absolutely loved it. I love how each chapter is like a new little story in the main characters’ high school lives. The chapters aren’t really in a day-to-day format, but they still make chronological sense. Also, I LOVED the 4 main characters. Everybody has such a distinct personality and I love how they all interact and joke with each other. Seno and Yamada are just so sweet and adorable and it’s so cute to watch them go through the awkwardness of trying to confess to each other without being too obvious. Akama and Toda though, omg they reminded me of me and my bf because of how they are constantly teasing each other but still have a soft heart. I love how Toda’s pet name for Akama is literally “gorilla.” I definitely need to read all volumes in the future because this is just such a nice, fluffy, and romantic read!

5/5⭐

Would You Like to be a Family? by Koyama

Review:

I absolutely adored the first story about Mori and Take and Natsui. I loved the trope of the quiet grouch with the sunshine talkative person. It was so heartwarming to see how Take was welcomed into Natsui’s home and how he interacted with Mori (even though they have a rivalry over which of them Natsui likes more). I really wish we got more of their story because it was so cute. The second story about Kuma honestly made me a little uncomfortable because of how pushy Kuma was towards his senior. The age gap was also a bit off-putting. The third story with Kodama was way too short and I wasn’t able to build any emotional connections to the characters so I felt a bit apathetic towards their relationship. I really wish this book was just about the first story because it was honestly the best one out of the three. I did like the bonus story at the end though because we got more of Mori and his expanded family.

3/5⭐

Carmilla Deluxe Edition by J. Sheridan le Fanu

Review:

I love vampire stories and wanted to read a spooky story for the Halloween season. I have read a bit of Dracula and enjoyed it, but I liked this story more. It's more fast paced and it's shorter so I finished it in a day. I had to take some time to get used to the language and word choice in the book so I definitely couldn't skim it, but it made me appreciate and understand the story better. I liked the backstory of how vampires are created and who Carmilla was. This book gives off a gothic and spooky vibe that's perfect for Halloween. I will definitely be re-reading this in the future!

4.5/5⭐

River of Lights by Melanie Dobson

Review:

This was a pretty decent middle grade book. I think kids would really enjoy the story because it's really fast paced and filled with magic. You could kind of tell the outcome of the plot twists near the end of the book, but they were still fun to read. I really liked the world building of the fairyland in this book. I think it was pretty neat how there was a world on the other side of the Seine. The concept of the lights was pretty interesting too. I also liked Katie's character and thought she'd teach kids to face their fears. I wish there was more to the story because it was over way too quickly (I was surprised with how quickly they battled with the baddie), but that works well for a MG novel. Overall this was an interesting book but I won’t be continuing with the series.

3/5⭐

Hetty by Eddie Generous

Review:

TW: Domestic abuse, sexual abuse, drug usage, physical abuse of a child, death of parents, alcohol usage, violence, gory scenes, violence toward an animal.

This was not the type of horror book I was expecting, but I ended up really enjoying it! This book reads like a horror movie, similar to Amityville Horror or Insidious. The writing style focuses on mundane things in the characters' daily lives so they are more human and you can relate and really feel for them when all the horror starts happening. It sort of just creeps up on you and then BAM all the horror stuff happens. I really enjoyed learning about each character's backstory and how they dealt with the trauma etc. This book is really dark though and deals with heavy-hitting topics outside of the horror and scaries that happen. If this was a movie, I would totally watch it because the story is just great. I wasn't too scared by what happened in the book, probably because I get more scared by ghosts than animals, but it's still creepy and has some good horror scenes. The schoolhouse scene reminded me a bit of the other world in Insidious. If you want a Halloween read, I would highly recommend this, but just be warned because it's dark as heck.

4/5⭐

Tess Pendragon and the Wand of Avalon by K.R. Matthews

Review:

The writing style of this book kind of bored me a little. There’s just a lot of information and world building which was a bit difficult for me to follow, so I ended up mostly skimming the second half of the book. This book is basically a mix between Harry Potter and King Arthur. There were some lines in the book and situations, like the wand shop, that sounded so similar to the Harry Potter universe and that ended up distracting me a little because I kept finding little similarities here and there between the two stories. Overall I was just really overwhelmed and confused by what was happening in the story especially with what was happening in the different worlds like the King’s Underground and Avalon and the Old Realm. I think kids would enjoy this story though because of all the magical elements and fantasy. I think they would like the characters, especially Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and the talking lamp. I also really want to try a Pegasus roll too. The food in this book sounded yummy!

3/5⭐

Other eARCs/ARCs

Enchanted Misadventures with Great-Aunt Poppy by Hallie Christensen

Review:

Thank you Hallie for the eARC! Congrats on your book release! This is a really fun and entertaining book with lots of great lessons integrated in the plot. This book reminds you to enjoy your childhood while it lasts, how to be brave, and always being yourself no matter what. The characters are amazingly written and the Hallie does a great job of showing what an actual child would do and say in certain situations in her book. Charlotte is such a sweetheart and the prune scenes were hilarious. Merlin the cat is also super sassy and adds to the humor of the book. There's some slightly spooky scenes but nothing too scary which is great for kids. If you have kids or just enjoy reading middle-grade fantasy books, then I highly recommend this. Even though Halloween is over, you’ll still want to read this! Especially since the book takes place during the Christmas season, so you can read it in preparation for December too 😉

5/5⭐

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

Review:

TW: Bed bug phobia, recreational and medicinal marijuana use, drug addiction, overdose.

Thank you Harper Collins CA and Netgalley for the eARC! This was such a great spooky read and it was way darker than I thought it would be. This satisfied my spooky cravings on so many levels. I actually had to stop reading at times because I felt like someone was going to jump out at me from the shadows 😂 I was also so scared that something was going to happen to their doggo for the entire book. If you need a book to read on Halloween, this is it. This book covers everything from racism, classism, white privilege, mob mentality, trauma, mental health, all the way to multiracial marriage and families. You will feel so many emotions towards the characters, especially Mari. Like holy moly this girl has been through so much. One thing I really liked about this book was that Mari is held accountable for her actions and her friends call her out when she's treating other people badly because she doesn't see things from their perspective. The author really finds a way to justify everyone's actions and show how some of them are just how people express hurt and grief or trauma. I honestly thought Piper was just being a manipulative little poop for the whole time, but after Mari’s friend reminds her that Piper could also be going through something that is just making her act out in that way, I empathized with her. It also really goes to show that you can never know what someone could be dealing with at the time. I got a bit of a self-righteous judgmental vibe from Yusef which I wasn’t a huge fan of, but it was hard to hate him after all the times he’s still there for Mari when she needs him. The history of the town and the corporation was so captivating and fascinating. One thing I wish was included was an epilogue because the book ended so abruptly and I was left wanting more of a conclusion. It did end satisfyingly, but I just wanted more lol. Overall it's a great book and I'll just say it again, but BEWARE OF THE BED BUGS. If you weren't scared of them before, you will be now!

5/5⭐

Audiobooks

Don’t Turn on the Lights by Cassandra Khaw

Review:

I thought this was a pretty spooky story and it elaborates on and retells a horror story about a girl discovering her roommate’s grisly-murdered body in their room. I thought the original story was spooky, but the longer retelling of it was disturbing and 10x spookier. The added sound effects of the chewing made the story creepier which was nice.

4.5/5⭐

These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw

Review:

I really enjoyed this short audiobook. Holy moly it was disturbing though. TW for animal cruelty because some of the stuff that happen to these poor animals is so horrendous and gruesome. I liked the twist of the story of the “wicked” stepmother and her stepchild, the prince. Usually it’s the stepmother who treats the child wickedly, but in this case it’s the child who is wicked and the stepmother is just trying to save others from him. The story was also told in such a fairytale-poetic way that made it so pleasant to listen to, despite the gory content.

5/5⭐

So that’s my wrap-up for the month. I hope you found some spooky reads that you’d like to add to your TBR for November aka spooky season 2.0 😂 If you’ve read any of these, I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment below 😊

Happy reading!