Quarterly Wrap Up

Here's the next instalment of my quarterly wrap up (sorry it's a bit late) for the third quarter of the year, July to September.

This quarter I read 21 books which is the most so far this year. I think that's due to the school summer holidays that happened during this quarter. Here are my stats for this quarter.

Age Demographic

Middle Grade: 2

Young Adult: 7

Adult: 12

Genre

Fantasy: 14

Sci-Fi: 1

Contemporary: 2 

Mystery/Thriller: 1
Fairytale Retelling: 1
Graphic Novels: 2

Source

Physical ARC/Finished Copy from Publisher: 15

eARC from Publisher/NetGalley: 1

Bought in 2019: 2

Owned Prior to 2019: 1 

Library Book: 2

Star Rating

1 Star: 0

2 Star: 1

3 Star: 6

4 Star: 12

5 Star: 2

Top 3 Books of this Quarter

Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan 



Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff



Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan

I'm fairly pleased with my reading this quarter. I focused mainly on reading my review copies and I think I managed to do that well. The ratings were quite average but there were definitely some stand out reads. 

What has been your favourite read so far this year?

Review - All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

Published 29th October 2019 by Harper Teen 

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 43/50

I was gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

There’s no such thing as a secret.

SOMETHING happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. But Ava would rather keep that something hidden—buried deep in her heart and her soul.

She has her best friend Syd, and she has her tattoos—a colorful quilt, like a security blanket, over her whole body—and now, suddenly, she has Hailey. Beautiful, sweet Hailey, who seems to like Ava as much as she likes her. And Ava isn’t letting anything get in the way of finally, finally seeking peace. But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery—and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully-constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building. Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own—do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its shallow grave, and let it reopen old wounds—wounds that have finally begun to heal?

My Thoughts

This book was raw and emotional. It told a really powerful story based of the authors own experiences with rape and sexual assault, so trigger warnings for these things. This book does have it's own trigger warnings in the front too which is great as it doesn't rely on early readers and reviewers to make people aware of these. The main character tells her story and as you follow her we discover ways in which she copes with what has happened to her but also how she struggles with what has happened and how she's feeling. This book definitely promotes the importance of talking to people and asking for help however, it doesn't force this upon you. I think it was extremely well written and handled all of the topics very well. There was a bit of a mystery aspect to this plot as well that ran alongside the main characters day to day life and I think this was an interesting way to depict the characters thoughts and feelings about how she's coping in her everyday life. There's also LGBTQIA+ rep in this book, our main character ends up in a f/f romance and again this didn't feel forced or included on purpose. It complimented the story well. 

Overall I enjoyed this story when I read it and it definitely covered some really important topics extremely well. It was a raw and powerful read, full of emotion and I think it was very well written and handled all of the topics well. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars was because I found the story itself, although extremely important, didn't fully immerse me. 

Overall Rating 

Review - Invisible in a Bright Light by Sally Gardner

Invisible in a Bright Light by Sally Gardner

Published 17th October by Head of Zeus

Star Rating - ***

Goodreads Challenge - 54/50

I was gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

From I, Coriander to Invisible in a Bright Light, Sally Gardner's first middle grade novel in 14 years soars with the imagination of a master story-teller. A pitch-perfect story about a crystal chandelier that splinters into a thousand pieces, a girl abandoned as a baby on the steps of an opera house and a dangerous game called the Reckoning.

It is 1870: opening night at the Royal Opera House in a freezing city by the sea, where a huge, crystal chandelier in the shape of a galleon sparkles magically with the light of 750 candles.

Celeste, a theatre rat, wakes up in a costume basket from what she hopes is a bad dream, to find that everyone at the theatre where she works thinks she is someone else.

When the chandelier falls, she is haunted by a strange girl who claims to know Celeste's past and why she must risk playing a game called the Reckoning to try to save the people she loves.

My Thoughts

When I received this in the post I read the synopsis and was instantly excited to read it. I loved the sound of the plot and I do enjoy a magical middle grade story which I hoped this was. Unfortunately I think this was a little bit of the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I picked this one up right after finishing Godsgrave as I thought I wanted something completely different but I was still in a bit of a book hangover when I read this one.

By no means was this a bad book. The plot was interesting, although I did find myself a little bit lost at the beginning, and had some fun magical elements to it. The writing was great too. It had a really whimsical and childlike feel to it which I think fit really well with the story.

The characters were fun too, our main character was strong and knew her own mind. The 'villain' character was interesting and just the right amount of mean for a middle grade book. There were also some great themes of friendship and supporting others running throughout this book.

Overall, as I said, it wasn't a bad book however, I did find myself struggling at times but I think that's due to the fact that I was in a little bit of a book hangover. I can really see this being enjoyed by many children and adults alike.

Overall Rating

Review - The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

Published 1st October 2019 by Hot Key Books

Star Rating - ***.5

Goodreads Challenge - 50/50

I was kindly gifted an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Aster, the protector
Violet, the favorite
Tansy, the medic
Mallow, the fighter
Clementine, the catalyst

THE GOOD LUCK GIRLS

The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls--they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.

When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta's most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It's going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

My Thoughts

I was really excited about this one, I'd seen quite a bit of hype around this book and the synopsis was really intriguing to me however, unfortunately I think my expectations were a little bit too high and I was a little bit disappointed overall. 

As I said the synopsis sounded super intriguing and I did enjoy the overall plot in the end. There is a big focus throughout this book on fighting back against societal expectations and I really liked that about this story. The themes in this book are really important however, I think the execution let it down a little bit. The writing style was okay, it was descriptive and reasonably paced but the plot was quite predictable in places. There were things that happened in the plot that seemed very coincidental and seemed like they were only there to move the plot along. I also felt the ending was quite rushed. There was a big build up and our main characters were travelling on a long journey that lasted the majority of the book and then all of a sudden everything was wrapped up in a few pages. 

I did enjoy the characters though. Each of our cast of characters brought something different to the story and I really liked that about them. I particularly liked Aster, who I would say is our main character. She's described in the synopsis as the protector and I completely agree with that statement. She's strong and determined and strives to keep everyone safe. I loved the development of her character alongside Zee as he challenges her view on men and she learns to trust him. As I said the other characters all brought something individual to the story too however, none of them were as strong as Aster. 

Overall I enjoyed the story and I really liked the characters but the predictable nature of the plot and the rushed ending left this one feeling a bit lacklustre for me. 

Trigger Warnings - sexual assault and sex trafficking

Overall Rating (3.5*)