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October Wrap Up

orange background with green letters in the center reading October Wrap Up. There's some kind of leaf behind those words. Then there's a stack of books on one side of the words firewhiskey reader and a mug of coffee with whipped cream on the other
October Wrap Up

A Visual Gallery of the Books I Read This Month

Covers of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, Mistletoe & Mr. Right by Sarah Morganthaler, Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey, In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, A Princess for Christmas by Jenny Holiday, Miracles & Menorahs by Stacey Agdern, Holiday Honey by Chencia C. Higgins, If the Boot Fits by Rebekah Weatherspoon, Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone, Birthday Shot by Rilzy Adams, How Not to Fall by Emily Foster, How Not to Let Go by Emily Foster, Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese, Shit, Actually by Lindy West, A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong, The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, and Love is a Rogue by Lenora Bell, Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz, Always Only You by Chloe Liese, The Roommate by Rosie Danan, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, Halloween Boo by Sarah Spade, and The X-List by Evie Mitchell

A Brief List of Each Book I Read and a Star Rating

Statistics

Total Books Read: 24
Average Rating: 3.92
Sources: Owned (18) (2020 Haul, not including ARCs: 8; ARCs: 8), Borrowed (6)
Genre: Contemporary Romance: 16; PNR: 1; Fantasy: 2; Nonfiction: 1; Historical (including the time slip one): 2; Nonfiction: 1; Thriller: 1
Age Demographic: Adult: 23; YA: 1
Format: Physical (2), Ebook (15), Audio (7)
Authors of Color: 5 or 6?

Five Favorites of October

A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

Background is rolling green hills with a walking path marked on each side by a stone wall. Cover of A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong has a woman in a navy skirt that is very long and billowy and she's wearing a shirt with three quarter length sleeves as she enters what looks like a portal. Text box beside the cover reads Pining, A Stitch in Time, and has the following bullet points: - the atmosphere - the vibes - ghosts & murder & a time slip - falling in love/falling back in love - the angst - could also work for pet(s)
I didn’t use A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong for pining in #FallIntoRomBingo, but I definitely could have. I loved the spooky vibes.

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey

Background is kitchen-y. There's a bag of vegetables on the left and an apron on the right and some baskets and bowls at the top. Foreground is the cover of Love Her or Lose her, which features Rosie and Dom separated by a brick wall that they're both leaning against. Rosie has a red roller suitcase on her side of the wall. Text box beside the cover reads Makes You Hungry and then has the title Love Her or Lose Her and the following bullet points: - marriage in trouble is my new favorite trope?? - I love the marriage counseling in here - love languages! - a woman going after her dreams and a man learning how to vocalize his feelings
While I didn’t use Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey for the makes you hungry prompt in #FallIntoRomBingo, I certainly could have. I loved this marriage in trouble romance so much.

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Background is theoretically of LA, but you can't see much Foreground has the cover of The Roommate by Rosie Danan, which features a couch that Josh and Clara are sitting on. Josh is looking at Clara, while she is curled up reading a book. Text box beside the cover reads New to You Author, The Roommate, and then has the following bullet points - a really excellent debut - Clara has such an excellent character arc from buttoned up and people pleasing to chasing her own desires without losing who she is - Josh is such a messy cinnamon roll and I adore him - They're actually so good for each other
I loved The Roommate by Rosie Danan so much and I cannot wait for The Intimacy Experiment.

Always Only You by Chloe Liese

background is ice from an ice rink presumably foreground has the cover of Always Only You, which has a white woman in a suit with a cane and a white man with red hair looking at her in his hockey uniform Beside the cover is a text box that says hockey and then the title: Always Only You Below the title are the following bullet points: - hockey star, Ren, is a Shakespeare loving cinnamon roll and I adore him - social media specialist, Frankie, is autistic and uses a cane for her rheumatoid arthritis and also has a grumpy front to keep others out - lots of pining on Ren's behalf and lots of OTT shenanigans to get the two of them together.
I used Always Only You by Chloe Liese to fulfill my Hockey prompt on the #FallIntoRomBingo board.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Background is like a nighttime foggy and creepy vibe Foreground has the cover of Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key, which is just a key hole with the title inside on a black background and the door presumably is gray Beside the cover is a text box that has the title The Turn of the Key and the following bullet points: - creepy vibes were on point - slow build where you could feel the anxiety increasing - I can't stop thinking about the ending.
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware was obviously out of my comfort zone and totally creepy.

Honorable Mentions: Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone and Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

My Favorites Posts of Mine from October

Red + Romance Novels, Part One

Red + Romance Novels, Part Two

Venus in Libra + Romance Recs

Book Recommendations for Libras

3rd Quarter Favorites

My Favorite Posts from Around the Internet

Charlotte’s blog and the deep dives she does on romance novels are always great. This particular one is focusing on The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham. Nick’s incredible playlist post! And her Twitter thread of dogs with flowers and book covers. Because it’s sort of still spooky season, let me also share with you Nick’s post of Gothic Novels and Historical Mysteries! Amber also had a really neat post for Spooky Season. Arguably my favorite thing Amber announced this month though is the Reluctant Royals Celebration, which includes a bingo board! And then there’s the list Andrea, host of Shelf Love Podcast shared, and now I think I need to buy Binding Shadows by Jasmine Silvera thanks to Andrea and Tasha L. Harrison.

Speaking of Tasha L. Harrison, If you’re prepping for #NaNoWriMo, or, I suppose if you’ve started, she has this really cool template for plotting.

Check out this April (Spoiler Alert) cosplay from Mary! And while we’re on the topic of Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade, Talia Hibbert, Taj McCoy, and Cassandra Newbould did a panel on body positivity and writing on Facebook. Also, check out these incredible drawings from Helen Kord on Twitter for #Romancetober.

Finally, M made this really important post that I’m still grappling with about how the romance community can be really trans-exclusionist. That’s not the kind of romance community I want to foster so I’m going to keep trying to do better.

If you’re in the United States, I know today is going to be rough, which is probably putting it mildly. I hope this post has given you a few moments of distraction. I hope you’ve gotten your vote in and can now sit anxiously and await the results. Regardless of what happens in this election, there’s a lot of work to do in order for us to have the country we deserve. But for now, take a breath, try to relax, and we’ll reconvene when we’ve recovered from whatever the outcome is. Now, whether you’re in the U.S. or out, let me know what your favorite book of October was! And if you’ve got opinions on the Goodreads Choice Awards, please feel free to rant in my comments because I am HERE for you.

xx

2 responses to “October Wrap Up”

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