Hello friends! Monthly recap posts are ones that I’ve only done sporadically throughout the past year, as I feel like some months I don’t have a whole ton to say. However, a lot of fun/exciting things have been happening so I’m excited to get back on the bandwagon with this feature!
Books I Read This Month
Books I Reviewed This Month
Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas (3.5 Stars)
The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L Armentrout (3.5 Stars)
Stats:
Total Books Read: 3
Total Novellas Read: 0
Rereads: 0
Favorite Book Read This Month: Heartless by Marissa Meyer was so whimsical yet haunting! More villain retellings please!
Least Favorite Book Read This Month: Empire of Storms by Sara J Maas. I really LIKED the book, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
Book that Most Surprised Me This Month: Empire of Storms wins here again! It really took me by surprise how plot-centric this book was!
Reading Challenge Updates
Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge Progress: 42/50
Fairytale Retelling Challenge: 2/5
Other challenges are TBD at the moment, as I still have to update my master spreadsheet with all of the books I’ve finished lately!
Other Posts This Month
Religious Recommendations: Books With Religious Themes and Topics
Food For Thought: Cookbooks and Pinterest Adventures
Posts I Loved This Month:
I was featured on Andi’s ABCs!
Lauren talks about the oldest unreleased books on her TBR.
Cait gives her recommendations on books with creepy little woods and creepy little towns.
Personal Updates:
September was a really busy month for me! I balayaged my hair (and am completely obsessed…this is probably the closest to Pinterest hair I will get!) and am loving the “long bob” look…I have only ever had super long hair my whole life so this new, shorter length is a big change for me!
I only read 3 books this month, but they were all fairly long books that I really wanted to enjoy and savor! I’m hoping to get much more serious about my reading for the remainder of the year. I’m technically ahead on my Goodreads challenge, but 50 books is the lowest goal I’ve set for myself in a while and I’d love to surpass it by at least a few!
Max and I also made it to Disneyland last weekend to see the park during our favorite time of year, Halloweentime! We love love love the decorations (the Halloween tree in Frontierland is gorgeous!), the rides (Haunted Mansion Holiday is EVERYTHING) and seeing our friends and family who live in the Southern California area. We also try and check out new dessert places whenever we’re in SoCal since there’s so many options, and this time tried Honey & Butter, that specializes in macaroons. As you can see below, we tried a macaroon ice cream sandwhich with milk & honey ice cream and Oreo shells!
September also marked the month where a lot of my preorders came in, including the several of Leigh Bardugo’s releases. I ordered the boxed set of The Grisha trilogy (I LOVE boxed sets but rarely buy them anymore since I usually read series while they’re incomplete. So glad I initially read these ones from the library so I had an excuse to order the paperback boxed set!) and Max pre-ordered Crooked Kingdom (the red pages give me life). Now hopefully the weather will cool down soon so we have an excuse to stay in and read!
Looking Ahead
In October I’m going to be SUPER busy with work (it’s my busiest month of the year!) but I’m also hoping to squeeze in some fun fall activities, such as going to a pumpkin patch and passing out Halloween candy with my family. Re watching some Halloween favorites is also on the agenda (such as Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown!) I’ve also started my Gilmore Girls rewatch in October with Max (his first time watching) in order to get ready for the new episodes that are coming out (it’s seriously so comforting to rewatch!) I’ll be doing a seasonal book buddies readalong with Lauren from Bookmarklit, and my shortlist TBR includes The Sun is Also a Star and The Girl on the Train (so I can see the movie ASAP!)
How was your September? Do you have any fun fall or Halloween plans in the works for October? Let me know in the comments!
SO glad to hear Heartless was good. I mean I figured but still. I still have to catch up with the ToG series. Yay for balayage. I had it done to my hair too and loved it. Disneyland sounds like it was great. Have a wonderful October!!
Thank you! I hope you get a chance to read Heartless soon, it was SO good and unique!
I started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time too! I love that it takes place in my state haha. The characters take some getting used to but I’m enjoying it so far.
Haha Max is starting to watch it with me and he’s finding it hard to connect with any of the characters really too. I can see how they’re not likeable right from the get-go, but I love the small town, charming atmosphere. How far into it are you?
I’m glad you had such a lovely September! It’s really awesome to see your adventures, and I’m also truly more excited to visit Walt Disney World after getting a glimpse of your Disney photos. Here’s to a lovely October for us both!
Thank you! Can’t wait to see all of your Disney photos as well! What resort are you staying at during your trip?
I’m so happy that Heartless was so good^^ I’ve been meaning to get my hands on it but I still need to read Stars Above (I just can’t bear for that series to be over!!) Sounds like you had a wonderful September and here’s to a even better October ♥
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed Heartless! I have high expectations for it. Your hair looks gorgeous in the picture, and that photo with Daisy Duck is adorable <3 Hope you'll have a fun October even with the busy workload!
Thank you, Cilla! Heartless was SO good, I hope you get a chance to read it soon too!