August 2022 Monthly Reading Wrap Up

[Jessica]

Hello and welcome to another reading wrap up! As a reminder, this year I’ve decided to partake in the PopSugar Reading Challenge, which is a set of 50 prompts which you read a book to match, so I’ll be including those prompts and my progress in these wrap ups. For more info check this website: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen....
I’m currently at 33/50 for the PopSugar Challenge.
Also, thank you so so much for participating in our Summer Reading Challenge here and making it another successful year!
Now onto the Wrap Up!

This month I read…

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller- There were parts of this book I liked, parts I really didn’t. The writing style was a little confusing for me. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether you were reading about the past or the present. It took about half of the book to get to any plot or action it felt like. This story did need a decent set up, which it did give you, but also I didn’t like that it never seemed to truly explain what happened. About ⅔ of the way through I really started liking it and it seemed like it was going somewhere, but then it just kind of abruptly ended. I did really like getting into the mind of the main character in this one as well. Very interesting experience reading this one, haha.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson- Honestly, I was disappointed by this one. I’ve read Maureen Johnson before and enjoyed her, but this one just didn’t click with me. I didn’t care about the overly eccentric characters at the modern day Ellingham Academy or much of the plot line in the modern day to be honest. I was more interested in what was going on in the past with the cold case Stevie was trying to solve… and then it didn’t even end up solved and technically the mystery in the modern day storyline wasn’t officially solved either. I know this is a series, but over 400 pages for some not great world and character building? Sigh. I still want to know what happened in the 1936 Ellingham mystery, but I don’t want to keep reading the series to find out.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page

An Offer From a Gentleman and Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn- I listened to these on Audio. I journeyed back after a break from the Bridgetons to try and continue the rest of the series. I didn’t regret jumping back in until I did. Basically, Benedict might be my favorite Bridgerton brother and Colin is definitely the least favorite right now. Benedict and Sophie’s story was cute and I enjoyed it more than any of the others. Also, ALL HAIL VIOLET BRIDGERTON! She was amazing in this story. Benedict did have one jerky moment when discovering that Sophie was his Lady in Silver, but it could be looked past (as well as him wanting her to be his mistress; I chalk this up to a sign of times thing). And then came Colin… Colin was just overall AWFUL throughout the entire book. I couldn’t find much to redeem him. Penelope was this book's only saving grace and she deserves so much better than Colin. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m going to hate Bridgeton Season 3, because I’ve loved the first two seasons. Haha. This does mean I will be taking another break from Bridgerton, and probably a longer one this time. Maybe even until Season 5 comes out (assuming they do Sophie/Benedict for Season 4).

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich- Ok, I wanted to like this one a lot but it fell a little flat for me. It consisted of many (probably 30-50) short monologues that were only 2-3 pages long each, so you really only a tiny snippet of someone's experience or thoughts. There were still some powerful stories, but I wanted more from them. Also, I didn’t know a ton of details beforehand and this was not a good book to try to learn more about what happened from.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book featuring a man-made disaster

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole- This was just ok. The plot did keep me reading and was interesting but I think the author tried to do too much in the end. The mystery element was good and I learned some new things, and while still somewhat believable felt really over the top as well. Perhaps it seemed over the top from how everything went from 0-60 in 2 second flat at the end. The mystery, romance, and plot was all a slow burn until the last 50 pages when all heck breaks loose for lack of a better term, haha.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A social-horror book

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe- This was pretty good. I like a good graphic novel and this fit the bill. It was interesting to read Maia’s perspective and learn a little bit about it. I really just enjoyed learning about things from Maia’s perspective as well and I think this was a really well written graphic novel to help people learn in this way. I enjoyed the art too.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book about gender identity


What did you read this month? Be sure to share down below!

Happy Reading!