In retrospect, reading eight books is not terrible by any means, but I definitely planned on reading a lot more with a more consistent schedule. With summer officially over and school back in session, I need to once again refigure out my life schedule and hopefully remember to incorporate book things into that mess - we'll see how that goes.

      

the rose society by marie lu - (★★★★) 

power is addicting but choices can be damning

I flew through this book so fast and for some reason haven't made the move to read the finale. The character development for each individual reflected the changing pace of the storyline which amps up the tension and stakes for the third novel. I'm almost scared to continue because I know the ending will take down the bad guy but I want so badly for the 'villain' to be victorious.

the language of thorns by leigh bardugo - (★★★★)

the classic fairytales reimagined in gruesome beauty

The buzz around Leigh Bardugo's series has been tugging at my attention for a while so I thought I'd get my toes wet with a collection of short stories. I love fairytale re-tellings but after a while, they sometimes can become repetitive or too out of the box. This wasn't either case - I loved the unique and slightly sinister atmosphere each story adopted and it definitely piqued my interest for more of her works.

young love by janelle stalder - (★★)

good girl with a golden bright future and a brooding neighbor she has the hots for

It has been years since I read a New Adult novel but some tropes have remained ingrained in my memory regardless. This book was just trope upon trope foundationally without much a distinctive plotline. It was predictable in a way that felt underwhelming and addressed the "harder" topics in ways that personally I couldn't quite get on board with.

      

descendant of the crane by joan he - (★★★★)

humans have to pay for the mistakes that gods make

m y    r e v i e w 
I went into this book with very little background information and admittedly high expectations. The story is one full of thought-provoking politics and a call to attention for the bigger problems at stake. Like I mentioned in my review, I fell in love with the potential this book has to flesh out that bigger conflict and will now wait patiently for the opportunity to read more from this world/author.

monstress volumes 1-3 by majorie liu - (★★★★)

lots of death and violence to find answers accompanied by cute fox child and cat

Completely picked this up on a whim and flew through all three volumes in a day. The art is graphic and gorgeous and completely out of the box for me. There are so many things happening at the same time and the intricacy of everything is stunning. I also adore Kippa and she is (lowkey) the reason I will keep my eye out for the next installment.

throne of glass by sarah j maas - (★★★)

to get the job offer of a lifetime you just need to pass some extreme tests...easy

After years of waiting, I finally caved and read one of the bookternet's most beloved titles. I've heard a lot of praise for the Throne of Glass series and many reviews agree that the first book is not the best but it gets better. As of right now, I'm still not sure if I want to invest in this series since its opener was quite underwhelming but I might see if I can pick up the rest of the books on audio. Celeana and cast just didn't quite make a big enough impression on me to capture my interest.

Since school will now become the center of my attention for the next couple of months, I did want to set some goals for myself to keep the motivation strong so that I don't fall back into an academic induced reading slump. I've been giving myself little monthly reading challenges and thought it'd be helpful to list them here as well so I can come back and track my progress at the end of the month.

listen to an audiobook
read a book a week - approx. 4 books total
read a new to me author
read a popular book
read a book I brought to college

I'm definitely hopeful that I'll get to everything on this list but we're already one week into September and I haven't read anything just yet. If you've started school once again, here's to a productive semester and a reminder to take breaks and do something you love (like read) every once in a while.