 Hello friends, how are we doing? It is time finally for my September wrap up. I had to delay this because I had to push back my last vlog of the month because I was sick. So then I only just posted that and that made up like half the books I read in September. So we're finally going to chat about my September reading. It's a very interesting month because as you might be able to tell about the title, this is the most books I've ever read in the month. Joint. Joint with I think like March of this year or something but I read 17 books in September which is kind of crazy. Could you do everything that I do in a day? That is kind of mad. 17 books in a month. I don't usually average that. I usually sit around until like 12, 13 but we read 17. I'm probably not going to read as many in October now because I kind of get burnt out after a big month although I have got to read a lot of books in October, November and December still. So maybe I will still read loads. But yeah, so we read a lot but as we're going to see I don't have a ton of like disappointment surprises and hits which is the structure of my wrap ups to talk about because like most of the books I read were 3.5 or 4 stars. Like almost all of them. When we go through all the books I read, yeah most of them were 4 or 3.5. So it was like a very one note reading month for me. I had a few standouts and a few you know standouts for the wrong reasons but most of the books were very middle of the road. Well, good, good middle of the road. Above middle of the road. Like 2 thirds up the road. So if you're new here, I do my wrap ups, I do reading stats first because I love statistics, I love talking about statistics, I love comparing months, I just love statistics. Okay, I love them. I love them. And then we go through all the books I read with just the rating that I gave them and then we talk more in depth about my disappointment, surprise and hits because almost all of these books you can find me talking about somewhere. Most of them are in vlogs, reading vlogs on my channel and I'll link all of those down below. And I think one, one isn't on my channel but that was my Patreon Book Cup pick so I have got a whole discussion live show and reading vlog for that over there. So shall we just get straight into the statistics and chat about how much I read this month and how I fucking knocked it out of the park with how much reading I did. So as I said, I read 17 books in September. The amount of pages was 4,478. How does that compare actually to the other month that I read 17? I read 4,458. Oh my god I read 20 more pages! In terms of pages per day that works out at 149 which is crazy. I mean I always say I don't do that every day. I will read like 20 pages one day and I'll read 200 the next. I don't have a very like steady reading speed. I don't feel like, I feel like I'm very up and down. That's why I don't track the amount of pages I read every day because I just think, oh that would like stress me out seeing the differences. The average pages per book was 263 which I feel like isn't bad. I read a few shorter books but also I read quite a few like longer books as well so it kind of averaged out. My average rating was a 3.76 which is pretty much on par. I've been averaging like a 3.63.7 for most of this year especially since like I had higher ratings in like January, February, March, April but then the rest of the year I've been kind of hovering around that rating so it's pretty standard for me and the average time a book had spent on my TBR was 11 months. We had some that I bought and read straight away and we had some that had been there for like three years. Okay let's get into the charts. Oh god this first chart guys, you guys are gonna just be so happy. Are you ready? Look at my genre distribution for the month. I love it. It makes me so happy. But she's beautiful. Right. But she's beautiful. It makes me so happy when I read this wide array of genres. I mean you guys, I just love it. I love reading a mix of genres. I find that's what really helps me read a lot is when I'm really spicing it up and adding a bit of variety. Of course I did do the vlog which would which I'll link down below. I just posted the one I had to delay where I read seven genres in seven days. I had to read a different genre in each in each day. So of course that helped but I was still a lot of variety in the rest of the month so I read two classics. I'm amazed by you. And I wish for you to know I just read another classic for October. Who is she? Oh my god. I'm going to be so excited to see how many classics I've read at the end of the year. Actually so I see how many I've read this year so far. Why not? I've read five classics guys. Can't remember the time I read five classics in a year. I read one contemporary, three fantasy, one historical, two horror, one magical realism, two mystery, one non-fiction, one romance, one sci-fi and two thrillers. Oh what a good mix. That is that makes me really happy. In terms of rating, I warned you for this. We've got one 2.5, one 3, five 3.5s, nine 4s and one 5. Oh my god. It's kind of crazy. I mean I'm happy to have a lot of four stars but like it's kind of crazy how just I also do like a bit of variation though. Do you know what I mean? In a month I'd like to have had you know one or two more of those could have been five stars and none of those fours were like pushing for 4.5s. They were all fours. Do you know what I mean? They weren't pushing 4.5 upwards so I would like a little bit you know a little bit better on the end of the bell curve and well bell curves don't work like that they but okay whatever. I don't even like maybe another two. I know that sounds you know against what you would like but I like a bit of variation. Don't say that. Mona don't ever say that. In terms of how I read the books I read three audiobooks, eight physical and six mixture where I had both the audiobook and physical. It's a pretty pretty standard split for me. In terms of audience 15 were adult and two were YA. This year I mean this is just further compounds the fact that this year has really sorry my shirt is just annoying me at the armpit. Okay I haven't worn this shirt in a while. There's just further compounds the fact to me that I don't read a lot of YA anymore. I don't read a lot of YA. I don't read a lot of YA. I don't read a lot of YA anymore. Just a couple years ago that would have been 50-50. I used to read so much more YA but I've just stopped and that's okay. In terms of format I read two graphic novels, ten novels, two novellas, two short stories and one anthology. In terms of series stats I read one companion book, three they're part of a series, 11 that were stand-alones and one first in a series. Okay that's not bad. I made progress in three series this month and I only started one more. What did I start? What series did I start? Who wouldn't let me start a series this month? Oh her magic's wrong. Okay all right we'll allow that one. In terms of where the books I read were from, two were from Audible, three were gifted, ten I'd bought myself and two were from Script. In terms of author stats, four were debuts, six were authors I'd read from before and seven were new to me. Okay let's get into all the books I read this month with their ratings. First I read everything I never told you by Celeste Inge and I gave this four stars. Hellbent by Lee Bardugo which I gave four stars. You're gonna see a pattern throughout this. The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead which I gave three stars. Girl in the Wolves by AJ Gnise which I gave four stars. Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson which I gave five stars. Educated by Tara Westover which I gave four stars. The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by Sylva Monagassia which I gave three point five stars. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle which I gave four stars. The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kirsten White which I gave two point five stars. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson which I gave three point five stars. The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alex E. Harrow which I gave four stars. Saga Volume 2 by Brian Cavan and Fiona Staples which I gave four stars. The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxar which I gave three point five stars. Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi which I gave four stars. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Laval which I gave three point five stars. The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Osatag which I gave three point five stars. And The Chateau by Jacqueline Goldis which I gave four stars. I warned you guys it was a lot of the same ratings. Okay let's get into my disappointments of the month and then we'll we'll pick it up in terms of positivity towards the end. So my lowest rated book of the month was The Dark Descent by Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kirsten White. I gave this a two point five. This all you to know is like it's a retelling of Frankenstein following Elizabeth Frankenstein who is Victor Frankenstein's wife essentially and it's a YA retelling of that and this just I thought was very boring. I'm sorry and then let it be known that the next day I was in Waterstones in London and I did buy Mr Magic by Kirsten White but it's a whole different story. I mean I think I love this like that's to how my brain works. Women's stories matter yeah they just matter. My biggest problem with this is a problem I have with a lot of retellings where it meets the beats of the original story to this book's detriment. I have discovered I like fanfic retellings where you're taking the characters, you are taking some themes of the novel or like whatever but like telling it in a new way. I don't like retellings that stick so closely to like this happen and this happen and then this happen and this happen just through a new character's point of view because I just feel like it I can feel that the author hasn't come up with that from their brain. I'm like banging my leg down. I can just feel it. I can feel it in the page that like the author is following a guide rather than something that's sprung up from their own mind and often characters will do things. This isn't just exclusive to this but characters will do things and act in certain ways or react to stuff in ways that then doesn't feel authentic to the character that has been built up in that book because they've got to react that way for them the next event to happen as it should. So that makes sense and I've just found I don't like that. I love the idea of retellings. I will keep reading them but I'm just finding again and again with like Greek myth retellings or I felt like the Suicaiki that there's something about it following a predestined plot even if it's being told in a new way that I don't vibe with. I think I vibe more with the retellings that are a bit more of a remix. You know I'm thinking of stuff I want to read like Pride and Premeditation that is a Pride and Prejudice retelling but like they're running like a law firm and solving murders together. Like that is more my speed I think of the kind of retellings I enjoy and I'm actually gonna I think experiment with this a bit next year and do a series where I read a classic and then read a retelling just one retelling but like really closely compare the two because I'm now in my classics era if you didn't know I will talk about that more in my October wrap up because I've already got a book I need to talk to you about but I'm now in my classics era and I want to explore this relationship that I have with retellings. So yeah I think part of this is the is me but I also think also it could have got I mean it is YA but it could have got a bit dark I think it could have got a bit I don't know it is quite dark I think the atmosphere was done really well in it but I don't know just didn't quite work for me and then I would say my biggest disappointment this was absolutely a five star prediction and I gave it three and that is a generous three it's maybe more of a 2.75 I just don't deal in like quarter decimals and I didn't feel like I could quite give it a 2.5 or maybe it kind of is and that is The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead I was so sad this was a five star five star five star five star prediction for me and we just didn't get that. I'm just gonna shut down and I don't want to talk about it. It's a very serious thriller right it's dealing with very sensitive topics I'm gonna say that from the jump so we are following a character who was in kind of like a sex cult as a teenager and then one of her friends who was also in that dies and she wants to investigate that and does like this podcast with this guy trying to investigate that and there's also like a you know sex cult like in the kind of present day as well I just don't want to get dimmed in one time too much if I say it to the side of my mouth maybe YouTube won't know. My problem with this is that if you're gonna deal with topics as sensitive as this I don't think Ashley Winstead didn't have care in her treatment of this but it didn't go quite far enough for me and I feel like there is so much commentary that could be had around the dynamic I don't want to get into too much because I don't want to spoil stuff I'm trying to talk around stuff but there's so much that could be said around the dynamics examined in this book and for me the commentary always felt very surface level it felt like we never got into depth of anything and also it was freaking stupid guys it was stupid the amount of times there is this organization shall we say that is supposed to be very powerful in this book that she is kind of infiltrating and like they're so powerful and every time it's like right if you do that again and you're like dead or whatever she just keeps like going in getting information and running away and they know she is and like there's no repercussions it's infuriating but for me it was really the I think this didn't yeah go into depth of the topics that it was covering enough and was kind of like a bit of a scatterbained scatterbrained thriller instead and didn't feel I don't know I just didn't like it I didn't like it it really missed the mark for me which I'm sad about because I wanted to love this so much but it just didn't it didn't it didn't do it for me I was really disappointed I think the writing was still okay I didn't love the character I thought the podcast element was just put in because everyone loves a podcast in their books nowadays and everyone's doing it if you're gonna do podcasts do you freaking podcast yawning sloppy lazy I know for a fact I didn't listen to the audiobook but I know that the it doesn't have multiple voice actors if you can do a podcast with multiple just to have multiple voice actors god it's like the bare minimum at this point that's not in the author's control probably that's in the publisher's control but like anyways moving on let's talk about my surprises of the month that's more positive okay my first surprise was a study in scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle now it's Sherlock right it's Sherlock I love many mysteries I thought I was gonna enjoy it but this was a four star but let it be known the first half of this is five star five star five star I'm incredibly excited to continue reading from Sherlock so studying scarlet it's the first ever Sherlock it's it's a kind of a short kind of an of course it's novella I think it's like a hundred and something pages when it's like you know as a as a physical book and the first half of it is Sherlock on meeting and like solving this case and then the second half we go to America to Utah and to follow some of the characters from the first half and it's a completely different tone that part was like a three stars kind of bored but that first half oh my god I was I'm getting passionate again I was so surprised by how much I loved Sherlock as a character and I was very surprised by Sherlock's character you know I've obviously I've consumed so much Sherlock like content like tv shows movies whatever over my time so there's like so many different interpretations of Sherlock out there and I was surprised by how much he actually aligned with like the craziness of the BBC Sherlock I thought that was like a strange adaptation but like I could really picture it and it felt so visceral and the mystery was interesting it was a very it was an interesting mystery because it's not one you're meant to solve as the reader but it's just so interesting to see like kind of the origins almost of the mystery genre and I just loved that experience so I'm very positive in the future I could end up giving Sherlock a five star I'm just gonna say that now I think me and Sherlock could have a five star in us I was kind of taken aback when I was reading it by how easy it easily understandable it was like I found like it was very accessible I was listening to the audiobook that Stephen Frye narrates he has like a whole collection he's like narrated every Sherlock book ever on audible and I felt like that could help because he's a very he's a very very good audiobook narrator like I can listen to anything that he narrates I think he's incredible but I was shocked by just how yeah accessible and like normal language it was and I just loved Sherlock so I was surprised I mean I knew I was gonna enjoy it but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it especially the first half of the book and then my other surprise I said in my vlog this is a very very very very very very tentative four star okay because not everyone has loved this and I can see the problems with it but I just had a fun time reading it and that is The Chateau by Jacqueline Goldis this is a new thriller that came out this year where we're following these group of girl friends who they're invited to one of their grandmother's chateau in France she's like uber rich and the grandmother gets brutally murdered and you're like what's going on I've heard very mixed things about this I just thought it was kind of fun I thought it was kind of like camp and a little bit silly and a little bit like you know a little bit over the top I really enjoyed this I loved the French setting it gave it a like you know I said it gave it like a sophisticated drama like I don't know I thought the twists were introduced really well at the beginning we had so many little hints of like something that's happening with this character like this character has a suitcase that's empty why do they have that this character is like oh I'm really mad at this one I'm gonna really make them pay but we don't know why and those twists for me were just revealed and and executed really really well I don't think it's the best thriller ever I think it is a little bit forgettable but I had a fun time when reading it and I was surprised by how much of a fun time I had when reading it and then my only hit of the month because like I said I would say all the four stars were like four stars they weren't if there was one four star that kind of stood out I would mention it but um we're in at four stars and then we had one five star and that was Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Gina Dawson I loved it it's witches oh god this is a kind of book that once you've read it to the end it's like god how do I give the synopsis so there's a secret coven of witches within there's like a coven within the government that like operate a secret there's magic and we're following this particularly this group of friends I mean we're friends in childhood but now we're kind of like some of them are in the governmental coven some of them are like living as witches in the countryside and so we're following them uh in their different lives and that's what I'm gonna say but I loved this I loved the writing of it it was funny it reminded me kind of of the humor in the Thursday matter club where it's very like Brit humor and like British references like we're talking about the Spice Girls I love us talking about the Spice Girls and I just loved the journey that this book went on and it deals with some topics that I don't want to spoil if you're going in but I thought it dealt with them with such care and such attention and like I hope that people who need to read this book and don't know about the topics it's gonna cover go into it kind of without knowing and end up reading it because I think it could really reach people who need to read it but I also just thought the witchiness I just if you're gonna give me witches give me watches I always say I thought the witchiness was done so well and I just loved it I had such a great time reading it and I'm very excited because I said I it's a five star but I said the one thing that I would want more from this is more how the witchy side of the government relates to the like mortal side of the government because I love politics and I thought that would be something that would be really interesting to examine and everyone's told me that the sequel does that so I'm really excited for the sequel I cannot recommend this enough it was such a standout for me and it did not disappoint I thought this was like another five star prediction and it really delivered it's a very very special book I love the characters in it I love the relationships examined in it it was it was great so there we have it that was my September wrap up let me know what you thought of any of the books I mentioned like I said I'll leave all the reading vlogs for this month linked down below if you wanted to check them out but thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you soon in another video