By Ava Shaffer
October was a slow reading month for me, which is surprising because I spent most of it sitting around in my bed with a broken ankle. I guess binge watching 5 seasons of Brooklyn 99 and all of Ted Lasso really messes with your reading stats. Anyway, I felt I had some great hits, and one miss this month. But my annual reading slump that occurs every year I go back to school has finally ended, which calls for celebration!
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling (October BOTM)
This was the perfect book I didn’t even know I needed. It’s Gilmore Girls meets Hocus Pocus, and I ate that trope up! It’s also enemies to lovers, quirky, and has a little bit of steaminess to it- what’s not to love? The Ex Hex had the perfect amount of cheesiness and spookiness, as well as a plot that actually made sense. (Romance readers know that’s sometimes hard to come by). But thankfully Sterling didn’t sacrifice any of the integrity of the book for the sake of fitting into a cutesy romance genre. The ambiance and setting of The Ex Hex was plucked right out of the file cabinet in my brain titled Things Ava Likes In A Book. Witches, black cats, candles, tarot cards, cute stores, a cozy town, autumn leaves, hot love interest, enemies to lovers, LGBTQ characters, AND witty dialogue? I mean come on, this was perfection! In short, The Ex Hex was like a godsend to me and kicked me out of my three month long reading slump.
Witch Please by Ann Aguirre
Coming off my high from my five star rating for The Ex Hex, I was itching for another witchy romance. I enlisted my sister to find me any witch related romance she could find at Barnes and Noble, and she returned with a book called Witch Please. At first the title turned me off immediately, but I decided to give it a try. It was entertaining, and I’m glad to have a bit of distraction these days, but overall this book wasn’t a hit for me. I loved the town and imagaintation behind the story, but all the characters felt one-dimensional to me. I felt like Witch Please bordered the line of Lord of The Rings level of unnecessary detail. I don’t need to know what a character eats for breakfast or what clothes she is wearing to feel immersed into a story! The dialogue was painfully unnatural, and I found it hard to care about the love interests, Danica and Titus, getting together. However, I do greatly appreciate the aspect of Titus being bisexual, I think that was a really awesome point in the story that I wish had been explored further. Overall, this book wasn’t for me. Sometimes it’s good to judge a book by its title.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
I have a longer review of this book on my blog here, but in short:
Mwah loved it, chef’s kiss! It was definitely a bit slow at times but I broke my ankle so I really have nothing else to do besides follow Addie and see what she gets up to over 300 years. Also, this book made me cry! It’s been a long time since I’ve cried reading (I think the last time was reading The House In The Cerulean Sea last summer) and it felt nice to be so emotionally invested in a story again.
Dune by Frank Herbert
I tried my best to read Dune, I truly did. After seeing the trailers for the movie with Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, AND Jason Momoa I knew I wanted to experience the story fully. I also knew that Dune was a dense tomb to get through, but I was determined nonetheless. I even made a character list in the beginning of my book in preparation! But alas, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get past page 100. I enjoyed the pages I did read, it just felt like I was holding myself back from reading books I actually enjoyed. The imagination in this book is insane and the writing itself was impressive. I only wish I had no responsibilities in life whatsoever so I could just sit down and dedicate myself to finish this book.
Sidenote: the movie was very good, but I wish Zendaya was in it more :( If I had more brain power I would write a blog post comparing the book and movie, but alas, I do not.
My October Reading Stats
Books Finished: 3
Pages Read: 1,125
Book images courtesy of GoodReads