Hello Everyone!
May has come to an end, which means it is time for me to tell you about everything I have read this month. I have been reading a lot this month, so I have read a total of 10 books! That is way more than I usually read because I have a lot going on in my life, so reading often takes a back seat, but I somehow found the time. I did my own 24 hour readathon this month, which would have helped greatly in the number of books I read and I had a great time spending the whole day reading! I also bought a few books whilst in Waterstones that day because I have no self control. I will warn you before we get into this that there will be spoilers for Harry Potter included. I love the books so much that I simply must talk about them! (I’m pretty sure everyone’s at least seen the film at this point though). I am going to keep the other books spoiler free though as they are not as popular as Harry Potter. Enough of the intro though, lets just get into the books:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K.Rowling
During April I was really craving the feeling of being back at Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione for a reason unknown to me, but I gave into the temptation and started a re-read. I love Harry Potter with all of my heart and I know the story so well I can recite the first paragraph of the philosopher’s stone, but re-reading them again was just as magical as it was the first time. Order of the Phoenix is one of my favourite books because this is the first time that we really start to see the dark side of the ministry and the terror that Voldemort brings. Harry is struggling after the death of Cedric and he is angry and has every right to be so. What really gets me about this book is that we really start to see Harry as being venerable because he is after all just a child no matter what he has done and is capable of. I of course love the DA as much as everyone, but I especially just find it so inspiring to see them fighting back in anyway that they can. While I of course hate Umbridge I can’t help but love her because she brings so much to the story. Without Umbridge the Weasley’s wouldn’t have pulled that magnificent exit stunt, we wouldn’t have seen McGonagall’s sassy side and the student’s wouldn’t have started the DA, which helped them all for years to come. A lot of people find the Order of the Phoenix to be too long or even boring in place, but I love it and I would say it is one of my favourite books in the series.
5/5
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K.Rowling
The Half Blood Prince is my favourite Harry Potter book. The plot really begins to thicken in the sixth book with Malfoy’s order’s from Voldemort, Snape who turned out to be the half blood prince, delving into Voldemort’s past, Harry growing closer to Dumbledore, trying to get the memory from Professor Slughorn and so much more. The Wizarding World now knows that Voldemort is back and people are living in fear. There is so much mystery and I really feel that we get to know a lot of different characters better in this book. The Romance really starts to kick off in this book as well, which is such a great thing in amongst everything else. A lot of people prefer Deathly Hallows because there is more action in it, but I really love seeing Harry and Dumbledore figure everything out.
5/5
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K.Rowling
I have always had slightly mixed feelings about Deathly Hallows. I love it of course and I think it is a stunning conclusion to the revolutionary series, but I always felt like it was a little slow paced at the beginning. I understand why it had to be like that because they didn’t know what they were doing and Rowling needed to give the trio time to realistically figure things out, but there was a good 100 pages where nothing much happened. That is really my only criticism of the book other than the fact that Harry named his child after Snape, but that has been said many times, so we won’t get into that now. I really loved that Rowling included all of Harry’s turmoil about Dumbledore because I feel it would have been unrealistic is she didn’t especially after everything that happened in the Order of the Phoenix. One of my favourite scenes in the book is the train scene with Dumbledore at the end when Harry gets an explanation for everything he has been thinking about Dumbledore over the past year. I find that scene really satisfying and really closes of the relationship nicely. This book breaks my heart every time I read it because there are so many deaths (I will never ever get over Dobby) and I will never forgive J.K.Rowling for doing this to me.
5/5
Misfit by Charli Howard
When I first bought this book I was expecting it to be a YA contemporary about a fictional character, but it is actually an autobiography about the authors life, but only up to a specific point and surrounding a specific topic. The book is all about the author’s eating disorder: where is started, how she dealt with it and starting recovery. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it because I am not a massive fan of biography’s or autobiography’s, but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down! Her story is so familiar to me and I was able to relate to some aspects of it while also learning a lot. I also really loved that she included her recovery in the book because a lot of books about or that include mental illness only focus on the point when they are suffering, so it was nice to end the book on a more positive note.
Trigger Warnings: mental illness, depression, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia, OCD, graphic descriptive paragraphs, underage drinking. The author herself suggest that you do not read this book if you are suffering with mental illness yourself or if you are easily triggered by any of these things.
3.5/5
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
This book is very different to anything I have read before. The whole book was told in prose, which is a very new format to me. I have read ‘Milk and Honey’ and ‘The Sun and her Flowers’ by Rupi Kaur, which are similar, but The Poet X was a bit more complex than that. Other poetry books I’ve read are supposed to tell a story, but they tell the story in fragments and leave gaps for you to fill in, but The Poet X was like any other book, but told through poetry, which was strange (I hope I explained that right btw). It took me a good 20 to 30 pages to get used to it, but once I got past the strange writing style I really enjoyed it. This book covers religion, race, gender and sexuality in one carefully crafted swoop and I loved it. These four topics are becoming increasingly relevant and it was wonderful to see myself represented in some aspects whilst also learning so so much about the struggles of other people. I saw things from a completely different perspective, which taught me a lot. Not only is this book beautiful and lyrical to read, but it will teach everyone something and I think that is great!
4.5/5
Spark by Alice Broadway
Spark is the sequel to Ink, which I read about a year ago and loved, so when I found out the next book was out I booked a trip to Waterstones immediately because I was incredibly excited for this release. I was not disappointed. This was the first full book that I read as part of my 24 hour readathon and I would have completed it in one sitting had I not been forced to move locations due to the interferences from other people. This book really made you think about the things you think you know and it was really interesting to read about the internal conflict the main character was having. All the characters were complex and dynamic. The whole world is so different to anything I have ever come across before and I felt totally immersed from the first sentence. I can’t wait for book 3!
4/5
The Fandom by Anna Day
This is a book that I picked up on a whim because it was on the buy one get one half price table a couple of months back. It sounded really good though and the cover was beautiful, so i picked it up. I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this book because it sounded as if it was something a bit different from what I usually read, so I was apprehensive about starting it and it also sounded a little generic; however, it was nothing like what I expected and completely blew me away! I loved it so much and I have so many feelings about it, so I am going to be doing a more in depth book review on it. It will be a spoiler filled review though because I simply have far too many feelings, so I suggest you skip that post until you have read the book because I highly, highly recommend it!
4.5/5
The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
I LOVED THIS BOOK! I read it in just 2 days and trust me it would have been quicker than that if I wasn’t required to turn up to school. The Trials of Apollo series is my favourite of the series that Rick Riordan is writing at the moment and I was so excited to get this book. As soon as I got my hands on it I finished the book I was reading and started it immediately and I was not disappointed. I am heartbroken and on the verge of tears as I write this, but I loved it even though I will never be the same again.
5/5
the witch doesn’t burn in this one by Amanda Lovelace
I read this book in one sitting on the same day that I finished the Burning Maze in an attempt to flatten some of the pain from reading the most recent installment in the Trials of Apollo series and it actually did work… to an extent. I love Amanda Lovelace’s poetry because it is so simple, beautiful and lyrical. It only takes me about half and hour to read one of her books, but for that 30 minutes I am completely en captured in this small world she has created and I adore it. She also writes about some really important topics, but she delivers them in a way that makes me feel powerful and capable rather than angry and overwhelmed, which is a nice difference to a lot of other books/media covering the same topic. I know poetry – especially modern poetry – isn’t for everyone, but this book really won’t take you long to read, so I highly recommend that you pick it up (the cover is also very aesthetically pleasing).
4.5/5
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
I know I am a little late to the party on this book because everyone was going crazy for it a few months ago, but I did buy it during the frenzy, but then never got around to it. I finally did though and I did mostly really enjoy it. I say mostly because it was a little creepy and I am not usually a fan of anything remotely scary. I did really like the creepy aspect of the book though and I think it worked really well, but because I get scared so easily it was a little annoying because I couldn’t read the book before bed. I did really love it though and I haven’t read anything else like it before. I found I predicted a few of the things that were going to happen, but then there were other things that took be completely by surprise. Overall, I really loved the concept, the world and the fairy tale aspect of the book, but there were just a few things that I felt didn’t work out for me just because of the kind of reader and person I am.
4/5
I had an amazing reading month this May and I am so pleased with the total of 10 books that I was able to read. On average I usually read about a book a week, meaning I usually read about 4 to 5 book a month, so reading double that amount is amazing for me! I did also start Shadow and Bone By Leigh Bardugo, which I have now finished because I did a readathon for the whole Grisha Trilogy today to start June off with a bang. I have also been reading two non-fiction books (the language of flowers by Mandy Kirby and The Periodic Table of Feminisim), but I am not including them in this wrap up as I haven’t finished them yet and probably won’t for a while. I prefer to read non-fiction books slowly, so that I can take in the information rather than just reading and forgetting it.
What have you read this month? Did you have a good or a bad reading month? Do you like reading Non-fiction? I’m always up for a discussion, so please leave a comment!
Goodbye for now!
Over and Out
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