September Wrap Up (2022)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm done with feeling like a failure when it comes to posting on here. I'm an unpologetically shitty writer when it comes to this and I'm just going to own it. 

Here's my wrap up for last month. I read a fair few books this month. 

1. The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1), by Richard Osman 

I re-read this is preparation for The Man Who Died Twice and even though I only rated it three stars the first time around, I remember enjoying it, I remember it being a strong read, and truth be told, I had high hopes that re-reading it would give me enough inclination to rate it higher this time around. Unfortunately, I had exactly the same experience. This was a decent read, but it wasn't really any more than that. It took me like a week and a half to get through it, and I just wasn't motivated to pick it up. Yes, the premise is original, and it's entertaining, and going into it, I was excited to revisit this world. I more or less ended in a slump that I had to fight my way out of. 

2. Life is Strange Vol. 4: Partners in Time: Tracks (Life is Strange #4), by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, Andrea Izzo 

My birthday present! Bloody awesome, my favourite one yet. Two seperate realities, each of them leaving me wanting more when I jumped to the other one. It's so easy for these number volumes to just feel like fillers, when you've gone so far from the start, and you're a few volumes from the end. This felt nothing like that. It felt like now we've established the plot, where the direction of the story's going, that these Emma and the illustrators just let rip upon us. I have no idea where this is going to end but I know what I'm hoping for. 

3. Off the Record, by Camryn Garrett 

I put this on one of my Anticipated Releases post a couple of years ago and it's one of the few that I've been meaning to order since. Stumbled across it in Waterstones Picadilly and the rest is history. Flew through it, absolutely loved it, as I kind of always knew I would. 

How do I start? This has such an important theme to it? Doesn't have enough weight to it to really put across what I want to say about this book. 

Review will definitely be coming soon. 

I don't even think I've fully grasped the severity of situations like this, even though I've read this. 

Just, read this guys. It'll change your world. 

4. The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club #2), by Richard Osman 

I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I did. Did unfortunately have the same problem as the first one, was forced to download the audiobook, so I could feel like I was actually making progress, but I found that I actually started enjoying this more because of that. 

Our adventurous eighty-year-olds are up against the clock on this one, so there's a chase to the finish: find the diamonds, as a favour to Elizabeth's old friend, before the killer! You actually see Elizabeth sweat a little, something I never thought I'd read about. 

I'm very much hoping that this series will continue to get better and better, rather than having it peak here. 

Who knows? I guess we'll see. 

5. Illegal, by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano 

Stumbled across this masterpiece in a literal comic book store for just a few quid. Simple but moving tale about a young boy, Ebo, trying to make the journey from Africa to Europe, to meet up with his brother and sister. Every time I think about it, I want to pick it up and re-read it again. 

What I loved most about this book was the hope. Ebo never gave up on the idea of that better life, in Europe, with his brother and sister, even when the situation was desperate. I hope to be like that when I grow up. Never giving up, never losing face of what's important. 

6. Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild

I found this in Daunt books in London, when I was travelling round searching bookshops (certainly making my mark for this trip) when I saw this poking out of the children's secret. Ballet Shoes was one of my favourite classics to re-read when I was a child and it wasn't long before I'd read the first chapter and gotten sucked in. 

Saying that, I'm sure I wasn't the only child that read and loved this; it is considered timeless after all. 

I'm sure I'm not the only child that pictured themselves being best friends with these girls, or even being them, like they say at the end of the book "I wonder- if other girls had to be one of us, which of us they'd chose to be?" 

Okay! Those are all the books I read in the month of September! I'm surprised and extremely happy by how many I actually managed to finish, despite being in London. 

Let me know in the comments what you guys read in September, and we can chat about them! 

I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx