I'm not entirely sure how it is already September, but I would really like for this year to just slow down a little. August was a busy month for me, which meant I struggled with blogging again and only had three posts in the whole month. However, I did do a bit better with my reading. I read a total of 7 books in August, 5 of which I read in the one week I had off work, and ended up hitting my Goodreads goal. I read a bit of a mix in August, so let's talk about them.
Other Words For Home by Jasmine Warga -
This is a middle grade novel that I picked up on audio when I was looking for something short to listen to. It follows a girl living in Syria who has to move, with her mother, to live with her Uncle and his family in the US. We follow her as she leaves her family and friend behind, and adjusts to her new life. This is written in verse, which I somehow didn't notice while listening to the audiobook. What I did notice, was how beautiful the writing was. This is a beautifully written book that touches on subjects like war, violence and Islamophobia in a way that is both eye-opening and easy for the younger reader to understand. I thought everything about this book was great, but the messages it teaches young people in such an easy to comprehend way were perfect.
Rating: 4/5
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo -
This is a non-fiction book discussing race, which basically does as the title suggests. It is primarily aimed at white people who want to have discussions regarding race but perhaps are not sure how to do so in a way that is not harmful. It answers questions many will be wondering but unsure how to ask, and not only answers those questions but the author also provides suggestions on how to further educate yourself. It covers a variety of different topics and issues facing Black people, predominantly focusing on the US. This is another incredibly well-written book. Ijeoma Oluo is an amazing writer, who not only answered the questions posed and provided a thorough education to those reading, but also made her heart, passion and fight into every part of this book. I gained so much from this. There were just a couple of areas I felt weren't touched on to the same extent as the rest, but I am doing further reading to educate myself more on those aspects.
Rating: 4/5
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer -
I finally finished my reread of the Twilight series! Breakign Dawn was my favourite in the series back in the day, so I was interested to see how I would feel about it now. This is such a beast of a book, I have no idea how I flew through it so quickly when I first read it. I did enjoy this book on reread, but I wasn't in love with it to the extent I used to be. All of the characters were annoying to me at some point throughout this book and I was picking up on the not-so-great writing a lot more. However, a large part of my enjoyment of this series is the nostalgia. As I was rereading, I was constantly taken back to when I first read this book and everything I felt at that time. Objectively, I know this wasn't a great book, and not something I would give 5 stars to now, but I loved reading it anyway. As with the rest of this series, I will not be changing my rating from my original rating, though it is not necessarily how I would rate it now.
Rating: 5/5
Believe In Me by Amy Sparling -
This was free on Kindle so I thought I would give it a go, not realising it was the start of a spin-off series to a series I had started by this author a few years ago. This is a YA contemporary following a girl who hasn't had the best life and has been moving about with her mother for years, never really having a home. When they move to a small town in Texas, her mother leaves her with a young, wealthy couple for a weekend, which ends up becoming longer. This couple happen to be the best friends of the couple from Amy Sparling's Summer Unplugged series, and this is a bit of an enemies to lovers romance between her and the son of the couple from the original series. This was a fun, quick read. It was a predictable story but the characters were nice and the romance was sweet. The writing definitely wasn't the best, it felt very juvenile and just not well developed. However, I enjoyed my time with these characters and found myself lost in their story.
Rating: 3/5
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa -
Everyone and their dog was reading and raving about this book towards the beginning of the year, so I finally decided it was time to pick it up. This is another enemies to lovers romance between a wedding planner and the brother of the ex-fiance who left her the morning of their wedding, blaming something his brother had said for his decision. However, several years later she has to work with the brother of her ex-fiance in order to land her dream job. This was so much fun! I love enemies to lovers and while I wasn't entirely sure why the brother was the bad guy and not the ex-fiance, I still really enjoyed that aspect of this story. I loved Max and thought he was just the most adorable hero ever. I really enjoyed the banter between the two and how the would push each other's buttons, but also let the other see their more vulnerable side. The chemistry between the two was so apparent and made their relationship so believable. I have seen some complaints about the steamy scenes in this book, but I thought they were very well-written and a lot of fun. I just had so much fun reading this book.
Rating: 4/5
Moment Of Truth by Kasie West -
Another Kasie West read for the year. This is her newest release and the third book in the Love, Life and the List companion series. This book follows the star swimmer, Hadley, who happens to be the best friend of Cooper's (from book one) sister. When one of Hadley's swim meets is disrupted by a someone dressed as Heath Hall, a film characters who appears in the second book in the series, she sets out to find out who is behind it. The premise itself didn't do anything for me, I wasn't really interested in that storyline, but I love Kasie West so picked it up. For the first half of the book, I was disappointed. I was bored, I didn't care about the mystery and Hadley was a bland character. However, my opinion totally changed in the second half. I really loved the romance in this book. The love interest was so freaking adorable, I just wanted to protect him at all costs. Hadley really grew into herself in the second half and I started to enjoy her character more. I thought the family aspects of the story were interesting and added another layer to the story. In terms of the Heath Hall mystery, I wasn't at all interested for the majority of the book, but I did really love the reveal and how they mystery wrapped up. What started off an a disappointing read turned into another enjoyable read from Kasie West.
Rating: 3.5/5
Beach Read by Emily Henry -
Another book everyone seems to be reading recently, and yet another enemies to lovers romance. This follows a romance author who moves to a beach house next door to college rival, a successful literary fiction author. The two decide to try to write each other's genres to beat writers' block. This is so much more than the bright, summery cover suggests. It is a lot of fun but it also deals with a lot of serious topics, in terms of both her present and his past. There are several different elements to this book, but all are done so well. I loved the romance so much. These characters have the best chemistry, great banter and just feel so comfortable around each other to me. They had their issues and conflicts, as all couples do, but all were resolved quickly and the communication between them was something I wish we would get more in romance novels. I also really loved the writing aspect. Writing in books is never something that has particularly stood out to me as something I enjoy, but I found the writing process and development of the novel really interesting. I think what really makes this book great is the writing. Emily Henry is one hell of a writer and I spent so much of my time while reading this marvelling at how beautifully she can write the more simple things. I now need to go and read everything she has ever written and hope she continues to write more amazing romance novels.
Rating: 4/5
Those were the 7 books I read in August. I read so many books in August that I wanted to give 5 stars to, but for some reason I just couldn't. It takes so much for me to give a book 5 stars, I don't know why I can't just rate all the books I love highly. Maybe I can give some 5 star ratings out in September.
What was the best book you read in August?
Sophie :)
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