Friday, December 2, 2016

October and November Wrap Up!

Hey everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today I am going to be wrapping up the books I read in October and November! Because I completely forgot to do an October wrap up, I'm going to just do them both in one post.

I think it's safe to say I am out of my reading funk!! I wouldn't necessarily call it a reading slump because I was still reading a decent amount of books for me, but I wasn't reading as much as I wanted to and I wasn't feeling the push to read either. Now I have more free time, and I'm my passion for reading is back in full force!

These two past months, I've read some amazing books! Four of these 16 are my favorites of the year!

Here are the 16 books I read in October and November, from worst to best!


16) Perfect Addiction by Claudia Tan
Date Read: October 16
Perfect Addiction is the sequel to Perfect Illusion, which is mentioned later in this post. While I enjoyed its predecessor, I can't say I liked this one. I couldn't connect to the characters; in fact, I very much disliked them and the actions they made. I was extremely frustrated during the book. 2.25 Stars



15) Their Paid Girl by ella_enchanted
Date Read: November 23
Their Paid Girl, a wattpad story, was entertaining but needs serious editing. There wasn't enough character development, and there were some continuity errors that were annoying. The plot was intriguing, but the delivery was lackluster.  2.5 Stars

14) Chasing Red by Isabelle Ronin
Date Read: November 20
Chasing Red is also a wattpad story! Seeing a pattern? Once again, I can't say that I actually liked this. Sure, it was entertaining. But at the end of the day, I didn't really care. I think some of the twists were cliche and contrived. 2.75 Stars

13) Intertwined by Gena Showalter
Date Read: November 28
Oh, how badly I wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I felt as if nothing really happened until the last 50 or so pages. I didn't feel as if Showalter developed the book enough for the ending to be plausible either. I'm still undecided whether I will continue with the series. 2.75 Stars

12) The Lightning Thief : The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan
Date Read: November 28
If you didn't know, I absolutely love Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the graphic novel as much as I was expecting. The graphic novel took out a lot of chunks that I thought were important, and it led to a lack of believability. I wasn't convinced of the friendships among Annabeth, Grover, and Percy. 3 Stars

11) Last Game Vol. 1 by Shinobu Amano
Date Read: November 19
Last Game was a solid introduction into the manga series. I am looking forward to the other volumes. I'm hoping that now that everything is set up, the story can become more fast-paced. I love a slow romance like any other reader, but that is different from the almost stagnant progression that I had issues with in the first volume. 3.5 Stars

10) Perfect Illusion by Claudia Tan
Date Read: October 8
Perfect Illusion is the only story on wattpad I read this month that I enjoyed. I loved the push and pull between the two main characters, and I couldn't stop reading. Though the story needs to be edited a lot, the story itself grabbed my attention enough that I enjoyed it. 3.5 Stars

9) Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Date Read: November 14
I had to read Macbeth for my AP Lit class. I always struggle to enjoy required readings because I have to focus on the assignments attached to them all the while. I think this just detracted from my reading experience. I can say that this is my favorite of Shakespeare's plays I have read so far. I don't necessarily have rating for this. 

8) A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
Date Read: November 20
I had my ups and downs with A Thousand Pieces of You, but the pros definitely outweighed the cons. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel. My biggest complaint is that this was a romance novel with a twinge of science fiction; I wish it was the other way. 3.5 Stars




7) Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
Date Read: October 1
Deep Blue is the first novel in Donnelly's Waterfire Saga. My main issue with Deep Blue that is was hard to keep all the characters in line. I got confused pretty quickly because there is such a vast case. Also, I didn't like Bea Miller's narration that well. However, Donnelly set up an intricate world and it kept me reading.  3.75 Stars

6) Rogue Wave by Jennifer Donnelly
Date Read: October 7
Rogue Wave is the sequel to Deep Blue. I liked this second novel much more. The characters became more distinct, and the new narrator did excellently. I was able to guess some things early on, but I am still very much looking forward to reading the third book in the quartet. 4 Stars

5) The Winter King by C.L. Wilson
Date Read: November 27
Okay, I picked this book up after Alyssa told me to read it after I was looking for some adult romantic fantasy. I can see why this is such a favorite of so many, myself included! Wynter and Khamsin's chemistry was off the charts, and the world was developed that I never got confused. The only thing that detracted from this book was my own dumb mistake. I was flipping through the book and I accidentally read a major spoiler, so the climax wasn't as impactful. 4.5 Stars

4) It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Date Read: October 9
Colleen Hoover is one of my favorite authors. It Ends With Us is the darkest novel from her yet. While Too Late was more explicit, this is much more hard-hitting. It is definitely not for the fair of heart. Though I loved It Ends With Us and I think it deals with a very important topic, I don't think I can handle reading it all again. 4.75 Stars

3) Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Date Read: November 9
Gemina was my most anticipated read this year and I am happy to say that I was not disappointed! Illuminae was one of my favorite books last year, and I can say the same for this one. Gemina was fast paced and a whirlwind of a ride. The mixed media worked flawlessly. I cannot wait for the third and final book in the series! 5 stars

2 & 1) A Promise of Fire & Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
Date Read: October 17 and October 22, respectively
I read A Promise of Fire and Breath of Fire back to back, so I had to include them in the same slot! This series has been cemented as one of my favorites! The third and final book is going to be so kick ass. Cat and Griffin are one of my favorite couples, and the secondary characters are near and dear to my heart as well. I can go on and on about how much I adore these books, but needless to say the two get 5 Stars!

And that is what I read these last two months! Have you read anything mentioned above? What did you think of them?

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Happy Reading and have a great December!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!


6 comments:

  1. That's awesome that you are out of your reading slump! Whenever I'm in a reading slump, I pick up a steamy adult contemporary romance novel. It never fails. :D I am SOOOOOO glad that you enjoyed both of Bouchet's books, and The Winter King! Woohoo! I also recommend Destined for a King by Ashlyn Macnamara, another adult fantasy romance novel. =)

    I hope you have a wonderful December, Genni!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. I normally always pick up a New Adult novel! I think that is what pushed me this month. :) I am looking up Destined for a King right after this! You're recommendations have been spot on so far.

      Thank you Alyssa! You too!

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  2. I'm so glad you've gotten out of your funk! I'm still in a bit of a reading slump; I still feel more like binge-watching Grey's Anatomy or HGTV than reading whenever I have a free minute. I'm hoping that winter break will give me more time to read! I've been wanting to read It Ends With Us so I'm glad you really liked it! I definitely know what you're talking about with it; I just read Guantanamo Diary for a class and while it's such an amazing book (a real manuscript written by a man who is still imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay), I don't know if I could handle reading it again. I hope you have a wonderful December, Genni!

    Laura @BlueEyeBooks

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    1. Thanks Laura! That was what happened to me! I started Greys this year and all my free time was to the show instead of books. :) Guantanamo Diary sounds really good! But like you said, I don't think I would be able to read it twice. You too!

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  3. I've only read Gemina, A Thousand Pieces of You, and Macbeth of these but they are all great!

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    1. Definitely! The more I think about Macbeth, the more I like it. I think I'll be able to appreciate more once I can read it at my own pace and don't have to analyze every single little thing.

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