SEP WRAP UP | The Books & the Stats

What a month. I think I was so close to giving most of these books five stars. It has really been an exceptional month for me and I can’t quite believe it. It has also been one of my best reading months in terms of quantity as well as quality! I read 12 books, which is my joint highest month with January.

Darkdawn (Nevernight Chronicle #3) by Jay Kristoff
★★★★★

Adult Fantasy

Unsurprisingly, September’s book of the month was one of my most anticipated reads. Admittedly, I didn’t have to wait as long as some to reach the conclusion of this phenomenal series, but I have been dying for this book since February and dear lord it delivered.

I cannot even begin to explain what this series means to me but this conclusion was worth the wait and one of the best series enders that I have ever read. This is the best book I have read in 2019 so far without a doubt (not including Priory, of course).

Jay, you did us proud.

Ash by Malinda Lo ★★★★

This was an enjoyable fairytale retelling of Cinderella with massive queer themes. I was totally on board and really enjoyed it. Malinda Lo narrated the audiobook herself and I find it so interesting when authors do that. As a reader your connecting with an author on an even further level.

Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern ★★★

Emily McGovern is the artist behind My Life as a Background Slytherin comic strip which I adore so when I had the chance to review this, I jumped at the opportunity. I did enjoy it but it wasn’t the best graphic novel I’ve read. It was fine…?

Serpent & Dove (#1) by Shelby Mahurin ★★★★★

I loved this book, oh lord. Now this is one of three five star books I read in September and I feel like I should say that this was not the same level as Darkdawn or Ninth House, but I enjoyed it just so damn much. Enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, lots of morally grey characters, witchcraft and just YES. I was so on board.

I’m hoping to get a review up of this in the next week or so… let’s see if I can keep up this blogging motivation!

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo
★★★★★

Adult Urban Fantasy

Holy shit this book. I posted my full review a few days ago so if you read that then you already know how much I loved this book but yeah. This book is dark as heck, spooky as hell, with some mystery and dark academia thrown in.

I’m so excited for everything Bardugo is going to bring with this series. This is definitely a book to pick up in October.

You can find my full review and an extensive (but not exhaustive) list of content warnings here.

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #1-5 by Jodi Taylor ★★★★½

So September was the month of St. Mary’s. Just One Damned Thing After Another was part of a Travelling Book Project I took part in and Beth @ iambookmad‘s choice. Following that AMAZING start, I became obsessed very quickly.

I actually finished the 6th book this morning. Luckily my library has all of them on audiobook and I’ve been racing through them one my drives to and from work. I have never been this addicted.

It’s a scifi time travel book about a chaotic historical research department designated to study historical events in contemporary time and holy crap they make me laugh for days. I am so invested and all of the characters are phenomenal. Thank you Beth for bringing this light into my life.

Shadowblack (Spellslinger #2) by Sebastien de Castell ★★★★½

This is another series that I’ve picked up on audiobook from the library. Hot Key gifted me the first and the fourth books but the others I will be listening to because the audio is fantastic. I’m really enjoying this series and I’m so excited to keep moving through it.

Magic meets wild west – this series is just so much fun.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young ★★★★½

I adored Sky in the Deep when I read it last year and so I was really excited for this. It was brilliant to be back in the world and with old friends, but you absolutely don’t need to read Sky to read Girl. They’re completely different story arcs focussing on different characters.

Adrienne’s books are so beautifully written with interwoven slow burn romances and while I much preferred Sky, the writing and the characters made this book brilliant. Write a book with sea imagery and I’m sold.

2019 Reading Challenge	Goal	Actual
January	7	12
February	14	21
March	21	30
April	28	37
May	35	43
June	43	52
July	50	61
August	57	69
September	64	81

The below charts are taken from my reading spreadsheet, created annually by Brock Roberts.

2019 Reading Aims	Goal	So Far
Backlist Must-Reads	12	3
Friend Recommendations	10	1
Graphic Novels	6	4
Pre-1995 Books	6	2
Male protagonist / author	25	17

How did your September go? If you posted a wrap-up, link me in the comments!

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