Monthly Wrap Up

September 2020: The Month I Read 7 Vampire Books (AKA I Partied Like It Was 2008)

Hi everybody, and welcome to my September wrap up!

This month felt like it flew by once more. Like, I can’t believe we are October already. Also, YAY WE ARE OCTOBER! I went back to work full-time, which felt weird after almost half a year at home for sure, but was also good for me. But even though it felt like my free time was reduced to almost nothing again, it can’t be that bad since I READ SO MANY BOOKS. Also, most of them were vampire books and I have no regrets.

Without further ado, here’s what I’ve been up to in September:

What I Read

The Beginners Guide To Necromancy series by Hailey Edwards

Other than the first book, How To Save An Undead Life, which I read last month (but still wanted to include here because the covers look prettier complete, okay?), I finished off books 2-6 in this series during the month of September.

Basically, this is the story of Grier, a necromancer who has been innocently imprisoned for 5 years for the murder of her guardian, and has just been released for reasons unknown. The story picks up with her trying to pick up her life again, uncovering secrets from her past, discovering she maybe has more powers than she thought and meeting vampires, ghosts and more along the way. Also, did I mention she has a sentient house and an undead parakeet?

I picked up this series in my quest to find a new adult urban fantasy I could love as much as Annette Marie’s books and though I wouldn’t say it came near that perfection, I still highly enjoyed the series. I had some issues overall with plot development, pacing and worldbuilding, but I did fall in love with the characters, the romance and the humor. I’ll probably pick up the spin-off series some day soon as well.

Overall rating: 3,5 stars

Halfway To The Grave by Jeanine Frost

I was recommended this book on my post asking for new adult urban fantasy recs (Thanks so much for the rec, Sophie at Beware of the Reader!) and since I was in a vampire mood I tried it out and immediately fell in love! This book is about Cat, a half-vampire who is hunting and killing vampires, hoping that one of them is her father, the one to ruin her mother’s life. But one day she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced to work together with him if she wants to live. Slowly, she learns that maybe not all vampires are bad and that she should stop beating herself up for being half of one. This was such a fun, sexy and amazing adventure. I loved the relationship growing between Cat and Bones, but also the worldbuilding, the action, the mystery and the humor. Overall, definitely a hit!

Rating: 5 stars

One Foot In The Grave by Jeanine Frost

After finishing Halfway to the Grave, I immediately picked up the second book in the series, One Foot in the Grave, because I needed more Cat and Bones. And I loved this one just as much as the first one. In this book, Cat is now a Special Agent working for the government, but she finds she still can’t forget Bones. However, she soon finds out someone wants her dead, and Bones may be her best chance at survival. I loved the new life Cat carved out for herself after the events in book one, and I loved the new characters it introduced. And of course, Cat and Bones are still fire!

Rating: 5 stars

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

The lone romance read this month is definitely holding its ow between all those scary vampires, haha! I loved You Had Me At Hola, which is the story about a Latinx soap star and a telenovela actor who end up scoring the leads in a new bilingual romantic comedy for the biggest streaming service in the country that could propel both their careers to new heights. Of course, they both have a history and want to get through filming without ending up on the tabloids… but when they start falling for each other this may prove difficult. I enjoyed this romance and the focus on Latinx characters and culture, and of course the telenovela world!

Rating: 4 stars

Blog Features

Top Ten Tuesday

20200929-book-quotes-on-friendship

Books That Made Me Hungry

Ten YA Books That’ll Help Introverted Teens Feel Understood

Gorgeous Covers That Prove I Actually Do Love People On Covers

The 2020 Fall Book Releases I’m Excited About The Most

Favorite Book Quotes On Friendship

Quote It Wednesday

How To Kiss an Undead Bride by Hailey Edwards

Can’t Wait Wednesday

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Calendar Girls

Calendar Girls

September 2020 – Hobbit Day – Favorite Book With A Focus On Books

Miscellaneous

Technical-Difficulties

Technical Difficulties

Update: since I made this post about my blog’s commenting issues, I have switched off all my plugins. That didn’t solve anything. So I switched them back on, AND updated my theme. That didn’t solve anything. So I’m not any closer to the answer yet, but I’ll keep looking. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience, but please keep letting me know if your comment doesn’t show up right after commenting (it should). Thanks to everyone who already kept me posted about this and thanks to all of you for your patience with my commenting issues!

What I Listened To

Fun fact: I spend ages preparing these monthly wrap up posts, but about 70% of that is just spent on this music section because I keep watching all these music videos again from start to finish and then I get sidetracked by all the live performances and other videos Youtube keeps recommending me… *noregrets*

MY FAVE: Stray Kids – Back Door

I love these guys so much and I don’t think they ever released a song I didn’t like. They always manage to be fresh and unique while still being unapologetically themselves. Back Door is another hit that is super catchy and fun and powerful. Also, this is definitely my new favorite Stray Kids choreo and I can’t stop watching it because it has so many amazing bits and I notice something new every time I watch it <3

Dreamcatcher – Break The Wall

I can’t get enough of Dreamcatcher. Break The Wall may not have been their single this comeback, but I still love it. It is so powerful and different and I see it being an amazing anime or fantasy soundtrack. Also, love the megaphones!

SuperM – One (Monster & Infinity)

SuperM is definitely going up and up in my favorites ranking 🙂 This month alone, they released TWO amazing singles (and a full album), and I’d love to feature them both, but as much as I love Tiger Inside, I love One (Monster & Infinity) just a teensy bit more.

Everglow – La Di Da

Another fun and catchy single by the girls of Everglow!

Mamamoo – Wanna Be Myself

QUEENS. That is all.

Taemin – Criminal

This has definitely been Taemin’s era. In just two months, he released three singles and a full album with SuperM, AND two solo singles. I am in awe. I love Criminal because it’s got Halloween vibes and is also just another bop.

What I Watched

Honestly, I didn’t watch that much. However, I now FINALLY have Disney+, so I suspect I may be watching some more in the future (also, Hamilton musical, HERE I COME!)

Flower Boy Next Door

This month I only watched the kdrama Flower Boy Next Door. I still have a few episodes to go, but I have enjoyed this drama so far. It’s the story of an extremely shy and socially anxious woman who hardly leaves her apartment and has taking to spying on the neighbor across from her with her binoculars. But when his (extremely extroverted) brother comes to stay over, he catches her spying and forces her to leave her comfort zone and experience life. I started watching this because (even though it’s nowhere near as bad), I still really related to the main character (even after so many months at home, and the fact that I couldn’t miss my friends and family like that, the idea of hardly leaving my home is still weirdly very appealing…) and I was curious to see the story. Even though it won’t be an all-time favorite, I’m still really enjoying it so far!

Life Update

Well, September was my first full month back to working full time and IT. WAS. EXHAUSTING. But I’m happy I got to go back to work, even if I’m worried the COVID situation is getting worse again and another lockdown may not be that far off… But for now, we’re kind of back to normal and we’ll see what happens

Things that made me happy this month:

  • My husband and I celebrated our FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Given the COVID situation, we didn’t do anything special (otherwise we would have gone for a city trip or spa visit), but we went and got sushi take-out and watched the first episode of The Mandalorian, which was just as good in my mind.
  • I SAW MY FRIENDS AGAIN! We went for lunch (safely distanced and seated outside) and I MISSED THEM AND LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH.
  • As mentioned above, I got Disney+! Haven’t watched a lot yet, but I’m looking forward to lots of bingeing.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

  • OCTOBER IS THE BEST MONTH! Spooky season, sweaters, autumn walks, hot drinks and Halloween! (also known as my birthday, shh)
  • Two of my favorite Annette Marie series have finales in October!
  • More anticipated book releases: Kingdom of the Wicked and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
  • Did I mention HALLOWEEN???

How was your September? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are your plans for October and Halloween?

Lindsey xoxo

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12 Comments

  1. Sophie @BewareOfTheReader says:

    I am.listening to One Foot in the Grave Lindsey! You ahd a great month!

    1. Ah, I just finished it and loved it! Thanks so much for recommending this series to me!

  2. OMG! I’m a super big fan of the Night Huntress series. I’ve read them for yeeears!

    1. Ahh I can’t believe I only discovered them now, they are so great! I’ve only read the first two for now and picked up something else for now, but I’m already itching to revisit Cath and Bones and read the next books in the series 🙂

  3. Yes for Disney+! The first thing we did was a marathon of the Marvel superhero movies. Happy 5-year anniversary!

    1. Oh a Marvel marathon sounds like an amazing idea! Thanks so much!

  4. Lauren Becker says:

    September just went by in a blip. Crazy. I’m so happy it’s October though – my favorite month and Halloween is my favorite holiday (and how fun you have a b-day on Halloween!) Congrats on your five year anniversary; I’m glad you enjoyed your celebration, even if it wasn’t as extravagant because of COVID.

    So many books are coming out in October, and I also just really want to read all the mysteries and thrillers!!!

    -Lauren
    http://www.shootingstarsmag.net

    1. September did indeed seem to fly by! But it’s good because October is definitely the best month 😉 I’m also usually in a mystery mood around Halloween, though at the moment I’m still in a paranormal fantasy mood, which is also kind of fitting for Halloween 🙂 Thanks so much, hope you’ll have an amazing October!

  5. Happy anniversary! I hope you like Hamilton, my boy loves it. I made him read Macbeth because one of the songs, “Take a Break,” has several references to it.

    Great job reading so many books! Hope your October is wonderful!

    1. Thanks so much! That’s so fun that you get to enjoy Hamilton with your boy and got him to read Macbeth because of it 🙂 Hope you’ll have a great October!

  6. Happy Anniversary to you and your hubby! And yay for Disney +. It’s pretty much all I’m watching these days. We won’t talk about how many times I’ve watched Hamilton, lol.

    1. Thank you! Haha, I’m not judging about Hamilton, I’m heading towards lots of repeated watching myself 😉

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