Hello Readers! Welllll, I didn’t realize that this month would turn into Twilight August, but I guess I should have. Whenever I revisit a series I know and love, it’s hard for me to find my way back out. 😉 I had so much fun, though, and I highly recommend getting lost in your favorite books!

Looking back at My August TBR, I was happy to see that I had planned accordingly and only put seven books on my list. I managed to read 5 out of 7 of those books (I’m currently reading one of those 7, as well), plus three extra Twilight ones, and one I didn’t plan on at all. For a grand total of 9 books and 4,138 pages!

Be sure to check out The Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction!

(Link to synopsis on Goodreads through the book title.)

August Wrap-Up

I started the month reading my first book by Kennedy Ryan, Queen Move. And it was STEAMY!

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My Review

Next, I finally got to pick up the long-awaited Midnight Sun. I took my time reading it, relishing every word. And then I didn’t want to leave the world, so I continued on with the rest of the series!

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My Review

Rereading New Moon after finishing Midnight Sun was a whole new experience.

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It was while I was reading Eclipse that I started tallying up the scenes I wanted from Edward’s POV after reading Midnight Sun, which I turned into a Top Ten Tuesday post called The Top Ten Twilight Saga Scenes I need from Edward’s POV Now That I’ve read Midnight Sun.

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I finished up the series with Breaking Dawn and a terrible book hangover. Thankfully, I had plenty of great books still to read. 😉

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Next, I needed something light, quick, and thrilling, so I picked up Dangerous Girls, which has been sitting on my shelves for a long time. And let me tell you, the hype is real. It kept me guessing until the very end.

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I was so excited to finally get to Fable by Adrienne Young, an ARC I had managed to snag from Netgalley. I loved every word. And now I desperately want an ARC of Namesake, the next book in the duology.

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My Review

My next book was an ARC I’d received from Atria Books, His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie. It’s a marriage story unlike no other, and one I won’t forget.

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My Review

Finally, I read Kazuki Kaneshiro’s beautiful novella Go about a Korean teen living in Japan and the discrimination he faces. I finished it in one sitting, and I highly recommend it!

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August Book Haul

I added a few physical books to my shelves thanks to paperbackswap.com and My Book HookUp Box.

My Book HookUp Books

My June subscription box came late thanks to Covid-19, but I was happy to discover it included they very hyped Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron and an ARC of Historically Inaccurate by Shay Bravo! Check out My Unboxing Post to see what else I found inside. 🙂

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My Paperbackswap books

• Force of Nature by Jane Harper
• You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

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The eARCs

I did add a few digital ARCs this month from Netgalley that I’m excited to get to.

I was actually approved for Swamp Thing: Twin Branches in July, but I forgot to share it in my July Wrap-Up. I’ll read anything by Maggie Stiefvater, and while graphic novels aren’t my go-to, I do enjoy them when I pick them up.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Twins Alec and Walker Holland have a reputation around town. One is quiet and the other is the life of any party, but they are inseparable. For their last summer before college, the two leave the city to live with their rural cousins, where they find that the swamp holds far darker depths than they could have imagined.

While Walker carves their names into the new social scene, Alec recedes into a summer school laboratory, because he brought something from home on their trip—it’s an experiment that will soon consume him. This season, both brothers must confront truths, ancient and familial, and as their lives diverge, tensions increase and dormant memories claw to the surface.

10/13/20

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The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous is one of my most anticipated books for 2021, so I was happy to be approved for it on Netgalley.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The USA Today bestselling author of The Au Pair returns with another delicious, twisty novel—about a grand estate with many secrets, an orphan caught in a web of lies, and a young woman playing a sinister game.

1988. Beth Soames is fourteen years old when her aunt takes her to stay at Raven Hall, a rambling manor in the isolated East Anglian fens. The Averells, the family who lives there, are warm and welcoming, and Beth becomes fast friends with their daughter, Nina. At times, Beth even feels like she’s truly part of the family…until they ask her to help them with a harmless game—and nothing is ever the same.

2019. Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig to pretend to be a guest at a weekend party. She is sent a suitcase of clothing, a dossier outlining the role she is to play, and instructions. It’s strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she’ll be staying at, she figures she’s got nothing to lose.

In person, Raven Hall is even grander than she’d imagined—even with damage from a fire decades before—but the walls seem to have eyes. As day turns to night, Sadie starts to feel that there’s something off about the glamorous guests who arrive, and as the party begins, it becomes chillingly apparent their unseen host is playing games with everyone…including her.

1/12/21

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I already have a physical ARC of A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son by Michael Ian Black, but I was invited to participate in the blog tour and received a digital ARC, as well!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A poignant look at boyhood, in the form of a heartfelt letter from comedian Michael Ian Black to his teenage son before he leaves for college, and a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love. 

In a world in which the word masculinity now often goes hand in hand with toxic, comedian, actor, and father Michael Ian Black offers up a way forward for boys, men, and anyone who loves them. Part memoir, part advice book, and written as a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son, A Better Man reveals Black’s own complicated relationship with his father, explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to “man up,” and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution, not the problem. “If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability,” he writes, “how are we supposed to experience wonder, fear, tenderness?”

Honest, funny, and hopeful, Black skillfully navigates the complex gender issues of our time and delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be, and raise, better men?

9/15/20

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My Purchases

I couldn’t resist picking up The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare on sale for $1.99. It’s still on sale, by the way. I picked my copy up on Kobo, but it’s also available on Amazon.

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And lastly, I added Find Layla by Meg Elison as my Amazon First Reads choice for August. It’s a young adult coming-of-age novel that sounds like it will be an emotional read!

How was your reading month? Have you read any of these books? Did you add any of them to your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!