I can't believe November is over, honestly where has the year gone! This was really not a good reading month for me. I'm in a bit of a slump at the minute which has been caused by a whole variety of things from finishing a beloved book series, other interests taking over and just general busyness but I have read over 50 books so far this year so this was inevitably going to happen at some time. I was actually a bit apprehensive about even making this post but sometimes you don't achieve your goals and that deserves to be documented just as much as the times that you do. I ended up finishing six books this month which although isn't as many as usual I'm still glad I got a little bit of reading done.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Suzanne Collins
In this prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, we follow a young President Snow as he grows up in the Capitol, how his life changes during the 10th Hunger Games and its aftermath.
I don't really know quite how I feel about this book. I didn't dislike it by any stretch but I just have mixed feelings. The character we were reading about didn't feel like the President Snow that we know from The Hunger Games at parts and you almost started to feel sorry for him but ultimately he showed his true colours and he is a rightfully detestable character. It's been so long since I read the Hunger Games but they were my absolute favourite books that I read as a teenager maybe this story would have hit a little harder if I was still at the height of my Hunger Games phase but I still enjoyed it I think. I did leave physically detesting Coriolanus Snow though so I feel like that was the desired outcome.
Sheets
Brenna Thummler
Marjorie runs her mother's laundromat following her death and she ends up befriending a ghost named Wendell who, being a sheet, just loves the laundromat.
I have an ARC for the sequel so I decided that it was about time I picked this up! This was quite simply one of the cutest things I've ever read. Wendell the ghost is ADORABLE and I just want him to be happy. I paid £8.50 for this in ebook format which was probably too much but as I said I really needed to read it before picking up the sequel so was it worth it? probably not, but I'm not mad about it either.
Delicates
Brenna Thummler
I received an advance copy from NetGalley and OniPress
After Marjorie starts to hang out with a new group of friends Wendell starts to feel lonely and finds solace with another loner called Eliza who is a photographer who desperately wants to believe in ghosts and kind of wants to become one herself.
Obviously, I had to read the sequel as well and this was just as delightful as the first one and I still just love Wendell so much! If you're ever in the need for something heartwarming and not too taxing I definitely recommend picking these up, although Delicates doesn't come out until March, but definitely pick up Sheets while you wait.
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig
Between life and death, there is a library and when Nora Seed finds herself in the library she had the opportunity to live as if she made different choices until she is truly happy with the life that she chooses.
I'd seen so many people talking about this book and knew I needed to pick it up. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed? I think the hype for this one was so strong and so many people had told me that I would love it that when I didn't immediately fall in love with it I just couldn't be bothered. I ended up really enjoying this by the halfway mark but it took me over a month to read. I guess I just wasn't in the right headspace for it at the time but once we hit the Svalbard scenes I was sold! I think I just wanted to love this more than I actually ended up loving it.
Life After Life
Kate Atkinson
Every time Ursula Todd dies, her life begins again. Born in 1910 in a Yorkshire village her various lives lead her down many different paths from dying as a child of the Spanish Flu, to surviving bombings in the London Blitz, to even working in Germany with Hitler himself.
I loved this book so much! I'm not always a fan of repeating timeline novels but I think the historical setting of this one won me over. I never really thought I was a historical fiction lover but with each book that I read in that genre, it grows on me more and more. I loved the start of this book a lot more as I loved the family dynamic and I grew to really love and care for the Todd family but as Ursula grows up they obviously make less and less appearances as she goes to live her own life in various different ways. There is a second book in the same word that follows Ursula's brother Teddy during the war and I absolutely loved Teddy as a character so I can definitely see myself picking that book up in the future.
Heiress Apparently
Diana Ma
I received an advanced e-copy of this book from NetGalley and Amulet Books
Gemma Huang wants to be an actress so when she lands a part in a big blockbuster remake of Madame Butterfly she's obviously very excited not least because it means that she finally gets to visit China, her parent's homeland where she's been forbidden from ever going. While she's there she discovers a family secret and that maybe she isn't quite who she thinks she is.
I was so excited by the premise of this book but it just didn't deliver for me, I think it was maybe another one of those 'I have to read this because I have an ARC and it's due at the end of the month' books (similar to Meet Me In London from
last month) and I wasn't in a real reading mood but I just couldn't really get into this. The writing just felt very amateur and childish, especially whenever all of the characters were over 18! The characters and plot were also a little lacklustre but I did really enjoy the main romance. This is supposed to be a series and I definitely wouldn't mind continuing because although I wasn't fully impressed by this first book I'm curious to see where the story goes next.
I think I'm finally out of my reading slump now so I'm excited to get stuck into some more reading this December all being well! What have you been reading and loving lately?
