#RockMyTBR 2022 Challenge

Hi everyone! We’re almost at the end of 2021 and it cannot come soon enough, though I’m definitely not making any predictions about 2022 being better this time around because it feels like a great way to get burned again. My #RockMyTBR Challenge this year never really got off the ground, I’ve really struggled with reading physical books this year, I’ve just not been in the mood for anything on my shelf, so I kind of abandoned this challenge pretty early on in the year. I didn’t want to push myself to read things I didn’t think I would enjoy at this point in time, so I decided it was better to abandon it altogether than push through and end up having my mood affect my enjoyment of the books I’d chosen.

However, I’m hoping things will look up for my reading in 2022, and will be back with a new challenge next year, that will hopefully go better than this year’s challenge. For context I’ve read 2 books from my challenge list this year. 2. So definitely room for improvement.

If you’re new to my blog and not sure what the #RockMyTBR Challenge is, it’s a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler. It’s really simple, you draw up a list of backlist books to knock off your TBR (ie books not published in the year that you’re reading them) and read them over the course of the year. She hasn’t done it since 2017, but I’ve kept doing it because I really enjoy it (this year not withstanding).

I always have a list of 12 books, one for each month of the year, and I’m going to stick to that, because again, this year notwithstanding, it usually works quite well. As I’ve done for the past few years, I got Book Twitter to choose my list for me this year, via a series of polls, and I’m really pleased with what they’ve chosen. We seem to have naturally landed on a lot of short books which I think will be really good for me with my current reading mood, and there’s a nice range of publication years, it’s not all books published this year that I just didn’t get to, so I’m quite pleased with that! So here we go, my #RockMyTBR challenge books for 2022:

1. The Girls I’ve Been-Tess Sharpe

Mysteries aren’t my usual genre, but I’ve been trying to branch out from fantasy a little more over the past couple of years, and I do really like mysteries, so I’m pleased that this book was chosen for me for next year’s challenge. It sounds so good too, the daughter of a con artist gets taken hostage in a bank heist? Sign me up! It’s also nice and short which is why I thought it would be a good choice for January.

2. The Love Hypothesis-Laura Steven

I’m 90% certain that this book won its poll by a landslide because people thought it was the other “The Love Hypothesis” I was talking about, the really popular rom-com by Ali Hazelwood. However, it’s not, it’s the lesser known LGBT+ romcom by Laura Steven which follows a teenage girl who tries to find a scientific solution to love. I’ve really loved The Exact Opposite of Okay, so I’m hoping I will find this just as enjoyable.

3. The Silence of The Girls-Pat Barker

After being a little underwhelmed by The Song of Achilles this year, I’m hoping to have better luck with this Trojan War story. I always love books that focus on the women that history often overlooks, so I reckon this book should be great for me. I was really intrigued by Briseis in The Song of Achilles, so I’m excited to read a book where she has the starring role.

4. Ace of Spades-Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Another mystery for the list this year. I think this may be my first mystery by a Black author, but it hopefully won’t be my last. I’m super excited for this one because one of the comparison titles was Gossip Girl which I was obsessed with as a teenager, so I think it’s going to be right up my street. If anyone has any more recommendations of mystery books by Black authors then please let me know, as I’m clearly woefully behind in diversifying my reading in this particular genre!

5. An Affair of Poisons-Addie Thorley

I bought Addie Thorley’s debut novel years ago, I think back in 2019, but despite reading both books in her Night Spinner duology since then, I still haven’t got around to this one. 2022 will finally be the year it seems, and I’m really excited: it’s based on actual historical events in 17th century where people would purchase poisons to “get rid of” their enemies, and this book revolves around a plot to kill the King. I’ve had mixed results with French-set historical fantasies, but I’m hoping this one will be a winner.

6. The Last Magician-Lisa Maxwell

This was meant to be one of my #RockMyTBR reads for this year, but due to my reading slump I never got around to it. The good people of Book Twitter have once again voted that I need to read this one, so I will hopefully get around to it next year. Early twentieth century New York + magic + heists does sound right up my street, I’m just hoping that I’ll be more in the mood for large books next year than I have been this year as this is a CHUNKSTER.

7. Thunderhead-Neal Shusterman

I’ll be honest, it’s been a good four years since I read the first book in this trilogy, Scythe, and I can’t remember a thing about what happened! I’ll definitely have to look up a recap before I read this second book. I do remember enjoying it though, and I remember the concept of Scythes being responsible for reaping souls because no one ever died naturally in their world being cool, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

8. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle-Stuart Turton

Apparently 2022 is the year of mysteries! I’m not mad about it, I’ve been meaning to lean into my mystery interests a bit more for a while so this is the push I needed. My friend Hannah read this book and really enjoyed it, and I’ve heard so much really good stuff about it, so I’m looking forward to seeing more about what the fuss is all about next year.

9. The Near Witch-Victoria Schwab

Another hangover from last year, that got voted for again this year. This is the last book of VE Schwab’s backlist that I’ve left to read, and I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous because I’ve not loved her earlier YA and this was her debut novel so I don’t have massively high expectations for it, but if nothing else, it will be interesting to see where she started.

10. Bridge of Souls-Victoria Schwab

The third (and at the moment final) book in the Cassidy Blake series. I really enjoyed the first two, I’m not usually one for middle grade, but these books are seriously fun and nice little palate cleansers between all the dense fantasy I usually read. I’m looking forward to seeing what Cassidy and Jacob get up to in this book and how Schwab brings this series (or maybe arc as she has hinted she may come back to these books in the future) to a close.

11. A Kingdom For A Stage-Heidi Heilig

I read For A Muse of Fire back in 2018, so I’ll be honest, I’ve forgotten a lot of it, but again I’ll probably read a recap before diving into this one. I remember it being cool though, a mix of French and Asian influences and a mentally ill WOC as the main character who is able to bind the souls of the dead to shadow puppets. It was all very cool, so I’m excited to see where the author took the series next.

12. Spellslinger-Sebastian de Castell

I bought this one at YALC, so I’ve had it for at least two years, I think maybe three (I can’t remember if I bought it at 2018 or 19 YALC). Anyway, it’s been a while. But I will finally be getting to this book this year, and I’m really intrigued as the whole premise is a magician who has lost his powers has to find a way to get them back before facing his first magical duel. It sounds like a lot of fun and I hope it lives up to my expectations.

So there we go, that’s my list for 2022! I think this year’s list may have my most male authors ever, a grand total of three! I’m a little down on new authors, only four on this year’s list, but that’s okay, I’m sure I’ll find a lot of new authors to read in my non-challenge books next year. If you’ve read any of these, please let me know what you thought of them.

Thanks once again to all the lovely people of Book Twitter who voted for next year’s list, I hope that I do better on next year’s challenge than I did on this year’s and that you enjoy seeing all my thoughts on these books over the next 12 months. I’m really excited for hopefully a better reading year in 2022 than 2021 (if I say it enough maybe I can will it into existence!).

There’s not going to be a 2021 challenge wrap up this year as I obviously didn’t manage to finish my challenge this year, but I will hopefully be back with a bang in February with my January 2022 wrap-up!

#RockMyTBR January Update (2021)

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all been doing okay over the past month with the continuing lockdown (if like me, you are in a country that is currently under lockdown). This post is a little later than it would normally be, considering that we only have a week and a half of February left but I was very busy with a job application at the beginning of the month, so I didn’t have all my reviews lined up until last week. Having a lot to do has definitely helped me with this lockdown, between blogging, my intensive Spanish course, applying for jobs and beta-reading for my friend, it helps the time pass quicker.

If you’re new to my blog and haven’t seen one of these posts before, #RockMyTBR is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler, it’s fairly straightforward, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (books not published in the year you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always do 12 books, one for a each month, and then every month I post an update of all the books I’ve been reading. This year is my fifth year doing it, and it’s always so much fun! In January I read 2 books, which wasn’t as many as I would have liked, but hey, it’s only the beginning of the year! I didn’t actually finish my January #RockMyTBR book as ACOWAR is super long, so these will just be my regular reads:

Seasons of War (Skulduggery Pleasant #13) by Derek Landy:

This one was a hangover from last year as I didn’t manage to finish it in December, so I continued it on into January. I was really excited for this one but it was kind of a let down, it was very messy in terms of all the plot threads, it was longer than it needed to be and it was fairly slow paced. However, Valkyrie’s mental health journey and the focus on that was golden, MORE FOCUS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF SAVING THE WORLD IN FANTASY BOOKS PLEASE. I read this one from 10th November-9th January. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/14/seasons-of-war-skulduggery-pleasant-13-review/

The Midnight Library-Matt Haig

This was my audiobook read for January (though I actually started it in December). I found this one a little underwhelming compared to the hype, I thought Carey Mulligan did a great job narrating it, but it was a fairly slow read considering how short the audiobook was and I felt like the mechanics of The Midnight Library and the characters were underdeveloped. I read this one from 18th December-31st January. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/12/the-midnight-library-review-audiobook/

So those were my January reads, this is what I’ve been reading in February (since I can’t really say planning to read 10 days before the end of the February!):

The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves #2)-Roshani Chokshi

This is my #RockMyTBR book for February. I’m about halfway through this one, it was a bit of a slow starter, but I’ve really got into it now, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this book ends. I love these characters so much!

The Mask Falling (The Bone Season #4)-Samantha Shannon

My current Netgalley read, which I’m also around halfway through. This was another slow starter but things are really getting exciting now and there have been so many HUGE reveals already.

Lore-Alexandra Bracken

My current audiobook read, I’m not very far through it yet, but it seems intriguing so far. It’s my first Alexandra Bracken book and I reckon I will probably be reading more after this one.

A slightly smaller TBR than I’ve had in previous months but since I seem to have been reading a bit slower over January and February, it made sense. How are everyone’s Goodreads Challenges going so far? Did you read any good books in January? What have you been reading so far in February? Let me know in the comments how you guys have been getting on!

#RockMyTBR November/December Update and Wrap-up (2020)

Hi all! I hope everyone’s doing okay with the new lockdown, I’ve been pretty busy with a job application this week, but that’s done now. I’m trying to keep occupied as much as I can to stave off the lockdown boredom, I’ve got an intensive Spanish course starting on the 18th, I’m doing editing on my friend’s novel and obviously my never-ending job hunt is still ongoing, so I’m hoping that I’ll have enough to be going on with for the next few weeks of lockdown.

So I kind of dropped the ball on my #RockMyTBR updates towards the end of last year, so this is going to be a fairly lengthy post updating everything I read in November and December and then wrapping up my thoughts on all of my 2020 #RockMyTBR reads. 2020 may have been mostly a trashfire of a year, but aside from my amazing trip to South Africa, I also had a great reading year, reading 45 books for my Goodreads Challenge, which is my best ever end of year total. My reading kind of slowed towards the end of 2020, I only read 4 books over November/December but you know what it was an exhausting year, so I’m not going to be hard on myself about it. I also didn’t actually read any #RockMyTBR challenge books over November or December, so this post will just be my regular reads:

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #1) by Roseanne A. Brown:

My audiobook read for November. I really enjoyed this one, the characters were great and the anxiety representation was so beautifully done. There were a few debut teething issues, like pacing and slightly confused magic system and world-building, but overall it was a really good read and I’m looking forward to the sequel. I read this one from 2nd-26th November. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/a-song-of-wraiths-and-ruin-review-audiobook/

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult:

My November/December Netgalley e-ARC (I was mostly reading it in November, but it carried over a little into December as well). It was kind of disappointing for a Jodi Picoult book, I usually love her stuff, but this one was super slow paced and kind of suffered from an overload of technical information and trying to focus on too many things at once. I read this one from 19th October-12th December (was very on-off, I was reading another Netgalley e-ARC at the same time). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/the-book-of-two-ways-review-e-arc/

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman:

This was my audiobook read for December. I loved the TV show, but I found the book actually left a lot to be desired. The plot was very confused, the humour relied on a lot of incredibly dated stereotypes and there were way too many characters to keep track of. I read this one from 27th November-17th December. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/08/good-omens-review-audiobook/

Kingdom of The Wicked (Kingdom of The Wicked #1) by Kerri Maniscalco:

This was my other Netgalley e-ARC for November/December. I was kind of disappointed in this one, the pacing was off, the worldbuilding was kind of lacklustre and I wasn’t a big fan of the main character. I read this one from 13th November-31st December (again kind of on/off). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/kingdom-of-the-wicked-kingdom-of-the-wicked-1-review-e-arc/

So that’s my final update of 2020, or first update of 2021 depending on how you look at it! I put together my list of 2021 challenge reads at the beginning of December, which is the post just below this one under the #RockMyTBR Challenge tab, marked #RockMyTBR 2021 Challenge, if you’d like to see what I’m planning on reading for my challenge this year. For the rest of this post, I’m going to rank my reads for my 2020 challenge and look forward to what I’ll be reading for the rest of January:

My 2020 #RockMyTBR Reads Ranked In Star Order:

1. The Gilded Wolves-Roshani Chokshi-4 stars

Roshani Chokshi was one of my favourite new author discoveries of 2020, The Gilded Wolves hit all the things I love, historical setting, heists, found family and lots of humour. The Silvered Serpents is one of my challenge reads for this year and I can’t wait to read it!

2. The City of Brass-S.A. Chakraborty-4 stars

Another of my favourite new author discoveries of last year, I tore through all of S.A. Chakraborty’s published books (ie her Daevabad trilogy) in 2020. The City of Brass was a wonderfully immersive fantasy read, with brilliant characters and it’s one I’m definitely glad I had in the miserable days of Lockdown 1.0.

3. The Dead Queens’ Club-Hannah Capin-4 stars

Hannah Capin’s debut novel was super fun, I loved all of the Tudor references, I thought the humour was great and I loved how feminist it was too, it was so cool to see a Tudor retelling that centred Henry VIII’s wives rather than the man himself (and which acknowledged that Henry was categorically THE WORST).

4. The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats and Piracy-Mackenzi Lee-4 stars

Lady’s Guide was so fun, not as good as Gentleman’s Guide but I loved how this book focused on female friendships and I loved how Lee tackled internalised misogyny in a historical setting. It was great seeing Felicity take centre stage and I can’t wait to read the final book focusing on Felicity and Monty’s younger brother coming out this year.

5. Circe-Madeline Miller-4 stars

Being a massive Greek mythology fan, I was super excited for this one, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Miller wove lots of different Greek myths into Circe’s story in a really cool way and her writing was just stunning. I’m also always here for stories that explore the relationship between women and power.

6. Spin The Dawn-Elizabeth Lim-3.5 stars

I enjoyed this but not as much as I expected to, I think I kind of fell victim to the hype monster for this book. The concept sounded so cool, but the tailoring aspect really wasn’t utilised enough, I didn’t like the romance, the world building was kind of lacking and I found it really off-putting that the main female character had like no other female friends. I did love the diverse world and characters though.

7. Tunnel of Bones-Victoria Schwab-3 stars

This was originally meant to be City of Ghosts, but I swapped it out after City of Ghosts was chosen for me to read in May as part of my Goodreads Book Club’s Pick-It-For-Me group. I don’t usually read middle grade, but I enjoyed the first book in the series, and this one was super fun as well, I preferred City of Ghosts for the atmosphere and setting, but I still really loved the friendship focus here and it was a nice fast read.

8. King of Scars-Leigh Bardugo-3 stars

I was really disappointed with this one, I’ve been looking forward to Nikolai’s book for years and it just wasn’t as enjoyable as I hoped. It was kind of slow and Nikolai didn’t really have as much of a role as he should have given that it’s his book. Nina’s storyline also didn’t really fit with the rest of the book. I did however really love Zoya’s plotline and backstory, I thought that was the highlight of this book.

9. The Devouring Gray-Christine Lynn Herman-3 stars

I didn’t originally have this on my list, but I swapped it in after I DNF’ed my September read and swapped it for Tunnel of Bones, so this ended up being my October read. I didn’t love this one as much as I’d hoped sadly, it wasn’t as creepy as I’d have liked and it was very slow paced which meant it took me a while to get through.

10. Unhooked-Lisa Maxwell-3 stars

I loved the concept for this one, but it was executed poorly. It was such a slow paced book and I didn’t really connect to any of the characters, which was a real shame because I loved the idea of a Peter Pan retelling.

So that’s a wrap-up of what I thought of my 2020 reads, here’s what I’m planning on reading in the first month of 2021:

I’ve already read my first book, Seasons of War by Derek Landy which was a carry over from last year, so it won’t be included here, though you will see it on my January update.

A Court of Wings and Ruin-Sarah J Maas

I’m planning on catching up with the ACOTAR series before the release of A Court of Silver Flames, as I’ve still not read the third book. I have to admit, I’ve been putting it off because of its length, but since I have almost the entire month of January to read it, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get it done.

A Court of Frost and Starlight-Sarah J Maas

I’ve heard mixed things about this novella, but I still want to read it before A Court of Silver Flames comes out so that I’m fully caught up on the series.

The Midnight Library-Matt Haig

My January audiobook read, I’m almost halfway through it and it’s been pretty good so far, Carey Mulligan is a great narrator and the whole concept behind the story is pretty cool.

Burn Our Bodies Down-Rory Power

My Netgalley read for January, I wasn’t a massive fan of Wilder Girls by the same author but I thought her new book sounded cool, so I decided to give it a try. Hopefully I enjoy it more!

I’m so pleased with how well my reading went in 2020, having my highest Goodreads Challenge total ever was a nice way to cap off a not-so-great (to put it mildly) year. I’d really like to try and hit 50 on my challenge this year, but I’m not going to push myself to get there, as I like to focus more on the enjoyment of the books I read rather than the number. I’d also really like to actually read all 12 books on my challenge list this year as I know I fell slightly short this year! Here’s to 2021 being another great reading year!

How did everyone else’s November/December reading go? What was your first read of 2021? What did you set your Goodreads Challenge to this year? Let me know in the comments!

#RockMyTBR 2021 Challenge

Hi everyone! We’ve nearly made it to the end of the seemingly neverending 2020 (I swear everything from January to March genuinely feels like it was a different year). I only have one more book left to read on my #RockMyTBR Challenge of 2020, and I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll read it this year because Seasons of War is taking me rather longer to finish than I thought, so I might be ending on 10 this year rather than 11, but we will see!

If you’re new to my blog and aren’t really sure what the #RockMyTBR Challenge is, it’s a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler. It’s really simple, you draw up a list of backlist books to knock of your TBR (ie books not published in the year that you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. She hasn’t done it since 2017, but I’ve kept going with it here because I really enjoy doing it!

I always have a list of 12 books and I’ve stuck to that this year, it allows me some structure, but also the choice to read other books as well as I always read more than one book a month. As I’ve done for the past few years, I got Book Twitter to choose my list for me this year, via a series of polls, it’s always really fun to do and they’ve always picked a really good bunch for me. This year’s lot has I would say been one of the best ever, I have about 5 books on the list that will probably make my best books of the year, which I think might be the most that has ever come from this challenge! There were a couple that I had to switch out and one that I didn’t finish, but by and large this year has been very successful. I’m hoping next year’s will be just as good:

1. A Court of Wings and Ruin-Sarah J Maas-I read A Court of Mist and Fury three years ago for my 2017 #RockMyTBR challenge, and I really enjoyed it but ACOWAR is so long (little did 2017 me know what was coming with Kingdom of Ash) that I kept putting it off and now the fourth book is going to be out next month and I still haven’t read it. So this one I picked myself, as I need to catch up with the series.
2. The Silvered Serpents-Roshani Chokshi-The Gilded Wolves was one of my favourite books from this year, so naturally I’m super excited to see where things go next. I’ve heard such good things about this one too, so I’m looking forward to reading this before the final book comes out next year.
3. Where Dreams Descend-Janella Angeles-This was one of my most anticipated debuts for this year and I just didn’t get around to reading it, so I’m excited to get to it next year. I’ve heard mixed things, but I’m a massive Moulin Rouge fan and this has had comparisons to that, so I’m hoping I fall on the loved it side for this book.
4. Scarlet-AC Gaughen-This won its poll by a landslide and I do wonder if some people thought I meant Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (which I read for this same challenge in 2017!). I didn’t have great luck with Meagan Spooner’s Sherwood this year but I’m hoping this Robin Hood themed retelling will go better than that one.
5. The Unbound-VE Schwab-It has been a while since I read The Archived (actually back in 2017, for some reason that year is coming up a lot in this list!), so I have to admit, I don’t remember all the details, but I did enjoy it so I’m hoping I enjoy this one too.
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters-Laini Taylor-I’ve been putting off reading this one because I wasn’t a big fan of Days of Blood and Starlight in 2018 and it’s a pretty chunky one but it’s time to finally finish this series!
7. The Last Magician-Lisa Maxwell-I wasn’t a big fan of Unhooked which I read for this challenge this year, but The Last Magician seems far more up my street, it’s historical, it has magic, there’s heists and secret societies, it sounds like a very Jo book, so hopefully my second outing with this author goes better than the first.
8. Song of The Current-Sarah Tolscer-I’ll admit, I’ve not actually heard much about this book since its release, but I’ve heard there are pirates and I love pirates, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it.
9. Children of Icarus-Caighlan Smith-Another one I actually haven’t heard much about, but I love Greek mythology so this one should hopefully be good for me.
10. The Near Witch-VE Schwab-This year is the year for me to finally catch up on the rest of VE Schwab’s backlist (aside from her Everyday Angel books which I’m not massively interested in, and her comics which I’m working my way through) and her debut novel is one of the last ones I’ve left to read. I’m not expecting massive things from this one since it was her first book, but I’m still looking forward to trying it.
11. Forest of A Thousand Lanterns-Julie C.Dao-I’m really looking forward to this one, I love villain books (especially ones that centre female villains because there are too few) and this is a retelling of The Evil Queen from Snow White, but based around East Asian mythology which sounds super cool!
12. Sharp Objects-Gillian Flynn-I read both Gone Girl and Dark Places in 2014 but I still haven’t read the third of Gillian Flynn’s novels so it seems that next year is finally the year!

So there we go, that’s my list for 2020! Once again all women, no surprises there (I read like one or two male authors a year), 5 new authors this year, so a little less than last year but that’s okay. If you’ve read any of these, please let me know what you thought of them!

Thank you to all the lovely people of Book Twitter who voted for this year’s list, and I hope you all enjoy seeing my thoughts on these books over the next 12 months! I’m really excited to read this book over the next year (which is less than a month away now! I know things aren’t going to instantly change the minute 2021 arrives, but I for one will be quite glad to see the back of 2020).

Just a quick note about my challenge updates for the rest of the year, as a lot of my November reads have bled into December and I’m still a fair way from the end of Seasons of War, I’m going to merge my November and December lists this year and do a separate Wrap Up post (as if I did all three together it would be way too long) so that’s what’s happening there.

#RockMyTBR October Update (2020)

Hi everyone! So since I last did one of these, England’s gone back into lockdown, I’ve temporarily moved back up to Stirling and the coronavirus nightmare seems to be never ending. On the upside, being back in Stirling has been nice, even if the weather this time of year is never great. I hope that wherever you guys are in the world, in lockdown or not, that you are staying safe and doing well.

For anyone who is new to my blog over the past month, #RockMyTBR is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler. The challenge is pretty straightforward, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (books not published in the year that you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always do 12 books, one for each month, and then every month I post an update of all the books I’ve been reading (not just the challenge ones). In October I read 3 books, so slightly down on September, but I still feel well on track to finish my Goodreads Challenge by the end of the year, so I’m not too worried about it. Here’s what I read in October:

Men Who Hate Women-Laura Bates

This was my audiobook read for October. I’m not usually a non-fiction reader, but I have been trying to include more non-fiction in my reading over the last couple of years as I do love learning new things. Laura Bates’ latest book delves into the world of online misogyny and I was shocked and appalled by some of the things she uncovered in her research. It’s definitely a tough read, but very insightful and I look forward to reading more of her back catalogue. I read this one from 5th-29th October. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/07/men-who-hate-women-review-audiobook/

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab:

My Netgalley read for October and my most anticipated read of the year. I’m happy to say Addie lived up to all expectations, a beautifully written, haunting story about art, history and what it means to be remembered. It was a little slow in places but on the whole I was really captivated by it. I read this one from 22nd September-1st November (She’s designed to be read slowly!). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/the-invisible-life-of-addie-larue/

The Devouring Gray-Christine Lynn Herman

My October #RockMyTBR read after I swapped Tunnel of Bones in for September. I was kind of disappointed by this one, I was expecting a brilliantly spooky Halloween read, and it wasn’t quite spooky enough for me. The characters also fell flat and it was far too slow paced for my liking. I read this one from 7th October-5th November. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/the-devouring-gray-the-devouring-gray-1/

So that’s what I read in October, here’s what I have coming up for what’s left of November (since once again, this is later than usual). The eagle eyed among you may notice that I don’t have a challenge book on my list, that is because I DNF’ed Assassin’s Apprentice after not being able to get into it, so I’ll be finishing my #RockMyTBR Challenge on 11 this year.

Seasons of War-Derek Landy

I had this down for October, but The Devouring Gray took me far longer to read than I thought it would so I didn’t get around to it. I’m about seven chapters in now and loving being back with Skulduggery and Valkyrie. If any year needed a Skulduggery adventure, 2020 is definitely it!

The Book Of Two Ways-Jodi Picoult

One of my Netgalley reads for this month, I’m about 40% of the way through and I’m liking it so far although the chapters are CHUNKY, so I’m moving through it slower than I’d like.

Kingdom of The Wicked-Keri Maniscalco

My other planned Netgalley read for the month, I have a bit of a backlog from October because Addie took me longer than I was expecting to finish. I’m really looking forward to this one, it sounds so good.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin-Roseanne A.Brown

My Audiobook read for November, I’m really enjoying it so far, it’s so well paced, things are ticking along really nicely and I’m nearing halfway through the book now and I love all the West African cultural influences, particularly the food descriptions!

Slightly less books on my TBR for this month than I’ve had previously but since I seem to have been finishing around 3-4 books a month since September, I thought I’d set my TBR at something manageable rather than overreaching for November. How are everyone’s Goodreads Challenges’ going? I’m on 41 out of 50 now, so I think I should be able to make 50 before the end of the year. Whatever happens, I’m definitely going to beat my previous all time high of 42 from last year, so I’m very happy about that. Let me know in the comments how you guys are getting on!

#RockMyTBR September Update (2020)

Hi everyone! What a difference a month makes huh? I said in my last update that things were feeling semi-normal here, but a rise in coronavirus cases over the past month means that more restrictions are being announced tomorrow. I’m not expecting much to change where I live as I’m not in a hotspot area, but I’ve definitely been feeling more on edge and unsettled in the last few weeks. I hope that wherever you are in the world, that you’re doing okay and taking care of yourselves!

For anyone who is new to my blog over the past month, the #RockMyTBR Challenge is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler. The challenge is pretty simple, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (books not published in the year you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always do 12, one for each month, and then every month I post an update of all the books I’ve been reading (not just the challenge ones). In September I read 4 books, so slightly down on last month, but I still think it’s pretty good. Here’s what I read in September:

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder-Holly Jackson

This was the September Book of The Month read for the YA Addicted Book Club on Goodreads, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to read for a while, since I’ve heard such great things. I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint, this tightly plotted, twisty thriller is definitely up there with my favourite books of this year! I read this one from 25th August-12th September (which I think is the first time in the entire time I’ve been doing Goodreads Challenges that I’ve finished a book on my birthday!). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/a-good-girls-guide-to-murder-a-good-girls-guide-to-murder-1/

Queen of Volts (The Shadow Game #3)-Amanda Foody

My Netgalley read for the month and one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I do have to admit, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, as it was a lot slower than I was expecting and it took me a while to get into, but it was an ultimately satisfying finale to the series. I read this one from 24th August-22nd September (SHE’S A CHUNKER). Here’s my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/queen-of-volts-the-shadow-game-3/

Bloodwitch (Witchlands #3) by Susan Dennard:

This was my audiobook read for September. I was a little let down by Windwitch but I’m glad to say that Bloodwitch was much better (though I still find myself incredibly confused by all of the different POVs) and I’m looking forward to reading Witchshadow when it comes out in February. I read this one from 5th September-4th October. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/08/bloodwitch-witchlands-3-review-audiobook/

Tunnel of Bones (Cassidy Blake #2) by Victoria Schwab:

My September #RockMyTBR read after a last minute swap when I wasn’t feeling my original choice. I definitely enjoyed City of Ghosts more, but Tunnel of Bones was still a fun romp through Paris and I’m looking forward to seeing where Cass’s adventures go in New Orleans in the next book. I read this one from 27th September-7th October. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/10/tunnel-of-bones-cassidy-blake-2-review/

So that’s what I read in September, here’s what I have coming up in October (or what’s left of it, since this is a little later than I would usually post my #RockMyTBR Update!):

The Devouring Gray-Christine Lynn Herman

My October #RockMyTBR read after a last minute swap! I’m not very far through it yet, the chapters are quite long so I get the sense it might take me a while to read despite being a relatively short book.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

My Netgalley read for the month and my most anticipated read of the year. I’m LOVING IT so far, I’m a little over halfway through, up to Part Four and it’s so brilliant. Plus it’s possibly one of the most gorgeous books I’ve ever had the pleasure to own!

Men Who Hate Women-Laura Bates

My audiobook read for the month, I don’t usually read much non-fiction but I’ve been trying to read more over the past few years and Laura’s new book sounded really interesting. I’m a little over halfway through and I’ve definitely learned a lot!

Seasons of War (Skulduggery Pleasant #13)-Derek Landy

I’m not expecting to finish this one before the end of the month as it’s quite a long book, but I would like to start it before the end of October if I get the time as I can’t wait to see what Val and Skulduggery get up to in their next adventure.

The Book of Two Ways-Jodi Picoult

If I finish Addie before the end of the month, which I’m assuming I will, then my next Netgalley read is Jodi Picoult’s new release which comes out in the UK the week after next.

Another ambitious TBR but I definitely think I’ll be able to get through a good chunk of it this month. Are everyone’s Goodreads Challenges going well? I’m up to 38 books, so only 12 books to go before I make my challenge of 50. I’m glad that even if most of this year has been pretty awful (bar my time in Cape Town), it should be my best reading year yet. Let me know in the comments how you guys are getting on!

#RockMyTBR August Update (2020)

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all been doing well over the past month, wherever you are and whatever the restrictions are like in your country. Things are kind of semi-normal here which is nice, as it’s my birthday next weekend. Celebrations will obviously be pretty low key but I usually have pretty chill birthday plans anyway, I’m just happy that we’re not in full lockdown anymore and that I can actually go somewhere for my birthday!

For anyone who is new to the blog over the past month, the #RockMyTBR challenge is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The Book Traveler, which I’ve kind of adopted for myself over the past few years. The challenge is a relatively easy one, you just pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (so books not published in the same year that you’re reading them) and read them during the course of a year. I always pick 12, a book for each month, and then every month I post an update of all the books I’ve been reading. In August, I read 6 books, so slightly more than my average of five over the lockdown period, but I did have a few carry-overs from last month to finish. Here’s what I read:

The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant:

One of my August Netgalley reads, though I did read a fair chunk of it in July. This ended up being a  massive disappointment, I was expecting a fantasy Les Mis and instead what I got was an alternate history Les Mis with some incredibly basic inaccuracies about the time period. It’s such a shame because I was really looking forward to this one. I read it from 19th June-10th August. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/14/the-court-of-miracles-review-e-arc/

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin:

My August #RockMyTBR read. I was kind of worried about this one because I didn’t love her second book, Foul Is Fair when I read it back in February but I enjoyed her debut so much more! Basically it’s the wives of Henry VIII but in a high school setting, and it was super funny, super feminist and really challenges the expectations of what readers think they know about these historical queens. I read this one from 1st-11th August (which is pretty fast for me!). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/the-dead-queens-club-review/

The Empire of Gold (Daevabad #3) by S.A. Chakraborty:

One of my audiobook reads for August, though again, I read a fair chunk of it in July. I was a little let down by this one to be honest, I enjoyed it but it took me far longer than I expected to get into it and I kind of felt it was a lot longer than it really needed to be. I loved the characters and the world though and I was relatively satisfied with the outcome of this trilogy. I read this one from 28th June-16th August (told you it was long!). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/20/the-empire-of-gold-daevabad-trilogy-3-review-audiobook/

Not Even Bones (Market of Monsters #1) by Rebecca Schaeffer:

My other physical book for August, this one was chosen for me as my August Pick-It-For-Me by the Goodreads Book Club I’m in, the YA Addicted Book Club. I really enjoyed this one, a short, fast paced fantasy read, packed with morally grey characters was just what I needed after reading a lot of chunky books over July and August! I read this one from 12th-24th August. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/not-even-bones-market-of-monsters-1-review/

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron:

My other Netgalley read for the month. I’m not usually a massive fan of Cinderella but I really enjoyed this retelling, I liked that it did something different with the fairytale and aimed to examine and smash patriarchal structures, even if it was sometimes in a quite heavy handed way. It was also awesome to see a Black, lesbian girl take centre stage in this story. I read this one from 10th August-24th August. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/cinderella-is-dead-review-e-arc/

Sightwitch (Witchlands #2.5) by Susan Dennard:

My other audio read for August. I really wasn’t a fan of this audiobook, yes, I suppose it was quite sweet to see how Kullen and Ryber met but I didn’t really feel I got anything out of this story and mostly found the narrative quite confusing. Honestly if I hadn’t been told I needed this to understand Bloodwitch, I probably wouldn’t have read it. I read this one from 17th August-2nd September. I decided not to do a review of it, it was pretty short and I don’t have much to say other than I didn’t like it.

So that’s what I read in August, here’s what I have coming up for September:

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder-Holly Jackson

My current read, it’s the September Book of The Month for the YA Addicted Book Club, and was also one of the Pick It For Me suggestions I got last month. I’m really enjoying this one, it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while actually! I’m about halfway through, give or take which is pretty good considering I only started it last week.

Queen of Volts (The Shadow Game #3)-Amanda Foody

My Netgalley read for this month. It was a bit of a slow starter but the story’s really picked up now, thankfully! I’m not sure if I love this one quite as much as King yet, but there’s still a lot more to go so I’m imagining there’s a lot more action and twists to come.

Bloodwitch (The Witchlands #3)-Susan Dennard

My audiobook read for this month, I’m hoping that I enjoy this one a lot more than Sightwitch. It’s Aeduan’s book and I’ve always found him quite an interesting character, so I have high hopes for it.

Sherwood-Megan Spooner

My #RockMyTBR book for September, I’m really excited for this one as a Robin Hood retelling where Robin Hood is a woman is something I’ve been wanting to read for a while, so this book where Maid Marian takes up Robin Hood’s mantel seems right up my alley!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

I’m not expecting to finish Queen of Volts before the end of the month as it’s quite a long one (about 600 pages) but if I do, then this will be my next Netgalley read. This is possibly my most anticipated read of the year, so I’m really looking forward to finally getting stuck into it, either later this month or early next month.

I’ve gone for another ambitious TBR, but since I finished all the books on my TBR last month, I figured why not! How is everyone’s Goodreads Challenges going? I upped mine to 50 and I’m at 34 at the moment, so I’m pretty pleased, I think this year is going to be my best reading year yet (which is good because it’s certainly not going to be the best year for anything else!). Let me know in the comments how you guys are getting on!

 

#RockMyTBR July Update (2020)

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all still doing well and enjoying the things that we are now allowed to do in a safe way.

For anyone who’s new to my blog, the #RockMyTBR Challenge, is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler, which I’ve kind of adopted for myself over the past few years. The challenge is pretty simple, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (ie books not published in the year that you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always pick 12, a book for each month and then every month I post an update of all the books I’ve been reading. In July, I read 3 books, slightly less than I have been reading since lockdown started in March, but two of them were over 500 pages and 3 is pretty standard for me on a normal year. Here’s what I read:

Girl Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust:

My Netgalley read for July, and thankfully I enjoyed it more than Girls Made of Snow and Glass! It’s definitely one of the more unique fairytales I’ve read, being based largely off Persian mythology but it was still quite slow in places and I wasn’t massively attached to the characters. I read this one from 12th June-11th July. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/girl-serpent-thorn-review-e-arc/

King of Scars (Nikolai Duology #1) by Leigh Bardugo:

My #RockMyTBR read for July. I have to admit I didn’t love this one as much as I expected to, I loved the characters but it was quite a slow paced book and Nikolai and Zoya’s story didn’t really seem to mesh well with Nina’s. I read this one from 27th June-14th July. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/king-of-scars-nikolai-duology-1-review/

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins:

The prequel to The Hunger Games was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and though I did enjoy it, I didn’t love it as much as I was expecting to. Though it was interesting to see what Panem was like just after the war, and to learn about the early days of The Hunger Games, it was very slow going and not as exciting as the original trilogy. I read this one from 15th-31st July. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-review/

So that’s what I read in July, here’s what I’ve got coming up in August:

The Dead Queens Club-Hannah Capin

My August #RockMyTBR book, I’m a little bit over halfway through now and I’m really enjoying it. I love all the Tudor references, they’re making my Tudor nerd heart very happy and it’s a lot pacier than some of the other books I’ve been reading this year, so I’ve been getting through it a lot quicker.

The Court of Miracles-Kester Grant

My Netgalley read from last month that I just need to finish. Honestly I’ve struggled a lot with this one, it wasn’t quite what I expected and I really struggled with it, so I’m mostly just wanting to be done with it and move on now.

The Empire of Gold-SA Chakraborty

My audiobook from last month, that again, I just need to finish. I’m almost there, I’ve got about 12 chapters left to go, so I should be done by next week hopefully? I’ve enjoyed this but it’s definitely been a chunk of a book, I’m looking forward to reading some shorter audios after doing The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold back to back!

Not Even Bones-Rebecca Schaeffer

My August PIFM read for the YA Addicted Book Club I’m in on Goodreads. I’m really excited for this one, I’ve been wanting to read it for ages so I’m hoping that it lives up to my expectations.

Cinderella Is Dead-Kalynn Baron

My Netgalley read for this month, I’ve been hearing a lot of good stuff about this one so I’m hoping it lives up to the hype. I’m not usually a Cinderella girl, it’s not one of the fairytales that I’m particularly keen on but the fact that this is a black LGBTQIA+ retelling definitely makes it more intriguing to me.

Sightwitch-Susan Dennard

My audiobook read for this month, it’s a pretty short one so just what I need after finishing the Daevabad trilogy. I don’t always bother with novellas but apparently there’s stuff in this that’s important for Bloodwitch, so I’m going to give it a try.

Yet another ambitious TBR but since a couple of them are hangovers from last month that I don’t have much left to read of, I think it’s still pretty achievable. What have you guys read this month? Anyone else been reading a lot of chunky books recently? How is your Goodreads Challenge going? I’m on 28 out of 40 books and I’m still 5 books ahead of schedule so I’m feeling pretty confident that I’m going to smash my challenge this year! Let me know in the comments how you guys are getting on!

#RockMyTBR June Update (2020)

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all been doing well in the past month and staying safe as countries around the world start to open up more.

For those of you who don’t know, the #RockMyTBR Challenge is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler, which I’ve kind of adopted for myself over the past few years. The challenge is pretty simple, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (i.e. books not published in the year that you are reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always choose 12, a book for each month and then each month I post an update of everything I’ve been reading. In June, I read another 5 books, a continued win for lockdown reading:

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi:

This was my June #RockMyTBR read and is definitely one of my favourite reads of the year so far. It has such an amazing squad/found family dynamic, it’s wonderfully diverse and the story is just a lot of fun whilst also touching on really important topics like colonialism. I read this one from 26th May-9th June. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/the-gilded-wolves-the-gilded-wolves-1-review/

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust:

One of my Netgalley reads for this month, unfortunately this one was kind of let down. The characters were quite flat and though I appreciated the different take on a stepmother/stepdaughter relationship in a fairytale retelling, the slow pace of the story made it very hard to get into. I read this one from 22nd April-13th June (on and off). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/girls-made-of-snow-and-glass-review/

Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova:

My other Netgalley read of the month. I enjoyed the magic system that the author created and I really liked her writing style but the plot was kind of slow paced and the characters were a little flat for me. I read this one from 7th May-18th June (again on and off). Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/21/incendiary-hollow-crown-1-review-e-arc/

Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman:

My PIFM read from the YA Addicted Book Club on Goodreads. I had mixed feelings on this one, I thought it was a really interesting concept and had a very intense plot, but the characters felt kind of flat and I had a few issues with the toxic masculinity presented in the plot. I read this one from 9th-22nd June. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/dry-review/

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty:

My audiobook read for June. I really enjoyed The City of Brass, but I found The Kingdom of Copper somewhat slower than I would have liked, though I still loved the characters and it did have some amazing plot twists toward the end. I read this one from 14th May-26th June. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/the-kingdom-of-copper-daevabad-trilogy-2-review-audiobook/

So that’s everything I read in June, here’s what I’ve got coming up in July:

King of Scars-Leigh Bardugo

My July #RockMyTBR read. I actually started it last week as there were only a few days left of June. I’m enjoying it so far, though it is a little slow and the chapters are slightly longer than I would like.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes-Suzanne Collins

I’m hoping to finally get around to this one this month, as apparently July is my month of chunky reads! I’ve seen very polarising opinions on this one so I’ll be interested to see which side of the fence I fall on.

Girl Serpent Thorn-Melissa Bashardoust

One of my Netgalley reads for this month and I’m thankful that I’m enjoying this one much more than I enjoyed Girls Made of Snow & Glass, Melissa Bashardoust’s writing has definitely improved since her debut.

The Court of Miracles-Kester Grant

My other Netgalley read for this month, and to be honest, I’m struggling to get into it at the moment but I’m hoping things will improve soon.

The Empire of Gold-S.A. Chakraborty

Yes, I have the final book of this one on audio to read for this month. I’m really looking forward to seeing how everything turns out in the end for the characters, though the almost 29 hour length is making me a little nervous!

Another pretty ambitious TBR but since I’m not really doing much at the moment, I feel like it’s very achievable. What have you guys read this month? How is your Goodreads Challenge going? I’ve read 25 books so far and I’m still 5 books ahead of schedule so I’m feeling pretty good about it. Let me know in the comments!

#RockMyTBR May Update (2020)

Hi all! I hope everyone has been doing well and staying safe in the past month, once again, asking if everyone had a good month seemed decidedly wrong given everything that has been happening over the past few weeks.

For anyone who is new to my blog since I last did one of these posts, the #RockMyTBR Challenge is a challenge originated by Sarah K at The YA Book Traveler, which I’ve adopted for myself over the past few years. The challenge is really simple and easy, you pick a list of backlist books from your TBR (ie not published in the year you’re reading them) and read them over the course of a year. I always choose 12, a book for each month and then each month I post updates of what I’ve been reading. In May, I read 5 books, another win for lockdown reading:

The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats and Piracy (Montague Siblings #2) by Mackenzi Lee:

My May #RockMyTBR read, Gentleman’s Guide was one of my favourite books of last year and I really enjoyed Lady’s Guide too. It was great to see Felicity get to take centre stage and although it was a little slow in places, I loved the focus on historical women and the dismantling of internalised sexism. I read this one from 29th April-8th May. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/the-ladys-guide-to-petticoats-and-piracy-montague-siblings-2/

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein:

My Netgalley read for this month, I’ve loved Elizabeth Wein’s books in the past and though this wasn’t my favourite of hers, I still really enjoyed it. It was great to see what previous CNV universe characters, Jamie and Ellen got up to during the war and new characters Louisa and Jane were great additions to the story. It was a little slow in places, but ultimately enjoyable. I read this one from 12th April-10th May. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/the-enigma-game-review-e-arc/

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab:

My May PIFM book from the YA Addicted Book Club on Goodreads. I have to admit, I don’t really read middle grade all that much anymore, but this one was super fun. It was nice to have a break from the super dense fantasies that I usually read, and Victoria Schwab turned her hand to middle grade very well. I read this one from 8th-12th May. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/city-of-ghosts-cassidy-blake-1-review/

Windwitch by Susan Dennard:

My audiobook read for May. I really enjoyed the first Witchlands book, but I found Windwitch somewhat lacking. It was slow paced, there were too many different character POVs and I wasn’t a massive fan of the narrator. I read this one from 11th April-13th May. Here is my review of it: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/windwitch-witchlands-2-review-audiobook/

Call Down The Hawk (Dreamer #1) by Maggie Stiefvater:

My final read of May. I was really excited for Call Down The Hawk as I loved The Raven Cycle, however it didn’t live up to my expectations. It was very slow paced, the plot was a little messy and it just wasn’t as fun as TRC. I still enjoyed it and will be reading the next book, but my expectations won’t be as high. I read this one from 12th-26th May. Here is my review of it:

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/call-down-the-hawk-dreamer-trilogy-1-review/

So that’s everything I read in May, here’s what I have coming up in June:

The Gilded Wolves-Roshani Chokshi

This is my June #RockMyTBR book, although because I finished Call Down The Hawk a few days before May ended, I’ve actually already read most of it! I’ve really enjoyed it as well, it’s my first Roshani Chokshi book and I will definitely be reading more, I’ve already preordered the sequel.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass-Melissa Bashardoust

One of my two Netgalley books at the moment, I’m almost done with this one. Not really a big fan, I like that it’s a more feminist Snow White retelling, but the actual book itself has been kind of a slog to get through and if I wasn’t reading it for review then I doubt I would have finished it.

Incendiary-Zoraida Cordova

My other Netgalley book at the moment, my first book by this author and I’m enjoying it although it’s kind of slow at the moment. Still again, I think I would definitely try more of Zoraida Cordova’s books.

Dry-Neal Shusterman

This is my June PIFM book from the YA Addicted Book Club, and I’m really excited as I love Neal Shusterman’s books. I haven’t read anything dystopia since this whole thing started, since the real world was feeling too much like it, but I’m hoping since this isn’t anything virus related, it should be okay!

Kingdom of Copper-S.A. Chakraborty

My current audiobook read, I loved the first book in this series and have been enjoying the second book as well, though it’s been a little slow going, it’s quite a long book and I’m only just halfway through despite reading it for a few weeks!

Empire of Gold-S.A. Chakraborty

The final Daevabad trilogy book comes out in a week’s time and I’m super excited to read it and see how this whole thing ends! Definitely a new favourite series.

Another ambitious TBR, but I feel pretty confident that I should be able to finish most of these this month, I have far too much time on my hands at the moment! What have you guys read this month? How’s your Goodreads Challenge going? I’ve read 20 books so far and my challenge is 35 so I’m feeling pretty good about it and will probably up it again before the end of the year. Let me know in the comments!