I would like to begin this post by discussing how utterly awful I have been at reading over these holiday months.
I assumed in October I would consume so much spooky/horror substance (novels included) to fill me for a life time. However, that was not the case. Throughout October I was completely and totally distracted by Life. It happens.
Special announcement time!
I will be co-hosting a week long fashion challenge to lead up to the premier of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker beginning on December 13th and ending the night of the premier, December 20th!
With the release of the newest streaming service, Disney+, also came the release of the newest addition to the Star Wars universe: The Mandalorian.
It had been awhile since I had really played any video games and a sudden inspiration had hit me in a strong wave. I played a couple indie games, OXENFREE (which is amazing) and Night in the Woods. I picked up, and became obsessed with, Stardew Valley and am casually playing Terraria with friends and my boyfriend. I’m (very) slowly playing through Witcher 3 and the Bioshock series. Currently, after seeing Joker, I got the sudden urge to play through Batman: Arkham Asylum again and found the whole series on a special promo at the Epic Games store (it was FREE for all three games!)
There have also been a ton of games I’ve been eyeing to buy. Dead by Daylight, Untitled Goose Game, and After Party (coming out October 29) to name a few!
September was a wild ride of books! I had just finished reading ADSOM series (which is now getting a movie!) and had been a little excited and scared to dive into a bunch of stand alone books. So without further ado, here was my September reading list:
So this month was announced as #schwabtember, dedicated to one of my new obsessions and favorite authors, V.E Schwab. It was used to encourage readers to pick up her novels, especially to those who had her books on their reading list.
As you guys know, I’ve already read a good amount of her books, but that didn’t stop me from participating.
Tunnel of Bones, the sequel to City of Ghosts, was released at the very beginning of September and I COULD NOT put it down! I binged through it quicker than any book I think I’ve read.
It was such a fun and spooky read. Cas and Jacob return and I couldn’t wait to be part of their ghost hunting team again. The story was a little darker and creepier than the first, in my opinion. I read in the late hours of the night and couldn’t help but peer over the book to make sure no ghosties were in my room with me.
I was wonderfully spooked out.
And in extra exciting news: a third book has been announced! And it’s taking place in New Orleans! Which is already so scary!!! I can’t wait!
No matter what you say it’s officially Fall, which means (and more importantly) it’s SPOOKY SEASON! The air is actually cooling down here in Miami a little, so you best believe I’m already wearing sweaters and tights and dreaming about everything pumpkin flavored!
To welcome in the new season, I decided to do a little fashion post for you all.
And Now You’re Mine
To further my reading journey in August, I quickly decided it was time to finish reading the Darker Shades of Magic series. I binge read A Gathering of Shadows, and fell in love. Next, I took a Schwab mini-break by reading The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (in three days may I add). And finally I rounded the series off by reading the third installment, A Conjuring of Light.
Follow along as I unravel my thoughts about the novels!
A Gathering of Shadows
I recently binged through the entirety of Fox now NBC comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And I was in love and obsessed. The show is produced my Andy Samberg who I find utterly hilarious. He is the main lead in the show, and his cast of detectives, sergeants, and captain are some of the best characters in TV comedy I have seen in a long time. Every one is so dynamic, and the dynamics between team members are all wholesome and so well developed.
Fun Fact about myself: I am an awful reader. I’ve always wanted to read more, but either couldn’t find the time or book to hold my attention. Life is life, and I always made excuses. But I recently discovered how much I actually love it when I find a good book that I care about. How much they inspire me to create my own worlds and stories. And reading keeps me in that motivated state.
I mentioned in a recent post that I’ve been working on my first novel. I know it’s bad to count pages, but I’m pretty excited to have a whopping 22 pages of content and I feel excellent! Reading has kept me motivated to continue writing my story. Reading made me motivated to START writing my story in the first place. So I decided that I would continue reading and try to as much as possible. To keep my mind active and wandering.
To keep myself motivated, I’m going to try to make a monthly book post about the books I’ve read the past month. I feel like if I have to supply content then I’ll have to read. So it’s like a win/win situation. (Note: I’ll probably try to keep graphic novels off the list but if it happens, it happens. I’ve been reading a ton from Junji Ito lately.)
So, without further ado, onto the books:
To kick off my bookie journey, I started with Victoria Schwab’s City of Ghosts.
This book was 110% me. It’s a YA book where the main character sees ghosts after a near death experience. She is best friends with a ghost (who is obsessed with comic books) and she’s a Gryffindor! (Like yours truly!) Her parents are also paranormal investigators and get a TV show deal to travel to the most haunted cities in the world. The family and ghostly friend travel to Edinburgh and, needless to say, some ghost stuff goes down. I breezed through the story over a weekend away and was so in love.
The novel is getting a sequel to be released in less than a month, titled Tunnel of Bones set in Paris. I am so pumped and ready for it!
A Darker Shade of Magic is a series by V.E. Schwab (I’ve been on a binge of books lately I guess). The story is complex and convoluted and so much fun. The build up takes a bit, but once I got into the thick of the story I was utterly infatuated with it. I fell in love with the two main characters, Lila and Kell, and cannot wait to read more adventures from them in the second book (which I just started), A Gathering of Shadows. I am also super thankful for the Jordandene x V.E. Schwab collab over at Jordandene.com because now I get to rep this amazing series.
Apparently this awesome series is also getting a movie deal! The author announced on Twitter recently and hopefully more details will be announced soon!
What books have you read this month? Any recommendations for future reads for me?
And bigger question; I am very into spooky stories, have you read any goof YA books that deal with ghosts or the paranormal?
Thanks for reading, stay bookie, and tune in next month!
As an avid movie lover, one of my biggest fears in normal conversation is the ever daunting question: “What is your favorite movie?” This question, alone, could portray me and my personality in a number of ways. I can answer with one of my geek favs like A New Hope or The Two Towers, one of my “film student” classics like Rashomon, or answer with a super dumb comedy and be scorned for life, like The 40-Year Old Virgin (which is, arguably, a fantastic movie). There’s no easy answer. But its also not fair to base my answer on my audience, because then I’m just not being true to me. That truth being: I have a lot of favorite movies.
