Hello everybody. Wow, the month has flown by pretty quickly! Where did all the time go? Before we get into what I read in October, I should share my exciting news that I announced last week. I am now a co-blogger at Happy Indulgence! Head over there to see more from me! My first post (a review of The Next Together) is now up!
I had a fabulous reading month in October. I read some pretty high quality books and I’m now 30 books away from my 2015 reading goal of 200 books! I think 15 books in November and December sounds doable (I’ve already finished my first book of November, this morning at 2am!)
Let’s get started with what books I read this month. As always, these appear in the order that I read them throughout the month and my reviews are linked.
1. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
A wonderfully mysterious and creepy book about a cast of peculiar children with peculiar powers living in the 1940s. It contains some amazing black and white photographs and beautiful writing!
2. Hollow City – Ransom Riggs
The second book in the Miss Peregrine’s trilogy. This was my favourite book in the trilogy and definitely was not a ‘filler’ book in the series. It had me dying to read the next book.
3. Library of Souls – Ransom Riggs
The final book in the Miss Peregrine’s trilogy. This was action-packed and thrilling, and everything I wanted this last book to be. Has a completely resolved ending and I’m sad that the series is over.
4. Zeroes – Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti
The first book in a new series about a group of kids with special abilities. It was exciting and filled with action. I fell in love with some of the characters and cannot wait to read more about them in the next book.
5. A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
This was a really dark and emotional read for me. It had a wonderful story with beautiful writing.. and it gave me all the feels.
6. Chewy Noh and the Fall of the Mu-Dang – Tim Learn
The first book in a middle-grade series by an indie author. This book features a Korean main character with a unique superpower and how he deals with his bullies!
7. Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter – Tim Learn
The second book in the Chewy Noh series. It did a great job of blending in Korean mythology and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Korean culture.
8. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo
The first non-fiction book I’ve read in a while – this book had lots of great tips and tricks on storage and decluttering.
9. A Little Something Different – Sandy Hall
This was an extremely disappointing new adult contemporary. It was written from 14 different perspectives and was done quite unsuccessfully. I had many problems with the plot, characters and writing.
10. Outspoken – Lora Richardson
This is probably the best self-published novel I’ve ever written. It was an incredible YA contemporary debut about finding your own voice.
11. Ice Like Fire – Sara Raasch
The second book in the Snow Like Ashes trilogy, this book fell a little bit flat for me. There wasn’t very much that happened plotwise, and many of the characters went through some massive changes.
12. The Next Together – Lauren James
A unique blend of contemporary, sci-fi, mystery and historical fiction. This book follows two characters that are reborn over and over, but end up together each time. It was filled with little notes and email exchanges and I thought it was a great debut novel.
13. Illuminae – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
The first book in a sci-fi trilogy, Illuminae is written completely as a collection of classified materials. The formatting and graphics in the book were amazing and it was a unique reading experience.
14. The Billionaire’s Forbidden Desire – Nadia Lee
It’s been a while since I’ve read an adult romance book and this one caught my eye as I was browsing through the iBooks new releases. It was good but had too many sex scenes for my liking.
15. The Lake House – Kate Morton
This was my favourite book of the month. It’s a fantastic mystery, with the most beautiful writing and very realistic characters. I also loved the historical elements of the book and really enjoyed the 1930s Cornwall setting.
16. Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
The first book in the Grisha trilogy, Shadow and Bone didn’t really wow me. It has some interesting characters and a world that I enjoyed reading about, but I found it to be a little bit lacking. A full review will be up soon.
This month I did four Top Ten Tuesday posts:
- 06-10-15: Ten Books That I Should Have Quit
- 13-10-15: Ten Author Duos I’d Love to See Write a Book Together
- 20-10-15: Ten Dinner Dates I Want a Book Genie to Grant Me
- 27-10-15: Ten Halloween Book Recommendations
Thanks for visiting. Did you read any of these books this month and what did you think of it? What was your favourite book of October?
Forever envious of your reading speed! I can’t wait to read your review of Shadow and Bone – ever since Six of Crows released, I’ve been very curious about her books! I shall wait patiently. *U*
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You won’t have to wait much longer. It’s going up tomorrow 😀
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Wow, it seems like you had a great reading month! I’m looking forward to read quite a few books from your list. 🙂
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Yay! They were pretty much all amazing books. I enjoyed all of them except A Little Something Different. I’m so happy that I read such a great pile of high-caliber books!
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Wow your reading speed is incredible I am so jealous! I’ve just brought Zeroes and I can’t wait to read it! 🙂
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Zeroes was a lot of fun and I’m absolutely in love with one of the characters 😉 I hope you enjoy it!
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Aw… I was really looking forward to shadow and bone.
And 200 books in a year? Amazing!!
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Shadow and Bone ended up being a little bit average but I thought the rest of the series definitely improved! You should give it a go if you’re interested! The world and the Grishaverse was really intriguing.
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You had such an awesome reading month! 😀 So many awesome books read!
I never got around to reading Library of Souls, sadly. 😦 Hopefully soon!
I really want to read Zeroes, A Monster Calls, and Illuminae!
I have the e-book of A Monster Calls, but I want to get a physical copy with the pictures.
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You’ll definitely want to get an illustrated edition of A Monster Calls. The pictures add a lot to the story and I don’t think it would be as impactful if there were no illustrations!
I loved Library of Souls, Illuminae and Zeroes (kinda). I hope you can get to them soon! Looks like you have a busy reading month ahead of you, with all the Lunar Chronicles books too 😀
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Oh my, your wrap-up reminds me that I still need to read Library of Souls :O!!!
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Ugh I LOVED Library of Souls! You need to pick it up! It’s such a fantastic final book!
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What a fantastic reading month, Jenna! I think you read and finished a book every other day, and you marathoned/started to marathon three series! I’m quite envious since I’m still in the reading slump. I just haven’t felt like reading… I did start A Monster Calls last night though but I got distracted from all the creepy sounds in my house (I was by myself and avoiding trick-or-treaters in a small, walk-in closet).
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I think starting the month off by marathoning Miss Peregrine’s really set the mood for the rest of the month (which is probably why I subconsciously decided to marathon Grisha!). You can do it! You just need to find something amazing to take you out of your slump 🙂 Read a Stephanie Perkins book? (I think I actually suggested this in one of our 3000 other threads).
Omg A Monster Calls would’ve been so scary on Halloween! Do not try to read that book at night haha.
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LOL. We do have like 3000 threads. XD But I will! Like I mentioned in another thread (lol), I think I’ll try My True Love Gave to Me; it seems perfect for the holidays anyway. Though, no promises, since I’m not a tackling the TBR type of reader. Clearly shown with me starting A Monster Calls in not really October (well I guess it was but I didn’t finish before Halloween ended, sigh).
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Jenna! Once again, congratulations on your new co blogger status! I’m so happy for you and I’m a big fan 💖
And as for you reading this month, the amount of books you read makes me want to weep! Can you share some of your reading power with me please?! 😭
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Thank you so much, Josie! I’m so happy to be able to co-blog at Happy Indulgence!! *sends super reading powers across the country to you*
And good luck with your finals!
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You have read SO MANY books this month and I hope you get to finish your reading goal this year! I’m currently reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and am liking it so far. It’s taking a bit of a time for me to get into the book’s rhythm though.
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I am hopeful that I can read 200 books. I’m pretty sure I can make it – I’m still 5 books ahead right now.
Miss Peregrine’s is a little bit slow-paced but the climax is so thrilling that you’ll fly through the last section. I actually really liked the pace of it because it added to the atmosphere of the book. It’s worth pushing through, and I’m glad you like it so far 😀
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Thanks for the motivation, Jenna! I want to finish this tonight or tomorrow, hopefully. with your reading pace I’m sure you’ll fly by through your reading challenge! ☺
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Good job. You’ve read so much this month. I hope November is just as good for you. Happy reading!
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Thank you! November is already going super well! I marathoned the rest of the Grisha trilogy this weekend so I’ve already finished two books this month! Hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of the month. Happy reading to you too!
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Wow, 230 books already! I’m so behind my reading challenge this year. I even received a “Need a boost” letter from GR last week. It looks like I’m the only black sheep with A Monster Calls, all of my friends loved it, I – not so much.
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Hahaha I’ve only read 172. But just 28 more until I reach my goal. I actually received an encouraging email from GR last week too. Encouraging me to keep going 🙂
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What an amazing reading month! I’m so glad that you liked A Monster Calls – it is one of my absolute favorites. I just read your reviews on the first 2 Grisha books and I’m interested to see how you like the last one. I’ve heard Six of Crows is better, too! I’ll be picking them all up eventually, but can’t decide which series I’ll attack first at this point!
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Oh my review of Ruin and Rising is going up tonight! It was my favourite of the whole trilogy so it definitely gets better as it progresses. I’ll be starting Six of Crows on Monday and I’m soooo excited!!
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