September was a great month. I went back to Spain to visit my family, ate a lot of good food and came back depressed to find out the weather in England was still too warm for my liking. As this month includes the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, I read a mixture of summer and autumn books. Back in Spain, I felt like rereading the romance trilogy of The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han, but in England, I wanted nothing more than to read a book that screams dark academia like A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik.
Best reads of September
How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
“I have killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit.”
Did it feel weird reading this book while visiting family? Yes, but it was an eBook, so no one knew what I was reading or thinking about. I loved this story. I loved seeing the mind of a sociopath who, even when she actually likes a member of her estranged family, still kills them because they’re part of a bigger plan. It was a fascinating read and extremely funny.
I like to be on my own, and have never understood what weakness exists in people who crave the company of others all the time.
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I was so excited for this second part! I liked The Inheritance Games better, but I still loved this book. I like a good mystery and the classic “did this person die 20 years ago or have they been living in the shadows all this time?”. The only issue with this series is the love triangle, we don’t need that in 2021, please! Also, I’m team Grayson, obviously.
Why had the billionaire disinherited his entire family after the fire on Hawthorne Island? Why use his will to point to what had happened there, when he’d apparently paid good money to cover it up?
Fiction reads
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
I was so sure I would love this book. I like everything Beth O’Leary writes, and even though it starts great, I just wanted to punch the love interest by the end. I loved the protagonist’s character, but the love interest reminded me of my ex-boyfriend, so it was like reliving everything that was wrong in our relationship. I thought a road trip through England to reach Scotland with two sisters, an ex-boyfriend, a best friend and a stranger, would be a fun read. But I was so wrong! This was a very frustrating read.
This summer I’m not little Addie, trailing behind. I’m not the person you forget when you’re telling your mates who’s at the pub. I’m not the girl you ghost because you’ve met someone better. I can be whoever I want to be.
‘You deserve someone who wants you for who you really are,’ I tell her. ‘And doesn’t try to turn you into somebody else.’ She laughs, throwing her head back. ‘I’ve yet to find a man like that,’ she says.
The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You and We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
“For me, it was almost like winter didn’t count. Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers.”
I was looking for a classic summer read, and I remembered loving this series when I was younger, but revisiting it as an adult was a mistake. The love triangle was insufferable, a girl who’s in love with two brothers but will always love one more than the other, but he doesn’t feel the same way, though maybe he does. There’s too much teenage drama. Some books should only be read when you’re still a teen.
When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can’t say in real life.
A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1) by Naomi Novik
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. It seems to be inspired by Harry Potter, but ten times darker and without anything that makes Hogwarts charming. Set in a creepy school for the magically gifted, where making it out alive is almost impossible. The school is full of monsters that want to eat the students, there are no teachers or supervision, and some of the students use other kids as their meal or pull power from them, eventually killing them. This school stressed me out so much. I liked the book, but sometimes it felt a bit too much, and it was very repetitive.
Non-fiction reads
What Would Boudicca Do? Everyday Problems Solved by History’s Most Remarkable Women by Elizabeth Foley
This book was cute. It’s a collection of incredible women through history, some more well known than others, and how their story can be applied to current women. It’s a guidebook with advice for women plus interesting history. Even though I discovered a lot of impressive women I’d never heard of, each chapter is around two or three pages, and the history part was too brief in my opinion, but it’s a great book anyway. I think it’d make a fun gift for a teenager or a young adult.
It’s the second of October while I’m finishing this post. It’s been raining non-stop for three days, I have two pumpkins next to me, and I love this month so far! I have a lot of spooky reads planned for October, which I’ll post about soon.
Willow in Winter 