September Reviews, Part 1

I’ve finished my first 5 book reviews for September. Let’s dive into the details.

Statistics

Age Category: 1 YA, 4 A

I’d like to say this was fully what I was in the mood for but between reviews, ARCs, and shields I can’t exactly say I picked these myself. I did, however, pick which ones to start with. Adult books for the win, I guess. 

Author’s Gender: 4 F, 1 M

Alright, I think I need to just own this one now. I read more books by female authors than male. Does that make me biased? I think I’ll have to analyze ratings for female vs male in a future statistics video. 

Genres: 1 Mystery/Thriller, 1 Science Fiction, 1 Contemporary, 2 Horror

Again, I can’t claim this was mood reading because it clearly wasn’t. But I was feeling a horror vibe. Plus, 1 of those horror books WAS a mood read (because it was audiobook and I was just picking something) so I guess that works out. 

Indie Authors: 3 N, 2 Y

Pretty close to 50/50. I like when it’s that way!

Total Pages Read: 1,940

Average Pages per Book: 388

That’s good, I think. I’ve been really bad at tracking this during 2020 and I’ve lost all basis for comparison. But it feels like there were a lot of pages this time. 

Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 4, 5

This entire crop of books was good. Honestly, for the right reader they would be GREAT. Watch this video because, chances are, you’ll find at least one to add to your TBR. 

Book Notes That Didn’t Make the Video

Alone

• I listened to this one as an audiobook I borrowed from the library.
• This one ended up on my TBR sort of as an accident. Someone suggested I try a different book by Lisa Gardner because I love Tami Hoag. That other one wasn’t available … this one was. Ta-da.
• Grab yourself a copy of this one here.

The Lost Signal

• This one was sent to me by the author as an ebook in exchange for an honest review. I actually read this one on my Kindle and, technically, finished it August 30th … but I put it on September’s graphic anyway because apparently this is the ONE way in life I feel like rebelling against rules (and, yes, they’re my own self imposed rules). 
• My absolute favorite character in this book was the villain, which I know is twisted. But he’s SO WELL WRITTEN. He’s deep, flawed, and mysterious. I may need to get book 2 just to see how this continues. 
• Anyway, support indie authors and get your copy here. 

The Fault in Our Stars

• I read a physical paperback copy that I borrowed from my little sister for this read. It’s the movie cover version which included images from the movie. Why would you include images from scenes that were not book accurate in your book? Just saying, that was annoying. 
• I cannot, for the life of me, remember the names of the other books this one reminded me of. That is the real reason why I didn’t bother to check the release dates of those other books to ensure that this was, as I proclaimed in the video, the original. I know, I know … lazy. 
• Get yourself a copy here, in case you haven’t read it yet. 

Belle Vue

• This was an eARC sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. It actually came out in August, so I squeezed it in as close as I could to the release date. 
• I don’t think I mentioned it in the video but this one is definitely for adults. There are sexual scenes and rape scenes in this one, so consider that a content warning.
• Support independent authors and small publishers, get yours here. 

Into the Drowning Deep

• I listened to this one as an audiobook from my local library. I actually had to really focus and listen A LOT for the last two days because the library loan was going to expire and this one had just taken me a long time to get through. That’s not because it’s not a good book. It’s a long book (440 pages) and it’s deep content that I wanted to pay attention to. I finished it two hours before it was due back. I’m pretty proud of myself. 
• This was also a recommended title. One of my friends is an avid reader (like me) but we often read very different things. We enjoy recommending titles to each other that we loved for the other one to read and appreciate. This was her recommendation. Thanks, Amanda!
• Grab yourself a copy here. 

The Video

Watch the full video with your to-be-read list because this is a GREAT group of books.