 It's time for my September wrap up, let's talk about all the books I read this month and my favourite part, all the statistics of what I read this month. Welcome back to my channel, I hope you're all good. Today we are going to be doing my September wrap up. I had a funny reading month in September which we'll get into. I had probably the most five stars I've ever had in a month but I also spent a whole week of the month reading 100 pages of something I eventually dnf'd. And then after that it took me a long time to read books but a lot of my five stars were books that I read not in vlogs so I think editing my vlogs and sitting through them I was like this bitch hasn't had a good reading month but when I actually looked back I did it was just books I didn't really talk to you about. So we're going to talk about all of them in this video, we're going to do all my reading statistics but first I want to thank the sponsor of today's video which is Boxsy. So I've spoken about Boxsy a few times on my channel, I really really love their service. They are a Japanese snack box subscription. Each month has a theme I have, oh! I have again got the Kansai autumn box which you did not know how happy I am about this because this is the box I had the last sponsorship I did with them and I have again got these lemon mini pies which are so good I'd finish them all and I love them. Like if I could have a constant supply of these I would be a happy woman. I could die happy if I could just have a constant supply of these. They're so tasty. So Boxsy works with local artisanal makers, local chefs, local family run businesses and they have this culture guide where you can see where all the different snacks in the box came from which I think is really cool. You get so many, I don't think you can understand how much there is in this box. You get so many snacks in each box, it's filled to the brim with snacks. It's not like when I first got it I thought it would be like five snacks but it's like 10 or more different things that you get. So yeah you can use my code MEGABOOKS10 for 10% off your Japanese snack box subscription. That can be up to like $47 so you can get a really good amount of money off your subscription if you want and I just think it's such a cool snack box. You get so much in it I would really recommend giving Boxsy a go. Okay so let's talk about the books I read in September. In terms of some of my initial stats I read 11 books right? Yes. That was fucking scary my heart's going pitterpatter pitterpatter which is a okay number. I think I've been reading like 13 or 12 the past couple months. It would have been around that if I had to spend a week on something I eventually DNF'd and haven't counted towards this. I read a total of 3,297 pages that works out at around 109 pages per day which I always want to keep that above 100 if I can. That's kind of my general goal is averaging over 100 pages a day and an average book length of 300 pages. Now my average rating this month was 4.18 which is the second highest average rating I've had in a month so far this year. Usually I'm kind of like an maybe like 3.6 average rating but yeah 4.18 but I didn't feel like at the end of the month like I'd had a good reading month but I had but like I said mostly books that I hadn't read in blogs were the ones that I was giving five stars. In terms of my statistics I had five five stars, two four stars, two 3.5 stars and two three stars so nothing under a three star so actually nothing bad, nothing I didn't enjoy but I think I had quite a few three and three point five stars which had been like you know books I thought I was gonna absolutely adore so I think I felt a little bit disappointed by that. I'm not fuming I'm like I'm a little bit but yeah no I'm bothered, I'm bothered. In terms of genre I read one contemporary, four fantasy, one graphic novel, one historical, one mystery, one non-fiction, one romance and one thriller so a real mix of genres this month. I was all I was fucking all over the place I read a bit of everything this month. Sorry by the way if my voice is a bit funny I like almost choked to death last night. That's quite dramatic. I just swallowed and suddenly I couldn't breathe and I was coughing so if my voice is a bit funny and I'm kind of like sounding a bit tentative in my voice that's why. Finally reading a lot of fantasy again, funny fantasy is my most read genre again. I had not really been reading fantasy much the past couple months and I'm glad to see it back in there because I do love my fantasy. I read six adult one middle grade and four YA so I've pretty much always got a 50-50 split between adult and YA but I think I am starting to lean a little bit more towards adult. I mean look at me, she's growing, she's growing. Some YA, I was talking about this in my most recent vlog and Nikki commented and spoke about how I was thinking about how sometimes YA reads younger than you expect and how that throws you off and throws off how much I enjoy it. Nikki said something which perfectly encapsulated what the problem was. It wasn't that I never want to read YA that reads as young, it's when you don't expect it and she said middle grade never has that problem and again I never have that problem with middle grade where I'm like huh this reads young because you know it's going to read young, you know what you're expecting whereas YA is this big broad kind of age category and sometimes you think you're going to go into something that's going to be older YA and it's actually more younger YA and it's that disconnect that leaves me disappointed sometimes. In terms of where I acquired the books, six books are part of a series and five were stand-alone. We know my long-running debacle with series, I need to start trying to get through them and actually read the series that I am you know partway through and stop starting new ones. The feeling I get starting a new series. I am not addicted to them, I am in love with them. In my series spreadsheet most of the series I'm like partway through are series that I uh I've just read the first book. In terms of author status, two were debuts, five were authors I've read before and four authors were new to me so I feel like that's a good mix. I do like to read authors I've read before because I know I enjoy them. Let's talk about the books that I read this month. I'm gonna talk to you in depth about all the ones that I read outside of reading blogs first. There's four of them. Firstly this was on my TBR Cluedo TBR for the month. I read The Bungalow Mystery by Nancy- by Nancy Drew. I enjoyed this but I gave it three stars. It wasn't my favorite that I've read in the series. I mean I read it in one evening like sitting around chatting to my family. It wasn't the most like invested reading experience. I love Nancy Drew. I do have this like lifelong adoration of Nancy Drew particularly from the Nancy Drew games and now I'm starting to read the books. I feel like I'm not in control of my voice today. Like genuinely I almost died. I'm sorry if I sound a bit weird with what I'm saying. This one is about Nancy meets this girl who, his mother has recently died and she's being taken in by these kind of like adoptees almost that her mother supposedly knew back in the day and they seem a bit dodgy. It's essentially the premise here. Basically if you've watched a few of my videos you'll know that my problem is I love the audiobooks for this original Nancy Drew series. They have loads of music throughout like not just like at the beginning at the end like when the author is narrating there's music to fit the tension in the scene, there's sound effects, it sounds old timey and stuff but you literally can't get them anywhere. It's missing me off someone. Like they've gone from the internet. You can't get them anywhere. Someone actually DM'd me and had found a place, an audiobook service that you can get it in the UK but they are a charity that is specifically for people who can't read physically and so need to rely on audiobooks and it's only really you know supposed to be available to them. So at first when I saw it I was like yes I have the audiobook and then I looked more into it and it's not really something that I can take advantage of. You know I would want to. So the audiobooks are out there. That is the most annoying thing for me but I can't, I can't find a way to get to them. They used to be on script which is where I started listening to this series and then they've just wiped themselves from the earth but I did enjoy it. It's a fun mystery, it's easy to read, it kind of gets the numbers up for the month and I've never been an Nancy Drew but I feel like this would have definitely been a four star if I had the audiobook. Then let's talk about the other physical book I read this month. I reread Heartstopper Volume 1. Yes! Yes! If you know this is one of my favourite graphic novel series in the world or my favourite series in the world I fucking adore them. I love Nick and Charlie more than anything in the world. A patron asked me to reread this and I asked me to reread this for their my Royal Retire patrons get a personalised video a month and this is what Anna chose to have as her personalised video. Me rereading Heartstopper and vlogging it. I loved this because I loved seeing where their relationship began again. I think when you get so into the other books in the series you forget the kind of awkwardness and the tentativeness that works so well in this first graphic novel so that was my favourite thing is kind of seeing them falling in love with each other because I think that's one of the most magical parts of a young relationship is where you're both trying to figure each other out and trying to figure out if you both like each other and it's just so sweet. I just love them in my whole heart. You've heard me speak about it a hundred times but I did reread this and I loved it. And then I read two audiobooks this month which I gave five stars. So first was Other Words for Home by Jasmine Wagga. This is a really short audiobook. It's only I think it's like four hours long. It's really really short. We're following this girl as she has to move from Syria to the US and it's about her finding her footing in the US and learning to make it home with her family here that she's moved with. But also not forgetting the home that she has come from in Syria. It's told in verse and I listened to the audiobook and it was just beautiful. Like I actually almost cried listening to this audiobook. It's so poignant and beautifully written. I think all those who write in verse are just gods who walk among us. Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing showstoppings. I feel the same way about Dean Atta and Elizabeth Attavedo. The way that they manage to communicate such powerful feelings and emotions in such little words is incredible. Like I actually don't know how they do it. So I would really really recommend this as a quick audiobook. It's gorgeously written. She goes on this such a beautiful journey of learning more about herself and learning more about who she can be and finding herself whilst also not forgetting the home that she loves. I just thought it was absolutely gorgeous. And then the other audiobook that I read was Stephen Fry's Edwardian Secrets. Now I don't fucking care that on the Goodreads, the Goodreads page for this book, the author's name is literally not a book. Not a book! I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. Goodreads won't even let me rate this book. They won't let me rate it. But I'm counting it as a book. It's all on Audible. I spent my time listening to it. I enjoyed it. I want to talk to you about it. There is literally no difference between this and a non-fiction book. There isn't. So we're going to call it a book. I don't give a fuck if you want to call it a podcast series or some shit like that. I'm calling it a book. And boy did I cheat like a mug. Boy did I cheat like a mug. So this is the second in this series that Stephen Fry does over on Audible. The first is Victorian Secrets, which we know I'm a Victorian hoe. I fucking live for that shit. But this is the Edwardian one and I still loved it. I gave it five stars. These are a production. They've got that Audible money. They've got that Stephen Fry top-bill Edwardian money. Sound effects, actors, scenes, oh wow. It's so good and it just takes you through parts of Edwardian history that you probably wouldn't have known about. Otherwise I just fucking love it. I am obsessed. I can't wait for when they do more of these. I might even go back and re-listen to the Victorian one. They always make an effort as well in this series to talk about, you know, people of color who lived at these time periods, LGBT people who live in these time periods. So I really appreciate that. And it's just fascinating learning about these time periods in history, which we know so, so well, but aspects of the history, which we literally know nothing about and have kind of been forgotten. And then all the other books I have read in depth this month in reading vlogs. I always say I'm going to try, oh my god my voice, I'm so sorry. I always say I'm going to try and not speak about these books in depth for too long in this video because then the video is just way too long. You've literally heard me speak about them in depth. I'm really going to try and do it this month. I'm really going to try, especially because I can barely speak today. The first three I read in another episode of Booktube Twin Test this time with Riley Marie, my actual Booktube twin because everyone says we look alike. She recommended me three of her favorite books and I fucking read them, didn't I? I fucking read them. Take a hint, Danny Brown. I enjoyed this. I gave it 3.5 stars. I didn't love it as much as Get a Life Curry Brown, which I think I gave four stars. I think the romance was hotter in this, like the romantic scenes, the sex scenes, I preferred. They were better. But I didn't love the plot as much. I felt like towards the end, the plot aspects of it started to fall apart for me, but Telly Hibbit is an icon, a legend. I can't wait to read Actual Age Eve Brown, which is the last in this series of the Brown sisters and their romances. I'm glad Riley got me to read it because I've been wanting to read this kind of around this time of the year. I think I'm just going to read whatever Telly Hibbit kind of puts out in this kind of field next. I'm just going to continue reading her stuff. Then I read A Dairy of Blood by S.T. Gibson. This is a story of Dracula's brides and it has polyamorous rep in it, but it's also got very much centering on abuse and abuse in relationships and the difficulty in recognizing that you're in a abusive relationship. When you adore the person that you're in a relationship with, I thought this was beautifully written, so beautifully written, like some of the most gorgeous prose I have read this whole year. I thought the way they examine abusive relationships and love and it's kind of almost taboo to talk about, but this book very much centres on realizing that that person can think that they love you and can think that they're doing what's best for you, but it's so twisted and they don't, but they think they do and just the whole dynamics of that was very interesting and I loved also the different relationships that all of Dracula's partners had in this kind of polyamorous relationship and the different dynamics that they had. Just for me, the thing that kind of let it down was that it felt a bit predictable. I feel like you kind of know where the book's going at the start. She's writing a letter to Dracula talking about why she killed him and like for me there wasn't, if you're going to tell me at the start where the book is going to end, there needs to be twists so that how I thought it was going to end isn't actually how it ended and that didn't really happen for me. So that was why it was a four star. And then one of my favourite books I've read this month, a five star read was They Never Learned by Lane Fargo. I absolutely adored this. This is a thriller about this professor at this school who kills shitty men. We fucking love to see it. She's a feminist icon. She's a feminist icon. And now the school is kind of turning a bit wise to it. They're kind of realising some shit is going on but there's also another storyline of a student joining the campus in this kind of misogynistic environment and having to navigate it. This book, I have not read a thriller this fucking fast this quickly in so long. You could not pry this book out of my hand. I was just captivated by it. It's so well-paced. You're literally just flying through it. You have to know what happens. But I just loved this. I can't wait to read more of Lane Fargo stuff. I'd really recommend picking it up. I thought it was such a good look at toxic masculinity. I love thrillers that get revenge. I love angry women. I love rightfully angry women who get their fucking revenge. That is Anisha I really enjoy. Listen, these men deserved it. He deserved it. Man. And I just thought there were so many layers to it. I loved it. I think this is quite good for like dark academia, spooky season. It might be something you'd enjoy. And wow, what a great thriller. One of actually maybe one of my favourite books I've read this year. Then I participated in The Magical Rudathon and I read two books for this vlog. One was The Spirit Engineer by AJ West. This is an arc I very kindly received from the publisher. In this, we're following William, who is a scientist who gets wrapped up in this spiritualism world. And he kind of endeavors to try and prove that ghosts are real and spiritualists are real. And it's a very interesting book because William isn't a very likable character. He's kind of an antihero. But I thought it's really spooky. It writes in a way that writes like the time period. And it also had some like famous characters from history in it, which I love when books do that. It was just a really solid read for me. I gave it four stars. It's perfect for spooky season. And it was a book that really made me think. It's a very clever book. It's a very intelligent book. So I don't think sometimes with like spooky horror ghosty books, you kind of go into it thinking it's just going to be like a fun rompy ride that you can fly through. This is more of a book that you think about and you ponder upon. And then another five star book that I absolutely adored was Across the Greengrass Hills by Seanan McGuire. This is the sixth in the Wayward Children series, but you can start here if you want. In this, we're following a girl who loves horses. She ends up in this world of centaurs. The found family in this book was just so incredible to me. The way that this family of centaurs wrapped around this girl in this magical world was amazing. These books are so short. These Wayward Children series where these kids go into these portal worlds that are perfect for them. They're so short that they kind of feel like a dream. They're so magical and vivid and detailed, but you're only there for a second that it feels like a dream. And I just love it. This series, I feel like it's got to the point where I am just going to give each of the books five stars from here on out. Like I generally, I generally can't see myself writing them any less. I do already have the arc for the next one, which comes out, I think, early next year. I don't know when I'm going to read it. I am kind of saving it. But if you just want some beautiful immersive magical encapsulating fantasy, please pick up this series. And you can start here if you want. But I do really like the actual first book as well, which is Every Heart a Doorway. And then I read three books for a video I just posted called Booktube Rewind, where I went back and I watched about 40 September wrap ups from last year. And I read the most popular books from them. So this video has literally just come out. We're literally just going to speak about these books for like two seconds, because if you watched that video, you've literally just heard me speak about them. Jade City by Fonderly, I gave this 3.5 stars. This is a mafia family fantasy, where Jade is the power these people have. This book, basically all you need to know about my opinion of it is I fucking loved everything that the people who give it five stars loved. I agree with literally every five star review. Something just didn't click for me. And it didn't necessarily keep me on my toes. I wasn't like devouring the book, but I loved the family dynamics in this. I loved the detailed politics. I loved the fantasy. I loved the tension. So I loved everything about it. But I gave it 3.5 because something about it just didn't click for me. Then I read Cemetery Boys by Agent Thomas and I gave this three stars. It was a little bit disappointing for me. The big reveal at the end, the villain reveal, was very, very disappointing for me. I feel like it was a super obvious, like I called it, because it really was the only person that could have been, but it also wasn't set up in a way I enjoyed. And this was also what I was talking about with like, I thought this would be more older YA and it was younger YA. And because this book is about this boy and this ghost, and him trying to help the ghost go into the afterlife, I never allowed myself to become attached to their relationship and their romance because I, you know, it was temporary. Like, they're only going to be together for like a day. So I never let myself in my head become attached and believe that this was something that could exist by the end of the book. So it was disappointing for me. I really enjoyed all the, you know, the trans rep, the discussions around community and family and acceptance. I thought that was all amazing, but the actual, like, plotting of it didn't work for me. And I'm sad because I really wanted to love it. Let me know what you read in September, how your reading month was. I would love to know. If you got to the end of this video, comment a ghost emoji, A for the spirit engineer and B because we're getting into spooky fucking season. I'm so excited. So yeah, comment a ghost emoji down below. Thank you so, so much for watching. I love you so much. I appreciate you so much and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.