HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL! And happy last day of October. I didn’t have a fantastic reading month by my standards, but it wasn’t a total bust eitehr. Overall I managed to finish 10 books in October. Not bad by any means however this is WAY lower than my normal amount of reads! Of course, I do have 4 manga volumes out from the library so maybe I’ll hurry up and read those today to beef up my numbers HAHAHA. (Look, 2020 is crap for reading and I’m getting a little desperate lol.)
The breakdown:
- 9 novels, 1 novella
- 7 Speculative Fiction–6 Fantasy, 1 Horror–3 YA, 4 Adult
- 3 Romance–2 Contemporary, 1 Historical
Favorite Reads of the Month:
Well this was an odd month, almost all my favorite books were romances. (If you like HisRoms I HIGHLY recommend the super feminist and totally trope flipping book The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham–that book is fierce.)
But let’s move on to speculative fiction because that’s what this blog is all about. 🙂
- Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater. This is a sequel to Half a Soul but they’re only really in the same universe and share one character that shows up near the end so honestly you don’t need to read the first one to enjoy this book. This is a fantasy romance that starts out fairly typical and then goes to some unexpected places. I also love that Olivia’s books are not just romances but talk a lot about the plight of people dealing with worker’s rights and the plight of the poor.
- The Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco. This was the final book in The Bone Witch trilogy and wow, what an ending. This series has such wonderful world–building and magic and it’s not afraid to go to some very dark places. Love it.
October’s Book Reviews:
I got out 9 reviews this past month, woot! That’s about average for me so overall I’m on track! I’ll admit that I did get a little bit behind in reading and had to rearrange my original review schedule but luckily all that panicking happened behind the scenes. 🙂
- Crave by Tracy Wolff – 3.5/5 stars
- Heart of Stone by Johannes T. Evans – 5/5 stars
- Grave Secrets by Alice James – 4.5/5 stars
- Diamonds and Daggers by Nancy Warren – 4.5/5 stars
- Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop – 4.5/5 stars
- A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan – 3.5/5 stars
- Frostbite by Richelle Mead – 4/5 stars
- The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – 4/5 stars
- Dracula’s Child by J.S. Barnes – 4/5 stars
Other Posts:
Not that many ‘other’ posts this month but I’m still sticking to my one discussion post per month so go me! 🙂
Plans for November:
First let’s take a step back and see how I did with October’s plans. I wanted to mostly Halloween theme my blog–check! Did a pretty good job reviewing books to fit the theme and I even temporarily changed my WoW posts to Halloween Highlights. I also wanted to try and make more progress on my bingo card and welp, I didn’t read anymore books that are on my bingo list. But that’s okay because I did read some books that would count anyway if I switch out what I was planning to read with what I actually read. So maybe still a win? Also was trying to finish up one or two more eARCs and I did! Mission accomplished! Last but not least–continue mood reading–well, I got kind of lost trying to get my eARCs read and so didn’t try to mood read too much (although I did a bit of mood reading still) so I think it’s going to be
For November I plan to MOOD READ. I do have a couple of things planned for Scifi Month but mostly I’m just trying to catch up with some 2020 releases and go where my mood takes me. Bingo would be nice but I’m not going to push myself. Maybe I won’t even finish my card this year! Who cares? It’s 2020 so things are wild.
And, that about sums things up. How was your month? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to chat!
Way Too Fantasy 
Looks like you had a good month! I hope November is just as good!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Thanks, Evelyn! Hope your November is great too!
Happy Halloween!!
Thanks! Happy Halloween to you as well. 🙂
I also read 10 books in October which is a new record for me, lol. I love that you are going to mood read in November, I’m focusing heavily on SciFiMonth but I’ve chosen books I can’t wait to read, so hopefully it will sort of be like mood reading😁
Ten books is a lot, yes! I think my average is usually 12ish or so though? Although this year has been weird for me so my average is probably a lot lower than normal.
I’m hoping the mood reading thing works out in November! We’ll see how it goes. There are still a couple of non-mood books I’d like to get to. I’m also focused on SciFi Month but there are also a lot of books in that genre I’ve been wanting to read too. Hopefully it will work out for both of us! 😀
Sounds like a good month! I need to pull my weekend post together later, and I’m afraid I didn’t do NEARLY as well with my reading goals.
Thanks! It wasn’t too bad all things considered but it certainly felt like a month of slow going!
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, 2020 is crazy and I’ve just been using that as an excuse for not meeting my goals lol. 😉
” luckily all that panicking happened behind the scenes. ” 🤣🤣 I think every blogger can relate to that, I wanted to publish 7 posts for Spooktastic Reads and I did a whole lot of panicking behind the scenes myself to manage that lol.
I’m so excited for Sci Fi Month, I have a very big TBR so I’ll just pick and choose the titles that interest me the most during the month,so it will be almost like mood-reading! 😀
SO MUCH PANICKING (but all unseen thank goodness) hahahaha. I wanted to get more posts out for Spooktastic Reads to fit the challenge/prompts, but it just didn’t work out as I was struggling to get some of my reviews out as is… ah well.
I’m excited for SciFi Month as well! I usually don’t read a *ton* of SF, but I’ve started reading more the last couple of years and I’ve found a lot to enjoy. Hopefully I can get my butt in gear and do better with my planning for November though haha. Good luck with your reading for next month!
i’m glad you had a pretty good month, and found some good reads! hope your november is lovely💜
Thanks, Kaya! Hope your November is lively too!
I’m trying to leave room for mood reads this month, I’ve still got a few reviews to catch-up on, but I’m ready for Sci-Fi Month!!
I’ve only got one more review book to read and that’s scheduled for December. I can say cutting back on review requests has really helped with my reading stress. I’m excited for SciFi Month too! Good luck to you with your review books!
I’ve cut WAY back on my review copies, but it’s still a healthy pile. 😅
Hah! Well, you’ll catch up eventually. 🙂
Same here for November. I plan to mood read. I feel like I need to do that and have already started. So far, I was in the mood for comic books and fantasy romance lol. I’m now reading Black Witch Magic by Mila Nicks, which I learned about from NPR. So far I like it.
Mood reading for the win! Although I am still trying to get my TBR read too haha whoops.
I love me some fantasy romance! Let me know if you find any good ones. 🙂
Looks like your October was great. So far in November I’m catching up with review books – December should also be pretty similar. I got really on top of everything, was feeling very pleased and then (just to prove that pride comes before a fall) I had a terrible October. I’m starting to make progress now though.
Lynn 😀
October was okay! I definitely had my off times and wish I’d got more reading done but that seems to be a reoccuring theme these days. I’m pretty much caught up with my reviews requests now, so at least I only have my TBR and mood reading. If only I were in the right mood…hah. Sorry you had such a tough month. I hope that things start getting better for you soon!