Hi, welcome back to my channel. My name is Kat and today I'm doing my October wrap up
part two. And it's gonna be a long one so get your Goodreads open, get a pen, pencil, however you
write down books that you want to read. Because in the month of October, we all know there's 31 days
and I "read" 32 books (1 DNF) so I read 31 books and DNFd one book. That's a sh*t ton of books
if we're just being completely honest here. So today I'm going to talk about 19 books. The rest
of the books are in my October wrap up part 1, which I will leave down below. Without further
ado, because it's going to be a long one, let's go ahead and get into it. So first up is the
DNF. This is Half Bad by Sally Green. This was a witch/wizard book that I was going to pick up
during the month. I started it and then I realized the world is split into black and white witches
and very soon the author started to use phrases like "the blacks were being rounded up"
and I was like this is icky I don't want to read anymore. So I'm going to donate this and that's
all I'm going to say about that. All right, next up is The Hole which is a South Korean translation.
I actually was listening to this on audio while we do our daily walks
and that is the only reason I finished it. This was SO boring. We are following a man who is paralyzed
after a car accident where his wife is killed and we follow him when he moves from the hospital
to his home where his mother-in-law is taking care of him. And I really just don't recommend
this. I thought it was going to be thrilling but I was not thrilled AT ALL. Next up is a book
that I am definitely in the minority for. So this is The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham
Jones. I gave this 2.5 stars. We're following a group of men who
10 years ago were hunting in a part of the land that they weren't supposed to and 10 years later
the spirit of one of the elk that was shot and killed comes back for revenge on these men. So
very intriguing and the idea... So it sounds very intriguing, right? However, the problem that I had
was with the writing style and the pacing. So for me, some parts were so
drawn out that I wanted to DNF. Before 33%, I felt like nothing was happening. We weren't
getting to any of the action and I was gonna DNF it. The only reason I didn't is because everyone
has been loving this book so much and I wanted to see if I would love it if I just kept going on.
And the other thing is the writing style. So something about Stephen Graham Jones'
writing style just doesn't work for me. I think it's because he's a loopback
writer, which is like he'll say something and then he'll loop back into back previous
memories if that makes sense. So you don't ever get to just go like straight through
the narrative. It's more of a storytelling oral tradition format which, while that is great
objectively, great that stories like that exists, that is really not my preferred
writing style to read. In fact, it's one of my least favorite. So for those two reasons, it was
not for me. It's not my cup of tea. However, those are totally subjective reasons so if you like that
go for it. Next up I have a three star. So this is a book of old-fashioned superstitions, Black
Cats and Evil Eyes by Chloe Rhodes. So these are just short little (I guess you'd say) essays about
different superstitions. They're about a page or two pages long. It was interesting to read at bed,
to hear about some of the superstitions throughout history. However, it's not super
memorable. The writing style was a bit dry. I'll be donating it, I think, because
I never could see myself rereading this. Another 3 star is Mexican Gothic. So this one, I
buddy read with Tal. I will leave her links down below. This is by Silvia Morena Garcia
and I read this for Fortnight Frights. This is following Noemi who goes to an isolated mansion
to see how her cousin is after she receives a very disturbing letter. And the inhabitants act very
strangely and her cousin seems to be mentally ill and also sometimes physically ill and she's trying
to get to the bottom of what's really happening. Now, I liked the idea of this a lot and I would
say that the first third was a little slow, the middle third was my favorite, and then the end
completely brought it down for me because there were a lot of inconsistencies, conveniences,
and like "sure Jan..." kind of moments where I was like "yeah that makes total sense (not at all)."
I don't know how it could have been better, but I feel like I didn't get exactly what I wanted.
But I also did not hate reading it, if that makes sense? So for me, this was completely like middle
of the road which is 3 stars. Okay, the next four books are all in a series by Ruby Dixon.
So, Ruby Dixon is very famous because she has the ice planet barbarian series which is blue alien
erotica and romance. That's not what this is, though. But it's also alien romance. So I buddy read a book
with my sister, which actually ended up being a 4 star so you'll see it later on in this list.
But then I was addicted/I have insomnia. So then after I finished that book, I was like
I'll just read the series chronologically. So the first four in the series are very short,
they're novellas. So I read all four through one night. So we have The Alien's Mail-Order Bride,
Pretty Human, When She's Ready, and When She's Married. And I gave all of these 3.5 stars.
I really do recommend them if you like maybe alien romance. Ruby Dixon is the queen
(I think) of alien romance. Next up is another 3.5 star. This is Baptized by Blood by S.K.
Lamport and this was very kindly sent to me by the author for a review.
This was very interesting to me because we're following two different points of view. One
is a priest and one is a gore-loving vampire. His [the priest's] secret girlfriend (because you know priest) is
kidnapped from the club that she works at by this vampire. The priest is determined to track down
why she went missing and basically find her. The blurb got my attention because I thought it was
kind of an m/m romance. However, I would say it is *definitely not* that. Think of it more as like a
vampire revenge thriller and that would be accurate. So that's that. And the last
3.5 star is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I've been
meaning to read this forever. I just never have. Fun fact, this is super short. It's only 53 pages, which
I didn't know. This is also completely different than I thought. Most of it is not even focused on
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at all. It's actually following a lawyer who is controlling the
will of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. As [Then] he sets out to find out what happened to his friend Dr Jekyll.
So it was much different than I thought, but I really love the writing style. I love the turns of
phrase in here. Really good. So I think I will be reading more Robert Louis Stevenson in the future.
I have tried [to read RLS] before, I think, and put it down. But that's mostly because I don't like like boys'
journey books. So if you have any recommendations, let me know. Okay, I am starting to sweat. It is
hot in Australia. And now we are into the 4 stars. So these are all high recommendations.
The first one I'm going to talk about is the one that I said I read with my sister that made me read
all the other alien ones. This is When She Dances by Ruby Dixon. This is about a human woman who
was basically sold at this space station where she becomes a dancer in a
basically brothel but she bruises too easily so she is just a dancer. And she usually dances
in the front window and she has always watched this man who has a lot of himself in metal. So she
doesn't know his name, but then one day when she is put up for auction, he decides to buy her. And
his name is Zakoar of the Broken Back and he is a cyborg who deals in black market prosthetics. In
the beginning, he's like "okay I'm just going to buy her and get her out of my system and then I will
release her at this refugee planet and then she can you know live out her days farming."
And those are the intentions at the beginning. Will he ever get her out of his system?
Who knows? I thought this was really good and I gave it 4 stars. The next 4 star I want
to talk about is "Flowers of Evil" by Charles Baudelaire. So this is a French to English
translation and it was written so long ago you could actually read it for free on Gutenberg.
So I read the ones that were spooky because I was reading this for Fortnight Frights and he is just a
ball of fun, Baudelaire is. I had a great time reading. He is saucy and sassy and irreverent and has
very dark humor and very dark metaphors too, like comparing your love to maggots feasting
on a corpse. You know just devils and hell and blood and death and decay and just revenge...
like so many things. I absolutely loved reading him and I think it's very interesting that at his time,
he was controversial. Because I would argue a lot of his poems are still controversial
like now. So he's an everlasting controversial poet.. con-tro-ver-sial poet
and I highly recommend him. So the next book that I gave 4 stars is What Lies Between Us
by John Marrs. This was the other audiobook that I listened to in October for our daily walks.
If you don't know, my audiobooks are voted on by you on my Instagram. So if you want
to choose what I listen to during the month, then please do follow me on Instagram and you can vote.
Okay so we're following two main characters. There is Nina and Maggie. Maggie is the mother,
Nina is the daughter. And the book opens and you realize that Nina is trapping her mother Maggie
in the house and she's been doing it for years. And slowly over the novel, through the two perspectives,
you find out why and what has been happening and who is really shielding and helping and protecting
the other and why. Lots of twists and turns in this one and it was a great read for an audiobook. So I
gave it 4 stars. Another 4 star was The Girl from the Other Side, Vol 5 by Nagabe, who is a
Japanese writer and illustrator. Of course, this is Vol 5 so I'm not going to spoil anything.
I will talk about Vol 1. This is following a world where there is inside and outside. Inside are
humans inside a walled city. Outside are humans that have been cursed and turned into monsters
and they pass the curse by touching you. So one day, a young girl is abandoned in the outside
and a monster takes care of her and the only rule is no touching at all because the monster
doesn't want to curse the little girl. It's so good. Vol 5 is just as strong as
the previous ones. It is so creepy and dark and the illustration style is just amazing while also
being so tender and heartbreaking and like soft. It's the perfect for me combination. So
if that sounds at all like something you'd like, I highly recommend it. And the last 4 star I want
to talk about I recently just finished. This is Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark. So we are set in a
world where ku klux klan members are actual haints (which are unsettled spirits) and then they can
kind of morph into monsters. And we're following three main women who hunt these monsters down
while also running bootleg alcohol. So I read this with Avey. I will leave her links down below. And we
had a fab time with it. I really think that this was so strong and I learned so many new things
like shouts and haint blue and that The Birth of a Nation is the worst movie ever. And I mean,
I knew that before, but this book made me despise it even more. So I really enjoyed reading this and
Avey has told me that I need to go back and read... I think it's Black God's Drums or something like
that. I'll put it here. And then I know that he has another one coming out soon which is something djinn
next year. Can't wait. So I have two 4.5 star books to talk about and they are in a
series. This is Storm & Fury and Rage & Ruin by Jennifer L Armentrout. I stayed up all night one
night. I read the first one and it was 2 a.m and then I was like "I think I need the second one" so
then I stayed up till I think five or six in the morning. I went to bed when my husband was waking
up. So I have a problem. Storm & Fury is following 18-year-old Trinity who is going blind and it's
very interesting because also Armentrout has a degenerative eye disease as well so the
rep there was great. And she can see ghosts and spirits and her gift is very dangerous
and everyone has been keeping her a secret and she has body guards that are gargoyle shapeshifters.
And that is kind of all I'm going to say about that. This was excellent. I really enjoyed it.
I really liked the rep so so much and it's made me want to read like everything Armentrout has ever
written. If she's not your jam, then never mind, but I love her so so much. And the last book I want to
talk about for this wrap up is Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, which I gave 5 stars. This hurt me
so bad. I cried so hard ~ugh~ So this is following Yadriel who is a brujo
and he wants to prove to his family that he can be just as good as any other brujo because he is a
trans boy. Family tradition kind of states that you have to be a boy originally so people don't think
that he can be a real brujo. But he knows better because his best friend has forged him
a knife and he does this ceremony to call forth a ghost and the goddess of death has
blessed him so he knows that he is a real brujo. However, to complete the ceremony he has to
settle the ghost's affairs and then pass them peacefully over to the other side. And the ghost
that he summons is supposed to be his cousin who was recently murdered. However, who he actually
summons is Julian Diaz, the "bad boy" from school. There are so many amazing aspects to this book.
I think this is one of the strongest YA books I have read in such a long time. So my husband speaks
Spanish and I don't and there were certain scenes at the end where Julian is speaking Spanish and
I just turned to my husband and I'm like "what does this mean?" and he's like "oh it means this"
and then I was just crying so much harder. And my husband was like "it's okay honey" and
I'm like "don't touch me, you're gonna make me cry even harder, like let me just cry in peace!" So like
oh my god it was so so amazing. If you haven't read this book, what are you doing with your life?
It is so good. I highly recommend it. 5 glorious stars to this well deserving book. And I will
read the next book Aiden Thomas has out, which I think is a Peter Pan retelling if I'm not wrong. Or
a Little Red Riding Hood? It's something about the woods, but I think her name is Wendy? We shall see...
Okay, that finishes up my wrap up for the second half of October. Let me know what you
read. What did you love? And without further ado, I'm gonna say bye for now. It is hot,
so hot. So I'm gonna go have some ice water and cool down. I hope you are having a fab day. Bye~