#september 2022 books

[contracat25]

It is finally September which means hopefully cooler weather, fun fall clothing (sweaters my love), seasonal adventures aaaand of course NEW BOOKS! Admittedly the fact that we are finally getting Nona has me just.... vibrating out of my skin. Like no joke I'm barely keeping it together. Buuuuut there are a handful of other books that I'm pretty stoked about. As always, this list doesn't include sequels (I have a different set of lists for those), but without further ado, some of the books I am most excited about coming out this month!

The Sunbearer Trails by Aiden Thomas

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans

[transporttoanotherplace]

Book Goals For September 2022

August was a delightful month and I really managed to get back into reading. My only issue is due to personal reasons I can't definitively say how this month's going to look schedule-wise. So I'm approaching this with a flexible mindset.

Book Goals: Read/listen to 10 books.

Dream Goals: Read/listen to 18 books.

Books I'm most looking forward to:

Oh, shit did this become a V.E. Schwab fan account? Guess it did. I have 4 of these books already and just need Vengeful (2-week wait).

Book I'm most nervous about: Pina by Titaua Peu to fulfill the Pacific Islander requirement for the PopSugar 2022 Challenge. I've never ventured into French colonialism before and I know based on reviews this is very heavy and I will likely bawl my eyes out.

Nostalgic Reread: I've chosen the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. I read these about 10-12 years ago and hardly remember the plot and I'm pretty positive I only read the first three books, possibly the fourth so there are some new books there too. I figure this will help me with my YA A-Z challenge as well and I would like to see how this series ended.

Other hopefuls:

Where the Crawdads Sing, Book Eaters (finished already), and the Maid are guaranteed because I waited too damn long at the library for these books to not finish them.

[bargainsleuthbooks]

The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman #NetGalley #ARCReview

#TheMatchmakersGift by #LyndaCohenLoigman is a feel-good historical fiction novel with dual timelines of a grandmother and granddaughter who have inherited the gift of matchmaking #shadchanit #matchmaker #bookreview #netgalley #arcreview #newbooks

“Is finding true love a calling or a curse? Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a maker of matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men—men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in…

[meditando-en-paris]

[ktz-tl]

September 22, 2022.

[why-the-heck-not]

06.06.22, tuesday, 2/100

could have been better, but could have been worse

[booksandbodies]

Books & Bodies

[hyperbolicfixations]

I rewatched Aqotwf 90 times every week after it came out until the beginning of January. It got popular like a month later 💔 can’t believe I spent those first few months after it came out talking to myself about it (my friends don’t give 2 shits about the shows I watch)

[davekatzdefensesquad]

September Instagram Challenge || prompts & days 1&2 || Begin & Kindness

[lizziethereader]

September 2022 wrapup

September just wasn’t it for me both in terms of quantity and quality. I mean, I finally got around to read the His Dark Materials series (the first three books, at least) and really enjoyed the first one but other than that and the great time I had with Cyrano de Bergerac, this really was a ‘meh’ month. 

favorite of the month: Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

nonfiction reads (1): Noise by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein

classics (1): Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

poetry (1): Poems of food and drink edited by Peter Washington

graphic novel (1): This one summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki [illustrator]

[slaughter-books]

Day 30: JOMPBPC: Read In September

My September, 2022 reading wrap up! 💙

[transporttoanotherplace]

Rating: 2.75/5 ⭐⭐✨

Oh how badly I wish I could give this a higher rating or liked this book more. I even debated giving it a 3 but there was just too much that I didn't like about it. I will say it's cute and I know what audience this is meant for (Wattpad lovers) and unfortunately, it's not me. So, take a lot of what I saw with a grain of salt. I do recommend if you love smut and just want something really simple to read to feel good and not think about too hard.

Synopsis: Birdie Wilder is a famous rock star and unapologetically plus size in an industry that prioritizes thinness. She's also being stalked. Her stalkers escalated behavior prompts the record label to insist she cancel her shows or get a bodyguard. In comes Liam Miller, ex-cop turned bodyguard, at the recommendation of well-meaning friends. Liam, her high school best friend/former love of her life, who told her he could "never like her like that" when she confesses her feelings, and Birdie assumes the worst--popular, quarterback Liam could never like a fat girl. Their friendship ends but now thrown back together they have to confront their awkward past. If only pesky things like attraction didn't keep getting in the way. Can Liam and birdie reconcile--maybe even become more?

Review and so many spoilers:

Like I said I really wanted to love this because fucking finally plus size rep and oh how I loved the cover. I appreciate too that Birdie being plus size isn't the main focus or that Kayla Grosse didn't go out of her way to make it Birdie's entire personality. (I cringe when authors think plus size rep means having to constantly mention how much we love food or struggle to find clothes--I mean yeah we do but we are more than just our size). Birdie is confident, sexy, and unafraid to stand up for herself. She's got a rocking voice and loves her fans (thank you for introducing me to Cass Elliot btw) and her band. I really liked Birdie.

She's aggravating at times of course and for having a stalker some of the things she would do--I questioned if she was trying to die. But I mean what's a heroine without flaws?

Grosse only ever goes surface level. The flashbacks she provides don't do enough for the audience to connect with Liam and Birdie's relationship. I know a lot of people love sex scenes which the book provides plenty of but it would have been better to remove one of those sex scenes and focus on the emotional connection. Also, it's weird but for a book that is trying to show how looks shouldn't be the focus, there's a lot of emphasis on the superficial. In present times I think the majority of Liam and Birdie's interactions focus on sex, hashing out their past, or the stalker. I think 75% of Liam's thoughts focused on how much he wanted to fuck Birdie. A nice feeling, sure because we get a very clear answer that he's attracted to her but aside from her looks what about the mental connection? Same for Birdie whose thoughts center very often on how attractive Liam is. I just needed a lot more emotional depth between the two of them. Grosse tries to add some depth by adding to Liam's backstory with his father's drinking problem and his traumatic past as a cop but for me, it falls flat because it's hardly touched upon.

Another problem is believability. When I hear Liam's explanation about why he rejected Birdie the first time? I'm sorry, but what? Rejecting Birdie b/c he's nervous she won't like him because his dad's an alcoholic? I get that he's a teenager and when we're teenagers we are dumb but still WHAT?!? The people teenagers are actually most likely to turn to when things are hard are their friends. And you really expect me to believe neither Liam nor Birdie would open up to Wren or Ben about what happened? Hell no. Now I can think of reasons why that are connected to alcoholism: Liam didn't feel like he had the emotional capacity to handle a relationship while his dad was getting worse; insecurities about him deserving love because his own father couldn't choose Liam over a bottle of alcohol: or hell even the reason Grosse mentioned of shame but expanding on those worries rather than just 3 sentences about he was ashamed of his dad. There were so many contradictions too because Liam was thriving as a teenager and had a lot of healthy relationships so it seemed off for his character for him to not want to confide in Birdie about his dad especially when he'd formed such a deep connection with her over their shared pain of both having absentee parents. Plus, what boy tells his friend "I'm head over heels for her" and then says "Oh, I didn't mean romantically. I meant platonically." 🤦‍♀️It was just a mess and not a very believable one.

Then we get to the actual reveal of the stalker and I nearly gave up on the book right then and there but I had to see this trainwreck end. Birdie's dad? A character who the book doesn't mention more than once? Birdie's assistant is her sister? I wasn't shocked or intrigued. I was questioning if this entire chapter the writer and her entire team were high as fuck. A devoted fan who was obsessed with Birdie would have made more sense than the dumpster fire I read.

The ending and the beginning just read as two different books. It's like Grosse couldn't figure out if she wanted to do a thriller or a rom-com. She should have stuck to the latter because the thriller aspect was not executed well at all and not done the bodyguard trope. It became kind of obvious with that weird reveal that she was using a bodyguard as an excuse to give us a reason for a really muscular, hot man coming into Birdie's life. I actually think it would have made more sense for Liam to have been a musician auditioning for the band because one of her band members got hurt since their first connection was Liam (who by the way apparently now doesn't even actively listen to music anymore despite it being a thing he and Birdie really connected on as teenagers which weird b/c missed opportunity) and Birdie bonding over all the music they loved.

Oh and that stupid break-up in the end? "Hey I'm sorry but you just got kidnapped, your mom's been lying to you your entire life, and your dad kidnapped you. Let me add to that by breaking up with you and breaking your heart." It was so unnecessary and we were forced to go through so many unnecessary chapters right after. Also, just so out of character for Birdie to just give in. Birdie's a fighter and someone who's willing to go after what she wants (I mean hello famous rock star) and 100% Birdie would have actually just told Liam to shut the fuck up, he's being an idiot and not accepted his stupid reasoning rather than just being "ahh well fuck it you said you don't want to be with me then I guess not." Just like that awesome scene where Eric was questioning Liam if he was with Birdie and she just came in and kissed Liam right on the mouth to stop Eric's questions. At this point, Grosse was just adding in drama to add drama. If you're going to add another conflict after wrapping all the conflict you're just milking it at this point.

My last point: the side characters. Where was their development? Everyone was completely one-dimensional and I questioned the need for them. Birdie constantly mentions she's so close to her band and her staff but their interactions were so meh that I questioned that statement all the time. Grosse goes more out of her way to develop Ben and Wren (who aren't even there for most of the book) and says cool. I just, no.

There was a lot more wrong: pacing, had a very juvenile fanfiction feel (but not good fanfiction), the structure of the book is weird, and poorly edited (typos and missing words).

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Back to the Garden by #LaurieRKing #NetGalley #ARCReview #PoliceProcedural #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #BookReview

One of my favorite authors has penned a police procedural, which is normally not my jam, but #BacktotheGarden by #LaurieRKing was an excellent read as a standalone novel. #NetGalley #ARCReview #PoliceProcedural #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #BookReview

From Goodreads: “A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home’s past: a human skull, hidden away for decades. Inspector…

[meditando-en-paris]

Welcome autumn!

[cupio-disssolvi]

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ “These days a passion to accumulate knowledge of any and every kind consumed him; but only as a means to an end. He must know all things, for only so might he have, when situations arose in the future, a full pack of cards to play from.”

— Mervyn Peake

[why-the-heck-not]

01.09.22, thursday

september ! a.k.a. autumn a.k.a. late evening walks