October Reading Wrap Up
October was a moody month. And by moody month I mean that I wasn’t really in the mood for anything. This might’ve been the roughest reading slump I’ve had to date, but don’t worry! I didn’t let it deter me from reading some great books! I persevered!
Grab yourself a beverage and let’s get into this odd, little reading wrap up.
My October Hopefuls
*
My October Hopefuls *
I will say, compared to September I did a better job of sticking to my Hopefuls in October. I actually mostly read from the list I made myself, which I will count as a big improvement despite reading less in total. I did also DNF two books this month. One was a hard DNF at 20%, and the other was a soft DNF at 30%.
The hard DNF was an ARC - Fall at Once by Nora Everly. The MMC was just not someone I could get on board with. Within the first 10% he claimed the FMC was “the cute sister” and that was almost the point I completely stopped reading. Due to the advanced reader copy and wanting to give a full review, I made it to 20% where I decide this book just wasn’t for me. Maybe an older, divorced dad as a love interest just isn’t for me.
The soft DNF was a book I was really excited to read - Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. I didn’t get to it in September and I really wanted to get into it in October but I just couldn’t get into it. The story, the characters, everything was great. I was thoroughly enjoying reading it when I was reading it but I had a really hard time picking it back up. I think ultimately I just wasn’t quite in the mood for it. I might try to pick it back up in January and reevaluate. I genuinely do think it was reading slump, and not the book, because I absolutely adore Trystan and Evie.
Enough with being a downer, let’s get into the good stuff!
Drum Roll Please
Drum Roll Please
My October Reads
I read 8 books in this month, and I’m honestly really proud of myself for sticking to my Hopefuls list so well compared to last month. The first 5 books I read this month were from my Hopefuls list and all, except one were very enjoyable!
To start the month, I read Under the Oak Tree Vol 1 - The Novel by Suji Kim which is a popular web novel from South Korea that has been traditionally published and translated to English. I originally became familiar with Under the Oak Tree from the Comic Version which I thoroughly enjoyed. The art is so beautiful! I was approved for an ARC of Under the Oak Tree Vol 2 - The Novel by Suji Kim (click for full review) and realized that the novel versions cover more story than the comics do, so luckily I was able to read Vol 1 from my local library and then immediately jumped into Vol 2. I personally really like reading Webtoons and Webnovels so I really enjoyed this story, and I honestly enjoyed Under the Oak Tree Vol 2 The Novel better than Volume 1, but I think that’s because I was more familiar with characters by them.
In the midst of reading those, I listened to A Five Letter Word for Love by Amy James on audio. I was feeling really hopeful that this was going to be a cute romcom. A Five letter Word for Love follows Emily, 27, who is trying to find her ‘dream career’ and love while working at a small auto shop in a small town on PEI because it was the only job she could find after university. The only stable relationship she has is with her Wordle streak, where she is so close to having completed the Wordle every day for 365 days. Emily tackles figuring out her dream career all while volunteering at a barrel museum and accepting Wordle help from her cold and aloof coworker John. As John begins to open up, Emily slowly begins to fall for his hidden charm and a summer romance blossoms. From there…it fell flat for me. Emily, in my opinion, never really grew as a character and didn’t really experience any consequences to her life altering choices. Also, I fully expected a third act break up in this book, however I think the cause of the break up wasn’t something that should’ve been as resolvable as it was. A bit of a bummer, because the first 40% was great. I ended up rating this a 2.5 and didn’t write it a full review…until now.
Keeping on the romance track, I jumped back into ZOMROMCOM by Olivia Dade. I had soft DNF’d this back in September or August but I figured October / Spooky Season was the perfect time for this paranormal romance, and let me tell you - the vibes were so fun. It was campy, quirky, funny, spicy. It had all the things. If you don’t enjoy goofy humor then this book might not be for you but this book had me cackling at times. Max and Edie were perfect for each other. It was a little too insta-lovey at times for me, but given how silly the whole book was, I think it fit perfectly.
Then, because I felt like I was having too much fun, read Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. I had heard so many good things online, I was experiencing FOMO so I picked it up. And oh boy, what a wild ride this was. It wasn’t until after I read it, I ran across a tiktok of a list of cannibalism books to read from easy to hard, with Tender is the Flesh being the ‘hardest’ — Tender is the Flesh was my first real cannibalism read, so I guess I dove in head first. Click above for my full thoughts but I will say quickly that this was one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year, as much as I enjoyed it - check your trigger warnings because this covers a lot of heavy material other than the obvious cannibalism.
In A Reading Slump
In A Reading Slump
After Tender is the Flesh, I truly hit my reading slump and struggled to get into anything else. This is when I tried to read Apprentice to the Villain and soft DNF’d it. I also attempted to listen to several audiobooks and couldn’t make it past the first few minutes, so I won’t bother listing them here but I will say it was definitely me and not the books.
In a last ditch effort to fix my audiobook slump I listened to Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher and was relieved that I was able to listen to it while I was work and pay attention. There is something so fun about T. Kingfisher’s writing that can always bring me comfort. Thornhedge is a Sleeping Beauty retelling and is definitely a very interesting take. I am always blown away by T. Kingfisher’s retellings. I didn’t write a full review for this one because I felt like this one a bit too short to give a detailed review, however I did rate it a 3.75. The writing and the narrator were great.
When in doubt, and by doubt I mean in a reading slump, read a spicy, small town romance. The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore is book two in the Dream Harbor series, and let me tell you —this one fixed me. After reading The Pumpkin Spice Cafe last month, I picked up the next book and I thoroughly enjoyed it even more than the first book. These are all technically standalone romances, but reading them in order just helps you understand the friendship dynamics better. Noah and Hazel have my heart. I honestly would probably reread this one.
And last but not least, I read The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling on the 31st. I listened to the audiobook and it was very cute. If you like cozy witch stories and second chance romances then I would definitely recommend checking this one out. I have a full review linked above if you’re interested.
Thank you so much for sticking around and reading my ramblings. I hope October was good to you, and I wish you an even better November.
Until next time. Happy reading <3