September Wrap Up

This was a great reading month. it started off with me getting two books read in the first 3 days of the month due to losing internet service. I still hate my internet company. I read three books out loud to the girls this month. And the rest of the books I read were ones that I have been wanting to read for a long time. 

1. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

2. Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison

3. Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar

4. To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

5. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

6. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

7. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

8. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

9. Return To The Isle Of The Lost by Melissa De La Cruz

10. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Review: Clockwork Angel

I finally get the hype surrounding this series in particular. It is still taking me a long time to get into the Mortal Instruments series because after I finished read the first 3 books, I have realized that I don't think about them. I finished this book right before bed and OMG, I could not stop thinking about it.

The writing is better than the Mortal Instruments by far, but the time period is not my favorite. I don't like reading Victorian era novels because the men are so superior and the women are basically doormats to their husbands. I really like how Cassandra Clare gave Charlotte more of a lead the relationship and fuck the social norm.

Tessa really for on my nerves with the constant that isn't proper, or how dare the servants talk back. Jessamine is by far the most hated character for me. She was this great being and yet she just wanted to be a lady and have a husband and she set her eyes on Nate. In my opinion, Jessamine was the dumbest character of all. She was enamored by Nate and when Tessa told her constantly that he was a gambler and then told her that he didn't have money, she automatically replies, I have money.

Well, you dumbass hussy, if he didn't turn out to be the bad guy and you guys got married, you would become his property and your money would be his, and what do gamblers do... LOSE ALL THEIR MONEY. Once you were broke, you would have ran back to the Institute, the place you hate and despise most of all because it would be there for you even if you didn't deserve it.

Jessamine rant over, one more thing to say...... Will Herondale was such an asshole.

LIMITED EDITION OWLCRATE UNBOXING

Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

The sequel to this is finally coming out next week and I am super excited. Back in July I ordered OwlCrate's very first limited edition box for Vengeful. I am going to be getting it sometime next week or this weekend hopefully.

I have been hearing about this book ever since I first started watching Booktube.. the same as with most of my recent reads. It also fits what I am in the mood for because I am watching Flash with Cayce and all the scientific terminology made me feel like I was watching or reading a novelization of Flash. It also reminded me of a movie Cayce and I loved a couple years ago and that was Jumper. Where the guy has special abilities and can basically teleport anywhere and bad guys are chasing after him.

We follow two college students Victor and Eli. They are working on their thesis' and Eli is doing his on EO's or ExtraOrdinary's. He thinks that near death experiences can cause that person to gain abilities. We jump forward 10 years and Victor is heading into a town named Merit with a guy named Mitch and we learned that Victor has just escaped from prison and is searching for Eli.

Review: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Thanks to the Netflix movie and all the buzz on YouTube, I am finally reading this series. I have been hearing about it ever since I first started watching Booktube. Lara Jean is not what I expected at all. I expected her to be a little more sassy and less obsessive.

Lara Jean is the 2nd of 3 daughters. Her older sister Margot is on her way to college in Scotland and she just broke up with her neighbor Josh. Josh plays a prominent role in this story as he is one of the boys that Lara Jean has loved.

She has all her letters that she labels as goodbye letters, hidden away in a teal hatbox given to her by her mother. The letters get sent out and 2 of the boys corner Lara Jean about it.

Most people who read this are in love with Peter, but I didn't see the appeal of either Peter or Josh. I had a best friend like Chris, so I connected with Lara Jean on that aspect. I did cry when Margot and Lara Jean were in their situation. I don't know why, I just started bawling like a baby.

I immediately went onto my library website and requested the second book in this series and I am 5 in line to get it, where my library system only has two copies available. You would think that my library system that had over 10 libraries would have more than two copies. SHAME!!

I give this a 4 out of 5.

Review: Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison

I found this book through Read The World. They have a list of books from every continent and almost every country on that continent. This was the first book listed for Africa. It is set in Botswana and it's tales or short stories from an Australian safari guide.

These stories made me laugh. They are so humorous and also very knowledgeable. He talks about how he started as a safari guide at 19 when he left Australia for Africa. He talks about how he submerged and totaled two Land Rovers. How he thought an elephant was a mouse one night.

There is also some historical facts about Botswana and South Africa. He mentions the apartheid and native tribes. He takes digs at Americans, Germans, and sometimes the Japanese.

I need to read his other books, and maybe watch one of his interviews.

The only con I have about this book is the cover. They definitely could have left out the safari hat clipart!

Review: Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

I have finally finished this series. I read books 1 and 2 in my middle school years and I watched the movies constantly throughout the last 10 years.

This book was OK. My expectations for this was super high and I was spoiled that a major character death was going to happen and that someone was going to end up pregnant.

The characters for me were still teenagers. They acted like whiny brats and they complained about things not going there way. Also, I feel that Lena was kind of a dull character once again because she was still hung up on Kostos and I was a major fan of that ship, but this book killed it for me. There was no world building for this girl.

Bridget was still wild and free but she was very irresponsible for a good chunk of this book.

Ann Brashares didn't give us anything new. This was all recycled plot and character names and it was boring. I still hate Carmen's character. She upgraded Carmen from whiny and sulky teenager to a snobby and stuckup bitch.

This series could have done without this book.

September TBR

CURRENTLY READING:

I have another ambitious TBR for the month. I read 8 books last month and so I want to try to read the same amount again and exceed it by 1 or 2. As of posting this, I am done with two books. Over the weekend, my internet gave out and I was internet-less for 3 days, so a LOT of reading got done.

Review: Night by Elie Weisel

I have been wanting to read this book for the past two years ever since I heard about it. It covers my challenge if a nonfiction and a classic for the month for me. It is an autobiography/memoir of an Holocaust survivor. I read this in one day. It is very short. It starts from when his neighborhood is turned into a ghetto and it ends when he is finally liberated from his final concentration camp.

This book is pitched as a memoir from an Auschwitz survivor. While he was in Auschwitz, it doesn't mention any of the other concentration camps that he was sent to. I think because those aren't big named ones that get talked about and the "main" ones as some people say.

His story is horrifying, gripping, and heartbreaking. At times I had to keep reminding myself that this was a nonfiction because what he was saying and describing didn't seem real. I watched some his past interviews and they crushed my heart.

After finishing this, I didn't know if I would give it a rating. I don't want to rate someone's horrific experiences as an amazing book, but this book needs a great rating and the praise and recognition and it needs to be read so these things never happen again.

RIP ELIE WEISEL!