My September 2024 Reading Roundup – A Book Review
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
September. That went by in a blur. I had to refer to my calendar to remember what the hell I did this past month. Besides writing of course. And reading.
Let’s see… We celebrated my daughter’s birthday by again going to enjoy an afternoon out at Medieval Times. I didn’t know whether or not she wanted to dress up in our renaissance-style dresses again. Since she’s a year older now, I thought she might balk at the idea actually. But I was swiftly and pleasantly mistaken when she walked into my bedroom dressed in her full renaissance gown. So dressing up, we most certainly did.
We also went to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in concert, where a symphony played along with the music from the film. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was something to see. The symphony was excellent. So talented and such an exciting way to experience the film.
Hurricane Helene presented itself as a tropical storm here in Northern Georgia and all the schools shut down for two days. We got a lot of rain and a lot of wind, but thankfully no power outages in my neighborhood. It’s still wreaking havoc though on people’s lives who were hit the hardest. Click here if you’d like to help those in need.
Circling back to my projects, I’m currently working on turning my book The Secrets We Keep into a screenplay, based on my book on Wattpad, which can be found here. I get now why authors often don’t also write the movie version of their books. It’s super hard to cut out so much and try to squeeze everything into a 120-page script. But in the words of Barney from How I Met Your Mother, challenge accepted!
I got feedback on the vampire script I wrote, so I’m also revising that script. Once it’s done, I’ll get to work turning it into a novel on Wattpad as well. That’s the plan, Stan.
Oh yeah, books! I read 5 this past month. Without further adieu, here are my reviews!
Covet (Book 3 of the Crave series) by Tracy Wolff
I listened to this one on audible. You can read my reviews for Books 1 & 2 here.
This one is so long! But they all are. And very juvenile writing. I liked that Grace and Hudson fell in love. I like Hudson. There were similarities to ACOTAR in that Grace wants a man who believes in her and doesn’t want to just protect her. It was slow though at times and I was never excited to read it.
The ending didn’t even really get me going. I didn’t understand or really care about the magic of this place. Or the rules. I just really cared about the love story. And I still don’t like Grace very much. She’s just not likeable.
3/5 stars
This Could Be Us (Book 2 of the Skyland series) by Kennedy Ryan
I borrowed this on kindle through my library. You can read my review for Before I Let Go (Book 1) here. You’re probably wondering why I read this one since I really didn’t enjoy book 1. Well… I still love Kennedy Ryan and will read anything this woman writes! And she surprised me with this one.
I really enjoyed Soledad and Judah’s love story. The tension building was really good. I really wanted them together. It got annoying sometimes when she kept saying I have to love myself first before I can love him but at the same time, she didn’t want to let him loose. And he told her sex means something to him and after they did it, she still wasn’t all in. There were some games there.
I’ve never read a story about a man who hid his criminal life from his wife like that. I’ve read worse men by this author (Long Shot). But anyway, Judah was obviously perfect for her. The fact that she dragged her feet was just a little annoying. I liked the inclusive autistic characters. Overall good.
4/5 stars
The Highland Fling by Meghan Quinn
I’ve heard of this author on tiktok, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It’s currently available to listen to on audible for free if you subscribe to kindle unlimited.
It was basic though. It was trying too hard to be funny. The sex wasn’t sexy. Or it was weird because they joked all the time, that when it came to the 2.5 sex scenes, it was like now, I’m supposed to feel enticed? How? It was a hard transition for me, reminiscent of how I felt when I read The People You Meet on Vacation. Though I enjoyed that book a whole lot more.
All the conflict was so easily resolved. Hardly any bumps in the road. Saccharine sweet ending. Just okay.
3/5 stars
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
This author is becoming one of my favorite authors! I think this is the first book she ever published. I bought this book a while back, but am just now getting around to reading it. Funnily enough, I borrowed it on kindle through my library, but when my loan expired, I just grabbed my own hard copy and continued.
It’s frustrating when 2 people are perfect for each other and then they have to break up cuz that’s what happens in these love stories. I didn’t want them to break up. They both clearly didn’t want to break up. But Olive felt she had to because Tom was his friend. Yada yada. And Tom was a prick. Ugh!
Anyway, I loved Adam! He was a good book boyfriend. Not my favorite though. Not sure I liked him calling her a smart ass all the time as a term of endearment. But the sex scene was very good. Wished there was more than one, but that’s just me, or most of booktok, whatever.
Olive bumbled around a lot. Didn’t say what was on her mind which was frustrating. Why can’t we communicate? Anyway, it was a breezy story. Mostly pleasant. I liked that Adam felt like a full human and wished we could’ve heard the story from his POV too. It was told in 3rd person which was weird. But still an enjoyable read.
4/5 stars
Court (Book 4 of the Crave series) by Tracy Wolff
Sooo long. The only good parts involved the take down of their father Cyrus and the alliance with the mother.
It was hard to keep track of all the characters. And Jaxon was a dragon at the end? Okay. Too much and too little at the same time. And the sex scene? Touching, gasping moving, done. Um okay. I get that it’s YA, but nothing? Really?
I’m liking Hudson less and less in this book. He’s not sexy anymore. And Grace is definitely not. There are 2 books left in this series, but I think I’m done.
2/5 stars
Thanks for reading!