38 Adventurous Books Read in August

A detailed look at August’s reading habits: My August Wrap includes 38 books read and one DNF, with adventurous plots and romances! My September Hopefuls list includes two books by R.F. Kuang: The Poppy War and Babel.

Overview

Outline

August Reflection and Into September

August was such a great month – it was the first time I had had no school in more than a year. COVID really messed up my academic calendar 😅. Anyways, August gave me time to rest and have fun before starting school again in September. For the first time in more than five years, I visited the USA, including Washington, D.C. and New York City. I was excited to visit a few independent bookstores frequently featured on Instagram. I had a blast at Strand Book Store and Books Are Magic and picked up a few highly anticipated books, including Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou and NSFW by Isabel Kaplan. Of course, I got a picture in front of the Books Are Magic mural 🙃.

This month started my historical romance era, which has lasted for months! I read A Matter of Temptation by Stacy Reid and adored it. I was so happy to discover that Stacy has a massive backlist and spent the month reading eight of her books – seven of which I rated higher than 4 stars. And, despite reading quite a few 2-star books, my average rating in August was 4.07 stars, which makes August one of my best reading months.

For the first time since joining @book.club.bitches‘s Reading BINGO challenges, I finished a BINGO board! I was so happy I could fulfil the remaining prompts on the Summer Reading BINGO in August. Being a mood reader often makes fulfilling specific prompts quite difficult, but that’s also half the fun. This success has reignited my confidence in my ability to follow TBRs, so I’ve decided to start each month with a more detailed to-be-read list in my reading journals. Hopefully, this change will encourage me to read more books from my Up Next Shelf before 2023!

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf

Books I Read This Month

August Breakdown

Want to Read from this month

*These buttons (🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇸) and the Kindle Embeds contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclaimer here.

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
✰
🏷History fantasy
🏷Magic like X-Men
🏷 Character-driven

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
✰
🏷Urban Fantasy
🏷Mother-son relationship
🏷LGBTQIA+ Representation

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
✰
🏷Sapphic Epic Fantasy
🏷Three women join forces to rebel against a cruel empire
🏷Queer normative society

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
✰
🏷Fantasy
🏷Dark Fairytale
🏷Found family

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
✰
🏷Literary Fiction
🏷Decolonizing Academia
🏷Character-driven

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair
✰
🏷High Fantasy
🏷Assassin FMC
🏷Indigenous Author

The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport
✰
🏷Sci-Fi Fantasy
🏷Competition Tournament
🏷for fans of The Hunger Games and The Poppy War trilogies

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
✰
🏷Memoir
🏷Mother-daughter relationship
🏷Growing up in Hollywood

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead
✰
🏷Cult Thriller
🏷Podcast elements
🏷Revenge

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
✰
🏷Historical Fiction
🏷Father-daughter relationship
🏷Women in sports

The Color of Trauma by Hollie Smurthwaite
✰
🏷Paranormal Romantic Suspense
🏷Psychics
🏷Hunting a serial killer

On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi
✰
🏷Contemporary Romance
🏷Grey’s Anatomy vibes
🏷Friends-to-Lovers

Most Favourite and Least Favourite*

*Can’t be a re-read

Most Favourite: A Matter of Temptation by Stacy Jones. See why here.

Least Favourite: Sporting Goods by Roxanne Tully. See why here.

Longest and Shortest Books

Longest Book: When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon ~ 468 pages

Shortest Book: Reckless by Aurora Rose Reynolds ~ 205 pages

Statistics

Most Read Genre: Historical Romance (9).

My September Hopefuls

Historically, I hit a reading slump in September every year. So, while this TBR was the ideal, I knew it was unlikely that I would stick to it completely. I think it was particularly ambitious that I wanted to read R.F. Kuang’s debut, The Poppy War, and most recent release, Babel, in the same month. ACE by Angela Chen has been on my to-be-read list forever, but I always need to hype myself up to read nonfiction books because they take me so long to read (like months). ACE explores what asexuality is and, by doing so, comments on the hypersexuality and compulsory heterosexuality that permeates society today.

Now, I wasn’t looking forward to reading Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (I really didn’t jive with her “horror” All These Bodies), but I’m proud that I’m taking the chance and including a book that’s been on my bookshelf for 7+ years. I’m hoping The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid will continue my summertime foray into fantasy. I’m also always here for the social commentary; I’m incredibly intrigued by how the author wove in religious persecution from real life into her fantasy book. Finally, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender is another book that’s been on my TBR for a while, and I’ve heard nothing but good things. Unfortunately, YA romance hasn’t been a genre I’ve been into that much this year, but I’m hoping Felix Ever After will change that.

Anticipated September Releases

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Released on September 6, 2022

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Released on September 20, 2022

See my Upcoming Release page for more of the books I’m looking forward to in September!

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