As I’m writing this post, the rain and grey skies outside my window really make August feel so much further away in time than it actually is. Despite the turn in the weather, September always feels like a month of new beginnings and with lots of exciting projects for the autumn, I’m really looking forward to seeing what it will bring!
Despite a slow start, August ended up being one of my best reading months so far, with 6 books read. I’m curious to see what September will end up looking like as I feel I’m buzzing with energy to do a million things and can’t actually settle down to read most days. So, feeling really grateful for that August reading at the moment!
What I read…
- Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang – finally my first R.F. Kuang, which has been on my TBR for aaages! I enjoyed this, though not as much as I’d expected, but I did absolutely love the writing – y’all didn’t lie to me about how good this author is! I plan on posting a full review as soon as I get a minute to finish writing out my notes in full sentences, so more to come on this. I’m also incredibly pleased to knock this off my reading list as it’s also one of the titles of my 25 in 2025 challenge!
- Of High Kings and Mages by Jenn Lees – oh, I do love it when a series ends well! Another book that’s due a full review sometime soon, but if you like fantasy and romance I really can’t recommend this series enough. You can find my reviews of book 1 here and book 2 here.
- The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest – I read this one for research, and it seems to be pretty popular. I wasn’t overly impressed as I’d heard a lot of this before, although a few exercises are interesting. My full review for this one is on Goodreads.
- Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh – another 25 in 2025 book read in August! And yet another one where I’ll say that a full review will come soon… hopefully.
- Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd – this was one of the easiest 5 stars I ever gave. I can’t really do it justice beyond what I shared in my Goodreads review. Please read it. (And Free Palestine always)
- The Imposter Phenomenon by Dr. Kate Atkin – occasionally, I do remember I have a book blog and write a full review, with actual, real sentences in it lol! I’m very grateful to have been on the tour for this one, as it was an interesting read. You can find my full review here.
What I added to my shelves…
Gifted
- The Bell Witches by Lindsey Kelk – I was super lucky to win a giveaway copy of this book in Fable. It sounds perfect for those autumn vibes coming up soon, so I’m really looking forward to reading this! By the way, if you’re on Fable, hit me up – I love to connect with more people over there!
For Review
Huge thanks to publishers, authors, blog tour organisers, NetGalley, Edelweiss+, and Reedsy Discovery for filling my digital shelves at the end of this summer!
- The Imposter Phenomenon by Dr. Kate Atikin – out now!
- Throne in the Dark by A. K. Caggiano – publication expected in November 2025.
- The Girl Out of Time by Kate Serzenta – publication expected in December 2025.
- Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll – publication expected in September 2025.
- Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen – publication expected in November 2025.
What I’m reading…
This was entirely not done on purpose, but my reading is very dragon-themed at the moment!
What I’ve been watching…
I watched a lovely mix of newer releases and oldies in August. I enjoyed some more than others (I can’t believe I’d never seen the masterpiece that is Sunset Boulevard!), but my biggest disappointment by far was The Thursday Murder Club. I love the books and was eagerly anticipating the film but it was just… flat. If you watched it, what did you think?
I also watched seasons 1 and 2 of Interview with the Vampire and wow! I honestly did not expect to like it as much as I did. Now I can’t wait for the new season to come out and I may or may not have placed a hold at my library for the second book in the series (okay, I definitely did).
That’s it for now!
What have you been up to?
Tell me in the comments or leave a link to your wrap-up post so I can visit!
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Have you posted your full review for Yellowface over on Goodreads yet? I’ll have to check it out if so as I’d love to see your in depth thoughts about it. I havent heard of the series you’ve mentioned either but I’ll have to look it up based on what you’ve said.
I have The Bell Witches to check out sometime too. What’s Fable like? Ive been meaning to try that & Storygraph for a while but haven’t gotten to either.
Ive Never seen Sunset Boulevard 🙈 im sorry that The Thursday Murder Club was a let down too. That’s wonderful about Interview With The Vampire though. Ive only seen the movie but I’ve owned book one and really need to try it soon. I’ll check the show our afterwards as I know a few people who’ve enjoyed it
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I haven’t yet 🙈 I’m sooo behind on posting full reviews but I’m hoping to have some time to catch up soon. Life’s been life-ing recently, but hopefully I’ll have some time to get back to turning my bullet-point notes into actual posts 😅🤞🏼
I love Storygraph! It’s not yet a full Goodreads substitute for me as it still misses the community element, but everything else is fantastic. Their stats page is amazing and I love that you can track reading challenges on there as well. Fable on the other hand is great for community updates but not so much for tracking as they don’t yet have options to switch between editions/languages and so on. I’m not super active on there to be honest, but when I have a bit of time it’s fun to catch up with other people’s updates and bookish memes. I also tried Pagebound, which is very new, has a super cute aesthetic and Reddit-like discussion threads for books, but again I’m not terribly active… I have far too many book apps that I can’t keep up with 😂
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I totally understand. Its hard to catch up once you start falling behind, especially when youre still in a busy patch. I hope you manage to catch up okay with your notes though 🥰
Oh yes I did see the challenge feature earlier this year. Its one of the aspects that first intrigued me (besides everyone seemingly to join it 😂) I’ll definitely have to consider Fable for the community side of things too then. Pagebound is entirely new to me but sounds interesting. I could have used that kind of discussion thread on one of the books earlier this year. Luckily it was a buddy read so I still had someone to discuss theories with though 😂 and I get it, thats why I havent gotten around to joining yet. Atm I feel like I’m struggling to balance this and Instagram as it is 🙈
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