Monthly Wrap Up September 2020

Since it’s the end of September, I’m going to be talking you through all the books I’ve read this month and share some brief thoughts on them along with my ratings!

You can check out last month’s wrap up here.

1. Not Your #Lovestory by Sonia Hartl ★★ — The first mistake was this being advertised as ‘Gilmore Girls meets . . .’ because this clearly tried to be like Gilmore Girls (small town, festivals, family dynamics etc), but failed to reciprocate the fuzzy feelings of the show. All the characters felt a little one dimensional and the social media element made it feel like the author was trying too hard to be cool.

2. These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin ★★★ — Secret societies are my kryptonite! And this was a good attempt, but it brought nothing new to the table. It felt a lot like Clique Bait, which released earlier this year too. It was a fun read, but I saw all the twists coming from a mile away.

3. The Unearthly by Laura Thalassa ★★ — This was one of those books that feels like the year it was written. Some books are timeless, but this one encapsulates the awkwardness of 2013 with tropes at the time that were probably fresh, but in 2020 feel like they weren’t fleshed out enough to be effective. Did I mention I also despise fast burns and alpha love interests?

4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett ★★★★ — I read this for class and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. However, from a critical standpoint, I have a lot of issues with the ‘white saviour’ trope that was employed and the unnecessary adds on like romance that did nothing to further the narrative.

5. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir ★★★ — This was such a weird one for me because it’s been on my TBR for so long, but was ultimately underwhelming. I often found myself bored and it doesn’t stand up against many other YA fantasies with the same plot — rebellions, infiltrating the enemy, slave/soldier, repressive governments . . . Somebody told me they would have loved if they were younger and I think I would too. Maybe if I was 13/14, this would’ve been a better reading experience.

TOP 3 BOOKS OF SEPTEMBER: The Help, These Vengeful Hearts and An Ember in the Ashes.

Let me know what your favourite book was this month in the replies below! As you can see, my reading month was pretty awful — I’ve been in a terrible slump and have been really busy going back to college. Hopefully it’ll get better for me in October.

read it and weep,