What I read over the past few weeks..

Hi everyone! I’m sorry for disappearing for a few weeks. I think I needed a break from blogging, but I was also extremely busy with work and life. I felt pressure to finish books I wasn’t very enthused about and I honestly just didn’t feel like writing about it. I am happy to report that I continued reading and read quite a few books! I plan to continue reading and reviewing books, but I think its time I start playing around with the content and appearance of my blog. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do yet, but I know I want to incorporate more reading challenges and discussion posts in addition to my reviews. What do you all think? What kind of bookish posts are your favorite and which ones do you think make your blog unique? 

As I mentioned above, I read quite a few books over the past few weeks and really enjoyed most of them. I finally had to take a break from Miss Peregrine’s because I could not get through it. Guys, what is it about this book?! This is the second time I’ve tried to read it, and I just get too bored while reading. I want to get through it, and I will get through it because I am still intrigued by the concept, but for now it will sit on my dresser while I read books I enjoy more. Is it worth it? Should I pick it up again? The writing is good, the photographs are unique and add to the story…but I just can’t do it right now.  Anyway, here are the other books I read recently. All are books I already own or got from the library via Overdrive:

Continuing my CoHo binge with:

Ugly Love (3/5★) by Colleen Hoover

November 9 (3.5/5★) by Colleen Hoover

While these weren’t my favorite CoHo books, they were as addicting as ever. I read Ugly Love first and picked up November 9 next because it was immediately available at the library and I wasn’t quite through with my CoHo fix. I had no idea there was a crossover of characters in these two books so it was a pleasant surprise! Miles and Tate make a few appearances in November 9, so these books are great to read together if you are thinking about picking them up.

I also read some fantasy books that have been on my TBR for a long time now:

This Savage Song (3.5/5★) by Victoria Schwab

The Young Elites  (4/5★) by Marie Lu

This Savage Song was dark, hauntingly beautiful and overall an enjoyable read. Some aspects of the books were unique like the monsters and the role of music, but it was overall missing that spark that makes a book excellent for me. That being said I really did enjoy it and am looking forward to Our Dark Duet. The Young Elites was very good! I’ve never read a book with an anti-hero like Adelina and I am eager to see where the trilogy takes her. Although I’ve seen mixed reviews about The Midnight Star, I will go into the next two books with an open mind.

And finally, I read two contemporaries that both turned out to be much darker than I anticipated! After digesting them for a few days after finishing them, I decided I really enjoyed both books.

All The Bright Places (4/5★) by Jennifer Niven

The Female Of The Species (4/5★) by Mindy McGinnis

Both of these books were dark! I highly recommend both of them but be aware that they deal with very heavy topics. All The Bright Places was heavier than I expected. Once I realized where the book was heading I desperately wanted it to slow down. I saw a lot of mixed reviews on this book saying it didn’t accurately display mental illness. While I do think it was simplified to an extent, and mental illness is a very sensitive, personal topic, it did open my eyes to a new perspective and really made me think about these characters. The Female of the Species was a book I really enjoyed, but despite my enjoyment I could never really connect with Alex in the way I hoped. However, I was intrigued by her and I was rooting for her even when it felt morally wrong at times. There is a lot of discussion of rape culture in this book that I thought was very well done. It was subtle, but very present. Both of these books are important reads and I hope you consider reading both of them!

Thank you for sticking through the long post! Full reviews of each of these books will be up over the next few weeks as I write them. I am very happy to be back and am going to make sure I read and respond to each of your comments from the past few weeks. Have you read any of the books above? What did you think of them?

Happy reading!