Well, it's now Christmas time, and it's only now getting to be under 70 degrees. That seems bad. Other than impending weather issues, the month of October was fine. Nothing super crazy happened. It's been more of the usual with a few smaller things thrown in. I'm still behind on all household chores, though, that's a given. I don't know if I'll ever catch up on that stuff. I think I need to just bite the bullet and hire a cleaner every other month or something. It'd be worth it at this point. I hate scrubbing.
In this wrap-up,
I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received,
and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!
Books Read in October
I read nine books in October. Honestly, October has probably been my favorite reading month, mentally. I've wanted to read all of the things these last two weeks. If only I didn't have to work... I could have gotten so much off of my TBR. Of the nine books I read, five were ebooks: The Reckoning of Starlight by Samantha Amstutz, Roguefinder by Amy Pennza, The Drakon King by Terry J. Benton-Walker, The Witch Queen of Halloween by Kresley Cole, and Bright Dead Things by Hailey Turner. All were Kindle Unlimited/Plus copies, except for two. The Drakon King was a NetGalley ARC, while The Witch Queen of Halloween was an ebook I purchased back when it first released and just never read. I thought it'd be an appropriate and festive time to read it now. I somehow only read four physical books. I'm in the middle of four other physical books, so I think that's why it felt like way more at the time. I just didn't finish them before the end of the month. The ones I did finish included Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe, The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig, The Midnight Arrow by Zoey Draven, and Kings of Lockdown by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti.
Books Bought/Received in October
October actually wasn't terrible for purchasing books. There were a couple of special edition sets that made things bad and a few single FairyLoot editions that didn't help my wallet, but, honestly, it was the real-life bills that hit hard this month. With the holidays coming up, it's not looking great for my money. Sigh. I ended up purchasing 23 books (maybe 25, but I'll get into that in a bit) and receiving 13 in October.
The 13 books I received mostly consisted of the preordered books that all decided to arrive in October along with a couple of free ebooks. The ebooks included a NetGalley ARC of Ashes of the Fallen by Olivia Rose Darling, a free copy of The Widow and the Orcs by Finley Fenn, and The Heart of Nhaga by Lee Young-Do that I got with my store credit. I also had one book that was free with trade credit from my local used bookstore. That was 1984 by George Orwell. All the rest were preorders. The other orders that arrived included The Shadows that Listen FairyLoot edition, The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy Illumicrate and FairyLoot editions, the Shadows and Starlight and Beyond the Veil luxe editions, The Sweetest Fiend and Prince of Swords FairyLoot editions, The Wretched Divine UK edition, and A Masterpiece in Blood hardcover.
Now, for what I bought in October. Of the 23 books I bought, 12 arrived in October. Those included: the Tempest FairyLoot edition, the Dark Fae paperback, four replacement Blood & Ash books, Mooncursed by Holly Renee, The Book of Azrael UK hardcover, Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer UK edition (accidentally ordered two copies), Bloodbound by J.A. Good, and one other book. Now, I said maybe 25 earlier because I did order some older Gena Showalter books on Mercari. However, I won't be keeping all of them. I just need to decide which to sell.
As for the remaining 11 books, those were preorders and my FairyLoot Romantasy sub box. The preorders include the For Ever More , The All Souls trilogy, Defy the Dusk, Cursed City, The Ascended, and Souls in Blood FairyLoot editions, along with the J. Bree Broken Ties PR edition and the next two Blood & Ash books from Ink Pages.
October had a few fun entertainment things throughout the month. As is normal at this point, I'm still watching The Middle TV show. I didn't realize there are nine seasons. I'm only on season five. Yikes. I've got a long way to go if my normal routine is to watch a few episodes a week. I'll be watching it until 2028 at this rate. I also rewatched Casper, Casper Meets Wendy, and The Addams Family to get in the Halloween mood. I saw a local production of Dracula as well. That made me remember the entire book from when I read it in college. I didn't realize I'd forgotten so much, like Lucy and her three suitors. But, the play brought the whole experience back. And the final movie I watched was Knives Out 3 Wake Up Dead Men, which wasn't as good as the first two films.
November TBR
This month's TBR shouldn't be too stressful. I really just need to read Lightning & Thunder by Sara Raash, as it's a NetGalley book I have to review by the end of December. I also have NetGalley copies of Deathsworn by Meg Smitherman and Ashes of the Fallen by Olivia Rose Darling, but I'm not too worried just yet about getting to those. They're 2027 releases. I am still behind on two other NetGalley ARCs as well: A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast. I'm not pressuring myself to read those just yet. I might try those again in 2027 when I don't feel like the self-inflicted and imaginary end-of-the-year pressure/deadline is looming over me. Other books I'm in the middle of include Kings of Anarchy by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raash, and Twisted Iron Marks by Hailey Turner.
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Okay, well, that's the month of October, plus some November sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!




















