Hello friends, welcome to another wrap up! August may be the last month I’ll ever read much considering that I’ve just started university. To say the least, I’m incredibly upset that I will not be reading more than one book. My record for August is 7 books. YAY!! Favourite book of the month is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I’ve only read 4 books for #thereadingquest. SOBS, THIS IS NOT GOOD PROGRESS )’:
My current read is Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas. Only 100 pages in but I’m enjoying it but tiny bit weird about the love triangle tbh.
rating: ★★★1⁄2
Retellings of Hades and Persephone (Greek mythology in general) always fascinates me especially since Hades is most of the time, a brooding vicious God and Persephone is the unwilling prisoner in the Underworld. It’s extremely steamy and sexy straight off the bat and very fast-paced. I really liked this retelling, unfortunately, it’s a really short read.
2. Deep Blue – Jennifer Donnelly (full review)
rating: ★★★1⁄2
First mermaid novel and anything from Jennifer Donnelly. more MG than YA. Strong and diverse cast. Heavy emphasis on girl power and friendship. Massive information dumps which made me dizzy. Fun and fast-paced. Relatively little romance.
3. Settling the Scores – R.S. Grey
rating: ★★★★
R.S. Grey knows how to write a cute and addictive and steamy book. Read it within 4 hours, it was entertaining I couldn’t stop flipping the pages. Andie and Freddie were so fun to read, they have chemistry and are perfect for each other. I can’t not support those two since they’re extremely likable characters. I also loved the side characters – Becca and Kinsley, they both great addition to the story. Definitely looking forward to other R.S. Grey books in the future!
4. Fragmented Bliss – BJ Rosalind
my aesthetic for fragmented bliss
rating: ★★★★
Have never read any poem books before so when Benita, the author, contacted me to review her book, I couldn’t say no. It’s more focused on romance or rather the aftermath of heartbreaks. I loved the different perspective. As if there’s a mini journey with every poem. Benita manages to weave words beautifully together and chooses to describe in simple words to portray the emotions. Since her poems aren’t filled with metaphors and paradoxes, I could relate very easily.
some of my favourites are Sad People, Lies of Fire, and Her.
She bursts like an array of shooting stars,
she blooms like the telltale signs of spring.
– B.J. Rosalind
5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor (full review)
rating: ★★★★★
Laini Taylor became one of my favourite authors ever since I read Strange the Dreamer in April. Her books have the whole package – dynamic plot, amazing characters, and incredible writing.
6. Antigoddess – Kendare Blake
(goodreads review – spoilers hidden)
my aesthetic for antigoddess
rating: ★★★
It has been a long time since I’ve read a Greek mythology book so I decided to pick up Antigoddess that had been sitting on my shelf forgetten and unread for many years. It’s was a super easy read, though I did take about a week to finish (because life). While I do wish for more, overall, it was enjoyable.
7. Mortal Gods – Kendare Blake
(goodreads review – spoilers hidden)
my aesthetic for mortal gods
rating: ★★1⁄2
Wanted to like this so bad but.. can’t always want what I want. What I didn’t like at all was the main character, Cassandra. She was decent in Antigoddess but here, she’s a selfish brat who’s always whining and moaning about how unfair life is while Athena, Hermes and Odyssey and even Andie and Henry are risking everything in their own life. GET A GRIP YOUNG LADY! Spent my whole time shaking my head, rolling my eyes and just tsking away.
The first week in University was daunting and intimidating and I’m still getting lost in the campus even though it’s considered relatively smaller to other universities. Making new friends was a challenge I’ve never expected. I was so comfortable in my current circle of friends that I didn’t think about making friends in classes. Another challenge is the increasing workload.
My English mod professor is already piling up homework on us. She gave us three assignments in one shot. I don’t reckon it’s very hard to complete them but my lazy bum had been accoustomed to no homework for months. It’s going to take awhile for me to adjust to school life again. It’s only been one week but I’m already exhuasted. My body can’t keep up with the hectic lifestyle it’s going to face.
With the chaos that university bring about, I won’t be uploading as much blog posts as I did before. My book reviews will come at infrequent schedules. Apologies for that, I’ll try to publish posts often but probably wouldn’t happen. oops.
That’s about it for my august wrap up! Let me know what was your five stars read this month, I want to know!
