August was supposed to be a great
reading month for me. In a way, it was but just not as great as I’d expected it
to be. I think I just need to accept that gone are my days of reading a book a
day. I read 6 books this month which I think is pretty good. One of the books
took me ages so if I hadn't read that then I probably would have read a lot
more! I'm halfway through a few books at the moment so I'm hoping that I will
finish those ones in September. I’ll also have the #sassybooks book to read.
I'm really excited for that as I've heard great things about it. If you’d like to learn more about the book club and
how you can get involved you can read my last post about it here.
Darkmere by Helen Maslin*
This is a young adult novel about
a young girl who gets into a private school on a scholarship. She has a crush
on the popular rich boy and he invites her to stay at the castle he has
inherited with him and his friends. When they arrive they discover that the
first woman who lived in the house killed herself but before she did she cursed
the castle and all the male heirs. So it may not be as fun a holiday as they
expected. This was a fun, easy to read book. It was good but not really
anything special which is why I've rated it 3/5 stars.
Loralli by Laura Drockill*
I was quite excited to read this
one as it is about mermaids. A young mermaid washes up on the coast and is
found by a teenage boy on his 16th birthday. The remaining mermaids
are searching for her but so are some pirates who want to hunt her for her
scales. I was expecting big things from this book but felt a bit let down. It
was really confusing at times and that made me not enjoy it as much. Some of
the chapters were narrated by the sea, this was quite unique but not very well executed. Those were the chapters I found most confusing. I gave it 3/5 stars
but I think it’s more of a 2.5 if I'm honest!
Unbecoming by Jenny Downham*
I’ve read Before I Die by Jenny
Downham and it was absolutely amazing. So I was really excited to read this
one. It’s about a girl who has never met her grandmother. The grandmother,
Mary, shows up one day but she has severe dementia and doesn’t really
understand what’s going on. It’s about Katie’s journey with learning about her
grandmother, dealing with her illness and discovering herself in the meantime.
This book was really beautiful. Downham has a way with taking difficult
subjects and writing beautiful books about them. I gave it 4/5 stars as it
could be a little slow at times.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
I've been waiting for this book
to be released in the UK paperback edition for so long and I'm so glad that I
did because it is gorgeous! Rainbow Rowell is one of my favourite writers
because her books are so addictive but relatable at the same time. This book is
about a woman who has to work over Christmas. Her husband takes her young kids
to his mum’s house on the other side of the country. It looks like they may be
splitting up. Georgie goes to stay at her own mum’s house and tries to phone
her husband on the old land line and realises that it is going through to his
teenage self. Like all of her books, this was wonderful. 5/5 stars!
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This was the sassy books book of
the month and you can read my full post on it here. There were mixed opinions
on this but I quite enjoyed it. However I did find it to be a bit slow. If I
hadn't read this I probably would have read more books this month as it took me
about 10 days to read! This is a world war 2 historical fiction novel about a
French little girl and a German boy during the war. It kind of reminded me of
The Book Thief because the writing style was quite snappy but lyrical and
poetic. I gave it 4/5 stars. If it had maybe been a bit shorter or faster paced I
probably would have given it 5/5 stars.
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page
In this book another girl is
transported to Oz where she realises that Dorothy isn't the hero any more. She’s
gone crazy with the power and now her, the tinman, scarecrow and lion are
running a dictatorship. She is recruited by a secret group and her mission is
to kill Dorothy. I thought that this book would be absolutely amazing. But it
was so lacking. The writing style was awkward and the story really far-fetched
and felt rushed at times. The only characters that were in the book were
Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tinman, the lion, Glinda and the wizard. If there
more original characters it maybe would have been a bit more interesting. And
they added a romance to this that was awkward, clunky and just didn't fit in at
all. Honestly I feel so disappointed by this book and gave it 1/2 stars. Would
not recommend!
So those are the books I read
this month. What was the best book that you read this month? I would love some
recommendations!