Books I Read in September

Mistrust by Margaret McHeyzer - 2 stars (finished 9/8)
I was gifted an ebook via Netgalley.
Review: here.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber - 2.5 stars (finished 9/9)
Up until around 60%, this book was 2 stars, teetering on lower. It picked up and was much better after that, but still no more than a 3 star read for me. I didn't like the characters. I felt like it was entirely too descriptive for no reason at all. It felt convoluted as a whole. I am super disappointed because I really thought I would love this book so much.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - 4.5 stars (finished 9/16)
BOOK 1 IN THE ILLUMINAE FILES TRILOGY
I thoroughly enjoyed Illuminae so very much and actually attempted to go to my local used bookstore for Gemina before I was even finished with Illuminae. I haven't read a good sci-fi space story in a long while. I really appreciated so many of the space aspects of the book - like how space is quiet. I loved the style of this book between reports, instant messages, radio transcripts, and the AI's logs. It was a suspenseful story and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The reason I knocked off half a star is due to the ending. I felt it came too quickly and things were revealed too hastily for how it was built up.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - 4 stars (finished 9/18)
BOOK 1 IN ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND SERIES
I have a collection of Lewis Carroll stories in a big hardbound book, but wanted to pick up this little portion of Alice's story because I absolutely love the cover art so so much. It was my first time reading Alice's Adventures even though I have seen many adaptations of the story. I love how nonsensical it was :)

Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom by Booki Vivat - 5 stars (finished 9/19)
BOOK 1 IN FRAZZLED SERIES
Let me preface this by saying that I don't mean that I don't like this book *NOW* when I say that I would have really enjoyed this in my younger years. I loved this style of book when I was a kid and, in fact, just convinced my 9 year old daughter to read Double Act, which has a very similar style to this novel. The illustrations are hilarious and wonderful. I was fawning over all the gorgeous calligraphy and word art. The story itself was wonderful. It was humorous while still addressing a very real thing new-to-middle-schoolers go through. I loved the development of the plot and Miss Abbie Wu, herself. Overall, 5 stars easily! Can't wait to see more from this author - as this was a debut!  

Awkward by Svetlana Chamakova - 5 stars (finished 9/21)
BOOK 1 IN AWKWARD SERIES
I absolutely adored this book so much. The artwork is incredible and I love the anime-esque expressions the characters would have sometimes. Peppi is such an expressive and well-rounded character. I just love and appreciate how much work went into this graphic novel - it shows from the artwork to the characters to the plot. Love love love. I can see why my 9 year old and 10 year old love it.  

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich - 5 stars (finished 9/28)
BOOK 22 IN STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES
This had all the classic elements to a good Stephanie Plum book that I love and it did not disappoint at all. I'm genuinely getting more and more confused with the love triangle. I'm fully #TeamRanger, but honestly could see Steph ending up with Morelli and that being a really good choice. I loved all the Lula antics and cannot wait to read #23. It's rare for me to get this far into a series and still love it.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee - 1 star (DNF 9/28)
BOOK 1 IN GUIDE DUOLOGY
Unfortunately this book just isn't for me. It wasn't bad, just not for me. I laughed at Percy's poem about Monty, so I'm sure the rest of the book has some great hidden gems in there.