• I read 14 books this month
• I DNFd 3 books this month
• Genre: 3 sci-fi, 3 memoir, 2 fantasy, 2 romance, 2 murder mystery, 1 thriller, 1 non-fiction
• Gender of authors: 7 women and 4 men, 2 not stated, 1 non-binary author
• Race of authors: 8 white authors, 4 asian authors, 1 black author and 1 Indo-Caribbean author
• Age range: 12 adult, 3 new adult and 2 YA
• Format: 6 paperback, 6 ebook and 2 hardback
• 4.4 stars average rating for the month

DNFS

• The Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle – Nick Louth
• Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea – Rebecca Thorne
• Eve – Cat Bohannon

The Butcher of the Forest – Preemee Mohamed (3.5 stars)

This is a super short horror fantasy about a haunted forest and the dangerous journey a woman goes on to free children from the forest’s clutches. Loved all the folklore and horror elements but despite this book being under 200 pages I found the pacing to be quite slow.

A-DO, Vol. 1 – Amano Jaku (4 stars)

This was a vibrant, action-packed and tense start to what I think will be a highly praised and exhilarating series. Fans of Akira will love this! The illustrations were so well done and perfectly represented the pace and chaos in this series. The characters are intriguing and I am excited to learn more about them and especially more about their powers. I am excited to see where the rest of the series goes.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun, Vol.1 – Mashiro (4 stars)

This was a super sweet and engaging contemporary romance in the era of modern gaming. The first volumes of manga series I take super seriously as they are make or break. We all know I am a solid DNFer so if I don’t enjoy them straight away it’s a no-go. This was easy reading, with a super engaging main character who I just want to see good things happen to and hilarious illustrations. I am excited to see more development in the romance as it’s very early days in their story but I did want a bit more from our love interest. I loved all the gaming references and all the scenes set in the world of the game. It was probably my favourite part of the volume.

A Magical Girl Retires – Park Seolyeon (4 stars)

For Sailor Moon fans who want a more realistic look at what being a magical girl is like. This book is for you! Satirical, witty, and fast-paced this book just captured me from the first chapter. I loved following our main character’s journey as she learns all about 21st-century magical girls and threats to the world as we know it. Our MC is super relatable and reflects modern issues and I felt like I would honestly react so similarly to her in most of her situations. I loved the illustrations in this book – they just paired so beautifully with the story and the vibe of the novel. That being said I do wish it was longer as I wanted the story to be drawn out and a bit more developed.

The Spook’s Apprentice – Joseph Delaney (4 stars)

This seemed like a book that I thought might just not be for me. This was purely due to the fact that I am not the target age or audience for this book so going into this young YA novel I was expecting to maybe not love it. I WAS WRONG. A perfect balance of fantasy and horror with a protagonist that you just want to see succeed and overcome every obstacle in his way.

Night Shift – Annie Crown (4.5 stars)

I picked this up after a very long and busy day at work looking for an easy and fun read and boy did I get that. I ended up reading over 200 pages in one setting on my day off as I just couldn’t put it down. For all my girlies who love romance novels, and poetry and just love to romanticise their life this book is for you! This was just a super engaging read with two great characters who you just want to see succeed.

The Trees – Percival Everett (4.5 stars)

If you have ever watched the movie Blackkklansman by Spike Lee and loved it, you would love this book. This satirical thriller following the investigation into multiple interconnected deaths in Mississippi was a book I flew through. I literally could not put it down. Percival Everett’s writing style is perfect for me. Too the point, doesn’t waste a single word, incredibly punchy dialogue, exciting plot. Ugh loved it.

Homebody – Theo Parish (5 stars)

This is a vibrant, accepting and reassuring graphic memoir about Theo’s journey into accepting themselves and their non-binary identity and the journey they took to get there and feel at home within their body. The illustrations in this GN are some of the most beautiful and engaging pieces of artwork I have seen in a graphic novel. Not only was I engaged in the story but the imagination that went into visualising this story was phenomenal. My favourite has to be the D&D section. Since this memoir is being published for the younger generation I feel that this book documents the journey so beautifully and clearly for young people who may be navigating a similar path. Even myself, who thought I knew quite bit about what it’s like being trans and non-binary, due my friends, learnt a lot! A book I would highly recommend!

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth – Zoe Thorogood (5 stars)

Words cannot begin to adequately describe the genius, the heart and the baring of the soul that went into the creation of this graphic memoir. The creativity of the use of multiple forms, the loose time structure, varying art style just puts this above many visual stories I had read over the past couple of years. I have not seen anyone do something so raw and vast both emotionally but creatively. I was completely blown away by the book!

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone – Benjamin Stevenson (5 stars)

This book feels as if The Gentleman and Knives Out had a baby. A meta-narrative, family saga, murder mystery, and criminal dealings all rolled into a snowstorm on a ski resort! I had so much fun reading this book – probably the most fun I have ever had reading a crime book. The writing style in this book is wholly unique, for all my books about books fans you will love this, I loved the narrative voice of Ernest as a character but also as an author. I loved how the story was structured adhering to Ronald Knox’s 10 Commandments for crime writing. The constant referring to the text as a text with jokes about editors and chapter/page numbers. It was just such a refreshing read.

Reading Lessons – Carol Atherton (5 stars)

As someone who had complicated feelings about school and English, I was intrigued to see how I would feel reading a book about all the boring books I read and studied in school. Will this change my thoughts about any of the books? Will it make me appreciate my English classes more? Overall, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed dissecting these stories and learning that we can still learn something from these texts even today many years/decades/centuries later. While in school I hated analysing texts, now as an adult and a bookseller who reviews and promotes books for a living, I love diving in and seeing what I can take away or notice from a story. I liked looking at these texts from different lenses and I enjoyed hearing all the anecdotes that Atherton shared about her time in the classroom both when she was a student and as a teacher. My favourite section had to be the one on A Kestral for a Knave. It nearly had me crying on my commute home!

The Ferryman – Justin Cronin (5 stars)

Now this is my kind of sci-fi. I feel this book has a mass appeal to many audiences. The sci-fi fans, the thriller fans, the character-focused fans, and people who love to focus on the nitty-gritty of interpersonal relationships. This book has it all. I flew through this book at what felt like lightspeed. It’s a great sign that a book is phenomenal if all I can think about is getting back to reading it. Working? Thinking about the book. Food shop? Thinking about this book. Part of this is down to how easily this story flows. We follow two characters in this novel, one in first person and the other POV in 3rd person, and the way Cronin seamlessly weaves his way around these differing POVs and narrative styles is amazing. You just get so lost in the story that so much time has passed and the sun is setting.