October 2021 Reading Wrap Up

Well, the holiday season is officially upon us! The end of 2021 is rushing towards us as we scramble to fit more reading into this busy time of year! This has been an eventful month for Paper Procrastinators, with a big change taking place, so read on to see the books that were read, the books that were bought, and all the other eventful things that went on this month.

Books Read:

Malka:

Honestly this month wasn’t great for me in many respects, and reading was one of them. And it’s not even like I can say that even though I didn’t do well quantity-wise, I did well quality-wise. I only read 5 books, with 0 five stars, yet 2 two stars. And that’s even before we mention my two week reading slump where I couldn’t read anything. But I did get some reading done, and even if I don’t have any new faves, I still have what to say, so let’s get into my more detailed thoughts.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I finally read this hyped romance, and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself! It’s by far my favorite Tessa Bailey book, and it may even have convinced me to give the companion book a chance as well! I really enjoyed both the characters, and appreciated how the communication rarely faltered between the two. Plus, Piper’s description of Brendan’s hugs is quite possibly one of my new favorite things! Even though it wasn’t a 5 star read, it’s still one that I would definitely recommend!

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⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I have very different feelings on these 3 star reads. I downloaded Underworld from NetGalley expecting a Greek retelling in graphic novel format, and instead got a very detailed environmentally focused story with hints to Greek myth every once in a while. I have a review on Goodreads if you want to hear more.

With You Forever on the other hand, was actually quite the solid read for me. I have had mixed results with Chloe Liese’s books, but I actually enjoyed this one a lot. I find that this series is the perfect read while I’m slumpy, and hopefully my finishing it in almost a day marks the end of this dreaded slump!

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⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Unfortunately I had two 2 star reads this month, and they were both review copies. My review for The Sweetest Remedy is already up on the blog if you want to check it out, but essentially, I didn’t feel there was much dimension to the emotions, characters, or plot and therefore couldn’t connect to the story. As for The Rake Gets Ravished, I put my thoughts into a short Goodreads review when I finished, but my full thoughts will be posted in February, when this book releases!

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Books Acquired:

Malka:

NYCC 2021:

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The first 4 books I purchased at New York Comic Con! I’m not a big comics person, but I do love me a good graphic novel, which is how I ended up buying four in one short day! I haven’t read any of them yet, but as the end of the year is approaching, I’ll be sure to pick these up for some cute, fast reads!

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Purchased:

I only purchased two books in bookstores this month! Yay Malka! (For those of you wondering, NYCC doesn’t count because that was a once in a lifetime chance, whereas I walk into bookstores or browse online somewhere between 2-17 times a month.)

I somehow only recently realized that Yes & I Love You was a romance, but once I knew that and looked at the synopsis, I had to get myself a copy! Then I saw Amy @ Bookish Heights mention Life of Melody on Instagram, and it looked so adorable that I purchased my fifth graphic novel of the month upon seeing it in my local Barnes & Noble!

NetGalley:

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Lastly, we have the 4 NetGalley books I acquired. First there’s Underworld, which I already talked about earlier. I didn’t really enjoy it. However, I have high hopes for the remaining three! Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell has one of the best covers I’ve seen, and I actually already started this one in my excitement! So far, so good! Dating Dr. Dil was a bit of an impulse request, but the opposites attract trope, especially where one person is love-phobic and the other is love-obsessed is one that I just adore reading! And Kamila Knows Best was briefly available as a Read Now download, and since I loved Accidentally Engaged (which I’ll actually be reviewing this month!) I had to get my hands on Farah Heron’s upcoming book!

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Things We Did:

Malka:

So this month started off with lots of fun! As you can see, I attended NY Comic Con where I mostly browsed though beautiful artwork and purchased lots of graphic novels! However, later in the month was filled with a lot more sadness and stress. I lost a grandparent this month relatively suddenly and it quite obviously impacted all my plans for October. There was a lot of traveling and socializing in the following days and weeks, both of which were immensely draining and tiring, which was part of why I had no energy to read. I also hadn’t yet finished with midterms, so I had to contend with that as well. At this point things have calmed down a lot more, but I feel as though it will still take me a while to get back into my usual routine.

The other sad news I have to share is something you may have surmised on your own. As you may have noticed, Chana’s sections weren’t included in this wrap up. She’s decided to take an indefinite hiatus, and has decided to leave you all at the mercy of whatever posts I come up with. Hopefully she’ll be back at some point, but for the foreseeable future, Paper Procrastinators will be run by only one procrastinator. Please be gentle with me!

Was this a good month for you in terms of quality or quantity? Did you read any new favorites this month? How has NetGalley been treating you?