October Wrap Up, mini reviews and November TBR :)

October

October was quite a busy month and a really nice one, too. I visited my old rellies and went on a couple trips with my boyfriend, a weekend way camping at the Peak District and a week holiday in Barcelona! Not so shabby, if I do say so :).

Reading wise, I’ve done ok. I’ve read a few books I’ve really enjoyed, but didn’t quite hit the mark with the books I meant to read. Oh well, here’s how my reading went. I’ve also included mini reviews for the books I read, as I haven’t had the time to write full reviews for most of them!

Books I Read

 

Highly Illogical Behaviour by John Corey Whaley

I really enjoyed reading this book, but it didn’t have the impact I expected it to. I liked that the story was about a boy whose agoraphobic and the friends he makes out of Lisa and Clark when Lisa decides its her destiny to help him (which begins as her way into writing the best essay to get into college but becomes so much more). I liked the friendship between the three and generally found each character likeable and frequently funny. However, while this is definitely an enjoyable little read, it’s not one of those books that’s going to stick with me forever. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.  Three Stars.

 

Anything That Isn’t This by Chris Priestly

Read my review. I really, really liked this one! Four Stars.

Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven

After All The Bright Places, there was a lot of hype about this novel. I was very excited to read it myself and  really hoped that I would love it to pieces. Now, that didn’t quite come true. Don’t get me wrong, I tremendously enjoyed reading this book. I often couldn’t put it down because I was so enjoying being in Libby and Jack’s different worlds. I found each of their personal stories compelling, sad, rich and fascinating. Especially Jack’s big secret and how he deals with it every day. This isn’t a spoiler as we all know what happens in this books, so I’ll say that I did like the romance in the story and the relationship these two build together. It didn’t blow me away, but it was nice. I felt like this was a really good character driven story, but I also thought it was missing something in the plot. The overall story itself just didn’t impact me as much as I’d hoped it would. But, of course, it was certainly worth reading and I’m very glad I did. Three and a half stars. 

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I’ve been waiting a long time to finally read the sequel to The Shadow of the Wind,  or the third book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series but I’m so glad my boyfriend and I waited to read it in Barcelona where the story is set. It was so lovely to read it in that city, whether in little cafes over coffee or at tapas bars or in hammocks on a rooftop. Just wonderful. While I didn’t gush over this book as much as I did it’s prequel, mainly because this book felt largely like a filler as there’s another book coming that will tie everything together, the big finale, I really did enjoy reading it. It was just great to be in Daniel and Fermin’s lives again, and to learn more about the past and how everything fits together. This series altogether is without a doubt a 5 star series, but I’ll rate this one a little lower just because it’s not quite as brilliant as Shadow, but still worth every moment of reading it. Four Stars. 

 

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

I liked this book much more than I expected to. I thought the whole concept of a incurable TB spreading around the world and contagious kids being sent to sanitariums for the first chance of being given the cure (should there ever be one) really interesting and well thought out. So, concept and the complications that go alongside are great for a story. What made the book for me though was the characters. I liked the two protagonists Lane and Sadie (the chapters swap between their perspectives) a lot, and consequently I liked their relationship and also their friendship with three other main characters, Charlie, Nick and Marina. There’s a lot in this novel. Great friendship and romance, and it really delves into important discussions about loneliness, belonging, death and living. I’m saying all that in broad sense as I don’t want to give anything away. Sure, the novel is a little predictable, and the writing itself is nothing out-of-this-world, but it has a punch to it that I wasn’t expecting and I really think this a book worth reading for YA lovers. Three and a half stars.

 

Still Reading 

This is still proving to be a difficult and slow read for me, but I’m getting there… I’m determined to finish it in November!

 

Meant to Read

Still haven’t read this… I’m not sure if I will or not. I read the first couple pages and the writing and character of it just kind of annoyed me for some reason… Has anyone read it and thinks it’s a worthwhile read?

 

And that’s it for my October Wrap.

On to….

November

Here’s the four books I plan to read in November! (Not counting The Dice Man), plus a bonus book if I go well with these!

BONUS:

What do you think of my TBR? Have you read any of these? 🙂

Happy November everyone!