Books I read in September (Monthly Reading Wrap Up) #BookBloggers #BookLovers #Reading #September

Hi Guys,

I had pretty awesome month in September, reading wise. I got slumpish closer to the end, but I am still happy with the amount of books that I have read.
I managed to finish 12 books, and three of them were chapter books. Nine were novels.

So here are the books I read:
(Click on the covers to read my reviews)

So Steady by Eve Dangerfield book cover Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim book cover Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg book cover A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley book cover The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz book cover maša i učiteljica book cover sanja pilić maša i sport sanja pilić book cover The Liar's Sister by Sarah A. Denzil book cover little fires everywhere by celeste ng book cover I Know You Remember by Jennifer Donaldson book cover How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow book cover

Favourite book of the month: The Liar's Sister by Sarah A. Denzil book cover

That is it!

Tell me what awesome books have your read in September?
What was your favourite one?

Feel free to leave links to your wrap ups, so I can visit you.

The fantasy I was swept away with: Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (Book Review) @PRHGlobal #partner #Fantasy

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim book cover

GIFTED / Not many fantasies get me invested so much as Spin the Dawn has, and I proudly bring you my review for this book today.
Spin the Dawn was published on July 9th 2019 by Knopf Books for Young Readers and it has 392 pages.
I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

ribbon

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Project Runway meets Mulan in this sweeping YA fantasy about a young girl who poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor and embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses, from the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

ribbon

Review:

First of all, let’s take a moment to admire this gorgeous book cover, because (in my humble opinion) it is one of the most (if not the most) beautiful covers of 2019.
And the best part: it pictures perfect the story that’s in the pages.

Spin the Dawn was one of the best fantasy books I read in general (but keep in mind, I haven’t read many of them).
I love how it was pitched as Mulan meets Project Runaway, because that is a perfect description, and overall I think a lot of effort was put into this book as a product, and I feel like it deserves even more recognition then it got.

I love how the world building was presented to us readers very slowly, step by step, and I can say I understand most of if, which is not often the case when it comes to fantasy.
This world was inspired by Chinese mythology and folklore. I am not familiar with it to be perfectly honest (but I would like to learn about it) and I can’t say how accurate it actually was or was it authentic, but from the standpoint of view of a reader who read this book as an entertainment tool, I can say that I really enjoyed every aspect of Chinese mythology and folklore, and I even learned something I didn’t know before (even though I think that wasn’t the goal of the novel).

I liked Maia as a narrator. She was not only likeable but also really easy to connect with.
The story is written in first person.

In this book women have almost no rights and are treated as property (like it was the case in the past), and I feel like Maia represents one of first females who opposed that.
I hope in next books more women will follow her steps.
Even though this is a fantasy, and we live in time when women have so much more rights then those in this story, it was still easy to understand and even identify with these women to some point.

We can say that the book has two main parts: an introduction to the world and characters, and the second, the journey.

I liked the second part so much more then the first one, because I already was so invested into the story, but also because we get to see some love development in it.

My favorite part of this whole master piece was love connection between Maia and her love interest. I understand why it could be controversial to some because he is much older then her (even though he doesn’t look that way) but I ship them together to the moon and back.

The last thing I’ll mention will be action scenes that were pretty intense, but as it usually happens to me when it comes to fast paced action and fight scenes, my brain turned off at some parts and left me confused.
I don’t know why is that, but it feels like my brain can’t process it when so many things happen all at once.
Thank God there are always slow parts after them where you can see the aftermath once again.

Overall, I really enjoyed Spin the Dawn. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it.

I would highly recommend this one to ya fantasy lovers.

rating 4,5 hearts

Reading Rush TBR #ReadingRush #BookLovers #BookBloggers

It has been so long since I participated in a read-a-thon of any kind, and to be honest, I really missed it.
I always loved readathons, but life has been pretty busy for the last couple of years, and I simply didn’t have time to do them.

However, now when I don’t have to go to work and have to rest all the time (doctor’s request) pretty much all I do is read and watch movies, so Reading Rush readathon came in perfect time (July 22nd-28th), and I am so happy to participate.

If you didn’t know, Reading Rush was previously known as BookTubeathon but they changed it’s name this year.
They even have their own platform now where you can officially register and chat with other readers.

There are 7 challenges this year, and I decided to combine some of them because, even though I have all the time in the world to read atm, I am still slow when it comes to reading, so I don’t think it’s possible for me to finish 7 different books.
However, I chose 5 books, and if I manage to finish 4 of them, I will consider this readathon as a success!

Anyway, here are the books I plan to read next week.

Read a book with purple on the cover
and
Read a book you meant to read last year: new york actually by sarah morgan book cover us edition

Read a book in the same spot for the entire time: Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim book cover

Read an author’s first book: Wilder Girls by Rory Power book cover

Read a book with a non-human main character
and
Read and watch a book to movie adaptation:  (I know only first book was adapted but I will count this one anyway).

Read a book that has five or more words in the title: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman book cover

 

That is it. Wish me luck and tell me will you participate in Reading Rush this year and what are your thoughts on readathons in general?