**I wander through the forest and come out the other side to a bright sky and sun shining down. For so late in the year, the air is still warm so I take advantage while I can. I take a long walk to the river, up the hills, then back down through the forest once more. I bask in the morning sun and make my way back home.**

I am a bit behind in my posting schedule so I do apologize for that, which is why we’re getting two right in a row. Anyway, we have closed out our October reading month and I can finally do my wrap-up for it. I ended up reading nine books in October and had one that I DNF’d, which was kind of crazy for me since I only average probably five books a month. I do think the manga and graphic novels helped though, so let’s get right into it.

• The City of Zirdai by Maria V. Snyder

To start the month, I finished The City of Zirdai which I started towards the end of September. This is the sequel to The Eyes of Tamburah which I read . . . a year ago? Two? Anyway, it’s a self-published ya fantasy where people live in underground developments because the sun is too hot to live aboveground. I thought this was just an okay book. It definitely felt like more of a bridge book between the first and third books in the series since it felt very slow until closer to the end. I’m still intrigued to see what will happen next so I’ll be picking up book three next year.

• Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

This was actually a very surprising book for me. This is about a girl who was famous for being on a show as a teen. Now she’s 18 and signing up for a new k-pop group to reconnect with her old friend and cast-mate after a tragedy. But weird things start to happen at the k-pop camp and our main character Sunny has to figure out what’s going on. I actually picked this up on a whim and I really enjoyed it. I never knew where the story was going to go and it was an interesting concept. My main complaint was that I think we needed more of a build-up with the creep factor. I think it was too spaced apart and we didn’t see it build until much later, and I’m not sure how I felt about the reveal, but I still enjoyed the story.

• Drawn Together by Juliana Smith

This was another self-published book I found and it seemed perfect for fall. This is an adult romance following a picture book illustrator which was what really caught my eye when I first found this book. I love a good book where the main characters have bookish jobs so this seemed right up my alley. I think I’ve said this before, but I’m realizing that I need more to my romance books, especially adult romance books, then just the romance. I think it just seems like nothing much happens and if you’re not invested in the romance, then there’s not much to like. With this one, I do like the setting of fall in NY and the fact that we get to read about our fmc working on her commission. I just think I needed a bit more from the story, which is fully a me thing and not about the book.

• Horrid by Katrina Leno

I actually found the Owlcrate edition of this at my local used bookstore so I decided to pick it up. This is a YA horror about a girl who moves into the house her mother grew up in where weird things start to happen. First off, the book eating was a bit of a turn-off for me. We actually read about multiple characters eating things they shouldn’t which was kind of weird in my opinion. Overall though, I’d say this book was just fine. I think it created a slightly eerie atmosphere since we don’t really know what’s going on and what to expect. A slight spoiler if you plan to read this and don’t want to read the synopsis, but reading the summary of the book mentions supernatural elements and ghosts, which is something we don’t actually see until close to the end of the book. I guess as the reader we’re assuming that these weird things are being caused by ghosts, but it’s not really mentioned until maybe the 70% mark. The end also annoyed me so much. It just ends so abruptly and we still had some unanswered questions. I was invested enough while reading but needed a bit more from the story, like more of a horror build-up, a better ending, and more answers.

• Funny Story by Emily Henry

This is actually a reread for me and it just reaffirmed that this is my favorite Emily Henry book. I started doing a reread of her books a few months ago then took a break and finally just reread this one. There is something about Funny Story that really speaks to me. I think this feeds into my need of something besides the romance in a romance novel since we watch Daphne mourning the loss of her past relationship and really find herself outside of her ex-fiance. I also love that Daphne is a children’s librarian and that we can actually see her work. I also love watching her make new friends and really build a new life that is just hers. I think my main complaint would be the relationship between her and Miles. I like them together, but I feel like we start noticing the tension between them a bit too early considering they both just got out of long term relationships and we start to see this after only one of their first real interactions. My other complaint comes towards the end since Daphne gets mad at Miles for something, even though she had just basically done the same thing to someone else. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but it just felt very hypocritical to me and I think she even acknowledges that but kind of moves on from it quickly and focuses on how Miles affected her. Even though that annoys me, I still really love this book and it still stands as my favorite Emily Henry book so far.

• Morgana and Oz vol. 2 by Miyuli

I don’t have too much to say in regards to this one, but it’s the second book in a graphic novel series about a witch and a vampire and the feud between their families. I read vol. 1 over the summer and it wasn’t too bad so I figured I’d continue on and see what happens. I like the art and I’m intrigued to see where the story goes.

• Everything She Does is Magic by Bridget Morrissey

I hate to say it, but I was was so happy to finally finish this and be done with it. This is a YA romance between a witch and a human. Anya, our witch, is getting initiated into her coven soon, so she needs to find a human protector, which is where Darcy comes in after Anya tells her family that Darcy is her friend and agreed to do it. Darcy’s parents own an art shop in our small autumn-centric town and run all the fall festivities. Darcy is looking to go to school out of state, but learns that she will be taking over for her parents when they retire next year. I really wanted to like this. The cover was cute and the fall town setting seemed like it would be so cozy, but I was not enjoying my time with this. I was just really bored with the story and felt nothing for the characters or the romance. The book also states that the two girls decide to work together to help each other out which isn’t really true. Anya helps Darcy make little changes to the fall festivities because Darcy wants change to happen even though her parents don’t, but we mostly spend time watching them go to these events and only see small changes. Then Anya doesn’t actually tell Darcy about her coven until later so Darcy doesn’t know she’s really helping Anya. This was a quick read and really short, but not something I would ever go back to.

• The Girl From the Other Side vol. 1 by Nagabe

I actually read this a few years ago then never continued, but this is vol. 1 in a manga series that is pitched as a fairytale-esque story. In this series, we have the inside, which houses the humans, and the outside, which houses these monsters that can turn humans into the same creature by touch. We follow a little girl named Shiva living on the outside with one of the monsters she calls Teacher. We don’t know too much that’s going on other than the fact that Teacher is protecting Shiva and she is waiting for her aunt to come get her that may or may not ever happen. I think the story is so intriguing and I’m interested to unravel more layers to the story as I get farther in the series, like what happened to Shiva, who Teacher is, and how the outsiders were created.

• The Girl From the Other Side vol. 2 by Nagabe

After vol. 1, I ended up reading vol. 2 the next day which did give a bit more information into this world. I just picked up the next three volumes from the library so I’m excited to dive into those and learn more.

My DNF for the month was The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. This was my book club book for the month and I just didn’t like it. I read about thirty pages and couldn’t get into it. I was bored and didn’t like the writing. It felt difficult to get invested in and I didn’t really see myself caring to see where it would go.

We have finally made it through all the books I read in October. I did briefly start The Big Bad Wolf Murder by P.G. Bell but didn’t finish it in time so it will be in my November wrap-up since I finished it the other day. I actually haven’t started a new book yet so I’ll have to dig around and see what catches my eye next. Stay tuned for my November TBR post which should be coming tomorrow to see some of my next options.

xoxo,

Just another reader