September was a good reading month for me, especially after only reading one book in August, where I read all from my tbr. Some new releases, some old, a new author and a new favorite!

I started the month off with Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek, a new release from February of this year. Overall, I was a little underwhelmed. I recently read (and loved) Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and Where the Dark Stands Still felt like a watered down version. I do think it's worth picking up if magical, dark fantasy with a romance sub plot sounds interesting.

Another new, anticipated release I read this month was The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland. A queer, horror novel about witches sounded amazing, but unfortunately was another let down for me. I loved her descriptions of gore and horror, but was taken out of the dark atmosphere by her use of modern slang. Adding modern technology and sayings to novels is difficult without cheapening the story, and I think in a setting that deals with anything historical (like witch craft), it just doesn't fit. I also wasn't a fan of the main characters, who either weren't explored enough, or whose personalities were kind of unlikable. 

I absolutely loved A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, which seems to be a book people either really love or really don't like. I found the magical system and world building really interesting, so I didn't mind the info dumping aspects of the story. My favorite part is the main character, El, whose desperately lonely, head strong, resilient, and sarcastic. I really enjoyed seeing her world through her thoughts.

The last book I read was Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. I'm happy to say it lived up to the hype, and I especially loved the narrator for the audio book, who voiced Emily and Wendell so well.

I finally finished the Arc of a Scythe series this month, I had read and loved Scythe in 2019 and hadn't picked the series up since then. Here's a synopsis of the first book:

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

The first book is still probably my favorite, the world building is just so interesting and I loved the concept of the story. There were some parts of the conclusion that I wasn't completely satisfied with, but it's still one of my favorite book series and I highly recommend reading it if you haven't!

The highlight for November was reading A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. It was a tough read at times, which only goes to show how incredible her writing is when delving into difficult topics. Her commentary and description of abuse in romantic relationships was raw, complicated, and felt incredibly real. Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“You did not let me keep my name, so I will strip you of yours. In this world you are what I say you are, and I say you are a ghost, a long night's fever dream that I have finally woken up from. I say you are the smoke-wisp memory of a flame, thawing ice suffering under an early spring sun, a chalk ledger of depts being wiped clean. I say you do not have a name.”