 Hello, hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel Laura's Little Library and welcome to today's video Which is my September wrap up So before we get started, I just want to say I am a little sick. I am feeling under the weather. I have cold I have cough. That's why my voice sounds weird Just gonna put that out there. So this past month in September I read 12 books Which is pretty good. It's more than I was averaging a month last year But it's kind of on the lower side of the amount of books. I've been averaging this year I think some of the books I've read were a little bit longer. I have lots of reading plans But as it's also getting close it was for me spooky seasons first started I started my spooky season spectacular halfway through September So some of these books I won't get super in depth reviews on because I do have logs Featuring them and I will have them linked so that you can watch them if you are interested I've also been reading books outside of the spooky season spectacular that are just autumn or fall or just books That I really wanted to read So those I'll talk about a little bit more I also think some of these books were just a little bit longer than what I've read in some of the books Where I heard some of the months where I've read more books like I didn't really read and I read one Like contemporary which are the tend to be the shorter ones and that was it so I'm sure if I kept track of my page Count it would be higher first off. I read master of iron by Trisha Levinseller This is the second book in the blade of secrets duology by Trisha Levinseller I loved blade of secrets and I loved master of iron. I had no problems with it. I thought it was so creative I love how our world expanded and we met more magically talented people I loved loved loved our characters and everything that happened there So if you don't know blade of secrets follows our main character who has social anxiety But she's a blacksmith and her and her sister run a blacksmith shop And then one day a warlord comes in and requests a weapon She makes the sword figures out that the sword is way too powerful and should not be given to this warlord So her and her sister go on the run with like a mercenary and a scholar So it's an interesting ragtag group On the run from this warlord with this magical power that most people don't actually like magic So you got to be really careful with it. I love the politics that were involved and everything I just I've also just loved everything Patricia Levinseller So there's also that I think that definitely influenced it But if that sounded interesting to you at all, I would highly recommend it I could relate so much to the social anxiety that the character had and it felt really good to like see a hero and with that representation And still be like a badass. It was really cool moving on. I actually read sister of the Bollywood Bride by Nandini Bajpay And I give this four out of five stars I thought it was fairly good it follows our main character whose sister is getting married But because their mother has passed along her sister wants to throw in the big Bollywood wedding that their mother mother would have thrown while also juggling her own love life and Just being like a high school kid there were some elements that were just a little like Didn't feel super realistic to me or I didn't really get on board with But and I felt like it was a solid book I I wonder if four stars is a little much for it. So probably more of a 3.5 But I enjoyed it. It was a fun read. There were cute dogs in the book. So Take that how you will so moving on I read the glittering court by Michelle Reed or Michelle Reed and I actually read this entire trilogy I picked up this book. I wasn't I'd sounded interesting. It had been gifted to me by a friend. So I wasn't super sure But I read this and I really liked it. I gave it what four out of five stars Yeah, oh four out of five stars. It follows this idea that it very much reminded me of Europe and then colonizing the states because we have this Society and they have recently discovered this land that they are now trying to like colonize and there's gold there and they're Just trying to start up their own society there But they need noble people or you know ladies who can be part of a court people who can run things in this new land so there is this small organization that Finds pretty girls and trains them to be upper-class women and then ships them over For them to be married off and the ladies are happy because they go from being Servants or living lives of rags and then they become these high ladies of the court and they go from rags to riches And they do have some very small choice on the husband they get because multiple people offer to marry them They can choose who they want, but you know The year is still trying to find a husband So in this book we are following our main character who already is a lady and is a member of The upper class in the old land But she has been told that she has to marry her cousin that she doesn't really like So she decides that she's going to go and join the glittering court pretend to be Someone who doesn't know proper etiquette be trained and then go into the new world to try and find a different husband Hopefully one that she actually likes so This is one of those books where it kind of changes halfway through and you're following a new thing Partway through but I like I said I really enjoyed it. It surprised me how much I I liked it I love the world building and it was just it was one of those like selection books, you know words like So-and-so is being trained to be glittery and pretty and they're wearing pretty clothes and learning all these things and Drama and so it was just kind of nice to read another a book like that And then the second book after this is called Midnight Jewel This isn't a trilogy in terms of like one book happens after another It's a trilogy in that the other two books are happening at the same time as this one But we're following different main characters because our main character makes two friends And so each of the two books is following these two friends So I read them in order of like when they came out, but you don't have to read them in order I still recommend starting with this one just because there's the most explanation of what's going on and Kind of the main plot of what everyone's supposed to be doing and happening But you don't technically have to but it's easier to start with this one I think you can read the Midnight Jewel and the Emerald Sea In either order after that. I just read Midnight Jewel and then Emerald Sea There's two and three Midnight Jewel, I didn't quite like as much that was more of a three out of five star I think it just it don't much more to like spy espionage type things, but it felt so simple and it felt so like not committed to it like not serious enough or just But I started to see how the books intertwine at the end to make the ending possible because you have one of those endings where it's like So and so presents this information so and so presents that information and therefore you get the bad guy because all these people are working to nail The bad guy, but they're not working together. They don't know each other exists It was really fun to see them come together and then I immediately read the Emerald Sea the third one in the glittering court trilogy companion series and this follows obviously the other friend and That was my favorite of the three of them. It was like 4.5 almost a five star read Still debating. I really enjoyed it She her journey was so interesting at first I thought I wasn't gonna like it as much and then I ended up really liking it But what struck me is that it's so funny because this whole time I've been thinking in the context of like Europe and America, but then with this other main character you get Ireland and Scotland Kind of thrown into it like they're not called Ireland Scotland None of this is actually called like it's all a fantasy world But to me it's just heavily based on and it was just so interesting because they're like the audio book has them talking with Like an Irish Scottish accent and the characters were wearing tartan and they were doing all the things that are traditional and just like They were colonized and all these kind of things like that And I just got really excited because of my obsession with my Irish ancestry and what not, but I also just thought it was the most like Creative kind of out there story, but still makes sense still falling still exciting So it was definitely my favorite of the three But the first one was definitely a close second So if that sounds interesting to you having stories like three different stories that all come to the same conclusion Or like someone living a life of fancy and luxury. I would definitely recommend the glittering core series This is not a recommendations video. This is a wrap up, but still next up I read Finlay Donovan knocks them dead by El Cosimano This is the second book after Finlay Donovan is killing it Finlay Donovan it's killing it is about this Mystery romance writer who is very strife for cash. She just got a divorce with her nasty husband She's got a couple of kids things just haven't been going well And she's overheard at a Panera and someone thinks that she's actually a hitman And so she gets hired for a job and she doesn't take the job But then there's all of a sudden this dead body and she has to figure some things out it was a lot of fun and And so I read the second book Finlay Donovan knocks them dead. I gave it four out of five stars It was so much more than the first book. I love how like the first book was really good I very much enjoyed it and this one was just even more and this one is a little bit later in the year It's around Christmas So I would recommend Finlay Donovan is killing it now and then knocks them dead later I think there were about half of the elements of the book I loved more than the first one and half of the elements of the book. I just loved less like it was just a little far in some ways, but Yeah, I'm not being very descriptive. It's cuz I'm sick. I'm sorry, but I like and then I read a wolf for a spell by Kara Sutton this I gave five out of five stars I talked about it in my werewolf reading vlog So I won't say too much It's a middle grade based on Russian folklore with Baba Yaga, Baba Yaga and a wolf end up switching bodies Baba Yaga is trying to save the forest The wolf is trying to save her pack and then there is also a third point of view Which is a human girl who is trying to figure out how she can keep her love for the woods But also have a good life in the city. So lots of good comfy fall vibes It's in my fall recommendations video like I've talked about it a bit this year I read The Cousins by Karen M. McManus. I heard some good things about it from some booktubers last year I gave it three out of five stars. It's about this family. This really rich family. The grandmother lives on the island And they have a resort and they're very well known All of the kids have moved away because they were all Disinherited for something and all kind of like banished away And so years and years passed and these kids start families and have kids of their own So all of a sudden these grandchildren get a letter from grandma saying hey come work at my resort And so all the kids and the and the grandkids are like could she put the grandkids in the will It's it's just like a way to get the family back together So then the kids would go and they work over the summer. I I wasn't super thrilled I wish there was a little more of a thrilling element to it like leading up to why the kids got disowned I'm not gonna spoil it but leading up to why the kids got disowned. I was like, yeah, obviously this happened Is that it and it just I Wasn't super pleased with how it turned out. I wish the build-up could have been better. I Was invested but not too much and the romance was terrible the characters last can lacked Chemistry it wasn't insta-lovy, but like It was weird. They just I didn't feel anything between the characters So I didn't want them to be a couple and that was really annoying And that was a fairly good twist at the end though Like I admire the twist for for what it was and what it did But I just think the book fell flat for me Then another thriller that I read was actually insomnia by Sarah Pinborough. I had saw something talk about it I put out my TBR and then I needed a book to listen to so I downloaded it and I listened to it And holy crap this book made me realize I don't like Domestic thrillers. I don't like thrillers that are focused on family situations It's just not my thing. We have our main character whose mother kind of went Mentally kind of off the deep end when she turned 40 To like a point where she she was like becoming a horror story During these creepy things saying these creepy things muttering she had a really bad insomnia And so lots of things would happen in the night And our main character is getting really worried because she was told that she's gonna be just like her mother so this is like the week leading up to her 40th birthday and She is noticing similar things this book had such a good creepy build up Like I wasn't captured from the first page all the way through lots of spooky things were happening. It gave me chills I loved it. It was a little repetitive like once you kind of got into the theme of it But I loved that part. I I gave us 3.5 out of 5 stars So by the way, I think the characters were fine I didn't think they were super exceptional or really all that interesting There was some pretty good red herrings with them Just like the character making all these like oh, this would make sense because this and this and this or oh What if it's something like this and it was just really interesting the ending? I don't know if I really liked it was one of those where I was like No, I wish I had been something else. I wish you had come up with some other creative way It just added a whole new element to the book that I was not prepared for and didn't Want to be there. I didn't think it belonged so I wasn't super happy with that ending But I think a lot of other people will have a very different opinion of the ending than me I think it was done well and it was a good really spooky book Like it was so spooky it was exactly what I needed to kick off spooky season It made me so happy. Moving on. I read the coldest touch by Isabel Sterling I talk about this book quite a bit in my vampire reading vlog So if you want to know more go ahead and check out that vlog. I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars I Couldn't tell if this book was trying to be light and fluffy or serious Everything added up as it should the characters were great. The romance was fine It just you know like a slightly better than average just book like it was a book I actually ended up reading an enchantment of Ravens Which is by Margaret Rodgersen and I give this five out of five stars the fall vibes were there The fall and autumn vibes were on point throughout the entire book Made me so happy. So we follow this Artist this human artist and she is really good at painting fey and that's how she kind of makes her living And then all of a sudden she has to Paint the autumn prints, which is like oh my goodness That's super exciting with the book the prince from the autumn court is coming And uh, so she paints them and she paints what she sees But she paints them with some emotion on his face. Oh, that is a big problem So then she has to get dragged into the fey world to resolve this problem, and I loved it. I Oh my gosh, like there was a love story. It was so cute Like I said all the autumn vibes were there They spent some time in the spring court, but I still felt like the autumn prince was just fully autumn And I loved him. I loved him so much like it had a twisty ending. It was a forbidden love. Oh my goodness It just was aesthetic all the way through and it's a standalone fantasy which A standalone fantasy with strong autumnal vibes With good characters and great romance Yeah, of course i'm gonna love it. Of course i'm gonna be interested and of course i'm gonna give it five stars The last book that I finished reading in september was my dearest darkest by k dot coddingham This is one of the books I read for dark academia Reading vlogs, which uh, I believe will be up before this video is up so you can check it out This was a what 4.5? Yeah 4.5 out of five stars. It's uh, kala coddingham's debut novel and that was evident in like one or two kind of spots Um, so I look forward to reading more by her now that she's a little more experienced and things like that There and there is body horror. So just look up the trigger warnings for that I just had a few things that I wish were done a little more in depth or a little better Um than what they were but overall I love the idea. I love the concept. I love the queer romance so much fun Such again a spooky read. I was constantly wanting to read this just like Any spare moment I had I was like and back to reading which was what I was Which I was reading like that a lot as a kid. So it was really exciting to have a book that was like that for me again Just I constantly had me enthralled and it was so Spooky like I was afraid it was going to scare me real good. Um, so yeah, I really loved this one So overall it was it was a pretty good reading week. I reading month I gotta say I had a lot of average books, but also a lot of pretty good books I didn't have really any two stars or one stars I didn't read any bad books just a lot of mediocre books and a few really good books. I would say Thank you very much for watching. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up Otherwise, feel free to subscribe. I post videos twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays I have bookish social media link down below that you can follow me there and get the thoughts on the books I'm reading as I'm reading them or any other fun bookish things that I am doing Also, feel free to comment down below. What were some of the books that you read this past month? Did you have a great reading month? Did you have not so great reading month? Are you gonna read some spooky reads? Like it's October now, so All the spooky reads are gonna be happening. Let me know what you'll be reading But until I see you in the next video, I wish you happy reading