September 2022 Wrap Up

Hi everyone! I’m so late in talking about the books I read in September! It was a really busy month for me in both September and October, so I didn’t get as much reading done, but I still managed to finish 6 books so I’m not mad about that!

Those 6 books that I read was just over 2,000 pages, and my average rating was 4 stars. I read 4 horror, 1 thriller, and 1 fantasy, so this is the first month that fantasy wasn’t my #1 genre! The breakdown for format was 2 audiobooks, 2 ebooks, and 2 physical books!

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Devolution by Max Brooks – ★★★★★
I really enjoyed this book, it’s a survival horror story about an isolated community near Mount Rainier. There’s an eruption and the group looses contact with those outside their community, and suddenly they are being hunted by Bigfoot. It’s told as a first-hand account of a survivor of the massacre and it was such a fun and creepy book to read. I find cryptids and things like that so interesting, and while I don’t necessarily think they exist, it would be cool if they did!

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Little Eve by Catriona Ward – ★★★★☆
This was such a wild book! I’ve always thought cults are fascinating because I can’t wrap my head around why people give in to that. The way these characters interacted with each other and were so willing to step all over each other to become the Adder’s favorite member was both interesting and frustrating. The setting added to the moodiness, with it always being stormy. This is also one of those books where I couldn’t quite tell if the characters had magic, or if it was a metaphor for something else which isn’t my favorite, but I did enjoy piecing everything together. I have a full review on my blog if you’re interested in more thoughts!

Related: Little Eve Review

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The It Girl by Ruth Ware – ★★★★☆ .5
I read this as part of the Literally Dead Book Club, and it was such a fun book! This was only my second Ruth Ware book, and I think I may have enjoyed this one just a little bit more, but that could just be because I remember more of this one. This follows Hannah whose college friend was murdered, and Hannah helped to put away the main suspect. She then learns that maybe he wasn’t guilty and starts to look deeper into the murder to solve it. I didn’t see the identity of the murderer coming, and it was a lot of fun to try to solve it with Hannah. The only downside is that I didn’t like how her pregnancy was only used to help raise the stakes, I think that could’ve been done another way than just with that information.

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Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca – ★★★★☆.5
This is my second book by Eric LaRocca, and as disturbing as it is, I really enjoyed it especially the main story. I love his writing style and the way the entire story just gives you an uncomfortable feeling the entire time you’re reading it. The other two stories in this collection are also very interesting, one was about losing faith and (again) was unsettling in a good way and the last story was about a man who finds a bone and confronts his neighbor about it, which leads to some very strange bets. I’ll definitely be reading more from Eric LaRocca, his novellas are the perfect length and perfectly creepy.

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Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven – ★★★★☆
I read this right before Hurricane Ian hit Florida, and I think that really impacted how I felt about this book and really made this feel more horrific because it’s a situation that could definitely happen. This is about an amusement park that gets put in lockdown as a hurricane hits. The staff who stayed to keep an eye on the park soon find that they are isolated, and help isn’t coming any time soon. After that, things start to go off the rails and murders and other atrocities start to happen. It’s told in an investigation/interview format, and I also listened to the audiobook which was fantastic. This is like Lord of the Flies meets the Hunger Games, but in an amusement park setting and was so great! My only downside is that because of the interview style format, I found it hard to really connect or root for any particular character.

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The Luminaries by Susan Dennard – ★★★☆☆ .5
I liked the idea of this book and while the premise isn’t unique, I did enjoy Susan Dennard’s take on secret societies and monster hunters. I didn’t love this as much as I wanted to, mainly because I just couldn’t connect with the characters and found that this read much younger than I was anticipating. I did like the clans and the trials, and I’m very interested in the backstory on the monsters and their origins with the spirit and how the rival witches play a part in the story. I’m hoping that the second book also fleshes out the side characters like Jay and the twins more, as they seem really interesting, but I don’t know much of anything about them. I do have a full review available on my blog of this book as well!

Related: The Luminaries Review

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I know I’m behind, but what books did you read in September? Have you read any of these? I’d love to chat!