Hey bookworm friends, September is ending and my blog has donned its Halloween costume already! Black & pumpkins will be the look during Autumn, I think 🖤. Of course, this also means that the autumn equinox semester of the magical readathon will be finished in just 4 days! I could wait until the very end of the month but I like posting my wrap-up on the last Friday of the month and I doubt I can finish much in 4 days anyway 🤷♀️. So September’s wrap-up serves as my magical readathon debrief—let’s see how I did shall we?
I’ll also be linking up with Marlene at Reading Reality for Stacking The Shelves
September Wrap-Up
I’m super pleased with my ability to stick to most of the TBR I had set for the readathon! Out of the eight books, I only made two changes out of necessity. I also managed to read a bit outside of the readathon which is a bonus!
Reading Stats
Total Books Read: 8
| Format Breakdown |
|---|
| 📱E-Books: 2 |
| 📚 Physical: 2 |
| 🎧 Audiobooks: 4 |
| Genre Breakdown |
|---|
| ✍Poetry: 1 |
| ⏳ Historical Fiction: 1 |
| 🌐Nonfiction: 1 |
| 🧒🕵️♀️Middle Grade Mystery: 1 |
| 🐲Fantasy: 2 |
| 💞Romance: 1 |
| 👾Science Fiction: 1 |
What I Read
💞 Secrets To Reveal by Tilly Wallace │🎧
This historical & supernatural romance really let me down! I read another series by the same author that I loved so I was hoping to love this too but no such luck.
Magical Readathon Prompt: Night Sky On Cover ✔
✍ Poyums by Len Pennie │📚
This is the first poem collection I’ve ever read cover to cover! This was not a readathon read but I’m glad I picked it up. My review.
Satisfies Reading Goal: Social Media Published Books
⏳ Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi (ARC) │📚
Overall, I enjoyed this West African historical fiction. My review. I was originally going to read another book for this prompt but then I noticed it has a gorgeous map on its endpapers!
Magical Readathon Prompt: Book With A Map✔
🌐 The Art Thief by Michael Finkel │🎧
I had so much fun with this nonfiction book, it was short and fascinating. My review.
Magical Readathon Prompt: Bat On Cover✔
🧒🕵️♀️ The Curse of the Dead Man’s Diamond by Christyne Morrell│📱
I got accepted for this Book Tour and I enjoyed this Middle Grade mystery. It was wholesome and funny and I gave it 4 stars. It didn’t quite meet the 5-star prediction but I would recommend it to MG readers.
Magical Readathon Prompt: 5⭐ Prediction✔
🐲 Phoenix Heart, Complete Season 1 by Sarah K. L. Wilson │🎧
I was originally going to read another book for this prompt but I found this audiobook on Hoopla and it caught my attention. I listened to an audiobook that contains the 5 novellas from ‘season one’ and I’m pretty invested in continuing the series.
Magical Readathon Prompt: Phoenix in Title or Cover✔ This has both!!
🐲 Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher│🎧
While looking for a book to fit the prompt, I prioritized short books and I found this one! I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would but I still liked it a lot. It won the Hugo and Locus awards for best novella (2024).
Magical Readathon Prompt: Award-Winning Book✔
👾 Descender, Vol 1: Tin Stars by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen│📱 (Graphic Novel)
First 5-star read I’ve had in a while, I love everything about this so far even though it’s darker and more violent than I was expecting.
Magical Readathon Prompt: Any Book Shown by G in Her Videos✔
Ok, so out of the 8 books, I’ve read 7! I’m currently reading the last one, Crying in H Mart, for the prompt recommended by a non-reader. It’s taking me a while to finish it because I can’t read big chunks in one sitting due to the heavy subject matter. I don’t know if I’ll finish it by the end of the month but if I don’t, I have an ace up my sleeve. I can buy a very convenient “Scroll of Extension” for 10 guild reputation points to give myself one more month to finish it👍😜
Stacking The Shelves
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, whether it be physical or virtual. Reading Reality posts on Saturdays but you can post any day that works for you— don’t forget to visit the link-up on Saturday to join in on the fun!
Last year I signed up for FaRoFeb (Fantasy Romance February) and sometimes I get emails when there are deals or free offers so I got a few free romance books this month. Otherwise I also sometimes get free e-books on the Google Play Books app or use my Google money when there are price drops. I never buy stuff on that app with real money, lol. As you can see, I’m mostly stacking my virtual shelves this month but I’ll also share what I currently have out from the library!
Free Romance E-Books
- Deceiving The Cursed Beast by Jen Lynning
- Chasing the Darkness by Cassie Sanchez
- Elf Stone of the Neyna by Marie Judson
- The Fox & The Wolf (A Shadowblade Academy Story) by KC Kingmaker
Google Play Books
- The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
- The Golden Spider by Anne Renwick
- Over The Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
I’m not including the cover for The Fox & The Wolf because It’s not listed on Goodreads, nor is it on Amazon but rather on the author’s website through BookFunnel. It’s a short story prequel to her 5 book Shadowblade Academy series.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Have you read any of these books? Or, what was your favourite book you read in September?
How did I not realise Thornhedge was a novella? 🤔 I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it as much as you expected but I’m glad you enjoyed it in general. Hopefully I’ll finally pick up one of the authors books too. I have it narrowed down to two, I just have to get on and order one into the library 😂
You’ve read a lovely mixture of books this month & done so much better than me. I haven’t really read in a while. But I’m hopefully getting back to it either tonight or tomorrow sometime (I’m really hoping for tonight but atm I have a headache that doesn’t seem to want to budge). We’ve discussed a lot of your reads already but I’m sorry to hear that Secrets To Reveal was such a letdown. It’s heartbreaking when that happens with books by an author you’ve previously loved.
Good luck finishing your last readathon book in time. If not then at least you have that option. I think you’ve done fantastically though.
Ooh I’ve heard fantastic things about Dowry Of Blood and really want to read it sometime. Butcher Of The Forest is on my TBR too & I’ll definitely be intrigued to see what you think of it and Woodward Wall. I’ll have to look up a couple of the others as they’re new to me though. On the subject of free books I got Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea for free as an ebook this week though which really surprised me. I wasn’t expecting that to drop in price like that.
Well I only really had super high expectations for Thornhedge because I adored Nettle & Bone but it’s hard to compete with that one so it’s fair, I still really enjoyed it 🙂 Hehe Oh okay which ones do yo have it narrowed down to, out of curiosity?
I was actually shocked at myself when I saw the wide variety of genres for the month not gonna lie. That’s ok; life is busy and sometimes taking a break is good. I hope you can find the time/energy/will to read more in October & Aww I hope you feel better soon, sending you healing vibes! 🖤
Thanks but It’s not all bad because Secrets to Reveal was written first so you can tell how much her writing has grown with the later stuff that I loved, so that’s kind of fun in its own way.
Yeah I think I stopped trying to rush the last book and I’m gonna take my time with it lol Thank you 😊
I’ve been wanting to read a Dowry of Blood for such a long time!! & oh nice I’ll have to let you know what I think of them both then 🙂 A bunch of the free romance ones were new to me too, I just saw them and thought they sounded good so why not lol. Not much to lose when the price is $0😂 Oh wow nice deal you found there, I wonder if it was also free because the second book is coming out soon! I’ve heard good things about that cozy fantasy and I’d love to read it sometime too! Can’t wait to see what you think of it.
Ah right, makes sense. I’m most intrigued by the fairytale sounding ones so Nettle & Bones and A Sorceress Comes To Call. I’ve just spotted another for next year called Hemlock & Silver though. I’ll have to read it’s blurb once I’ve caught up on comments but the title is certainly intriguing.
That makes sense especially as you picked up a non fiction and read your first poetry collection. Thank you, I think part of it is I kept thinking ‘I can’t read/request that’ where I had so many library books. And I’m not in the mood for one of the series now and I read 2/3 of another of them but it wasn’t as good as I expected. So I’ve decided to read the one I’m most excited for & probably return the others for now (I did read most) as I want to pick up the two books I’d preordered but couldn’t get to. Plus I got very into my new game 😂 if anything its gotten worse but hopefully it’ll go. I’m excited to start, even if I do have to hold off until tomorrow when I’ll hopefully feel better.
That’s a good point and a lovely way of looking for the positive.
Given what you said in your post that makes sense. And there’s no point trying to rush through & not enjoy it as a result.
Ooh I hope it ends up being worth the wait. Thank you, I hope they both end up being wonderful 🤞that’s a very good point. Why not try them out when you have nothing to lose 😂 I imagine it must be because of that but as I’ve seen a gorgeous special edition of it I really wasn’t expecting it. I’ll definitely let you know what I think of it and hope you get to check it out soon too. Hopefully it’ll be worth the hype for both of us.
I’m also more interested in her fairy tale ones! 🙂 Oh, interesting I had not heard of Hemlock & Silver so thanks for letting me know, now I’m excited for that one too! It’s wild how many books she writes!
Yes exactly! Oh that’s fair yeah you gotta read what you’re most in the mood for and it’s tough when you have too many books out from the library at once, something inevitably gets left unread, at least for me lol. hah yes seems like you’re busy but either way seems like following what your brain wants to do is the best way to avoid getting burned out or reading slumps so it’s nice you’re playing your game!
yeah you’re right, no sense in rushing 🙂
Thanks 🙂 & I hope so too lol! & yes sounds good I’ll be looking forward to your thoughts on it then!♥
Hopefully you’ll enjoy the ones you still need to get to then. She does seem to write a major amount. It’s surprising how varied a lot of the books sound too
Well it’s nice to know it’s not just me 😂 and I’ve started City Of Stardust and I’m loving it so far so I’m hoping I’ll get back into reading now 🤞 that’s very true. You can’t force yourself to do something or it’ll put you off of it even more and slumps can be so hard to shake off.
❤️❤️
Yeah, I love her creativity and ideas!!!
oh yeah you’re not alone in that for sure ♥
I’m glad you’re enjoying City Of Stardust so far, I had not heard of it before. Yeah slumps are so temperamental lol!
I am really excited to get to Thornhedge. I fell in love with Nettle and Bone, but am trying to not go into it with too many expectations. Lots of fun fantasy that you’ve added to your shelves. Hope you enjoy all these!
Yes good call, learn from my mistake and don’t compare it to Nettle & Bone going in and that way you might set yourself up for loving it more fully! Thanks, I hope so too 🙂 ♥
I am impressed with your ability to stick to your reading plan! I’ve read Thorn Hedge and enjoyed it {my first, but not my last Kingfisher}, and The Art Thief is on my TBR! 😀
I was truly surprised I was able to do that so thank you 🥰!! Oh I’m glad you liked Thornhedge enough to want to read more Kingfisher! It was my 3rd by the author and I want to keep reading more too!! I hope you like The Art Thief if you pick it up 🙂