THIS IS HALLOWEEN! THIS IS HALLO– wait. No. Not yet.
How. Guys. How is it October already? I don’t get it! This year is going by in such a blur. And as for this month, it was a little better than August, though it’s been stressful and stuff, so here’s the things that happened:
What I Read
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas – I loved it. So much. I hate that we have to wait another year for the last book (also sad that there’s only one book left *sob*), but the story is definitely getting more intense and I’m really enjoying it. 4.75/5 stars Check out my review!
- The Goal by Elle Kennedy – I love this series a lot and this companion novel was really good! Lots of sexy times, lots of drama, but the characters were still awesome. 4/5 stars Check out my review!
Even though I didn’t “read” this book this month, I’m including it under this category because I did do a review of it. This was my first DNF review:
- Passenger by Alexandra Bracken – The story fell flat for me and I just couldn’t get into it. It felt very long winded and too descriptive, with insta-love. DNF at 54%. Check out my review.
Books I Started But Didn’t Finish
- A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir – I’m very excited to read this sequel because the first book was amazing!
Books I Got This Month
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
- A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
- The Goal by Elle Kennedy
Discussions I Held
- The Importance of Diversity – It’s so, SO important that ALL people, no matter their background, race, sexual identity, etc be represented in literature.
- My Currently Reading Shelf & Why It’s a Lie – I’m not really currently reading 36 books. That’s a lie.
Top Ten Tuesdays & Top 5 Wednesdays
- Top Ten Tuesday: All Time Favorite Fantasy Books – This is just a list of some of my favorite fantasy books. Of course, this will change all the time, but these are just a few.
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Fall TBR List – More like my list of SHAME.
Writing Related
- Beautiful People: September Edition – I talk a bit about my character, Nara, who’s a thief in the Rising City.
Fun Things
- Hobby Corner: September ANIME Edition – Anime’s been a part of my life since I was a kid, but I talk about my more recent favorites this month.
- I Am The Reader Tag – Inspired by a recent release, I loved the questions for this tag and just had to participate in it.
- Rayna Recommends: Diversity – Since diversity has been such a huge topic this month, I decided to recommend some of my recent favorites.
I read one book that is fantasy this month, so that makes 29 out of 30 fantasy books read for the year! Woo!
Life Updates
- My husband and I moved into my parents’ house at the beginning of the month for personal family reasons, so that’s been stressful. Luckily we’re all moved in and all of that, it was just a pain to pack and move as fast as possible before he had to start school this semester.
- I’m stressed out like crazy lately, but I’m still trying to keep calm through a lot of what’s been going on. Lots of scary things that happened with my mom and stuff, but she’s doing better now.
- I stopped my subscription for Uppercase this month because of the move and stuff, but I also want to resubscribe, now that I’ll be able to save more money… Hmm.
Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦
How was your September? Did you have to go back to school? How are you juggling stress and reading?
Reader Rayna 
I’m trying to find time for a torch against the night but I keep putting it by the wayside when something else comes out. I’m really excited for it but there are so many good books out at the moment
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It’s always such a struggle when you really want to read something, but you also really want to read XYZ, too.
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Just not enough time in the world
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Yay, I’m glad you enjoyed Empire of Storms as well! I didn’t quite give it five stars either, but 4.5 just because I honestly got kind of bored in the middle. I read passenger earlier this year and liked it, though I honestly don’t remember much. That was back before I started reviewing and I’ve become a lot more of critical reader since this spring. It’s too bad you didn’t enjoy it though. 😦 It seems like you had a pretty good month! I hope your mom is doing all right, too. I’ve been back at school for just over a month (I started August 30th) but it honestly feels like so much longer, which I don’t know if that’s good or bad…? It’s been hard to find time to read though, especially because I just always seem to fall into really bad slumps this time of year.
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Yeah, there was something that held back from a whole five stars for EoS with me, too. And that’s awesome that you’re becoming more critical! It takes time, but you’ll get used to it. I get those feels about finding time to read – I work full time, and my commute to and from work is 45 minutes each way, so I’m pretty tired by the end of it, haha!
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Oh I hope things get better for your family and your mother soon. *sends encouraging hugs* That sounds super stressful. 😦 But still YAY that you read some excellently good books! I’m with you on Passenger. Eerk. It was not good. I finished it but like it was such an effort to get through because it was so tedious! *winces*
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Thank you. Yeah, Passenger just didn’t do it for me.
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