Wrap Up | November 2018

I keep having the best intentions of getting back to blogging more regularly but life just keeps getting in the way. I am definitely struggling to manage the stress of my final year of university combined with the craziness that comes with the Christmas season. However, I am hoping that things will start to calm down at least a little bit in the next couple of weeks and I can feel a bit less like I'm drowning in to-do lists. Despite how crazy busy things have been, I still managed to read 5 books in November. I'm quite happy with that number, given the circumstances, but sadly most of the books I read were pretty average.

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich -

This was one of my most anticipated books of this year as I really love the musical the book tells the story of. I expected great things, but was ultimately disappointed. This book follows a boy with severe anxiety who ends up tangled in a lot of lies following the suicide of one of his classmates. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like this story translated very well to this format. As much as I love the show, the story itself without the music and the other entertainment factors added from the performance, the story fell flat. I found it quite boring and it ended up taking me a while to get through. I did have my expectations set too high but this turned out to be a pretty average read for me.

Rating: 3/5 | Review To Come

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han -

This was a reread as I wanted to refresh my memory of this story before continuing on with the series. This series follows a girl who spends every summer at a beach house with family friends including two brothers, one of whom she has has a crush on for as long as she can remember. I didn't love this book the first time around and my feelings were the same the second time around. I found the relationship drama was just to much and other aspects of the story, which should have had more focus, were pushed to the side.

Rating: 3/5 | Review

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han -

This is the second book in the Summer I Turned Pretty series and I felt pretty much the same about this book as the first. There was far too much unnecessary relationship drama that took away from some of the more important story lines. The characters really annoyed me throughout this book, Belly especially. To be honest, I don't really remember a whole lot about the plot so it clearly wasn't a very memorable story. It was another average read, I got through it quickly but I doubt I will ever pick it up again.

Rating: 3/5

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -

This was another reread and one that I didn't have any intentions of rereading until suddenly I was. This is the only book in the series I had only read once and when I saw the audiobook available through my library I decided now was the time to pick it up again. I wouldn't be reading the way I am now if it hadn't been for this series so it will always have a special place in my heart. I had a really great time rereading this and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time around.

Rating: 4/5

We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han -

The third and final book in the Summer I Turned Pretty series. If I hadn't been determined to finish this series I would most likely have given up on this one. These characters infuriated me so much with all of their incredibly stupid decisions and I wanted to throw my book out the window at times. I knew exactly how it was all going to play out, it was predictable and just not really an enjoyable read. Conrad was about the only thing I liked in this book to be honest.

Rating: 2/5

While I am happy with the number of books I managed to read during a very busy month, I am a bit disappointed that I didn't really love most of them. Here's hoping December is a better month in terms of quality.

Did you read any new favourite books in November?

Sophie :)