Today is October 1, so you know what that means, right? It’s time for a Reading Wrap Up for September 2021.
How was everyone’s September? Mine wasn’t too terrible, especially as my youngest is back in school! YAY! Seriously, she had a rough go of school last year, missing a month early on due to anxiety. But we’ve got this! She is already a different person than she was in August. Yes, she still grumbles about getting up in the morning, but she is a teenager, so what can we expect?
September 2021 Reading Wrap Up
As to my reading in September, it wasn’t terrible. Even when taking into account the fact I didn’t touch a book for a few days. I think I was just overwhelmed at the beginning of the month as I had a lot of holds from my library come in all at once. When I say a bunch, I mean nine books; that’s a lot for anyone to expect to read in 3 weeks. In the end, I only read five of them. I decided to read the ones I was most passionate about reading. I did try reading a couple of the others and just ended up DNF them, which stinks because I only had about 100-pages left in the one.
What did I read in September 2021?
- Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
- Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
- George by Alex Gino
- Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton
- Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
- Death in Bloom by Jess Dylan
- The Guilded Ones by Namina Forna
What did I DNF in September 2021?
- Spells Trouble by PC Cast & Kristen Cast
- The Guncle by Steven Rowley
A Brief Summary of Each Book
Book 1: Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
Better Than the Movies is the debut YA rom-com by Lynn Painter. Released in May 2021, Better Than the Movies introduces us to Liz and Wes. Liz is a die-hard rom-com fan. Wes is the boy-next-door but in a jerk kind of way. But she needs his help getting the guy she’s had a crush on since kindergarten. What could go wrong?
Book 2: Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
Sisters in Arms is a debut historical fiction novel by Kaia Alderson. Published in August 2021, Sisters in Arms tells the story of Eliza and Grace as they become part of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. These women, and many others, make up the only all-Black Battalion names the Six Triple Eight. We follow Eliza and Grace from the day they enlist until after the war.
Book 3: George by Alex Gino
George by Alex Gino is a middle-grade contemporary that introduces us to George, a girl the world perceives as a boy. George is a student in 4th grade who struggles to find the strength to tell the world they are wrong, and she is a girl, not the boy they see. Released in August 2015, George has been on the ALA Banned & Challenged Books list every year.
Book 4: Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton
Revenge of the Sluts is the debut novel by Natalie Walton. Published in February 2021, ROTS is a YA contemporary thriller that examines the digital age and privacy. Eden Jeong is an editor at her school newspaper when the biggest story ever hits. The administration wants the story to disappear and does what they can to make it. But should they? What about the whole story being heard?
Book 5: Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good offers an honest look at the struggles of many residential school survivors. First published in April 2020, Five Little Indians follows five survivors from the 1960s-1990s.
Book 6: Death in Bloom by Jess Dylan
Death in Bloom is the first book in the Flower House Mystery Series by Jess Dylan. First published in May 2021, this cozy mystery set in the mountains of Tennessee introduces us to Sierra Ravenswood as she is trying to figure out the path she needs to take to find the future she dreams of having.
Book 7: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
The Gilded Ones is the first book in the Deathless Series by Namina Forna. Released in February 2021, The Gilded Ones is a YA fantasy that introduces us to Deka, a sixteen-year-old with extraordinary power. The day her blood runs gold, the day she commands a group of invaders to stop what they are doing, is the day her life ends.
DNF Books
I was excited to get my hands on Spells Trouble finally. It sounded so wonderful-a set of teenage witches coming into their powers and having to save their town from an unknown force. Sounds great, right? Sadly, it wasn’t all that. I kept trying to like the book; I read over half of it. In the end, I had to DNF it. The book was trying to have all of the trendy things in books and couldn’t balance any of it. In the end, the story felt too fantastical ever to be believable.
As for The Guncle, the book was sweet. So why did I DNF it? Because the amount of grief flowing through the book was too much for me at the moment. I have heard such beautiful things; I hope to return to it in the next year.
October 2021 TBR
What to read in the spooky season? A Christmas book, of course! That’s what I’m starting with, as I have a looming deadline to read and review the book—looming as in only a few days! Yikes! I also have my Agatha Christie book from September to finish reading.
What else do I hope to read this month?
- The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
- Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
- The A.B.C Murders by Agatha Christie
- Dreaming in Chocolate by Susan Bishop Crispell
- The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
If time permits, I’ve got a few other books from the library that I hope to read as well.
That’s my Reading Wrap Up for September 2021. How was your month? What is on your TBR for October?
Looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my other monthly reading wrap-ups.
Looks like your September wrap-up went great! Hope you enjoy your October reads as well!
You’ve had such a good month of reading! What a great list of books. I’ve heard mixed things about the Guncle, I want to read it for myself one day soon.
I hope to give it another try at some point.