After being stuck in a somehow severe reading slump for several months, October has been kind to me. It allowed me to read more than the past few months combined. I don’t know what struck me, but I am more than happy to have managed so much this month. (It was probably a week off with lots of free time, resulting in getting back to reading and then not stoping). I was able to finish seven books in total, which is more than I normally can with work and everything else. Knowing that November won’t be that great a reading month due to several reasons, I thought it might be time to show off which books I’ve read. This being said, here’s my monthly wrap-up: october 2020 edition.

monthly wrap-up: october 2020

rebel angels by libba bray

I kicked off October with finishing Rebel Angels by Libba Bray, which I really wanted to get into after two amazing cosplayers (namely @shakespeareandme and @rosaredss) made me read it. I already loved the first book of the series, but was somehow intimidated by book two and three (the latter I still have to read). But I wasn’t let down when I finally kicked myelf in the butt and read Rebel Angels. Now I only need the time to sit down, pick up and read The Sweet Far Thing as well.

the graces by laure eve

To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure whether I loved to book or ended up hating it. I feel like The Graces is this kind of book that falls into extremes and either you adore it or you don’t. Though it being the second book of the month, I still haven’t made up my mind almost a month later. I actually liked the idea of an unreliable narrator, causing you to question whether you should believe everything you read or not, but at the same time I was vastly unsatisfied with the information I got, which causes me to lean more towards the “didn’t like it that much” opinion. But as I already said – the final rating is still pending.

girl, serpent, thorn by melissa bashardoust

Sadly, Girl, Serpent, Thorn was a book that let me down. Originally it was a buddy read with @cabeswaterdreams, but Marlene ended up DNFing it and while I decided to push through, I was disappointed. If you are interested in why, you can take a look at my full review. I don’t want to repeat myself here, so I’m keeping it short. I wished the book would’ve taken a whole different turn and was sad, that it didn’t.

the bear and the nightingale by katherine arden

Next to the first two reads of the month, The Bear and the Nightingale was one of my picks for the coven’s witchy october readathon and I ended up enjoying this book a lot. I had some minor issues with it, but I fell in love with the depiction of slavic mytholgy. I am a sucker for it, but am always in need to read more about it. Also, I am definitely planning to read the rest of the series as well!

from blood and ash by jennifer l. armentrout

I don’t know where to start (or end, for that matter), but From Blood and Ash was a masterpiece. I’ve seen it floating around on bookstagram for some time and was intrigued (because I really needed some NA fantasy) and well, it most definitely didn’t disappoint. I’ve raced through the book, unable to put it down. This caused some major sleep loss during a work week, which was rather unfortunate. But it was worth it. I don’t even know which was the last book I fell for that hard, but with this one it was enough to pick up the second book right after finishing the first one.

a kingdom of flesh and fire by jennifer l. armentrout

While still loving the second book of the Blood and Ash series, I had some issues with it. It felt more like an extremely long journey without that much action (in comparison to the first book), but as I loved the characters, the writing, getting to know more of the world plus an ending that left me with my mouth hanging open, I still gave it an absurdly high rating. I would love to already have the third book in my hands, but this won’t come out until next year, which leaves me to deal with everything that came with A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire without knowing what will happen next.

the ballad of songbirds and snakes by suzanne collins

I was pretty excited to re-enter the world of The Hunger Games years after reading the original trilogy, but I was also somehow hesistant to finally pick it up. The ultimate motivation was my cousin, who pestered me to finally start it and I’m glad I did. I loved being back in Panem (as morbid as it sounds), seeing the world pretty close to the ending of the war. I was also interested to see how President Snow was as a young man and what led him to do what he ended up doing. Still, I wasn’t fully satisfied. Snow’s actions didn’t always sit right with me, which left me indecisive of whether I liked him or not. I could see where he came from, but still, it wasn’t as satisfying as I hoped it to be.

Fear and bravery are often one and the same.

All in all it was a pretty good reading month, considering that work stressed me out and I was too tired to pick up a book. I’m happy that I managed to squeeze in some reading time while not always feeling like it. On top of that, I enjoyed my picks – some more and some less. While I hope to get more reading done in November, it definitely won’t be as much as I have to deal with several other things as well. But as one says: hope dies last and I’ll try to get as much reading done as possible, hoping to repeat monthly wrap-up: october 2020!