I’m struggling to reconcile with the idea that it is September already. August–like the last few months–has really flown by and I can’t believe it’s time for another wrap-up. I read a lot in August: a combination of free evenings, audiobooks, and the read 7 books in 7 days challenge I completed over the last week. My total books read for this month is 18; the highest number of books I’ve ever read in a single month.

Over the past 4 months, I’ve been writing wrap-ups in a series of mini-reviews: one for each book I read that month. I love reading and watching wrap-ups and seeing people’s thoughts on different books, and I also love writing reviews, so that has worked well for the past couple of months. However, the number of books I’m reading each month keeps going up and up, and July’s wrap up was very long. It took ages to write, and yet even I wouldn’t have wanted to read the whole thing!! So, I wanted to change up my wrap-ups so it’s both less time-consuming to write and, more importantly, less time-consuming to read. If I–and hopefully others–enjoy it, I’ll stick to this layout indefinitely (which means until I get bored and want to change it again).

The Stats

Reading Format

This month I read 18 books, broken down in:

10 physical reads

5 audiobook reads

2 ARCs

1 short story collection

Star Ratings

This month I rated:

5 books ★★★★★

7 books ★★★★

4 books ★★★

2 books ★★

The Books

Books marked with an * were kindly sent to me for review.

Full reviews for all of these books can be found on my Goodreads and The Story Graph accounts, which I will leave links to at the bottom of this post.

The Top 3

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I don’t think this will come as a surprise to anyone. The Night Circus is pure magic. I think it goes without saying that Erin Morgenstern is my favourite author; I am slightly obsessed with her incredible writing and beautiful storytelling.

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez

This was a highly anticipated read for me and it did not disappoint. The contents of Woven in Moonlight evoke the same adjectives as the cover: intricate, beautifully-crafted and completely captivating. I read this in two sittings; I couldn’t put it down. Isabel Ibañez weaves together Bolivian history with fantasy to create an enthralling story of divided loyalties, prejudice and romance and I would definitely recommend it.

Blended by Sharon M. Draper

This is a book I expected to enjoy, but I did not expect to fall in love with. It is the sweetest, most beautiful and heartfelt Middle Grade novel I’ve ever read. It follows an 11-year-old, Isabelle, trying to figure out her identity, come to terms with her parent’s divorce and living in two houses–but not a single home–and deal with a racial incident at her school. If you enjoy Middle Grade, this should be on your tbr.

The Books I Recommend

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah perfectly encapsulates real life into fiction. Her characters, her stories, are so well-crafted, so detailed and believable, that is hard to imagine that these characters aren’t real, that the events of their lives didn’t really happen. Love for this book crept up on me, unknowingly, and it didn’t realise that Kristin Hannah had hold of my heart until she crushed it. A full review of this will be up on my blog soon.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Such a Fun Age is an exploration of the dynamic between babysitter, parent, and child, and its intersections with race, racial history and economic status. It was incredibly interesting, gripping – at times, infuriating – and thought-provoking. I love the babysitter/parent dynamic and its influence on the child–it’s something that really interests me–so I love seeing it explored in fiction.

The Biggest Surprise

Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren

This needs to be made into a rom-com, no question. I was shocked by how much I loved this book: I thought it would be funny, but the humour in this book was just perfect for me. I was supposed to listen to the audiobook whilst getting on with a mindless copy/paste task I needed to do one afternoon, and I found myself laughing so much I had to stop working! This was definitely a surprise, but the best kind, and now I can’t wait to read more Kristin Hannah.

The Unfortunate Disappointments

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan

This book is described as light-hearted and funny. It was not.

The Flip Side by James Bailey *

I am gutted I didn’t love this one. It’s one I will be doing a full blog post on as I was kindly #gifted this for review and, sadly, I really didn’t enjoy it. I do think it was a personal preference thing and it just wasn’t for me.

The Rest

★★★★

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

The Woman of the Wolf and other stories by Renée Vivien *

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson

★★★

The Humans by Matt Haig

Inconvenient Daughter by Lauren J. Sharkey

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 edited by Nikki Bedi *

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And, that’s a wrap. Yes, my jokes are terrible. As I don’t have to worry about doing short wrap ups for every book as well as full reviews, I can hopefully put more time into posting more full-length reviews on my blog. It’s something I really enjoy writing (and reading) and I hope that other people enjoy them too. And, if I remember, I can keep updating my wrap-up with links to full reviews as and when I upload them!

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought of them. And, what was your favourite book in the month of August?

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You can find full reviews for all of these books on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.