October Wrap Up // 2020
Happy Halloween, readers!! I hope your day is filled with lots of spookiness and candy (:
Another month, another wrap up. I truly do love making these, and I think in a few months (dare I say years?) it’ll be fun to look back and see what I read and watched and listened to, but I always forgot about them until, like, two days before the month ends.
By then, I feel like I’ve forgotten everything I wanted to write about!
Anywho, here we are, at the end of spooky season and quickly wheeling into turkey season! I love Thanksgiving simply because I always spend it with my family at my grandma’s house, and it’s just such a wonderful tradition! Things might be a bit different this year because of COVID and all of us wanting to stay safe and healthy, but I’m sure it will still be a great week.
Anyways, here’s a summary of my October!
Vicious Spirits: This one was super cute! I read it pretty quickly just because the plot is so fast-paced. The only issue I had was that it had been a few months since I read Wicked Fox, so a few of the smaller details had eluded me for the beginning of the story. Definitely a wonderful debut duology!
Stalking Jack the Ripper: Please give a warm welcome to one of my new all-time favorite series. Damn, did I love these books. I’m not going to go too much in depth on here because I’ve already flodded my blog with SJTR content, which you can find here and here!
Hunting Prince Dracula: Probably one of my favorite books in the series and a wonderful sequel to SJTR, the one was so much fun to read.
Escaping from Houdini: Not my favorite addition to the quartet, but I mean I still adore this series so can’t complain too much.
Capturing the Devil: Ugh, I loved this. To me, it was the perfect ending to such a great story. I know some people found to drama between Audrey Rose and Thomas to be unnecessary and I somewhat agree, but I loved seeing them interact so I didn’t really mind it!
In a Holidaze: This one was cute. I don’t really have too much to say about it: I feel like it was a good read in the moment but overall somewhat forget-able? If you want to read more of my thoughts on it, my review is here!
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: This one definitely didn’t live up to the hype for me, but I can see how some people really enjoyed it. I personally was bored and thought that the story was plot-less (which I absolutely abhor) and thus the story lost my interest for the majority of the book. Again, I have a full review on it here!
Starry Eyes: My first Jenn Bennett book, and I thought it was adorable! I don’t know if I’ll ever go out of my way to read another one of her books, but I definitely am interested in giving them a try. Though the parental figures in this one did make me want to hit my head against a wall in frustration.
Tweet Cute: In all honesty, I thought I’d like this one more than I did? For some reason, I had a different expectation of what the plot was. It may be because I’ve been putting it off for so long that my mind concocted some sort of alt. plotline. Either way, solid 3 stars!
The Poppy War & The Dragon Republic: Ugh, don’t talk to me about my pain. It has been a LONG time coming with these, and I am so SO glad I finally read them this month (well, I’m still working on The Dragon Republic, but I’m counting it anyways.) I absolutely adore this world and the setting that Kuang has built, and the commentary on imperialism and colonization and the supposed “superiority” of the western world is so incredibly fascinating and harrowing. I cannot wait for The Burning God (so soon!!!).
Confession: this month was the first time I’ve watched The Nightmare Before Christmas as an adult. I remember being totally spooked by it as a kid and not wanting to rewatch, but I finally convinced myself a few weeks ago. It was okay?? I don’t think I’m destined to be one of those people who rave endlessly about this classic. Loved the animation style, though!
As you’ll learn later, I’ve taken up knitting, and have enjoyed rewatching Friends has I knit a scarf. This show has my heart and soul and will forever be a comfort classic, so I’ll take every opportunity I can for a rewatch.
Watched this last night armed with pizza and wine, and it just doesn’t hit the same as a 22 year old as it did as a 12 year old. Enough said.
Not me becoming an actual Bad on Paper regular?! I truly love this show and now that I’ve been listening consistently for a few months, I feel like I’m really starting to get to know Grace and Becca and am listening to it as much for them as I am for the content! Highly recommend.
Still going to scream about Beach Too Sandy, Water too Wet at every opportunity because I love Christine and Xander and will continue to follow them into the depths of Yelp. They are SO funny and they always cheer me up with the hilarious reviews and commentary. If you’re having a bad day, absolutely give this one a try.
I’ve been horrible the past two weeks about blog-hopping, so I’m sorry to all of the people who I usually engage with! I love reading your guys’ posts and interacting, but I’ve been so busy with other projects that it’s been hard to make time each day. Here are a few that I’ve loved this month:
Katie from Melting Pages shared 5 great books with disability rep!
Em from Em’s Bookish Musings wrote an insightful (and educational!) post on what blogging cost them financially, socially and mentally.
Simone and Her Books literally inspired me to learn how to knit (see below) in her post on how knitting saved her reading life.
And finally, Aentee at Read at Midnight wrote an incredibly thoughtful and informative review on Addie LaRue.
The election ends in THREE DAYS, people! Get out there and get voting!
Use this polling place locator to find out where you’re supposed to vote!
As a heads up, you don’t technically need to bring anything to the polls if you’re already registered, though you may want to bring your driver’s license, just in case. If you’re not registered, you CAN register at your assigned polling place IN SOME STATES (not all. Hi, voter suppression!), but you’ll need two forms of identification with your current address on them. A list of which states qualify for day-of registration and necessary documents can be found here.
I….learned to knit. Like, high key serious. I’ve seen a ton of people rave about how knitting is a great hobby to do while listening to audiobooks or watching TV, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to learn, so I figured why not! It’s so relaxing, and Im excited to see what I can create.
Okay I didn’t mean to do my queen Kerri so dirty w/ this pic, but OMG I got to meet Kerri Maniscalco!!! So basically with the death of in-person launch events, publishers have taken to doing virtual book events instead. These are really freaking awesome because you get to listen to/interact with authors from the comfort of your own couch, and I’m all for it. So far this fall, I’ve been at events with Kerri Maniscalco, V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Kat Cho, and more. I’m going to do a full post on this new format of book event soon, so stay tuned!
NaNoWriMo starts….tomorrow. And I just decided I wanted to try participating….two days ago. Ugh, ugh UGH!!! I don’t really consider myself a writer, but after seeing so many people talk about their nano projects and sitting on the idea for a bit, I’ve come up with a story/plot/characters that I am so incredibly excited about, so I’ve decided to try out more of a ~casual nanowrimo~ where I try to write as much as I can, but not put too much pressure on myself.
The picture linked is my stories ~aesthetic~ (:
If you want to be buddies with me on the nano site or start a lil group chat, please please add me @rinreads!
Check out all of these WONDERFUL releases in November that I’m praying I actually get to (not including Kingdom of the Wicked)! I’m so excited for this month. So much writing, so much knitting, so much reading, so many hot beverages! Let’s get it, friends.
(Also, I love the Obamas and am so anxious to get my hands on King Barack’s book!!).
Well, that’s that on that. I hope you all had the best October and are doing well going into November. I’d love to hear what you got up to!
What was the best thing you read this month? Anyone wanna be nanowrimo BFF’s?
Thanks, lovelies!
12 Comments
Kaya
first of all, this post is so aesthetically pleasing?! i love it so much! and I’m glad you had a good month! the wicked fox duology and the poppy war series are both high on my tbr lol. hope you have a lovely November!
erin
Aw thank you!! ♥ Both are *chefs kiss*, I hope that when you to them you love them! Thanks love, you too!(:
Abigail
Omg!! I’m so excited to discover new podcasts to listen to. ❤️ I’m also anticipating Rent A Boyfriend, hopefully I get to read it as soon as it comes out.
erin
FOR SURE recommend Bad on Paper & Beach Too Sandy, they’re one of the only things brining joy to me right now during all this madness 😅 I hope you adore Rent A Boyfriend this month! ♥
Dini @ dinipandareads
Great wrap up! It looks like you had a pretty fab month of reading 😍 I wasn’t as blown away by the first book STJR when I read it last year and it made me hesitate to pick up the next book… But I’m curious now! Might give them another try someday (maybe if I end up liking Kingdom of the Wicked)! And aaah, I read TPW last month and I still need to read The Dragon Republic. I’m so scared though 😂 Might wait closer to when The Burning God is released?! Hope you have a fab month of reading and life in general in November!
erin
Thank you love!! Definitely give them a shot – I feel like the second book tends to be most people’s fave so maybe that’ll spark some more enjoyment!! Cannot wait for The Burning God, hoping we both adore it!! ♥
Cat @ Pages & Plots
You’ve read so many of my most hyped TBR books, it’s crazy. I honestly don’t know how you could handle so much awesomeness.
erin
So coincidental!! I had the best time reading so many of these, I hope you love them too!! ♥
Ali
I feel like a lot of the hype about the movies you talked about are based in nostalgia. I rewatch some of my childhood favorites every few years and most of the time they just don’t hit the same 😄 Good luck with Nanowrimo!! I’m excited for Obama’s book, too and that cover of A Deal with the Elf King is GORGEOUS I’m going to need to check it out!
erin
So true – there are some childhood favorites that will live on forever but never quite spark those same emotions as I had as a kid!! Bittersweet, haha! Thank you!! ♥♥
Ruby Rae Reads
Welp I be late so I hope you’re having a wonderful November so far! But also I’m very glad but also feeling very jealous of all the books you read. Because like GO YOU. But also I miss reading haha. Also sad that you found Tweet Cute disappointing, it was a fave of mine last year but I think it just meant a lot to me at the time <3<3
Also hope you get to read TVD next month because ahhh I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! Now lowkey also think I should take up knitting whilst I watch FRIENDS haha. Erin be kinda iconic here.
erin
Aw I’m happy you loved Tweet Cute!!! I wish I couldve joined in on all the love for it, I’m still excited for her second book to come out next year and have high hopes!! I just read your author interview w/ Chloe and omg I cannot wait for TVD to be delivered tomorrow like can it come faster please!!! ♥♥