August 2021 TBR

Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little – boiling – bookish corner of the internet. It’s been a busy month this July, and looking forward to August, I’ve got plenty of books to keep me busy, as well as the new releases that just somehow find themselves in my home. I have no idea how. Magic? Or impulse buying. One or the other.

This summer is so far utterly swealtering, and while that has an impact on my migraines and my ability to read, I’m managing to do quite well with a mixture of audiobooks and painkillers. Just this month I was also diagnosed with cluster headaches, and I’m hoping that the oxygen therapy that I’m being perspecribed for that will make a difference to how much I’m struggling, and I’ll be able to increase my reading.

This month I’ve crossed the 80 reads benchmark, leaving me very close now to my 100 book target for the year, which is a great feeling, with so much of the year still to go. I’d like to make it to 150 but we’ll see how things work out!

Secerets of the Stars
This sequel to Ship of Shadows is a middle grade novel I’m really excited about. Being the kind mother I am (and having a lot of books to work my way through this July), I let my son read it first, so I’m waiting patiently for him to finish it so I can get back onboard the pirate ship. I absolutely loved the first book; it was written with such skill and magic that book two has been highly anticipated in this household!

She Who Became the Sun
I have the audiobook ready to go for this book, and I’m so ready for it:
“She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor. 
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty plain, a seer shows two children their fates. For a family’s eighth-born son, there’s greatness. For the second daughter, nothing. 
In 1345, China lies restless under harsh Mongol rule. And when a bandit raid wipes out their home, the two children must somehow survive. Zhu Chongba despairs and gives in. But the girl resolves to overcome her destiny. So she takes her dead brother’s identity and begins her journey. Can Zhu escape what’s written in the stars, as rebellion sweeps the land? Or can she claim her brother’s greatness – and rise as high as she can dream?”

The Guinevere Deception
I’ve had this on my to be read list for so long, and I’m planning on finally reading it! I’m quite excited actually. It sounds like something I’m going to absolutely love. I’m mainly reading via audiobooks at the moment because of my eyes although my ability to tolerate physical books and ebooks has been far better this month, which is a huge relief. This one I will be listening to, however, and I’m looking forward to being swept up into another series.

Bad Witch Burning
I’ve got to read this book for a blog tour, and I’m quite excited for it; I love a morally grey character! Here’s the synopsis.
“Katrell can talk to the dead. And she wishes it made more money. She’s been able to support her unemployed mother—and Mom’s deadbeat-boyfriend-of-the-week—so far, but it isn’t enough. Money’s still tight, and to complicate things, Katrell has started to draw attention. Not from this world—from beyond. And it comes with a warning: STOP or there will be consequences. 

Katrell is willing to call the ghosts on their bluff; she has no choice. What do ghosts know of having sleep for dinner? But when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.

Only magic isn’t free, and dark forces are coming to collect. Now Katrell faces a choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late.“

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
Another book for a blog tour, this is a self discovery journey on a road trip across America. Add into that the enemies to lovers side romance, and I’m quite happy to push aside my previous hesitations about reading contemporary YA fiction! Moon has been feeling like a side character in her own story, and just maybe this trip will rebalance the scales, and her opinion of herself.

Any Way the Wind Blows
I recently shared my review of the first book in the Simon Snow series, Carry On, and I’ve got my review for book two, Wayward Son, scheduled. I’m so excited for this final installment, but in that utterly terrified way because you’re worried about what’s going to happen. I can’t wait, but also I’d be happy to never pick it up. That’s always the sign of a good series that’s got you utterly hooked, and quite frankly I’m ready for this book to hurt me in multiple ways.

So there we are, some of the books I’ve got planned for this upcoming month. As July has ended up being so successful reading wise, I’ve got no idea how many books I’ll end up reading in August; it’s all to play for really, and I’ll be starting with these!