October Wrap Up & November TBR

Ann: This month I have read 12 books which is better than I normally do so I am very pleased with it. I also really enjoyed every book so I had a very good reading month.

Ann's Favourite Book of the Month:

Girl Online On Tour by Zoe Sugg

So that I don't pick the same book as Clare I am going to go with Girl Online On Tour because I really enjoyed it. I will have my full review up for Girl Online On Tour on Saturday. Carry On was amazing though and I probably would have chosen it if Clare hadn't already chosen it.

Ann's Reviews in October:

• Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore
• Pathfinder by Angie Sage
• The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud

Clare: This month I read a total of 44 books, which means I have met my Goodreads target for the year of 400 books which I am pretty proud of myself for! There were a lot of new releases in October that I was excited for so I had a fairly good reading month!

Clare's Favourite Book of the Month:

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: This book was phenomenal! I really loved the characters and the world and just everything. I have a full review linked below if you'd like to see more of my thoughts.

Clare's Reviews in October:

• Prima Donna by Karen Swan
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
• A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Otto Von Trapezoid and the Empress of Thieves by Jesse Baruffi
• The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason
• Mini Reviews: Historical Fiction
• A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
• These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
• The Heartless City by Andrea Berthot
• Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
• Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee
• Slasher Girls & Monster Boys selected by April Genevieve Tucholke

Ann's TBR for November 2015:

I am not planning on reading many books next month although I may get around to reading a few more than this. I am just going to focus on my GCSE's this month because I got my report back recently and I wasn't very pleased with it so am going to work harder and get it better. But I am really excited about all three of this.

Clare's TBR for November 2015:
New Releases:

October was a crazy month for new releases so I am kind of relieved that I only have a few new releases in November. I am most excited for Winter and The Infinite Loop. I am excited to be finally finishing the Lunar Chronicles! And The Infinite Loop just sounds amazing. I haven't heard much about How We Fall but the concept intrigues me a lot! With all the other books they are by authors that I have loved in the past and am really looking forward to reading! I am not sure what else I will be reading this month, I currently want to read contemporary, historical and fantasy all at the same time. So we shall see where it goes.

Classics Wrap Up:
Ann:

I really really enjoyed Little Women it was such a great book.

Clare:

My classic read for October was Washington Square by Henry James, I found that I really enjoyed it and so read it much faster than I had originally intended which meant I was able to read a couple of short stories as well; The Pension Beaurepas and A Bundle of Letters both also by Henry James. Both of these were more character driven than plot driven which I actually quite enjoyed (although I possibly wouldn't have done if they had been longer).

Classics TBR:

Ann: My classic for the month is The Turn of the Screw which sounds like a good book. If I finish it quickly I will then also be reading Daisy Miller because it is such a tiny book.

Clare: In November I will be reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. I have had this book for years and never read it, mostly because it intimidates me too much. I read Les Miserables a while ago and really enjoyed it so I should enjoy this as well. I think spreading it out over a month will make it a lot easier to read than reading it all in one go, which is what I did with Les Mis. 

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

September Wrap Up & October TBR

Ann: I didn't read as much this month as I did last month, because school started and there was a lot going on. In September I read a total of 5 books; 4 of which were 5 star books but my favourite one was the one that I just finished reading!
Ann's Favourite Book of the Month:

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness: 

I loved it so much, it was a really good book. It was really funny. Clare does have a full review up for this book, which is listed below, if you're interested in finding out more about it.

Clare: 

I am currently just 38 books away from completing my Goodreads challenge this year and I have already read more books than I did in 2014 so I'm proud of myself for that!

This month I read a total of 36 books of which 6 were 5 stars as well as a whole lot of 4.5 star worthy books! Which made choosing my favourite book of the month rather difficult! So I cheated and chose two (sorry)!

Clare's Favourite Books of the Month:

The Uninvited by Cat Winters: 

I bought this book off the strength of a review from someone I trust. And that trust was not remotely misplaced. I think, if left to myself there is a good chance I would never have picked this book up. I hadn't heard anything about it before reading the review, and although the description is interesting it doesn't fully prepare you for how incredible this book is. It was beautiful and surprising and really made me think. And I can't wait to read more from her. I do have a full review listed below.


Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo:
I will have a full review up for this on Monday, but dear god this book. It messed with my emotions and my head and I have so many thoughts and feelings about these characters and I just need Book 2 now! This is so, so much better than the Grisha trilogy and I am just kind of in awe right now.

Clare's Reviews in September:

• Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
• The Uninvited by Cat Winters
• The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
• Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas
• Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan
• The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath by Ishbelle Bee
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Ann's TBR for October 2015:
My TBR for next month doesn't have many books on it because I have a lot of school work to do but here are the ones I plan on reading.

I am really excited to read all of these and can't wait to read them!

Clare's TBR for October 2015:

The majority of my TBR for October will be made up of pre-orders since all my favourite authors seem to be releasing new books in one big batch! My pre-orders will be definite reads since I am still determined not to add to my TBR and read books as they come in. I am starting my next Uni module on Saturday so I am not sure how much time I will have for reading but I should be fine - I am fairly confident in my ability to balance! I am also trying to write more reviews, I'm on top of all my review requests so I don't feel overwhelmed. In October I am upping my reviews to every Monday, Thursday and Friday and every other Saturday. 
For Review:
All of these books were received from Netgalley.


Pre-Ordered:

Whilst they're not all fitting in to my Halloween theme for my reading this month, there are some that look like they could be appropriately creepy/chilling. I am especially looking forward to A Madness So Discreet for Halloween and the closer it gets to release the more This Monstrous Thing calls to me!Carry On has been one of my most anticipated reads all year however so that's the one I am absolutely most excited for with A Curious Beginning a close second - Deanna Raybourn has never let me down yet.

I would then also like to read some other books that fit into my Halloween-y mood!

Cat Winters and Simone St. James are both authors I tried last month and found I loved, and Sandra Byrd has been recommended as a similar genre, so I am looking forward to that. Katie Alender is an author I've been dying to read for a while now but I scare so easily, when I heard that this book is on the less scary side I thought it might make a good starting point. I have had Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on my shelf since it first came out and I need to finally read it. I've been a bit scared but the trilogy is complete now so I have no excuse! I tried to read Black Ice a while back but wasn't in the right mood but since I am now I thought I'd give it another go. 

Classics Wrap Up:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Ann: I wasn't able to finish Little Women this month because of school and being ill and just not having a lot of time to read so I will be carrying it forwards into October.

The Wings of the Dove by Henry James - Clare: 4/5. I did enjoy this a lot more than the last book I read of his (The Golden Bowl) but I don't feel like it was as enthralling as The Portrait of a Lady was. The characters were the main strength here. Milly was a lot more vibrant than I had expected her to be and Kate a lot less callous and I found myself loving both girls. I cared less about the men in the book but then I always find that in a Henry James novel, whilst the women stand out in my memory I can usually not even remember the men's names.

Classics TBR:

Ann: I will be aiming to finish Little Women this month since I wasn't able to last month.

Clare: I have a lot of Henry James on my shelf so I'm not totally surprised that I pulled another of his books out of the TBR jar. This is quite a short book in comparison to other Classics on my shelf so I'm feeling confident about it. I don't really know what it's about but maybe that's a good thing!? 

I think we both had quite a good reading month in September and we are definitely both looking forward to a whole lot of creepy, scary Halloween books for October! Let us know what you think of these books and what you read in September or plan to read in October!

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading