The month after YALC is always one of my best reading months. This whole year has been quite good for reading, however once i’ve been to YALC and feel rejuvenated to read, i get my most done in August. This year has been no different. I’m actually really surprised with how much i’ve got read in August.
I’ve had quite a bit of time off work in August, which has meant that i’ve had loads of time to read. That being matched with a very low mood has let me be alone and read until my heart was less hurty. Just what i wanted to be honest. I ended up reading a lot of books, and books that i’ve really enjoyed. Here’s what i’ve read this month and my monthly stats!
I Am Not A Number by Lisa Heathfield
I have a full review of this going up soon, but i absolutely adore Lisa’s work, her as a person and pretty much everything about her. She’s a lovely human who creates such atmospheric and heartbreaking stories. This was absolutely no different. With hints to the Holocaust, I Am Not A Number really hit home, and was great for learning about what could still happen right now. It had a lot of politics involved too, which is wonderful with all that’s happening in the world.
Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert
This has been on my TBR for such a long time now, and i finally picked it up a few months ago. As soon as YALC is over i like to read some books from my backlog, this was one of them! I really loved this story of Yvonne, her love life, her music career and the characters she’s involved with. It’s a really wonderfully true story that felt incredibly real. I flew through this in twenty-four hours, and i’m really glad i did!
Toffee by Sarah Crossan
Keeping on the trend of books i’ve been meaning to get to, Toffee was one of them. I adore Sarah’s writing and Toffee was no different. It’s hard hitting and easy to read. She makes these difficult discussions really accessible and i appreciate the ability to reach a younger audience with these topics. Toffee has themes of family, age and dementia and really struck a cord with me. My review is up on my wonderful friends blog now!
Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness
I’ve been meaning to finish off the Chaos Walking trilogy for a long time now, and i finally did it! I was putting it off because Monsters Of Men is truly a monster of a book. I really enjoyed this series as a whole and the actual premise of it, however this final book was my least favourite of the series. It’s definitely a character love for me. I fell completely in love with the characters and not much of the writing or story. I’m one step closer to reading all of Patrick’s work!
A Pocketful Of Stars by Aisha Bushby
A Pocketful Of Stars has been one of my most anticipated books since last year. I’ve been incredibly excited to pick it up and support Aisha on her debut journey. I fell in love with her writing last year when she was a newcomer in Change Is Gonna Come and her debut novel was nothing short of being incredible. It was a wonderful dip in to middle-grade for me and i can see how this book will be loved by so many people. It’s magical, heartbreaking and follows a really powerful journey.
Hello Me, It’s You by Hannah Todd and Jenny Howard
Hello Me, It’s You is an anthology of sorts written by anonymous submissions. Hannah and Jenny founded this project some years ago when they realised there wasn’t many voices of young mental health suffers. They collected anonymous submissions by people aged 18-24 to write a letter to your sixteen year old self, letting them know what you wish you had known then. It was really interesting to read all the stories individuals have, and what they’ve been through in terms of a wide variety of mental health issues. This is such a useful project to so many people, and i’m really glad i found it!
Naturally Tan by Tan France
I have been wanting to read Naturally Tan for a long time now, and me and Lois from Lois Reads Books decided that we would co-read it this month! We spent two weeks reading it, a few chapters a day and i ended up absolutely adoring it. Tan is hilarious in all senses, but wasn’t afraid to shy away from any topic that seemed to be ‘out of bounds’. Every chapter came with some fashion advice, that didn’t seem pushy but genuinely felt as though it would make you feel a little more confident. I have a review going up on Lois’ blog on the 5th of September, and she has the same on ours! Keep your eyes on both of our sites.
Tamsin And The Dark by Neill Cameron
I don’t feel like i can rate this due to the fact i was dumb enough to pick it up, THEN realise that it was the second in a series. I managed to figure my way through the story and then gather what was happening, however i can’t say i experienced it the way i should have done. I really want to go back and read the first graphic novel in this series because i thought it was really fun and loved the characters.
All That She Can See by Carrie Hope Fletcher
I adore Carrie and her writing, so when me and Sophie felt the urge to read a hardback book (you know the urge) then we figured we may as well co-read All That She Can See. We spent about a week reading this book together, which was a whole lot of fun. We’ll have a co-review up on the blog soon as we did some good baking to go along with the theme. I found the first half of the story i loved, and the second lacked something for me. But overall it was a pretty fun read.
Meet Cute by Various Authors
Sophie bought me Meet Cute last year for my birthday after me banging on about reading it for quite some time. I adore cute, fluffy stories and this anthology definitely delivered. Stories from the likes of Nicola Yoon, Nina LaCour and Emery Lord ranged from sci-fi, to dystopian to contemporary, all about falling in love. I really do enjoy reading about meet cutes so this was the perfect anthology for me and the one i’ve most enjoyed. They’ll be a review up soon of my favourite stories from the collection.
I can’t believe i managed to read ten books this month. I always knew that August was a good reading month, however ten feels like a real feat at the moment. It also helped that i pretty much liked everything that i’ve read this month. Next month i’ll be tackling some ARCs that i have so stick around for next months wrap-up to see what exciting books are being released soon.
Books read: 10
Books read this year: 49
Pages read: 3,105
Pages Per Day: 100
Average Rating: 3
Years of Release: 2010, 2018, 2019
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