This Had Better Come to a Stop | Q3 Book Haul

*snaps* Someone stop me from buying books. 

This is getting absolutely ridiculous. If there are more than ten books in my Q4 book haul, I'm going on stricter book buying ban in the new year.

• THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE: 5 STARS - One of my absolute favorite books of the year. 
• DRESS CODES FOR SMALL TOWNS: Another absolute favorite that I gave 5 stars! I'm in love with Courtney's books, and I'm so looking forward to all her future releases. 
• BEFORE SHE IGNITES: I got this in the September Owlcrate. I'm so, so excited to read this because dragons. Need I say more?
• THE HATE U GIVE: Everyone has read this but me, and when I go to Target, I have no self-control.
• THE RING & THE CROWN: This is one that I don't know much about, but it's written by a Hispanic author and I don't want to know much more.
• HOMEGOING: Everyone loves this book, and this beautiful UK edition was only a few dollars at my local used bookstore so I snagged it (while in the checkout line). 
• THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: Your girl couldn't say no to the BooktubeAThon discount and the book that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. 
• LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE: My BOTM pick for September. Literally, everyone and their mother and Reece Witherspoon and Seth Meyers is talking about this book. I want to read it so badly.

• CAREER OF EVIL: This is the perfect example of "Monica buys the newest book in a series she hasn't read the previous release of" but I bought it because it was only about five dollars in the bargain section of B&N.
• OUR DARK DUET: I don't regret buying this, but I was definitely let down by this release. This was nowhere near the caliber of the first book, and overall it was a very disappointing finale.
• AMERICAN FIRE: This was one of my BOTM picks of the summer (the other is ↓) and, while I haven't read this one yet, it still sounds so interesting. This is a true crime story that about a series of arsons in Accomack County, Virginia. But the firefighters didn't put out the burning abandoned buildings and the police stopped searching for a culprit, so vigilante groups pop up in this rural area. It sounds fascinating, and I love true crime.
• FINAL GIRLS: (Not pictured; I've never unhauled a book this quickly.) *extended groan* It was okay, but for a thriller, I was neither thrilled nor surprised by the ending.
• LANGUAGE OF THORNS: I got to go to the launch for this in Nashville. It was lovely and wonderful. We got the announcement of her new book Monday night and we got free ice cream. (And I got a hug because there's nothing like a little cry with your favorite author about Crooked Kingdom.)
• SIX OF CROWS (French Edition): Emma @ Awkwordly Emma is the actual best because when she went to Canada this summer, she got me this absolutely lovely present because she knows how much I love this book and remembers my flailing over these gorgeous editions.

• THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER: I read this when I was a small and awkward high school kid. It was one of the first books I ever read when I started this blog and one of the very first "reviews" I ever wrote, but I've never owned my own copy until I snagged this from my used bookstore. I want to reread this ASAP.
• FULL DARK, NO STARS: This is a bind-up of novellas by Stephen King that I want to read during Spookathon this year. (And there's a movie of 1922, one of the novellas, releasing on Netflix soon!)
• STUDY TRILOGY (I, II, III): Unlike most people, I've never read this series, but I impulse bought all three in one go when I saw them all sitting together in my used bookstore. What is wrong with me?
• MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS: Another book with a movie releasing soon! I'm a little more nervous for this one (*cough* Johnny Depp *cough*) but I need to read this before seeing the movie.
• WILD BEAUTY: I got an arc of this from a giveaway but have yet to read it because I am the actual worst.
• LION, originally published as A LONG WAY HOME: Now, I've already seen the movie for this one (it's fantastic, by the way; Dev Patel is a gem) but I'm really getting into nonfiction, so I grabbed this one when I saw it for 75 cents.
• BRAIN ON FIRE: Another nonfiction that I grabbed for under a dollar because I see people talking about it constantly and need to read it.

THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW | THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE | THE HORSE AND HIS BOY | PRINCE CASPIAN | THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER | THE SILVER CHAIR | THE LAST BATTLE

I recently finished this series for the first time this year. I'd read some of the earlier books when I was younger, but never really got into the series. I bought this horrible bind-up with all seven books a few years back, but it was so heavy and the words were tiny and altogether impossible to read. I've been on the hunt for good editions for a while and collected the whole series of full-color collector's editions secondhand through my used bookstore.

Whew. That's all of them. But seriously, I need to go on a book buying ban. But in the new year. Have you read any of these? Which ones should I read first? Let me know down in comments!

Follow

The Best and Worst of Summer 2017

I don't think I've ever read so many books in a single season. (And I think July is topping the amount I've read in a single month ever.) But with the combination of an operation and recovery time and my lack of summer classes and the fact that most of my friends stayed near their respective universities for the summer, I had so much time to read.

And because I don't want to write this post out for twelve years, here is a quick rundown of all the books I've read between the months of July and September with my star ratings, and at the end I'll tell you my favorite and least favorite reads of the summer.

(Sorry if my graphics are wonky and weird, Pic Monkey is a dick and decided to basically shut down the entirety of their free services and I haven't found an alternative I like yet.)

Books marked with a single asterisk (*) were provided via the publisher or Netgalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

All links direct to my goodreads reviews of each book

WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI - 5 stars
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM - NR**

A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE - 4 stars
THE LAST BATTLE - 4 stars | HONOR GIRL - 4 stars

A MADNESS SO DISCREET - 4.5 stars | LUMBERJANES, VOL. 6 - 3 stars

THE ROYAL WE - 3.5 stars | THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED - 5 stars
GOLDIE VANCE, VOL. 2 - 4 stars | MARCH: BOOK TWO - 5 stars
SLEEPING GIANTS - 3 stars | GIANT DAYS, VOL. 5 - 3 stars
OUR DARK DUET - 2.5 stars | EXIT WEST - 5 stars

**I didn't rate Fantastic Beasts because rating it felt like rating an article(s) on a wikipedia page. This is all information I could have just gotten on the HP Lexicon or the HP Wikia, but I wanted to listen to Eddie Redmayne read the audiobook.

FINAL GIRLS - 2 stars | THE BACKSTAGERS, VOL. 1 - 5 stars

BLOODLINE - 4 stars | POE: STORIES AND POEMS* - 4 stars

DRESS CODES FOR SMALL TOWNS* - 5 stars | THE SIGN OF FOUR - 4 stars

BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME - NR**
THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE - 5 stars

**You can check out my Goodreads review, where I talk about each story individually. Overall, this book was kind of a mess. (Not going to lie, half the reason I didn't rate it was because it probably averages out to a 2/5 or lower, and I didn't want some booktube stans coming after me.)

GIANT DAYS, VOL. 6 - 4 stars | DEPRESSION & OTHER MAGIC TRICKS* - 5 stars

THE CHAOS OF LONGING* - 2 stars | SECRETS FOR THE MAD* - 4 stars

THE PENELOPIAD - 4 stars | GIANT DAYS, VOL. 7 - 4 stars

THE PARK BENCH* - 3 stars | THE HANDMAID'S TALE - 4 stars

OKAY

Whew. I'm actually so happy with the books that I read these past three months. There were a few flops, but they were vastly outnumbered by the amount of books that I absolutely loved and ones that I really enjoyed. I also read a fair number of adult books, which feels like such a big accomplishment. 

ALSO, I finished my 52 book Goodreads challenge!! *celebrates* *bakes cake* 

The arbitrary number that I'm shooting for by the end of the year is 80. I'm already past 60 at this point, so it's possible but I'm not holding myself to that number.

Now, onto . . .

None of these are bad books. Most of them just aren't for me. Additionally, most of these are victims of hype. I was too excited and expected too much from these.

• Because You Love to Hate Me: I think there were three stories out of thirteen that I actually enjoyed from this collection. Had this just been an anthology (sans booktuber essays and prompts) I might have actually enjoyed it. The villains weren't very villainous and the stories that I enjoyed the most were mostly from contemporary authors, which was a weird surprise.
• The Chaos of Longing: I think if you like modern poetry like milk and honey and the princess saves herself in this one then you will like this, but I'm not the biggest fan of that type of poetry and if I didn't have to review this book, I would have DNFed it.
• Our Dark Duet: I'm going to defer you to my Goodreads review for this one because I have a lot of thoughts. Mainly, this felt very contrived and didn't have much of a plot for the first half of the book. I wasn't impressed.
• Final Girls: This may be because I don't read a lot of thrillers or it may be because I start off reading thrillers with a much more skeptical eye than other books. But I definitely guessed the ending thirty pages in, and I wasn't on the edge of my seat or anything. Also, this book does that thing where a man writes under a feminine sounding name so that they gain an audience quicker. Not a fan.

I actually have a pretty even split between graphic novels/comics and actual real books for this list, which is exciting because it means that I had time to read multiple physical novels, which is always exciting.

COMICS & GRAPHIC MEMOIR

• Giant Days: I'm so happy that Giant Days is still on this list. It continues to be one of my favorite comics on the market right now, and I've never read seven volumes of a comic and still love the most recent issues as much as I loved the first ones. 
• March, book two: This is such an important and beautifully written memoir by Congressman John Lewis about his time and involvement in the Civil Rights movement. This specific volume talks about the freedom rides, the march on Washington, and more. 
• The Backstagers: I love finding new comic series, and this is an incredible one. If you like Lumberjanes and theater, you will love this. 

NOVELS

• The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue: BI-SEX-U-AL MAIN CHARACTER. Also, historical fiction. Also, alchemy. Also, a kick-ass female character. It was amazing. I'd be shocked if you haven't heard of it. It was so amazing, and I loved Lee's writing style. It was funny and also heartbreaking and I cried 1000% more than I thought I would.
• Exit West: Okay, this was absolutely fantastic, and my favorite adult book of the year thus far. This is a magical realism refugee story. It's so short, and if you need a push to pick this up, this is that push.
• Dress Codes for Small Towns: Duuuuudees. This is the best book I've read this entire year. Oh my gosh. Read my full review because I cannot coherently talk about this book in fewer than 500 words.

*gives you a cookie for making it to the end* You did it! Tell me what your favorite book of the summer was down in the comments. Also, have you read any of these books? Tell me what you thought of them!

Follow

Books I Want to Read This Fall | 2017 TBR

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish to share lists (because we love them) about books and bookish things.

lol @ me for ever thinking I'm going to read all of these books in the first three months of my junior year of college. But it's not a post on my blog if I don't set goals that I ultimately won't meet.

On with the show!

• SIEGE AND STORM: I read Shadow and Bone last year, and for who knows what reason got about halfway through this book before just putting it back on the shelf and forgetting about it. Even though I've read the Six of Crows duology already (and I'm fairly certain that I know how this trilogy ends), I really want to read these last two books because I'm so excited for Language of Thorns to release is just (!) one (!!) week (!!!).
• JANE, UNLIMITED: I've never read any Kristin Cashore, but her Graceling series has always sounded so intriguing. I've heard fantastic things about her writing, and my dear friend Emma lent me her ARC of this so I need to read it ASAP.
• THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE: The running theme of this list is "I haven't read anything from this author, but I hear endless raving about them" and that's also the case for this book. I've had this on my shelf since it was released and it's about damn time I got around to reading it.
• THE DIVINERS: Fall seems like the perfect time to read this book because a) it's got a really spooky, paranormal vibe and b) the third book is releasing this season so if I like it, I can continue on with the series.
• WONDER: Literally everyone that I know that's read this book has loved it. I currently have it out from my library and desperately want to read this before the movie comes out.

• WILD BEAUTY: Another ARC that I have yet to get to but am incredibly excited to read. This is written by a Latina author with Latina main characters and it's magical realism. It's so many of my favorite things in one book. Also, look at that cover and tell me you don't want to read it.
• LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE: (see also: The Rest of Us Just Live Here) I just got this book from my Book of the Month box for September. I have zero idea what this is about, and that's how I want to go into this book.
• LOST STARS: I am a nerd. I love Star Wars. I need things to distract me from what will probably be the death of Rey's character development that will happen in Episode VIII. I loved Bloodline by Claudia Gray, and this audiobook is available through my library's overdrive.
• THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: I've been interested in this book since it released. A book about the underground railroad where it's an actual railway with trains? Sign me up. Also, it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, so I have high expectations.
• ARTEMIS: Even though I've heard some mixed things about this, I'm still really excited to dive into my early copy of Andy Weir's newest book. I absolutely loved The Martian, so I'm really anticipating reading his newest book that's set on the moon. 

These are the main ten books that I'm hoping to get to this fall. Of course, there are also a lot of comics and graphic novels/memoirs that I need to read as well, but I wanted to just stick with novels for this list because I like setting unrealistic expectations for myself.

Follow

September 2017 | Currently Reading

Currently Reading is a monthly feature on my blog, where I catch you up on the books that I'm currently reading (or at least attempting to read).

• The Handmaid's Tale: I have been reading this book since March. I mean, I read almost the entirety of it in three or four days and then put it down until about a week ago because--let's be real--it was just hitting a little too close to home as a young woman living in the United States. But now, I only have about forty pages left in this book. I'm hoping to finish this today. *crosses fingers and locks self in room until book is finished*
• Wonder: This is such a cute and important middle grade novel about a boy with a facial deformity that goes to school for the first time. It's a little heavy-handed, but it's middle-grade so that's to be expected. (Also, I'm so excited for this movie. Daveed Diggs is in this movie and I'm so proud of him.)
• Lost Stars: Jesus Christ. I am such a nerd. Also, I stand by the fact that Star Wars has some of the best-produced audiobooks out there. There's music and character voices and multiple narrators. As far as the story, this is a YA dual perspective novel following a Rebel pilot and an Imperial officer. It feels a little Romeo and Juliet, which (in my opinion) isn't really an idea that works when one side is literally a space version of Nazis. I'm hoping it gets better, but if you're looking for a Star Wars book, I'd tell you to pick up Gray's Bloodline.
• Full Frontal Feminism: This is a book I'm reading for my Women and Gender Studies class this semester. It's a pretty interesting and informative read. It's talking about a lot of stuff and discussing a lot of history that I already know and am well acquainted with. Though, if you're thinking of picking this up, definitely grab the second edition; it's far better.

These are all the books I'm currently reading! If you've read any of these books, let me know your thoughts down in the comments, and tell me what books you're currently reading!

Follow