Monthly Roundup: August 2017

August started off slow. I was kind of in a book slump--nothing really caught my interest and I went through a lot of first chapters. Plus, we were moving for the first week and then unpacking the rest of the month, so I was tired from that. But towards the end of the month things picked up again! It helped that I got some good ARCs via NetGalley!

In total, I read eight books this month! And one that I mostly read but could not bring myself to finish...

The Tiger's Watch - Julia Ember (2 stars)
The Jane Austen Project - Kathleen A. Flynn (4 stars)
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzie Lee (5 stars)
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones (5 stars) [reread]
Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale (5 stars)
Nyxia - Scott Reintger (4 stars)
The Fire Queen - Emily R. King (4 stars)
Into The Dim - Janet B. Taylor (3.5 stars)
A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars - Yaba Badoe (0 stars - DNF)

Quite a few 5 stars! In truth, Howl's Moving Castle has always been a favorite of mine, so that's no surprise. Book of a Thousand Days had been on my radar for awhile. It's more Middle Grade, but oh my goodness it made me cry from both despair and then happiness. What a gem of a book. And The Gentleman's Guide had me literally laughing out loud at the hilarious antics and clever lines, but was also full of character depth and growth. That's definitely going on the list for best of the year!

I read four books via NetGalley this month, which provides Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) in exchange for honest reviews. It's a way to generate buzz and promote books. Two of them were... Not my favorite. The other two, Nyxia and The Fire Queen were excellent and I really enjoyed them!

Next month there are a LOT of books coming out that I've been looking forward to! It's also going to be a super busy month for me so we'll see how much I actually read!

What were some books you read this month? What are you looking forward to in September?

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