Hi and welcome to another monthly overview!
First of all: how the hell is it September?! Every month seems to go by faster and I just can’t keep up! August was a good month though. As expected, I didn’t listen to as many audiobooks as I usually do, mainly because I was on holiday for half the month so no daily commute. We’re having a staycation, so I did get to read a lot. As a matter of fact, August has been my best bookish month so far this year, with 21 books read (full-length and a few novellas) and the highest page count (with a few bigger tomes making up for the novellas).
I successfully completed my 20 Books of Summer challenge, and most importantly: I read so many good books I enjoyed tremendously! For my Spanish read of the month I chose La Reina del Sur, which you might know from Netflix as there’s a show based on the book, but unfortunately I liked the premise (and the cover) a lot better than the actual story.
In figures August looks like this:
August
Novels: 6434 pages over 21 books
Audiobooks: 39 hours over 5 audiobooks
And here’s what I did last month, and some of what I’ll be posting this month:
What I read:
The Trials of Koli, M.R. Carey (review to follow on the tour)
Slow Bear, Anthony Neil Smith
Survive, Tom Bale
Home Before Dark, Riley Sager
The Quickening, Rhiannon Ward
The Hunted, Gabriel Bergmoser
The Night Swim, Megan Golding
Geek Love, Katherine Dunn
The Seven Doors, Agnes Ravatn
Dead to Her, Sarah Pinborough
The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
Sliver, Ira Levin
Deadly Cargo (Mydworth Mysteries 5), Matthew Costello & Neil Richards
Welcome to the Heady Heights, David F. Ross
La Reina del Sur, Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Little Secrets, Jennifer Hillier
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins
Danger in the Air (Mydworth Mysteries 6), Matthew Costello & Neil Richards
The Raven, Jonathan Janz (review to follow on the tour)
The Wicked Sister, Karen Dionne
King of the Crows, Russell Day (review to follow)
What I listened to:
Written in Blood, Chris Carter
Wakenhyrst, Michelle Paver
Blacktop Wasteland, SA Cosby
Forest of Souls, Lori M. Lee
The Alibi Girl, CJ Skuse
What I read earlier but reviewed in August:
The Witch House, Ann Rawson
The Big Chill, Doug Johnstone
A Ruined Girl, Kate Simants
A Song of Isolation, Michael J. Malone
The Apocalypse Strain, Jason Parent
Dead Wrong, Noelle Holten
Sins of the Father, JG Faherty
The Minders, John Marrs
We Were the Salt of the Sea, Roxanne Bouchard
Epiphany Jones, Michael Grothaus
Faithless, Kjell Ola Dahl
Mr Nobody, Catherine Steadman
Last month I also unboxed the FairyLoot July box and I wrapped up my 20 Books of Summer challenge.
After my last bookish month post I noticed that a lot of you are nosy Parkers, so let’s have a look at the books that landed on my lap in August 😄
One tour book, courtesy of Flame Tree Press:
Two eBooks, incidentally two of my most anticipated reads of the year:
And… erm… a few paperbacks: three Spanish books to fuel my Spanish challenge (The Marsh King’s Daughter for a reread and 2 Stephen King novels), the latest Mydworth Mysteries instalment, an oldie hillbilly horror novel, and a gorgeous collection of Ira Levin books (2 of which still have to arrive).
I hope you had a good month and that you are safe and well! Thanks for joining me today and happy reading xxx
Wow congrats on an amazing reading month! Oh I loved The Marsh King’s Daughter so I’m very interested in finding out how you liked Wicked Sister! I also look forward to reviews of Home Before Dark, Dead to Her and Little Secrets because they’re all on my list! Did I spot that right that you read some chicklit romance too, Geek Love? There is still hope :-)! Happy reading in September Kelly! xxx
Well, erm, I wasn’t actually planning on reviewing any of those 🙈😂 So here’s the short version, just for you 😊
I enjoyed The Wicked Sister, there are many elements there that are reminiscent of The Marsh King’s Daughter, but IMHO it just didn’t live up to its predecessor. Good but not great. Home Before Dark is my new favourite Riley Sager, definitely one of my books of the year! Little Secrets was even better than Jar of Hearts, loved it! Dead to Her is different from Pinborough’s previous work, I liked it, especially the Southern Gothic voodoo elements but it’s not my favourite.
As for Geek Love, that’s not chicklit at all, it’s about a carny family and it’s one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read 😂
I still don’t understand how you read so much on “our” staycation and I obviously didn’t. Stop distracting me! 🤣
I think we could read at least one book a month more if we stopped speaking to each other 🤔 I guess I’ll find out while you’re living it up in Italy 😂
Wow so impressive Kelly! xx
Thanks Nicki 😊
Wow sounds like you had a brilliant month! So many interesting sounding titles, and I love your Spanish haul too. xx
Thank you 😊