June 2020 Bookish Wrap Up

Today's post will be my June Wrap Up, which means I'll be sharing my thoughts on all the books I've read during the month. I managed to read 9 books in June which is great for me, let's get straight into it! 

A Curse So Dark and Lonely 

Author - Brigid Kemmerer 

Pages - 484

Genre - YA Fantasy 

My Rating - ☆☆☆☆☆

Thoughts:

I loved this book, it just might be a new favourite. There were so many elements to this book that were great to see, one of them being the disability rep. I won't say too much, as there is a review coming soon! But I highly recommend if you're a lover of YA Fantasy.

The Familiars 

 

Author - Stacey Halls

Pages - 420

Genre - Historical Fiction 

My Rating - ☆☆☆☆☆

Thoughts: 

This is the first time I've ever read a book set in the North-West of England, which is where I'm from. The Pendle Witch Trials are a large part of our history, and I had never read a book based on these trials before. It was heartbreaking to read this book, the injustice women in faced in the 17th Century is shocking. I did enjoy the aspect of the witches, and the fact that Stacey Halls never makes it clear whether the women are witches or not. She leaves that up to her readers. Again, I won't be going into too much detail as I'm planning to post a review soon, but I definitely recommend this to all readers. 

Captive Prince 

Author - C. S. Pascat

Pages - 270

Genre - Fantasy

My Rating - ☆

Thoughts: 

Trigger Warning - mention of rape. 

The fact that this is such a well loved book is shocking. In my opinion, the characters were boring and underdeveloped and the writing style was average, the plot had potential however wasn't executed well and the politics were boring. There were MANY flaws, one of them being the amount of rape in this book. This book uses rape as a form of entertainment, it almost romanticized it. I was honestly disgusted, and wouldn't recommend this to anybody. 

Clockwork Prince

Author - Cassandra Clare 

Pages - 498

Genre - Fantasy, Historical Fiction (Victorian England)

My Rating - ☆☆☆☆☆

Thoughts: 

If you didn't know, The Infernal Devices is my favourite series of all time. Clockwork Prince is the second book in The Infernal Devices, and is my all time favourite book. This was my third reread of Clockwork Prince, and I highly recommend. Be aware that this trilogy is a part of the Shadowhunter Universe, and there are quite a few books you should read before getting to this trilogy. 

Haruiro Astronaut

Author - Ichigo Takano

Pages - 50

Genre - Manga 

My Rating - ☆☆☆

Thoughts: 

This was a super cute and short manga. It was funny and just a great, quick read!

Clockwork 

Author - Philip Pullman 

Pages - 92

Genre - Fantasy

My Rating - ☆☆☆☆

Thoughts:

Clockwork is a wonderful, short read all about sentient clockwork beings as a tale told within a tavern eerily comes to life. This was extremely gripping for a short story, and I loved it. 

We Were All Someone Else Yesterday

Author - Omar Holmon 

Pages - 104

Genre - Poetry 

My Rating - ☆☆☆.5

Thoughts: 

Reading this collection, you could feel the author's pain and grief. The poems about his mother's death were heartbreaking to read, but they served their purpose and conveyed the lingering saddness that comes with a death of a parent. Personally, I loved the poems that covered race. They were impactful and with everything going on in America right now, these poems were the ones that effected me. However, I did think the writing style was average. The informal tone was deliberate, I just think the poems would've been more impactful if the writing was more complex. That is just my opinion though, I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed the infomal tone. I do also think some of the poems were quite boring or unnecessary. Some poems left me unsatisfied.

Overall, the author delivered on the emotion, I just think the execution could've been a little better.

One By One 

Author - Ruth Ware

Release Date - November 12th 2020

Pages - 352

Genre - Mystery/ Thriller 

My Rating - ☆☆☆☆☆

Thoughts: 

This book was phenomenal. Thrillers aren't my favourite genre, in fact it's been a long time since I last read a thriller book that I enjoyed. I often quess the plot twists and thus find them boring. I'm so relieved to say that this wasn't the case with this book. From the beginning I was intrigued. The characters were well thought out and had their own personalities, which I loved. I really enjoyed the originality, the whole concept of Snoop (a music app created by the company that's staying at the ski resort) is very different. I liked that there was some tension created from the start because of the app, it made the beginning of the story much more interesting which often isn't the case with thrillers. In terms of the plot, I had no idea where this story was going. It developed into a murder mystery and I LOVED it. I didn't guess the plot twists (THANK GOD) and I was constantly second guessing myself, One By One was carefully crafted and at the end all the peices came together like a jigsaw and it was perfect.

For the first time in what feels like years, I've finally read a thriller that I can wholeheartedly recommend. One By One by Ruth Ware is a incredibly crafted book full of suspense and plot twists that will leave you gasping in disbelief. I very very much recommend, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

Odessa 

Author - Jonathan Hill

Release Date - November 3rd 2020

Pages - 328

Genre - Graphic Novel, YA

My Rating - ☆☆☆

Thoughts: 

Overall, this was a solid read. First of all, I loved the colour palette, the dash of pink was stunning. I really liked the art as well, there was something charming about it. The story was very unique, and isn't something I'd seen before in a graphic novel. I will say, I would've liked a little more information on how the world ended up like that. I know the earthquakes were mentioned, but maybe at the start there could've been a little part actually showing what happened to the world to result in it being so ruined. I really liked the characters, they were cute and had their own little personalities which I liked, however there was something preventing me from actually caring about the characters. I loved the little added touches like the jinx root, that was interesting.

I enjoyed this, it was a good graphic novel.

That is my June Wrap Up! I read some great books in June that are now new favourites, which makes this a great reading month for me. Thank you for reading! 

Keep your head in a book and your heart with stars ♡