September was a bit of a mixed-bag in the reading department. On one hand, it was a good month, because I read a lot- I finished ten books and started two others- but on the other, some of my choices were pretty dull, so I grew bored and found it hard to stay focused at times.
Luckily, I also discovered a few gems that balanced it out and made my soul happy- including one I loved so much, it got promoted to my all-time-favourites list, so it was definitely still more of a good reading month than bad.
Anyway, let's have a look at what I read], and fair warning, I'm then I'm going to ramble on about some of my favourite and least favourite reads of September, so abandon ship while you still can!
September Reading Stats:
📖 10 books completed, 2 started.
📖 4 hardbacks.
🎧 6 audiobooks
📖 1447 pages (3987 pages including audiobooks).
🎧 92.58 hours listened at 1.1x or 1.2x speed.
📖 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!
📖 1 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 read!
📖 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!
📖 Average rating: 3.48 stars.
📖 Average book length: 398 pages.
📖 Average time to finish: 6 days.
I Read:
📖The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black. 3.25⭐
📖The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. 5⭐
📖Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher. 5⭐
📖Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy. 4.5⭐
🎧Born of Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 4⭐ (Reread).
🎧The Deathly Grimm by Kathryn Purdie. 1⭐
🎧Tithe by Holly Black. 3⭐
🎧Valiant by Holly Black. 2⭐
🎧Ironside by Holly Black. 3⭐
🎧A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 4⭐ (Reread).
And I Started:
🎧The Marriage Act by John Marrs.
📖The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
Favourite Reads: There were a few books I rated highly in September. Firstly, I fell hopelessly in love with The Enchanted Greenhouse- the sequel to last year's bestseller, The Spellshop- and knew within a couple of chapters that I'd found a new all-time favourite. It was just so cute and cosy, and left me feeling so happy and content while reading it. It's about a young woman who is turned into a statue for using illegal magic to bring a plant to life, and when she awakens some years later, she stumbles upon a magical greenhouse in snow-draped woods. The greenhouse is a marvel of hundreds of glasshouses filled with wondrous plants- including some that sing and some who are sentient, as well as enchanting creatures like miniature dragons, a sea turtle, and a winged cat. When she happens upon a handsome lone gardener inside and discovers that the magic powering the greenhouses is failing, placing all the plants at risk, she chooses to stay and help him save it. And to do so, she has to converse with a ghost, wake a bed of comatose sentient plants, reunite a hurting man with his estranged family, and use magic she promised herself she'd never go near again. All while living in a cosy cabin with the introverted gardener who loves to cook almost as much as he loves to garden. It's so wonderfully whimsical and effortlessly lovely, and the book equivalent of a good hug, followed by cake warm from the oven on a cold day. It's basically like a children's book for adults, and it's impossible to feel miserable while reading this book. Read it when you need a pick-me-up! I can't wait for the third book, which comes out next summer.
I also really loved Hemlock and Silver, which is a dark Snow White retelling where Snow takes a backseat, and the mirror is the star of the show. The protagonist is a hilarious, plus-sized thirty-something poison expert who is employed by the king to help discover why his daughter, Snow, is gravely sick. Along with her stoic guard, her investigation leads her into a creepy mirror-world where the answer lies among moving reflections, and monsters lurking in the shadows- and it's more sinister than anyone could've imagined. It was the perfect mix of unnerving, funny, and imaginative, and kept me hooked from start to finish. I loved the two main characters, Anja and Javier, and the relationship which developed between them as they explored the mirror-world. If you love forced proximity, slow-burn romance, creepy settings, and have a weird sense of humour, I think you'll enjoy it, too.
Sorcery and Small Magics was another fun read, and made me laugh all the way through. It's about two rival sorcery students who suddenly find themselves bound together by a love spell, and have to journey through a dangerous magical forest full of monsters to find a powerful sorcerer to help them break it. One is a grumpy, straight-laced sorcerer, who likes to play by the rules, and has little patience for the other, who is a charming light-hearted scriver who loves to have fun and never seems to take anything seriously. They hate one another, but the spell won't let them stay away from each other, so they have to learn to work together to find a solution- with interesting results. I wish I hadn't taken a year to read my copy, because I really enjoyed it. The story and magic-system were interesting, the main characters were loveable, I loved how weird and wonderful the monsters in the woods were, and the canine side-kick was the cutest. A sequel hasn't been announced yet, but I'm already looking forward to it.
Favourite Listens: Most of my audiobook choices were a little on the mediocre side last month, but I really enjoyed my rereads of the unabridged versions of Born of Blood and Ash (the final book in the Flesh and Fire series), and A Soul of Ash and Blood (the fifth book of Blood and Ash). No, the names aren't a coincidence- they're two series from the same universe, which are interconnected, and cross-over in the Blood and Ash series (along with a new third series, Wrath and Ruin). Both audiobooks lose a star for the narration, which took me a while to get used to. Born of Blood and Ash wasn't so bad once I acclimated to Nyktos, the Primal of Death, with a southern American accent, but the narrator for A Soul of Ash and Blood made Casteel sound like a 1970s James Bond, and Kieran like a Cockney con-artist who lurks in dark alleyways with a dagger in his boot. The retro timber to his voice and the way he pronounced some words distracted from the story, which is a shame as it's a brilliant story, but once I got used to it, I enjoyed the reread. If you want to listen to the series, the Graphic Audios are so much better, but they're only up to book four so far, and haven't done Flesh and Fire yet.
Least Favourites: It's not a hard choice this month- it's The Deathly Grimm. I enjoyed it even less than book one, and feel like I was being generous when I gave it one star. The writing was all over the place, the story made no sense, and if I had to hear the FMC describe her scoliosis-curved spine as an 'S-curve' one more time, I was going to scream. Having spinal issues myself, I sympathised with her aches and pains, but for the love of God, just call it a spine or a backbone now and then!
I was also unmoved by Valiant- the second book in the Modern Faerie Tales trilogy and a spin-off of The Folk of the Air series. I found the modern setting and the teenaged angst really boring, but I do appreciate that I'm a little older than the intended audience for both of these books, and younger readers who can relate more to the characters are likely to love them.
So, that's what I read in September.
Have you read anything good lately?
