So, there wasn’t an August wrap up last month as frankly I went on an unprompted 2 week hiatus. So, we a re back better than ever to wrap up what I read in September!

• I read 10 books this month
• Genre: 5 fantasy, 2 non-fiction, 2 romance and 1 contemporary
• Gender of authors: 8 women and 2 men
• Race of authors: 6 white authors and 4 asian writers
• Age range: 5 adult, 4 YA and 1 middle grade
• Format: 7 paperback, 2 ebooks and 1 hardback.

Challenges

• Prompt: Academia
  • Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1
  • Haikyu!!, Vol.4
  • Love in Focus

• Sequel Challenge
  • Haikyu!!, Vol.4

Love in Focus – Yoko Nogiri (DNF)

This was a book I bought ages ago and was super excited to finally getting round to reading it. I have been enjoying a lot of romance stories recently and I had been enjoying a lot of manga romance subplots. Unfortunately, this book to me felt super surface level. I didn’t feel the character had any depth whatsoever and it was very clear who the main character was going to end up with. I don’t mind the love triangle trope but it only works if you really are unsure of who the main character will choose. This book made it so obvious.

Assistant to the Villain – Hannah Nicole Maehrer (DNF)

Another romance I was hoping to enjoy. Now, I love the premise of this book. I loved mixing the office like experience of a daily 9-5 but in a fantasy world. Unfortunately, I found the main character to be very annoying and I wasn’t fussed by the romance at all. I wanted it to be more of a focus of the office environment in the fantasy world but I spent most of the book reading about how clumsy the MC was. This had so much potential but I felt it was wasted.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol.1 – Hiromu Arakawa (3 stars)

This series has been HARD to lock down. I knew after finishing the Fullmetal Alchemist series that I needed to read her adaptation of The Heroic Legend of Arslan but the volumes are really hard to get hold of! Anyway… this was a fine first volume. It set up everything it needed to but it didn’t blow me away. I am hoping this will change with the coming volumes.

The Long Game – Elena Armas (3.5 stars)

Now I nearly DNFd this book. I was just not feeling it. I said to myself get to page 100 and if you’re still not feeling it then DNF it. Well it was literally page 100!!! that made me change my mind and continuing reading. I have an issue with the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope in contemporary settings as I feel that it never works. Here we have two people that had one misunderstanding and you want me to believe they are ‘enemies’? No. No way. I found super unbelievable and therefore did not care for them at all. When they finally started to show feelings for one another and the hating became more flirtatious then I was finally interested. I don’t think they were layered enough as characters to work as a ‘enemies to lovers’. After that though it was super fun and I had a great time. It’s a shame it took 100 pages though.

The Witchstone Ghosts – Emily Randall-Jones (5 stars)

The perfect book for the spooky season. I was intrigued about a middle-grade book with strong Wicker Man vibes and inspirations. Like I was so interested to see how it was done but also nervous to see how far the author would take it. Emily Randall-Jones nailed the horror elements! She also had an amazingly strong female character at the centre which I love!

The Hexologists – Josiah Bancroft (5 stars)

Josiah Bancroft does not disappoint! He never lets me down! This steam-punk fantasy ,which (I personally feel) is inspired by Britain during the Industrial Revolution, has an amazing mystery at the centre, rumours of revolution around the corners and a married couple who holds the whole story together. I am being serious I have literally found a book that ticks all my book fave boxes. Bancroft’s writing and imagination is incredible. I got slight Terry Pratchett vibes.

Divine Might – Natalie Haynes (5 stars)

Ok, so I know I said no more Greek Mythology. I MEANT RE-TELLINGS. I am taking a break from the re-tellings. Until Madeline Miller releases her Hades and Persephone re-telling and I have heard the possibility of a Hera re-telling from Jennifer Saint. So I am one major hypocrite. The reason I say this is everytime I think I am done with greek mythology but thenI read something like Divine Might and it reminds me why I love it so much! THIS BOOK WAS SO SO SO GOOD. Specifically the Hera chapter. I learnt so much about deities I thought I knew loads about already.

Other books I read this month:

• Witch Hat Atelier, Vol.1 – Kamome Shirahama
• Haikyu!!, Vol.4 – Haruichi Furudate
• Seven Kinds of People You Find in the Bookshop – Shaun Bythell