October 2017 Wrap-Up

# Of Books Read: 7

1.Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

Wild Beauty Full ARC Review

Release Date: October 3, 2017

Pages: 320

My Rating:★★★★★

Overall Thoughts: Wild Beauty was such a lush and magical tale, one I’ll never forget! It follows Estrella and the Nomeolvides women as they live on La Pradera, conjuring up the most beautiful flowers. However, when a mysterious boy named Fel appears, Estrella and the cousins uncover more about the mysteries that surround the gardens of La Pradera. The writing is gorgeous, the plot is unique + wonderful, and delves into many themes that weave their way throughout the novel, such as love, family, and sisterhood. There is also such fantastic representation from the Latinx culture, genderqueer, and bisexual characters! Another amazing novel from Anna-Marie McLemore, I highly recommend!! ❤ ❤

2.The Backstagers Volume 1 by James Tynion IV + Rian Sygh

The Backstagers Volume 1 Full Review

Publisher: BOOM! Box

Release Date: July 25, 2017

Pages: 112

My Rating:★★★★☆ ½

Overall Thoughts: Such a fun and diverse graphic novel! When Jory attends a new all-boys school, his mom convinces him to find some sort of after-school activity to join. He soon finds himself joining the drama club and becomes friends with the stage crew aka The Backstagers! He quickly finds out that there’s magical tunnels backstage and soon gets tangled up with the adventures backstage! As for diversity, there’s so much representation from Jory (black) to Aziz (Middle-Eastern), gay and trans rep. too! The Backstagers is a fun graphic novel with a fantastic cast of characters, great magic/fantasy elements, and themes of friendship/adventure woven throughout!

3.Elizabeth And Zenobia by Jessica Miller 

Elizabeth And Zenobia Full ARC Review

Publisher: Amulet Books

Release Date: September 19, 2017

Pages: 208

My Rating:★★★★☆ ½

Overall Thoughts: This was a fun, atmospheric and light paranormal middle grade story! The plot is so unique and it has a lot of important themes of family, self-growth, and friendship. Following Elizabeth & her imaginary friend Zenobia, they embark on adventures while staying at Elizabeth’s father’s childhood home which is supposedly “haunted” and they learn more about it.

4. All The Wind In The World by Samantha Mabry

All The Wind In The World Full Review

Publisher: Algonquin Books For Young Readers

Release Date: October 10, 2017

Pages: 264

My Rating:★★★★☆

Overall Thoughts: Sarah Jac and Jame Holt travel across ranches to gain enough money to one day stop working and settle to have a ranch of their own. However an accident causes them to flee and then they find themselves on the Real Marvelous (which is supposedly cursed). Slowly they find themselves drifting apart and it is heartbreaking to read, but also so emotional 😥 All The Wind In The World is so atmospheric and weaves in contemporary-dystopian/magical realism genres together so well and in such a unique way! Its was also great to see diversity, with Sarah Jac who is mixed-race and an m/m relationship developed through out the novel. 

5. This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada (This Mortal Coil #1)

This Mortal Coil Full ARC Review

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: November 7, 2017

Pages: 432

My Rating:★★★★☆ ½

Overall Thoughts: This Mortal Coil is a brilliant sci-fi/dystopia debut! I loved this book so much! We follow Catarina Agatta, who is a brilliant gene-hacker and her geneticist father, Dr. Lachlan Agatta who left her with an important mission. Soon she embarks on a journey with Cartaxus soldier Cole to unlock an antidote which could save thousands of people from a rapidly mutating plague. Suvada introduces such fascinating technology in a detailed and complex dystopian future. This is an action-packed, character-driven tale you don’t want to miss!

6.Life After Legend by Marie Lu (Legend #3.5)

Life After Legend Full Review

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR

Release Date: October 2017

Pages: 21

My Rating: ★★★★★

Overall Thoughts: As a long-time fan of the Legend Trilogy, I was so happy when this short epilogue was announced! It really brought back the emotions of reading all 3 books again. You get a little more background to the world of Legend from Day’s perspective and what happened to him parallel to the events of the Champion epilogue. This was such a fantastic addition to the Legend Trilogy that definitely will leave readers happy!

7.Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (Rise Of The Empress #1)

Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns Full Review

Publisher: Philomel Books

Release Date: October 10, 2017

Pages: 363

My Rating:★★★★☆

Overall Thoughts: An immersive and magical retelling of the evil queen! This novel follows Xifeng on her journey to fulfill her destiny fore-told by her aunt. She has a darkness within her and knows she cannot escape both it and her destiny. The world is rich and atmospheric as we uncover more about Xifeng’s role to become empress and the legends and magic that spread across the land. I will admit a lot of the pre-release hype did impact my enjoyment of the book just a little bit (with some plot/world elements not as expanded on as I would have hoped). However, this is a magical, dark, and immersive retelling that definitely has me eager to read the sequel!

Additional Posts From This Month:

Diverse 2017 YA Books To Add To Your TBR {Fall}

What Books Did You Read This Month? 😄📚✨

+ I have some new blog posts (aside from book reviews) I can’t wait to share for November! 😍📚✨

Elizabeth And Zenobia by Jessica Miller ARC Review

Elizabeth And Zenobia by Jessica Miller

Publisher: Amulet Books

Release Date: September 19, 2017

Pages: 208

Summary:Abandoned by her mother and neglected by her scientist father, timid Elizabeth Murmur has only her fearless friend, Zenobia, for company. And Zenobia’s company can be very trying! When Elizabeth’s father takes them to live in his family home, Witheringe House, Zenobia becomes obsessed with finding a ghost in the creepy old mansion and forces Elizabeth to hold séances and wander the rooms at night. With Zenobia’s constant pushing, Elizabeth investigates the history of the house and learns that it does hold a terrible secret: Her father’s younger sister disappeared from the grounds without a trace years ago.

*Received ARC from a festival

My Rating:★★★★☆ ½

My Thoughts: Elizabeth And Zenobia is a unique middle-grade read! The plot is unique, the gothic + light paranormal atmosphere, and the writing brings so much to this story!

Elizabeth And Zenobia really surprised me! While I knew I would enjoy the story based off the summary, the more I read, the more I really fell in love with this book!

The story starts of with Elizabeth Murmur talking about Witheringe House, her father’s childhood home and the place she’d soon be moving into!

As she waits for the train with her father (a botanist), we get introduced to Zenobia, her imaginary + best friend. She is shown to have quite an opposite personality to Elizabeth (more outgoing/adventurous, etc.) and while at times they had their small clashes, they really made a great duo and seeing those stark differences between the two added a great element to the story!

They board the train and head to the house! It is also revealed that Elizabeth’s mother had left for some time and its clear it took a toll not only on her father, but her as well. Especially, in the beginning we see the somewhat distant father/daughter relationship they have!

It was really interesting to read about how she learned more about her father’s grief and learning a little more about him through reading some of his published books as a botanist.

Over the course of the novel, the story really focuses on Elizabeth’s personal growth/confidence she gains, learning more about her father, and continuing to grow the connection she has with Zenobia as they spend their time going on all kinds of adventures throughout their stay in the Witheringe House.

I felt the writing was so atmospheric and detailed, with such few pages! I loved it~ It was definitely one of my favorite aspects about the book! It was a very descriptive and atmospheric 1st person POV. Characters, writing, atmosphere and plot all flowed so well. Additionally, it really weaved in the light gothic, paranormal, and mystery elements seamlessly. It felt like the perfect October read!

With most books I can usually tell where the plot’s headed, but with this book it was unexpected and I was left surprised with each turn of the page! That made me love this book so much more as I continued reading.

Originally, this was going to be 4 stars b/c I still feel the pacing was pretty slow for me towards the middle and because of that I put down the book for a few weeks & didn’t get back to finishing it until recently! The ending also did feel a little bit rushed. However, the more I continued to read I realized just how much I really loved this book! 

While her mother is gone, it was so great to read that she was still surrounded by supportive female + motherly figures! Such as Zenobia (though they did get into some trouble every now and again) and nearing towards the middle, she meets Ms. Clemency, a tutor, who is very kind towards Elizabeth and helps her overcome some internal struggles along the way.

Themes of family, and definitely friendship + personal growth were weaved all throughout this story!

There are also fantasy elements hinted at throughout the book and shown much later,  but were so easily weaved into the story and just fit in perfectly! While reading, I could definitely capture the atmosphere and magic of the story through the fantastic writing!

Elizabeth and Zenobia is a light paranormal, but fun and immersive read, perfect for the fall season! It delivers such a unique plot, important themes, fantastic writing, and the perfect atmosphere! Definitely a book to check out if your looking for a fall read or just want to read a unique and immersive middle grade tale!