I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read so far this year and figured I’d give you guys a rundown on the first Monday of every month about the books I read the previous month! I read five books (1,924 pages) in August which is honestly a pretty low count for me, but I moved back into my apartment and started back up with school this month and my senior year is PACKED so I definitely had less time to read than I wanted, but I’m hoping to get more read in September! I’ll link all these books through my local independent bookstore except the last one since it’s an exclusive edition from Once Upon A Book Club that's still available- as always, shop local!
With The Fire On High, by Elizabeth Acevedo 9/10
This book, first and foremost, was BEAUTIFUL. I bought it based on the cover jacket art alone and had absolutely zero regrets. Emoni Santiago is a high school senior and a teenage mother of a two-year-old named Emma (not a reason I got the book, but it was a delightful surprise!!)
Emoni lives with her Abuela and young daughter, navigating being a teen mother while also continuing her education and wondering if she can make her passion for cooking into a profession. This book was well written, drawing me in from the first page, and had a compelling premise. Emoni was a lovely character to hear from and I loved the budding romance between her and Malachi, along with all of the delicious food descriptions!
It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover - 10/10
This book made me laugh out loud. It made me cry. It ate an afternoon of one of the busiest weeks of my life because I could not put it down. I had a highlighter permanently in my left hand because there were so many lines I wanted to remember. I pre-ordered the second book, It Starts With Us before I even finished this one because I knew I wanted more of this story.
Domestic violence is a heavy topic in this book so if that kind of thing is triggering for you, this may not be the book for you. I’ll link the domestic violence hotline at the bottom of the review.
This book is funny and heartbreaking and sad, and at the risk of spoiling things, I won’t tell you much about the plot- I’ll let you go in blind as I did. I didn’t even read the back cover before buying this book- it was so popular, I figured I would like it. It was definitely worth the bookstagram hype! I want to read other books by Colleen Hoover now!
The Roughest Draft, by Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley - 8/10
A romance novel about authors- what’s not to love? I adored this book from the first page and I highlighted so much of the first five pages that my ink almost ran out. I resonated with so much of the author characters’ thoughts and I LOVED that, because it means I’m on my way to being an author too. This book cemented what I already knew- I will publish one day. I won’t stop until that dream is a reality. But the book! The book was incredible, and a little bit meta; it’s written about two people who write books together written by two people who write books together. If you’re a writer, you will love this book! I give it an 8/10 because it did start a little slow, but I loved this so much and resounded with a lot of the sentiments given. The romance was very slow-burn, and there were flashbacks slowly explaining how the characters got to that point up until the last 20 pages. It was a super unique story for sure.
Ariadne, by Jennifer Saint - 9/10
In an effort to be more worldly in my reading, I’ve spent some time reading books about the women that history forgot. This book is a fascinating glimpse at two of those women, Ariadne and Phaedra, sister princesses of Crete.
In this book, men are, predictably, awful to women. I annotated this book fiercely and highlighted every quote I could find that mentioned men (or society as a whole) blaming women for any bad thing that may happen to them. It was incredible how often it came up. Betrayal and motherhood were major themes in Ariadne, and I enjoyed looking at the similarities and differences between these two women. Ariadne was a traitor to Crete in an effort to save Theseus’ life, and in return, he abandoned her to die alone at the first opportunity- she then meets Dionysus, falls in love, gets married, has children, and is happy. Phaedra, Ariadne’s younger sister is told by Theseus that her sister died, she ends up marrying Theseus while doubting his lies, and has children while being absolutely miserable. She hates her children and spends a whole chapter wondering what is wrong with her that she can’t love her babies- the shame in the text is painful to read because it is so clear that Phaedra has postpartum depression, and was forced into multiple pregnancies that she didn’t want, which was, of course, the norm back then.
The ending of this book left me in tears. I was also SUPER lucky to get to interview the author of this book for my blog- Jennifer Saint was as incredible over the phone as she is on the page. Stay tuned for her interview!
The North Wind, by Alexandria Warwick - 9/10
This is another book that I’ve read in preparation for an author interview, and another BEAUTIFUL book- I got this as a special edition book from Once Upon A Book Club, and I’m obsessed with how it looks on my shelf. The story is a greek myth retelling as well, but far more contemporary than Ariadne and follows a girl named Wren forced to live with Boreas, the North Wind and the Frost King so that she can save her sister Elora. It’s an enemies to lovers romance, so if that trope is your thing, you’ll LOVE The North Wind. This was such a fun (and at times NSFW!) read and I can’t wait to talk to Alexandria Warwick and learn about her writing process!
That’s all for August!! What did you read over the past month?
Xoxox- Emmabird
