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I feel like I blasted through so many books in October but it was only 11. I say only but I am fully aware 11 is actually a lot for one month, it just felt like I read a lot more.
I tend to read a few books a month from a list I’ve put together on here but this month I only read one! It was pretty good but not an all-time favorite.
I DNF’d one book, read a few that were a little disappointing, a few that were pretty good, and one new all-time favorite, which was an unexpected one!
Overall I would say it was a good reading month. I did only read one of the Pretty Little Liars books but I did visit home and wanted to read spooky books there so I’ll have to make up for that in November.
- If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book) plus tons of others they have for free. Get that Audible deal here.
- If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd! You can get your first month free there. You can read books and listen to audiobooks. It is unlimited (especially the reading) but if you listen to tons of new audiobooks you may be restricted after a few. I don’t listen to enough to confirm this, but I do use Scribd myself and like it a lot. Sign up for Scribd here!
- Shop my collection of bookish goodies on Etsy! These aren’t my shop items, but other shops I’ve curated into a book-themed collection. Shop my Etsy bookish goodies here!
- If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a wonderful option. It’s $9.99 a month but if you read a lot and like to read more than just new releases, it could be worth it. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
- Get $5 off of $25 from BookOutlet! This is a great place to find new books for pretty cheap. They also have sales quite a bit, so keep an eye out for those. I tend to check here for books I want if they’re more expensive other places. They don’t have everything but they do have a lot. Shop BookOutlet here!
- Thrift Books has become my go-to when I’m looking for a book and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
- Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in shortly! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.
- Shopping internationally? Check out Book Depository!
Girl in Pieces
Author: Kathleen Glasgow
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: 4/5
About the book: At seventeen, Charlotte has lost more than most people do in a lifetime. The broken glass washes away the sorrow and every new scar hardens her heart a little more.
We follow her from Minneapolis to Tucson to Santa Fe as she faces life after tragedy.
Final thoughts: I liked You’d be Home Now a lot more but this was still really good, particularly the latter half. I’m glad I didn’t give up on it and would definitely read more from her.
Hysteria
Author: Megan Miranda
Genre: YA thriller
Rating: 2/5
About the book: Mallory killed her boyfriend in self-defense but he still haunts her day in and day out. But is it real or in her head? In need of a new start, she is sent to Monroe, a fancy prep school where no one knows what happened. But when a classmate is found dead and she is being framed, she needs to find out what really happened to prove her innocence.
Final thoughts: I liked the idea of this but the execution was lacking a little for me. The mystery around her boyfriends death, the mystery of the death at her new school, the characters, all fell a little flat. And too much running.
Heartless
Author: Sara Shepard
Genre: YA mystery
Rating: 4/5
About the book: This is number seven in the series and I don’t want to spoil anything.
Final thoughts: I liked this one but accidentally spoiled a major plot point of it because I started reading the next book on accident before I realized they were in the wrong order. Not my favorite one but still enjoyable.
In the House in the Dark of the Wood
Author: Laird Hunt
Genre: Historical horror?
Rating: 1/5 DNF
About the book: Set in (apparently) colonial New England, a woman goes missing, or disappears, or flees, or has been kidnapped and when she meets another woman in the woods, everything changes.
Final thoughts: From Good Reads: DNF at 19%. I have no idea what’s going on.
Hide
Author: Kiersten White
Genre: Horror
Rating: 3.5/5
About the book: All they have to do it spend a week in an abandoned amusement park without getting caught. Everyone is desperate for the money, but Mack was made for this. It’s why she’s here and her family isn’t, after all.
But as contestants start to disappear, she knows something is amiss and staying together might be the only way to survive.
Final thoughts: I love the idea of this so much but it was definitely not what I expected. It takes a weird paranormal turn, I guess? I normally don’t like when that happens but it didn’t bother me as much as normal in this one.
Fright Night
Author: Maren Stoffels
Genre: YA horror
Rating: 2/5
About the book: Sofia isn’t so sure about Fright Night. She just used it as an excuse to get close to Dylan. Spending a night in a deserted forest doesn’t sound so fun anymore. But they have a safe word and boy do they need it.
Final thoughts: From Good Reads: like the idea of this but the execution was lacking. Dialogue was a little stuffy for teenagers and I thought Kelly and sandy were like, middle aged men not slightly older teenagers young enough to be called boys? And like, as far as fright nights go, this was really weird. Groups of five with four zones and one person is targeted in each zone? But there isn’t that much scaring happening? Not great
It Came from the Sky
Author: Chelsea Sedoti
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: 5/5
About the book: This is the true account of the time aliens invaded Lansburg, Pennsylvania and the chaos that followed. Except there were no aliens and Gideon Hofstadt knows why. Because one of his science experiments got out of control and his brother blamed extraterrestrials. Things got out of hand from there and the hoax flourishes.
Final thoughts: I loved this book. So much! It’s a like, half epistolary which is my favorite style of book to read ever. It’s so fun. The story was great, the characters were great, 10/10, new all-time favorite. Apparently, there’s two on this list!
Stolen
Author: Elizabeth Gilpin
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3/5
About the book: At fifteen, Elizabeth was stolen from her bed in the middle of the night after her parents enrolled her in a behavioral modification program.
She was dropped off at a camp in the woods where she stayed and hiked for three months before being transferred to a boarding school where students were psychologically abused and humiliated.
Final thoughts: From Good Reads: I don’t want to give this three stars because everything she experienced was really awful but the book itself dragged. It was good but very repetitive, especially in the Carlbrook section. I think it would have been better to hear more about life after the school but it was still good
Sea of Tranquility
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Sci-fi (lite)
Rating: 5/5
About the book: Edwin St. Andrew arrives in Canada at eighteen where he enters the forest and hears a violin in an airship terminal.
Two hundred years later, Olive Llewellyn writes a strange passage in her book about a man playing his violin for change in an airship terminal as the trees rise around him.
Gaspery-Jacques Roberts is a detective in the Night City on the moon and hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness. Along the way, he uncovers a series of upended lives.
Final thoughts: I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one because I wasn’t a huge fan of Station Eleven but I LOVED this! I had no idea what this was about, I thought it was more pandemic-post-apocalyptic-y than sci-fi, and those are included in it, but it’s the perfect subtle blend of all of it. Plus, look at the cover!
Escape Room
Author: Maren Stoffels
Genre: YA horror
Rating: 2/5
About the book: Alissa, Sky, Cleo, and Miles thought the escape room would be a fun way to spend a Friday night but as the night goes on, they start to wonder if they’ll ever really be let out.
Final thoughts: Again, fun idea not so fun execution. I feel like this book and Fright Night are just too short for the ideas. They could be a lot better with more pages. It was a quick and easy read but I didn’t like it.
14 Ways to Die
Author: Vincent Ralph
Genre: YA thriller
Rating: 4/5
About the book: Ten years ago the Magpie Man murdered Jess’s mother. She was the first victim but not the last and now Jess is the start of a YouTube reality series to catch the killer. Everyone is watching. Including the Magpie Man.
Final thoughts: I enjoyed this one but it also wasn’t quite what I expected? I’m not entirely sure why it’s 14 Ways to Die because, while we don’t witness every death, they are done in the same way (I could be remembering this wrong.) I definitely prefer other YA thrillers but it was enjoyable.
Have you read any of these? Which ones? What did you read in October?
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