September’s been pretty miserable – I was put on extremely strong antibiotics that made me incredibly ill, and have spent most of the month stuck in a depression fog, which meant struggling to concentrate enough to read. Yay!

But there were amazing books, and I’m taking solace in that.

ARCs Received

Just three this month – and Empire of the Feast was actually unsolicited! I only contacted the publisher (Neon Hemlock) to confirm some pub dates, and they sent me back the ARC. Woo!

I loved Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot, so I’m excited for Furious Heaven, which is the sequel. But the star has to be To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, which, as I explained previously, I am mega hyped for!

Read

18 books this month, two less than in August. Given that I spent most of September feeling miserable, I spent a lot of time rereading old faves rather than tackling new reads; The Masters and Mages trilogy by Miles Cameron and Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series were especial delights.

And I swear that I love the Locked Tomb books more every time I read them!

Which brings me to the new reads: Nona the Ninth was beyond awesome, as expected (despite being absolutely nothing like what I expected, because who was expecting that?!), and Notorious Sorcerer was rich and delicious and everything I wanted. Leech surprised me by completely seducing me; I’m now officially a fan of Gothic Scifi.

To the best of my knowledge, 18.75% of this month’s authors were BIPOC (3 of 16, including the author duos writing under a shared, single penname.) A fair bit lower than last month’s 28.57%. Sigh.

Reviewed

I really, really wanted to write more reviews this month – non-ARC ones! – but an average of one a week is acceptable, I guess.

DNF-ed

Last month I only DNF-ed one book – but this month I DNF-ed none. None! Zero! What even?!

That’s the first month since I started keeping track – 21 months! – that I’ve not DNF-ed a single book.

WOAH.

ARCs Outstanding

10’s not so bad, and I have a bit of breathing room on most of these. Although Bride Hunt is now officially overdue. Insert wince here.

Misc

I’ve started working on my Best of the Year list, and my Unmissable list for 2023. (Which is surprisingly short at the moment – maybe 2023 will be a quality over quantity year. Or maybe there’s just a lot of great books coming that I haven’t head of yet!) Having great fun with both, although it’s slow going, with my fibro. But that’s why I’m starting early!

Looking Forward

I thought Scratch Daughters wasn’t out until November?! YAY FOR GETTING MY FAVOURITE WITCHES EARLIER THAN EXPECTED! And I’m ridiculously excited for When the Angels Left the Old Country and Queer Little Nightmares! As for The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming Part 2, I’m reading it now and it is every bit as beautiful as the first book!

Now, onwards to Spooky Season!