A Tentative Return // Oct/Nov Wrap Up

Hi!

It’s been a hot minute since my last post. As you know A LOT has been going on in my life and I’ve been busy house hunting and then moving house. Since we’re just about moved in (we still have a lot to unpack though) I figured I really want to start trying to blog again because I miss it and all of you so much!!!! I don’t want to say “I’m back” because this is my life and I don’t know if I’ll be able to post consistently (WHEN HAVE I EVER LMAO) but I’m gonna dive in and see what happens.

Some important things before we get into the haul and what I read during October and November: 

• I SOMEHOW REACHED 900 FOLLOWERS ???? I honestly don’t even know how or why. Thank you???? ♥♥♥
• The Halloween Readathon Giveaway is going to be drawn REAL SOON!! Once again I’m so, so sorry about the delay.

I ended up accumulating 8 books over the past 2 months! Just about all of them were unsolicited from publishers.

 

Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality is the only book I requested out of this haul and I’m super grateful that Hachette sent it my way. I’ll have a review of this up soon. Hachette also sent me The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli along with this book. It’s a high fantasy that involves dragons. Not usually my thing, but I’m going to give it a try and if I can’t get into it I’m going to give it away on Twitter or to my local used bookstore.

Bloomsbury sent me Otherworld by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller and The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord. Otherworld is a gaming sci-fi. The Start of Me and You is a contemporary and seems pretty romance-heavy which again you know I’m not a fan of so I’ll probably be doing what I’m doing with The Last Namsara. Trying it out and if it doesn’t work passing it along.

We See Everything by William Sutcliffe was also sent to me by Bloomsbury and it’s a dystopian sci-fi. I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan was sent to me by Pan Macmillan and I’m going to be participating in a blog tour. It’s a contemporary about a Muslim teen. I’m definitely going to try and pass it on to an #OwnVoices reader once I’ve finished with it.

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan and Turtles All the Way Down by John Green were the two books I bought this month. I wasn’t planning on buying Turtles but Target had hardcover copies for $16 which is so rare I couldn’t resist. The Ship of the Dead is the last book in the Magnus Chase series and I’m not ready for it to end!!

I totally failed in the #HalloweenReadathon that I hosted because of moving! It makes me so sad that I couldn’t be involved, but I love everyone so much for joining in. Hopefully next year will be better!!

   

the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur|| ★★★★★ || I LOVED THIS. At first I thought I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it as much as I did milk and honey but then it really hit me hard and I was just blown away. I will keep reading Rupi Kaur’s works for as long as she keeps writing. [Trigger warnings: rape]

Nejma by Nayyirah Waheed|| ★★★ || I didn’t love this as much as I loved salt. (which was life changing tbh) but it was still a really solid collection that dealt with important issues!

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins|| ★★★ || This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and sadly it fell way short. It was like a romantic-contemporary with the murders being an afterthought. I wasn’t expecting it to be super dark, but I was wanting a lot more horror/thriller themes but instead I just got relationship drama and lots of bad contemporary tropes like absent parents. I did appreciate the diversity though.

Uzumaki, Vol 1 by Junji Ito|| ★★★★ || Honestly I still have no idea what the hell this manga was, but I seriously loved how unsettling and dark it was. This entire town becomes obsessed with spirals?? It’s weird, but amazing. [Trigger Warnings: body horror, gore]

   

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado || ★★★★★ || HELLO MEET ONE OF MY NEW FAVOURITE BOOKS. This is a collection of short stories that focus on women and feminism. It’s a mixture of like fabulism and horror and a lot of the stories feature wlw. There’s also this incredible Law & Order: SVU supernatural-ish fan fic. Please, please, please read this. [Trigger Warnings: body horror]

Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal || ★★★★★ || Honestly, if it wasn’t for this book (or Good Mythical Morning in general) I don’t know how I would have got through the past month. When I was terrified that we wouldn’t find a house in time GMM gave me a reason to find a bit of hope and laughter. Whilst I knew a lot of stuff in this book already it did make me appreciate Rhett & Link’s friendship even more than I already did. It was really fun and creative.

Criminal Minds: Sociopaths, Serial Killers & Other Deviants || ★★★★ || Okay so Criminal Minds was a huge part of my life a few years ago, but then certain characters left and I stopped watching because I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it. However, I started watching earlier this month and ended up binge watching 38 episodes in under a week and my obsession came back hardcore. This is actually a non-fiction book that references from real life killers that certain episodes were based on. I’m a huge fan of true crime (that will never not sound weird) so I was surprised that it actually introduced me to a few serial killers I wasn’t aware of (and one that I didn’t really need to know about please don’t google what the Sacramento Vampire did to one of the families he murdered).

The Collector by John Fowles || ★★★★ || In the Criminal Minds true crime book it mentioned that a lot of serial killers noted that they were inspired by The Collector or that it was their favourite book. Naturally, I had to read it immediately. It’s your pretty standard Disturbed Guy Kidnaps Girl story, but it was super psychological. It reminded me of You without the modern pop culture references or witty banter. The second part of this book dragged a bit, but the ending really fucked me up? I knew it was coming, but for some reason it really emotionally messed with my head? Maybe because I knew actual murderers took inspiration from this book to kill real people, but yeah. It was really draining and even made me cry (which isn’t hard, but not a reaction I normally have to these kind of books). [Trigger Warnings: abuse, violence]

   

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson || ★★★★ || This is a super unique novella about a girl who creates murderous clones of herself every time she bleeds it was unlike anything I’ve read before and very dark and intense. Sometimes it felt a bit rushed though? And there were a few things that made me uncomfortable like Molly sexually touching and even sleeping with one of her clones. I get that it’s her in a way? but like the clones are also said to have their own thoughts, but they also don’t seem like they can really give consent? Like I said. I don’t know. It just weirded me out. I definitely want to continue on with the series though! [Trigger warnings: self harm, suicide, violence, graphic animal mutilation]

Perfect Days by Raphael Montes || ★★★★ || Um I think this is one of the most fucked up books I’ve ever read. If you thought You was fucked up then Perfect Days is about to make it look like a children’s book. I was so disturbed by this, but it was so addicting and I could not put it down and THAT ENDING. Fuck. [Trigger Warnings: literally everything you can ever think of] 

The Girl in 6E by A.E Torre || ★★ || As you can tell I was on a roll with the Fucked Up books this month. So many of my faves loved this book so I was really surprised to see that I didn’t??? I don’t know. It just didn’t click. There was so much medication shaming it kind of made me feel like shit, plus there was also some fat shaming and the relationship between Deanna and Jeremy seemed Not Great. I loved the inner conflict and the sex positivity, but there was so much unnecessary filler that bored me and could have easily been removed. I know it’s an erotic thriller, but at times it just felt like it was oversexualised. I won’t be continuing with the series. [Trigger Warnings: sex, violence, death, paedophilia] 

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker || ★★★★ ||  Predictable ending, but I really enjoyed the psychological aspects. If you prefer your thrillers to be extremely action packed this might not be for you because it’s definitely more a case study on a SUPER dysfunction family. That’s what I enjoyed the most about it though. It centres around narcissistic personality disorder and I felt like it was extremely well researched. [Trigger Warnings: underage relationships, abuse]

A lot has happened in my life the past couple months.

The the two biggest things is that we moved house and my dog is no longer here. I really don’t want to go into details, but it’s one of the most horrible things I’ve gone through. I’m still struggling now. My family has a couple other dogs, but they’re not mine y’know? I feel so lost and empty but I’m trying my best to get through it.

Moving has been super stressful. I’m glad we found a house and it’s nice having a change, but packing and unpacking is the WORST. I finally got my books unpacked and my shelves are a hot mess currently 😂 I’m also a bookshelf down and I have NO IDEA where I’m going to put everything.

Normally, I’d also go into the music/movies/games/tv shows I’ve been into, but there’s been A LOT so I’m going to make it into a separate post!

I would love to hear your thoughts on anything I mentioned.

What was your favourite read or thing from last month?

I hope you’ve all be doing good and I can’t wait to start blogging again!!

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