I had a huge reading month in October, I managed to read 16 books! I had a huge list of books I wanted to read last month, and I basically only managed it, by locking myself in my room. Anyways, here are the books I read and some of my thoughts and opinions on them...
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab - This is the highly anticipated sequel to
Vicious. I read
Vicious over three years ago, and it is one of my all time favorite books, so I went into this with a lot of expectations. Although I didn't love this book as much as
Vicious, I still really loved revisiting this world and characters. I also liked the introduction to the new characters, and I'm very satisfied at how it ended.
Strange the Dreamer and
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor - This is Taylor's latest fantasy duology. I'm really happy I reread
Strange the Dreamer before picking up
Muse of Nightmares, because the series is so detailed and I forgot so much of the plot. This series is overall just fantastic, the characters and the writing are so beautifully handled.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - This is an adult contemporary novel that follows a character with a mysterious backstory. I was really looking forward to reading this book, because it's gotten a lot of praise, but unfortunately this story was not for me. I just felt like the plot was stagnant and I felt like the ending was incomplete.
Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich - This is a novelization of the Broadway musical by the same name. This was another book that I've had on my radar, I love the original cast recording and I was interested in learning more about the plot of the musical. I enjoyed how this was adapted, but I do think it was missing something in comparison to the musical. If you're interested in this book, I highly recommend the audiobook.
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi - This book follows a Muslim-American girl growing up a year after 9/11. I loved this book, Mafi drew upon her own experiences for this book, and I think it is an important read. I did find that this book revolved way too much on the romance, but it didn't distract me from appreciating the overall message.
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab - This book follows Cass, who has the ability to see ghosts, as she joins her parents on a trip to Edinburgh. Victoria Schwab can write anything, this is her first foray into Middle Grade, but she handles it like a pro. This book has a fun whimsical feel, and I love how the setting played a huge role in the book.
Mirage by Somaiya Daud - This book follows Amani, who becomes a stand-in for a disliked princess. I liked this book, it's a good first installment in a Sci-Fi trilogy, so there is quite a bit of info-dumping to establish the world (which is huge), but overall it's well done. My only issue with this book is that it revolved too much around the romance, which wasn't as interesting as some of the other character relationships in the book.
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas - I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I reread the entire
Throne of Glass series, in anticipation of the releases of
Kingdom of Ash. I absolutely loved revisiting this world, before diving in to the last book. Overall I absolutely love this series and it's characters. It's bittersweet because I'm sad that one of my favorite series is over, but I'm satisfied with the ending.
And those are the books I read in October. I've already reached my reading goal for the year of 100 books, but I'm hoping I can finish the year out strong, as there are still several books that I'm looking forward to the release of. - Jessica
