You guys. Somehow I failed to do the recap for August, so I’m going to double up and do that month as well as September in this one post.
Ready? Settle in.
In August, I read a total of 21 books.
- The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai — 4 stars
- Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman — 3 stars
- House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig — 4 stars
- The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare — 5 stars
- Charmed by the Bartender by Piper Rayne — 3 stars
- The Third Mrs. Durst by Ann Aguirre — DNF/1 star
- We Are the Ghosts by Vicky Skinner — 2 stars
- On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci — 2.5 stars
- Start Here by Trish Doller — 4 stars
- The Duchess in His Bed by Lorraine Heath — 4 stars
- Sidelined by Suzanne Baltsar — 3 stars
- Never Have I Ever with a Duke by Darcy Burke — 3 stars
- Well Met by Jen DeLuca — 5 stars
- Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore — 4 stars
- Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean — 5 stars
- Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean — 5 stars
- Permanent Record by Mary HK Choi — 2 stars
- Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean — 5 stars
- Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane — 2 stars
- Don’t Say a Word by Amber Lynn Natusch — DNF
- Cowboy Christmas Redemption by Maisey Yates — 4 stars
In September, I read a total of 17 books.
- The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett — 5 stars
- Frankly in Love by David Yoon — DNF/1 star
- Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas — 5 stars
- No Judgements by Meg Cabot — 2 stars
- How to Survive a Horror Movie by Seth Grahame-Smith — 5 stars
- A Dash of Christmas by Samantha Chase — 2 stars
- Wrapped Up in You by Jill Shalvis — 5 stars
- Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas — 5 stars
- A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas — 5 stars
- Heiress Gone Wild by Laura Lee Guhrke — 3 stars
- Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis — 5 stars
- It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas — 5 stars
- Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas — 3 stars
- Bid My Soul Farewell by Beth Revis — 5 stars
- The Red Hot Earl by Darcy Burke — 3 stars
- Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory — 2 stars
- Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas — 4 stars
I’ve recently hit my Goodreads challenge and I have to say that it’s been nice having a low {for me} number. Even though I’m perpetually behind on review books, I’ve been feeling less stressed out about reading. And going forward into the new year, I’m going to be much pickier about what I request or accept for review.
August:
- Forever sent a finished copy of Don’t Close Your Eyes
- Quirk Books sent a finished copy of How to Survive a Horror Movie
- Simon Teen sent a finished copy of Permanent Record
- Wednesday Books sent an arc of Ruthless Gods
September:
- Grand Central sent finished copies of Imaginary Friend and Hollow Kingdom
- Avon Books sent a finished copy of Wrapped Up in You
Jimmy Patterson sent a finished copy of Capturing the Devil, Berkley Romance sent a finished copy of Royal Holiday, Fierce Reads sent an arc of Dark and Deepest Red and a finished copy of The Liars of Mariposa Island, Inkyard Press sent a finished copy of The Speed of Falling Objects, Disney Hyperion sent a finished copy of 10 Blind Dates, and Sourcebooks Fire sent a box of spooky reads.
August:
- Top 5 Reasons to Read: Vow of Thieves
- Top 5 Reasons to Read: Permanent Record
- The Mutiny: August favorites
September:
- The Mutiny: September favorites
There wasn’t a lot of blog activity over the past two months. I’ve gone to a couple events {as you’ll see below}, but didn’t recap them. There just wasn’t a lot of bookish things happening!
- Mackenzi Lee was in conversation with Kiersten White and it was a lot of fun. Mackenzi was dressed in a very Loki-esque outfit and the two women bantered and had a lively conversation. When I got up to Mackenzi for the signing, we talked about her fabulous shoes and how she should kick up her feet while signing so people could see them.
- When Kerri Maniscalco announced that she had to cancel her tour for Capturing the Devil, it was quickly shared that she would be doing a Skype party at Mysterious Galaxy. Kerri and MG were both so amazing and offered personalized books. The books were shipped to Kerri and then sent back to MG for us to pick up on release day.
- The launch party turned into a launch slash pizza and pjs party and it was a lot of fun. We sat on the ground like a group of kids at a slumber party and asked Kerri all sorts of questions from serial killers to writing the series to how it felt now that it was over.
- Katy Rose Pool was in conversation with Kiersten White and even though I missed a good portion of the conversation, the parts that I did catch were intriguing. When I got up to Katy for the signing, she said she had seen me on social media and thanked me for taking photos of her book. She said it was so exciting to see people post photos of it. We chatted about the gorgeous cover and I thanked her for coming to MG. I haven’t read TWCaD yet, but I can’t wait.
- Fangirling over: Susan Dennard, Renee Ahdieh, Sabaa Tahir, Jennifer Lynn Armentrout, and Pete Souza
- Interviewing: Kelly Powell
- Reading Rewind: I’m going to try for sure.
- Discussion post: Probably not. I don’t have any ideas at this moment.
- Special Stuff: I’m going to be working a lot on getting the rebrand ready. I can officially say it’s happening next month. There will be a period of maintenance for the blog {right now, I’ve got it scheduled for a Friday-Wednesday}, but I’ll still be super active on social media and maybe some sneak peeks and updates.
How about you? How was your August or September? What was your favorite read for the month?
My favorite books of September were Ignite the Stars, Eclipse the Skies, the Fountains of Silence (going to see the author tonight!!!), and New Kid.
Ooh, I’ll have to look into those titles! I’ve only heard of a few of them. I hope the author event was fun.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I loved Bringing Down the Duke! I don’t typically read Historical Romance, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I cannot wait to see what the author writes next!
I DNFd Frankly in Love, too. The language was weird, and the characters annoyed the hell out of me. Everyone else seems to be raving about it, so it’s nice to know someone else had similar feelings!
Jen Bennett is my JAM! I loved The Lady Rogue. I want to go on more adventures with them.
I’m glad I stumbled across your blog! It’s lovely. New follower on Bloglovin, Twitter, and IG! <3
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ?
I stumbled into historical romance a couple of years ago and I’m happily never going to come back. There’s just so much banter and fun in those stories. I’m also excited for what is next from Evie Dunmore.
Thanks for all of your kind words and for your comment!
I have to read House of Salt & Sorrows and I want to do it this month. Only 2 stars for No Judgment?! I really liked that one but maybe it’s a book you need to read at the right time. I was coming off a bunch of thrillers so I needed something fun and light. Stranded in Chaos
I hope you enjoy House of Salt & Sorrows. Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of No Judgement, but I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading and commenting!