My August 2024 Reading Roundup – A Book Review

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August for me was the end of summer and start of a new school year. The kids and I do enjoy a lazy day from time to time, but as the summer wore on, they were itching to get back to the routine of learning, just as much as I was itching to get back to a quiet house!

August was also the month I celebrated my 21st wedding anniversary. The hubby and I decided to spend it at a mid-town Atlanta hotel, which was very nice. We booked the club level floor with access to breakfast, snacks, appetizers, desserts and cocktails. I felt pampered and well taken care of. I used the club level lounge to write and look out at the city skyline. I had the best steak of my life at the hotel’s restaurant and even managed to get a couples massage. It was a perfect weekend getaway!

This past month, I also finished the final draft of my vampire coming of age script. I plan to turn this script into a novel on Wattpad. Link to that coming soon. 🙂

This past month, I also read a few books. Four to be exact, which is not my normal amount. I was surprised I’d only read four books by the end of the month as well. Was I that busy?

In my defense, two of the books I read were like 600 plus pages so… Anywho, here’s my reading wrap-up. Enjoy!

Falls Boys (Book 1 of the Hellbent series) by Penelope Douglas

I listened to this one on audible. This is a spinoff from the Fall Away series. You can read my reviews for the books in that series here and here.

I enjoyed Falls Boys a lot. At first, since Aro didn’t seem to care if she got into trouble or how wild she was, I wondered how she and Hawke (Juliet and Jax’s son) were going to get together. Hawke was a virgin, so right there, I was like how is he going to fall for this wild, borderline criminal girl?

Aro talked down on herself a lot, which I didn’t like. Constantly saying she wasn’t worthy of Hawke. It was kind of a bummer. But they came together. Yay! All the crime and politics surrounding them, I didn’t much care for. But I did enjoy the depiction of their relationship.

4/5 stars

In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros

I listened to this one on audible too. I liked Nate and Izzy together, but all the bad timing throughout their relationship was sad. I don’t normally like time jumping, but I liked it in this book. It was done well.

They were so tortured and it was a bummer when his friend died and he had to stand Izzy up because of military rules or whatever. And the no therapy or you get kicked out of the military thing sounds pretty counterproductive to me.

It had a slow start, but it won me over. The surprise ending kinda came out of nowhere for me. There were a lot of surprises in this one actually, and I don’t want to spoil them here. I think it’s overall a good read though.

4/5 stars

Crave by Tracy Wolff

I listened to this on audible. I read it solely for research purposes, since I too am working on a YA vampire novel.

I read the Twilight series years ago and I remember enjoying it, all except the last book. The last book of that series was like 700 pages of nothing happening. But I digress.

This one? It was just okay. Eye roll inducing so many times. Especially whenever she wrote AF. So annoying! It was like this author googled what teens say these days and put it in here. A lot of it didn’t feel real and genuine.

I didn’t particularly like the main girl Grace or the main guy Jaxon. I liked her cousin and her uncle though.

Every book in this series is pretty long, averaging 600 or so pages each. There’s a lot that happens and I don’t want to spoil it here. But basically, Grace comes to discover that the school she’s enrolled in is filled with mythical beings. Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches and so on. Finding out who she really was was pretty cool.

The only reason I want to read the next one is because it ended on a cliffhanger. One of her friends did something questionable and it made me not like him. And as I’m reading about his character’s journey throughout the other books, I’m struggling to care about him and what happens to him.

I enjoyed all the stuff that happened around these characters, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy the characters. Weird.

3/5 stars

Crush (Book 2 of the Crave series) by Tracy Wolff

I also listened to this one on audible. It was overly long. It had a great ending, but still, this author makes you work for it.

The parents were awful. I liked Hudson in her mind and how they got to know each other and be vulnerable with one another. I just wanted her and Hudson to be together.

Jaxon was all I’ll do anything to save you and it got old after a while. And Grace wasn’t very likeable to me in general. I liked Hudson though, so that’s something. I’m also interested to see where it goes next. So there’s that too.

3.5/5 stars

Thanks for reading!