September wrap-up

I can't quite believe that October is here. I know the song says "August slipped away into a moment in time" but to me, it feels more like September did. How quickly the sunshine faded away, bringing cold, rain, but most importantly autumn. As a self-professed autumn girly, I love this season. The cosiness of blankets, sweaters and hot drinks. The autumn fashion. The colours of leaves fallen to the ground. I've already compiled the perfect autumn tbr, which you can have a look at here on my Instagram (think of it as a sneak peek for next month's wrap-up) but September was, much like the season, more of a transition month. A month of finishing up August reads and discovering new favourites whilst on a week away. It didn't feel like a particularly notable month, but I enjoyed all the books I read. So come along with me as I discuss what I read this September...

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Babel

R.F. Kuang

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

"Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows. Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift. Until it became a prison... but can a student stand against an empire?"

I started this book during August, as part of my My Friends Picked my tbr for a Month challenge, but as I noted in that blog post, I didn't actually finish Babel before the month was up. I did, however, finish it in September.

This book truly is fantastic, and as anyone will tell you, well worth the read. However, having said that, it didn't quite live up to the hype for me. It was certainly incredibly well written and researched, with strong themes, characters and an interesting plot. I just expected it to be a 5-star-read due to all the love it receives online, and although I really did enjoy it, it wasn't quite at that level for me.

Having said all that, it was a brilliant historical fiction that strongly takes on heavy topics of race, power and colonialism. It also focuses a lot more on academics, language and day-to-day life than you might expect, which makes the pacing feel quite slow, however this is not a bad thing, it just depends on your personal reading tastes. But the final act is epic, the ending made me sob, and I truly came to adore the characters, the completely imperfect city of Oxford and Kuang's frequent footnotes. (If you want to hear my totally unhinged and unfiltered thoughts from when I had just finished the book, you can read them here).

More Than A Best Friend

Emma R. Alban

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

"A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other."

I'd seen this book making the rounds on bookstagram for the last few months, notably for its 'queer bridgerton' selling point, and its more iconic US title: Don't Want You Like A Best Friend (aka a Taylor Swift lyric). Now I'm not really a contemporary romance person, but I am absolutely a historical romance person, so I already knew this book would be perfect for me!

And overall, I loved it. The world was fun (I do love the victorian era), main and side characters alike were loveable and well-developed, and the relationships were all really cute. From Gwen and Beth's mischievous friendship slowly turning into something more, to the parent-trap-esque subplot, it was all really lighthearted and warm. I would strongly recommend this one!

You're The Problem, It's You

Emma R. Alban

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

"Bobby Mason is sick of being second best: born the spare with the personality of the heir. James Demeroven is a Viscount who wishes he wasn’t one - his title brings far too much attention. They can barely get through a single conversation without tensions boiling over. If only they could avoid each other entirely."

The sequel to More Than A Best Friend, this book follows Gwen and Beth's cousins (third cousins? idk the family tree is weird) Bobby and James, who also, unsurprisingly, are going to fall in love because of Gwen and Beth's matchmaking and meddling! This one is more of an enemies-to-lovers, but not really like proper enemies, they just bicker a lot. But again, the characters were great and the plot and romance were fantastic. There was a lot of great tension in this one between our two leads, which made their eventual first kiss all the more rewarding. There was also a larger emphasis on found family WHICH I LOVE, and a more historical look at real queer communities in this time period. I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it certainly felt more realistic than the first book. Once again, I loved it, although I think Book 1 was just a teeny bit better!

The Gilded Wolves

Roshani Chokshi

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

"Paris, 1889. No one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: an engineer with a debt to pay; a historian banished from his home; a dancer with a sinister past; and a brother in arms if not blood."

I'd forever heard this book being compared to Six Of Crows and recommended to fans of it, so I finally decided to check it out. And although not as brilliant as SOC, it was certainly a good read. I loved the setting of 1880s Paris, described beautifully on every page, as well as the intricate magic system and world building that Chokshi does. The team of characters were loveable (even if not as iconic as The Crows), Hypnos especially was my favourite, but I loved Enrique and Laila too, and Séverin is certainly a Kaz Brekker variant! The relationships were compelling (although I hate a love triangle because I usually end up rooting for the wrong side) and the plot, mysteries and endless puzzles were great. My only scruple is that I would have preferred a little less puzzling and a little more thieving!

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And that was my September! Not quite as atmospheric or autumnul as you might have hoped, but don't worry, because my October reads will be perfectly on theme! I hope you had a great month of reading. Let me know in the comments what you read and your thoughts <3