Unfortunately, I am nursing a wicked headache so there will be only one long reading recap. October featured some travel, excellent reads, and more lessons to be learned by reading.

Finished in October

The Shadow Glass

What I Learned: Perfect Series Enders

I am still not over how perfectly this trilogy ended. Tea’s arc wraps up incredibly, in a way that is appropriate to the story presented so far and a solution that solves most of the problems befalling our characters. Speaking of, my favorites make it to the end, which is always a delight.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

What I Learned: Perfect Theming

Read an ARC I got at ALA AC 2019. Came out October 2019. Mbalia weaves a story of a boy grieving while meeting his heroes in Midpass which has a perforation in its sky. He’s allowed to be scared, but like most boxers, he has plenty of people in his corner. This sense of community carries beautifully through the book.

Read Cover-to-Cover in October

The Grace Year

What I Learned: Feminine Compassion

Read an ARC I got at ALA AC 2019. Came out October 2019. The complexity of femininity presented in this work is truly something to behold. The odds are stacked up against the Grace Year Girls, and I couldn’t help but feel so strongly for them by the end, even the girls who were intentionally written as a little despicable from the outset.

House of Ash and Brimstone

What I Learned: Enemies, Lovers, Tension

Read my NetGalley eARC. Came out in October 2019. The sexual tension between Gigi and  Shade was tangible in this paranormal romance. They’re clearly at odds with each other, even as their romance blossoms, and it is a delight to behold.

Full Disclosure

What I Learned: High School Authenticity

Read my NetGalley eARC. Came out in October 2019. High school is painted with such authenticity in this novel about a girl living with HIV on top of the trappings of teen life: crushes, friendship, drama club, keeping on top of school. It’s all there.

The Library of the Unwritten

What I Learned: An Ode to Stories

Stories take on a literal form in this library in Hell. The way Hackwith weaves what stories mean to people and who gets to tell is done so expertly, with plenty of puns, but steeped in such a love of books as a medium.

The Audiobooks

Birthday

What I Learned: Content Warnings

I went into this work expecting something much softer than the work delivered. It would have been nice if the back copy or anything hinted at the drug abuse, difficult home situations, and ideation presented throughout.

Sadie

What I Learned: Perfect Use of Audio as a Medium

This true crime story of a girl on a mission to avenge her sister’s murder is split between traditional prose and a podcast. The two media blend so well together. Telling in the present and the past is done so cleverly and really needs to be heard to be beheld.

Kraken

What I Learned: Theology, Horror, and Camp

This book wasn’t the scariest as far as most vaguely eldrich things go. The intricacies of the world of multiple cults hidden within London provide all the fear. What do with god and how to worship them are ideas tackled in this tome, but in a way that provides a really fun plot from start to finish.

Red, White & Royal Blue

What I Learned: Distractions

This book had so much hype going for it. But as much as I enjoyed Alex and Henry’s courtship, the attempts at political commentary and a plot more reminiscent of House of Cards distracted greatly from the romance in a way that simply did not work for me.

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For me, November will National Novel Plotting Month, or NaNoPlotMo if you will. Reading is going to happen, as I have another blog interview set up and a recap of my Sirens 2019 panel.

Happy reading,
Jo