September Wrap Up

In September I read a total of five books! Two were on Audio, two were physical books and one was on my Kindle. None of which were on my September hopefuls list, Shocker.

Physical Books

“Hotel Magnifique” By Emily J. Taylor

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Jani is a 17 year old girl who has been taking care of her 13 year old sister for several years since their mother passed. She promised her sister Zosa that she would one day save up enough money to move them back to their hometown but the only reasonable way to make enough money for this is by getting a job with the Hotel Magnifique. A hotel where magic is practiced safely and travels from place to place every Midnight and you never know where it will be next.

When the Hotel appears in an alleyway near their home Jani and Zosa get in line to interview for a position. When Zosa is the only sister to get a job, Jani refuses to let her leave without her so she does everything she can to convince a worker to let her have a maids job. With both sisters now working for the magical hotel nothing can stand in their way for a better future. Well maybe one thing…. I suggest reading your contracts thoroughly before signing, you never know what rights you might be signing away.

“Spin The Dawn” By Elizabeth Lim

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

Synopsis From GoodReads


Audio Books

“Ugly Love” By Colleen Hoover

Rating: 4 out of 5.

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

Synopsis is pulled from Goodreads

“The Butterfly Garden” By Dot Hutchison

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I don’t have a full review for this book here on my blog so here are some of my thoughts.

This book was an amazing audio and I highly recommend that you pick this one up. The over all story was really interesting and left my skin crawling! I listened to this really quickly and I really didn’t want to put it down.


E-Book

“Heart Bones” By Colleen Hoover

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Beyah has been raising herself her whole life, having an absent father and a drug addict for a mother. She has just graduated high school and has a full ride volleyball scholarship to a school in Pennsylvania all due to her own hard work and determination. This scholarship finally gives her the chance to leave her life behind and start over. But when her mother dies at the beginning of the summer she has no where else to turn to except her absent father for a place to stay until school starts.

Her father has a new wife and a step daughter only a few years older than Beyah and this stings but with no where else to go she tries her best to fit in. When she meets the next door hot boy, Samson, they clearly have nothing in common on the surface but quickly learn they both have damaged pasts. Will Beyah find her place in this strange new world and can she truly leave her damaged past behind?


DNF

“Final Girls” By Riley Sager

I was supposed to read this book with my book club for our monthly pick. However, All of us but one person had to DNF this book. It was just super boring! I made it over halfway before I decided it wasn’t worth my time. Honestly nothing happens in this book at all. I was really hopeful for this book because it was my first book by this author and I have heard nothing but good things about his work, but now I am scared to read any of the others.


Favorite Quotes

“Sometimes I believe personalities are shaped more by damage than kindness. Kindness doesn’t sink as deep into your skin as the damage does. The damage stains your soul so bad, you can’t scrub it off. It stays there forever, and I feel like people can see all my damage just by looking at me.”

Colleen Hoover, Heart Bones

“I think when you’re the worst of people, finding the worst in others becomes a survival tactic of sorts. You focus heavily on the darkness in people in hopes of masking the true shade of your own darkness”

Colleen Hoover, Heart Bones

“Love isn’t always pretty. Sometimes you spend all your time hoping it’ll eventually be something different. Something better. Then, before you know it, you’re back to square one, and you lost your heart somewhere along the way.”

Colleen Hoover, Ugly Love

“I’d battled ghosts and touched the stars. I’d climbed a mountain to the moon and conquered the fury of the sun.”

Elizabeth Lim, Spin the Dawn

QOTD: What was your favorite September read?

September Wrap Up

Hello fellow book lovers, friends and family! Can you believe that September is already over? I can’t! There is no way tomorrow is already October, But I am so excited for spooky season! Fall is definitely my favorite season, mostly for the beautiful leaves, cooler weather and of course Halloween!

This month I gave my self five books to read from five different genres. How well do you think I did? Well let’s fine out!

What Did I Plan on Reading?

I really wanted to challenge myself so I picked very different genres for this month. I was really excited about all of these books but I will admit I didn’t end up reading them all.

What Did I Actually Read?

“The Intellect” By Lily Kathleen

This book was the perfect mixture of Romance and mystery tied together. When you think of a YA romance book you want this cute high school relationship that doesn’t feel like an adult love story. This book gave me the nostalgia of high school romance, the way you feel when you have a crush and when you try to hide the way you feel to protect your heart from being hurt. This book had all the feels of high school love rushing back to me.

I also got the chance to interview Lily Kathleen! She shared a lot of her writing process with me and was an absolute blast! Down below will be a link to the interview and Full review.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

“Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secrets” By J.K. Rowling

Compared to the first book, this one was a let down! I just found the magically world more amazing in the first one. I personally was just bored this entire book.

I did watch the movie afterwards and I did like that there were more scenes in the book that weren’t involved in the movie and I thought those details were a nice touch.

I am still going to continue reading this series because I heard the third and fourth books were amazing so we shall see!

Rating: 3 out of 5.

“Desperate Measures” By Katee Robert

This is a twist on the story of Aladdin but Aladdin is actually the bad guy and Jasmin and Jafar are an “Item” of some sorts. This is a very steamy book with a lot of trigger warnings.

I personally wasn’t in love with this book mostly because I can’t picture Jafar as a sexy man and also because the story line was meh. However, I guess when you are looking for a spicy book it’s for the spice not the story.

Blue is official rating and red is the spicy rating

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Favorite Quote

“But this wasn’t an ending, this was a beginning of a happier life. I felt like I had something to hold onto. Something that would actually let me be free to be who I was and not pretend to be someone I wasn’t.”

From “The Intellect”

Life Updates

This month the most interesting thing to have happened to me was that I got to Interview three very different authors! Also each of these authors are giving a signed book away on my giveaway that is coming up on October 8Th! I am so excited for next month you have no Idea! Be sure to stay tuned for updates on the upcoming giveaway and go follow these authors!