October Wrap Up (2021)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

It's the end of October! Where's the month gone?

I have no idea. 

I've read a few spooky reads this month, completely by accident. 

Here's what I've read this month. 

Enjoy! 

1. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 

A book ahead of it's time is the thought that springs to mind. Aside from that, I can name the number of books on one hand, that chooses to tell a story as serious as this one, from the POV of a young girl. Also, I'll never get tired of reading about a young girl in an earlier time period that is something other than what their time period expects. Scout is an intelligent, outspoken, curious young girl who is just trying to make sense of the world around her. She shows the perfect POV, not quite understanding exactly what she's seeing, and her innocence as she tries to navigate the adult world of racial injustice and prejudice is quite powerful to see. So happy I finally read this. 

2. Carrie, by Stephen King

For all my in-depth thoughts on this, my review is attatched to the title. But to sum this up, you honestly wouldn't think this was King's debut. I'm not going to lie, having read some of King's more recent works, you can tell the difference in how he's grown as a storyteller, but Carrie is still an absolute groundstopper of a story. All in all, easily remembered characters, a simple premise: a bullied girl that's tipped over the edge and wrecks havoc on the entire town, and a wonderfully crafted novel. I soared through this and am eager to pick up more of King's earlier works. 

3. The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1), by Rick Riordan 

Hilarious. 

This story was hilarious. 

I genuinely didn't expect Apollo to be this arrogant. 

Of course I loved it. I was actually disappointed that I had to read two Magnus Chase books before I came back to this series. The other thing I loved was the fact that Apollo was made into a regular teenager, with acne and no six-pack. 

Oh, and the characters and plot. 

And the writing. 

So basically everything. 

4. The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase #1), by Rick Riordan 

After reading the Trials of Apollo, I was pretty bummed out that I had to start a completely different series straight after. Maybe that's why I felt that it dragged so much, especially as I knew that I would have to read the second book in the series before going back to Apollo. But, although it took me longer to read through than I would have liked, I found that I slowly warmed to the characters and grew to love them, (perhaps even more than the Apollo characters).

5. Paper Girls Vol. 1 (Paper Girls #1), by Brian K. Vaughan 

So, I deviated from the list of Rick Riordan books. Paper Girls is a graphic novel series and it was just what I needed to get out of the potential slump I was headed for. 

Honestly, I'm not madly in love with this series like I was with Saga, but I reckon this series could change my mind. I've already ordered the second novel and I'm thinking it'll be a good series to read as I work my way through the Trials of Apollo and Magnus Chase series this month. Long story short, Paper Girls is about a group of 12 year old girls that run the paper round, and stumble upon something out of this world on November 1st. I can already tell, the first volume has only scratched the surface. I'm excited, and I have no idea what I'm about to read. 

6. Salem's Lot, by Stephen King 

There's so much to this iconic book that I could only hope to give a summary about what level of amazing this novel is. Salem's Lot is the first vampire book I've read that's purely horror genre, and I'm pleased to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My partner Jordan convinced me to download the audiobook on Audible about a month ago, to read when I get around to it. After finishing the first Paper Girls graphic novel, I didn't have anything else left to read, except for this. So I thought, "Why not?" And started listening. And of course, I was extremely surprised at how quickly I was pulled into the story. 

Review on this later. 

Okay! That's my October Wrap Up (2021)! I hope you enjoyed it, and I want to know what you guys have read this month, so be sure to let me know in the comments! 

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

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

The Halloween Book Tag

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with another Halloween Book Tag! 

(Actually The Halloween Book Tag.) 

I love Halloween. All the sweets/ chocolate, and just the atmosphere. 

(You can probably tell I haven't trick or treated in a number of years.) 

But I still enjoy doing these tags, and I hope you enjoy this too. 

~Favourite scary (must read) for Halloween?~

Although I won't be reading it this year (I have more books than usual), Sweetly was the first scary book I read and it still holds a special place in my heart, especially when October rolls around. Sweetly is basically a Hansel and Gretel retelling, but with some new themes thrown in. Two siblings used to be three, but one disappeared in the woods when they were children. A wonderful chocolatier, a sneaky deal with a werewolf, and some action with a gun. Even today, that sounds pretty exciting to me. 

~Scariest book cover, like ever~

I don't tend to choose the books I read for the scariness of the covers, but this one sends a shiver down my spine. Just the red balloon, the quote and the figure emerging from the darkness gives me the heebie-jeebies (not to mention, after reading the book, you can hear Pennywise's creepy voice saying the words himself). 

~If you could go trick-or-treating with any author, who would you pick?~

She seems awesome, her books are amazing, and I reckon she'd have some tricks up her sleeve to get a ton of sweets and chocolate. Why wouldn't I chose V.E. Schwab? Also, I really really would like to meet her. 

~If you could dress up as any bookish character for Halloween, who would it be?~

My answer will always be the same for this. Tall, athletic and blonde, an absolute legend of a character, Tanith Low from the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I just wish it wasn't so cold in October, so it's unlikely I'll ever go trick-or-treating dressed as her, but I'm all for dressing up as her for a Halloween party. (Maybe minus the knife though.) 

~If you could find anything (from any book) in your trick-or-treat stash, what would you hope to find?~

An obvious one is the time turner, so of course I'll go with that.

Of course, not to change the past, because "terrible things happen to wizards that meddle with time", but just to learn and see some of the greatest moments in history. And to read more, of course. 

~In what fictional world would you like to go trick-or-treating?~

Just let me have all that wonderful pumpkin flavoured goodness that I read about in this book! 

There are so many food stops, I think I'd have to go back a couple of days in a row to consume all of it. Here are some examples, to name a few: 

1. Chilli fries stand

2. Fudge shoppe

3. S'Mores pit

4. Pie palace and that's not even half of them! (I'm feeling hungry just thinking about them.)

~What book villain would you not like to meet alone in a dark alley on Halloween?~

Kaz. 

Despite being the protagonist and an actual good guy in this story, he's still a criminal mastermind. Being young and strong, I have no doubt that he'd slit my neck without a second thought if I were to meet him in a dark alley on Halloween. 

~Would you rather dress up as a vampire, zombie, werewolf, or shadowhunter?~

Shadowhunters. 

I just want to look awesome and badass like them.

~Pick a candy (just one) from Harry Potter that you would love to find in your stash?~

After much consideration, I'll go with the fizzing wizzbees! They're not mentioned a whole lot in the book but I've always been fascinated about what it is in these sweets that makes you fly.

~What is your favourie Halloween sweet?~

Honestly, I don't really have a favourite. My favourite part of trick-or-treating was going through my brother's stash, and him mine, so he could have my sweets, and I could have his chocolate. I was just out for of the chocolate on Halloween. 

Okay! That's the Halloween Book Tag! As always, I'm not going to tag anyone, because you should all be free to do it. 

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

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxx

Birthday Book Haul!

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm here with a book haul. I obtained these books over the month of September and my week in Bristol and over that time I got a fair few books, which I would like to share with you! 

Without further ado, enjoy! 

1. Magnus Chase trilogy, by Rick Riordan 

Consists of: -The Sword of Summer 

-The Hammer of Thor

-The Ship of the Dead

I'm currently reading book one at the moment, and actually really enjoying it, despite this being the third Rick Riordan series I've started where the protagonist starts off completely oblivious to their parentage. Nothing against that start, I'm happy enough because it's Norse mythology as opposed to Greek, I've just read a lot of these kind of beginnings. 

It's actually more exciting to know nothing about anything to do with Norse mythology, (like I'm familiar with the Greek Gods names, likes Ares, Artemis and Apollo, but I have no idea what kind of characteristics to expect from the offspring of the Norse Gods). 

Looking forward to seeing what I think about this new series. 

2. Trials of Apollo series, by Rick Riordan 

Consists of: -The Hidden Oracle

-The Dark Prophecy 

-The Burning Maze

-The Tyrant's Tomb

-The Tower of Nero

Finished the first book a couple of days ago and I'm eager to continue on with the series. I imagine I've only scraped the surface with what's to come with this series, being five books and all, but I'm hoping that the second book is as well received as book 1 has been. (If you didn't know, this series is about the god Apollo being turned completely human and having to go on quests and complete missions in order to earn back his godliness status- the egotistical comments have me biting my lip to keep from laughing too much.) 

3. Endgame (Noughts and Crosses #6), by Malorie Blackman 

Endgame is the sixth and final book in the Noughts and Crosses series, my absolute favourite-of-all-time series that will never be replaced. Honestly, I had no clue that this would be out as soon as it was, and I was elated to see it casually sitting in Waterstones one day. Although I desperately want to jump straight into this (no doubt fantastic story), as it's the final book in the series, I think I'll re-read the earlier books before I start this. And I'm not going to do that until I read the series above, so Endgame might be on this list for a while. 

4. Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar 

Honestly, one of the reasons I picked this up because it was on the BOGOHP shelf in Waterstones a few weeks back. Of course, that's not the main reason I picked it up. I remember loving The Henna Wars by the same author last year, and I knew it would be the perfect book to pick up, if I needed a light, well-written romance. 

I really want to get to this soon so hopefully it won't be stuck collecting dust in my pile of unread books in January. 

5. One Last Stop, by Casey McQuiston 

Casey McQuiston grabbed everyone's attention with her debut novel, Red White and Royal Blue. This book won a couple of Goodreads Awards too. That book didn't really appeal to me for some reason, but this one did. Upon seeing it in a bookshop, I inclined to pick it up. 

I don't even know much about this, other than it's an LGBT romance about a girl stuck in a time loop, on a train and another girl wanting to help. Honestly I don't need to know anything else to know that this is a book I need to read, soon. 

6. Paper Girls, Vol. 1, by Brian Vaughan 

I always said to myself, when I was reading all of the Rick Riordan series' this year, that the Paper Girls graphic novel series was going to be the next series I would pick up afterwards. And now I've got the first volume to get me started! 

All I know about this series is that it's about a group of girls, tough girls, that have a newspaper, but stumble upon "the most important story of all time." 

On halloween. 

Halloween. 

Personally, I think it's something supernatural. In which case, these couple of months is the perfect time to pick this up. 

I'm excited if you can't tell. 

Okay! Those are all the books that I've bought recently! 

I'm currently 11 books away from completing my Goodreads goal, and most of these books will be part of that list this year, without a doubt. 

I guess I'm kind of done buying books this year... 

Which is... fine. 

Kind of. 

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

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx