A detailed look at August’s reading habits: 24 books read, 3 DNF, 6 books knocked off my lengthy Up Next shelf, 12 new books I want to read and a contemporary romance that released yesterday with my favourite hero trope, the grumpy hero (which I’ve already read).
Overview
| August Updates | Bookish Posts |
|---|---|
| 📖 August 24th to August 30th 📖 August 17th to August 23rd 📖 August 10th to August 16th 📖 August 3rd to August 9th | 📚 August Book Haul Part 1 📚 Goddess of Pain by Katie May |
Trigger Warnings: R@pe and sexual assault
Outline
August Reflection and Into September
August was another slow reading month. I’ve noticed my slump is more pronounced from Monday to Thursday (I’ll be lucky to finish one)… so I’m trying to go through my Up Next Shelf more “strategically.” Going into September, I’m going to focus on lighter reads during those days and read my more involved books on the weekend. I think this approach will make reading more fun and less, I have so many books to get through.
I’ve also really enjoyed tying my weekly book reviews into a shared theme. I noticed that it actually makes me approach the books in different ways than I would’ve previously. Also, doing my first book haul was so much fun and it also reminded me why I purchased each book in the first place. This goes back to: I have so many good books to read!
I was initially toying with the idea of including the book haul part 2 in this post, but I decided not to; there would’ve been too much information in one post. So look out for my second book haul which “unpacks” my Kindle purchases from July/August sometime this week.
August Book Reviews
Theme of Week 4: U.S. Women’s Rights Herstory
Here She Is by Hilary Levey Friedman
August 28th, 2020
Single Sentence Review: This herstory (history centring women) of pageantry and the women’s movement in America yields a compelling, yet occasionally tedious, analysis of the often confusing and contradicting ways that women have held up and defied conventions of womanhood and identity at the time.
Theme of Week 3: YA, Coming of Age
Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles
August 20th, 2020
Single Sentence Review: The novel is an honest representation of the toxicity of society’s understanding of ‘manliness,’ as a result, the main character can grate as he flexes his Nice Guy muscles but the lessons learned at the end of the novel make the story one worth reading.
Theme of Week 2: Rape Culture
The V Girl by Mya Robarts
Goodreads Review
August 12th, 2020
Did-Not-Finish
Single Sentence Review: A post-apocalyptic reimagining of North America where sexual slavery is legal, The V Girl is a biting representation of the insidiousness of rape culture; however, it falls short due to its chaotic world-building and unconvincing characterizations.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape by Sohaila Abdulali
August 15th, 2020
Single Sentence Review: In a world that prefers to silence rape survivors and ignore how institutions are complicit in the normalization of rape, this book is an excellent resource to address the complexity of rape and why it needs to be talked about.
Theme of Week 1: Paranormal Young Adult
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
August 5th, 2020
Single Sentence Review: A kickass Heroine takes down zombies while also attempting to subvert the rising white supremacist political party in this alt-historical fiction of post-Civil War America.
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
August 8th, 2020
Single Sentence Review: An emotional, character-driven re-telling of Twilight as Edward come to terms with loving Bella while struggling to keep control of his monstrous vampire side.
Books I Read This Month
Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog
• In Harmony by Emma Scott
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape by Sohaila Abdulali 🤓
• Tempt Me at Twilight (The Hathaways, #3) by Lisa Kleypas 🔁
• Midnight Sun (Twilight Saga, #5) by Stephenie Meyer 🤓
• Not So Pure And Simple by Lamar Giles 🤓
• A Five-Minute Life by Emma Scott
• Until December (Until Her/Him, #8) by Aurora Rose Reynolds 🔁
• Wait For It by Mariana Zapata 🔁
• This Book Is Anti-racist: 20 Life Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
• The Taste of You (Happily Ever After Collection) by Melanie Moreland
• Love Under Construction (Happily Ever After Collection) by Melanie Moreland
• Dread Nation (Dread Nation, #1) by Justina Ireland 🤓
• Goddess of Pain by Katie May
• The Body Politic by Brian Platzer
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Here She Is by Hilary Levey Friedman 🤓
• Nanny with Benefits (Temperance Falls, #3) by London Hale
• The DILF (Temperance Falls, #2) by London Hale
• Stitches (Happily Ever After Collection) by Melanie Moreland
• House Arrest (Happily Ever After Collection) by Melanie Moreland
• Built For Love by Ella Goode @ 21%
• Shacking Up by Abby Knox @ 50%
Book Types: Most books were on Kindle Unlimited.
Rating Distribution: Most August reads were 4-stars.
August Breakdown
Want to Read from this month
Most Favourite and Least Favourite*
*Can’t be a re-read
My Most Favourite: What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape by Sohaila Abdulali. Why? Read my review here.
My Least Favourite: Forever Her Cowboy by Lucy Darling. Why? Read my Goodreads review here (see the last bullet point). It was still 3.5 stars, though.
Overall, my August reads had a pretty high satisfactory rate. The books were all over 3 stars or a flat-out DNF.
Longest and Shortest Books
Longest Book: Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer ~ 662 pages
Shortest Book: Stitches novella in Happily Ever After Collection by Melanie Moreland ~ 49 pages
Statistics
Most Read Genre: Sweet Romance
Most Read Author: Emma Scott
19 New Reads; Four Re-reads; Three DNFs
*Person of Colour includes non-white characters in fantasy novels
Best Performing Bookstagram Posts
Books I’m Looking Forward to in September
Seven Ways to Kill a King by Melissa Wright
Releasing Today (September 1, 2020)!
The Ippos King by Grace Draven
Releasing September 15, 2020
See my Upcoming Release page for more of the books I’m looking forward to in September!
Bookish Posts
August Book Haul Part 1: Colours of the Rainbow
Single Sentence Summary of August Book Haul: A detailed look at my hardcover book stacks, organized by colour. Prominent themes in this haul include: feminism, challenging conventional beauty standards/ideals, sisterhood, uncovering family secrets and the 1950s.
Goddess of Pain by Katie May
Goodreads Review
Single Sentence Review of Goddess of Pain: An erotic, reverse harem romance that focuses on a goddess regaining her memories, rediscovering her psychotic and murder-happy mates–some of whom could’ve been a bit more fleshed out–while attempting to figure out who’s trying to kill her.
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