Hi everybody, and welcome to my September wrap up!

YAY, IT’S OCTOBER, THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR (in my own humble opinion haha)! But first I’m wrapping up September and I read a good amount of books this month, among which a fun reverse harem cupid series, my most anticipated Guild Codex release ever and an adorable rom-com. After all that awesomeness, I’m actually feeling a little reading slump right now, but I’m hoping to combat it with all the amazing September and October releases. Here’s my full wrap-up:

The Heart Hassle series by Raven Kennedy

Earlier this year I read The Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy and fell in love with the writing style and her worldbuilding. So I really wanted to try another of her series and my eye fell upon her Heart Hassle series. The story’s about Emelle, a cupid in the human realm. But though she’s in charge of romance, she’s super lonely because nobody can see or talk to her and she can’t touch or be touched. But one day, her superiors send her to the fae realm where she gets into some trouble and is accidentally given a physical body. So naturally, she gets into some more trouble, and that trouble comes with a side of three handsome fae.

This is a reverse harem, but it’s one of the best I’ve read so far (granted, it’s like my 3rd or something, but still). Emelle is HILARIOUS and reading about her adventures was so much fun. The three guys are also nicely developed, the romance is slow-burn-ish and the reverse harem aspect made complete sense in the worldbuilding. The plotline fizzled out a bit near the end, but I was still highly entertained and would definitely recommend.

Ratings:
Signs of Cupidity: 4,5 stars
Bonds of Cupidity: 4 stars
Crimes of Cupidity: 3,5 stars
For the Love of Cupidity (novella): 3,5 stars

Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2) by Rainbow Rowell

About 2-3 years after reading Carry On and falling in love with Simon and Baz, I finally continued the series. Wayward Son was a lot more angsty, as Simon is suffering from the events in Carry On, but I still quite enjoyed the gang’s trip to America and all the shenanigans they got themselves into while there.

Rating: 4 stars

Any Way The Wind Blows (Simon Snow #3) by Rainbow Rowell

I’m happy I could dive right into book 3 after finishing book 2 because I needed more time with these characters and I needed some kind of happy ending. I’m satisfied overall with the way things ended, but I still have some questions too. I also have to say this was just a bit too long. The plot was not as intriguing as the previous two, but I guess this was mostly about the characters and I got a lot of great scenes there.

Rating: 3,5 stars

The One and Only Crystal Druid by Annette Marie

UH HI, I LOVE ZAK. That is all. Except, please read this series and get ready to meet a new, deliciously violent heroine, her sassy shapeshifter familiar and of course, the damn druid that stole every reader’s heart already.

Rating: 5 stars | Full review

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

THIS WAS ADORABLE! It had fake dating in a STEM environment, the grumpy/sunshine trope, amazing banter, great friend groups and demisexual representation. It felt like a warm hug and definitely a comfort read. Highly recommend.

Rating: 4,5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday

12 Fall 2021 Releases On My TBR
10 Books To Read If You Love The Fake Dating Trope

Quote It Wednesday

Can’t Wait Wednesday

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

September was a great music month:

MY FAVORITE: Ed Sheeran – Shivers

Gotta love Ed Sheeran! Super excited for his new album.

Itzy – Loco

2021 has really been Itzy’s year as Loco is yet another hit. It’s such a fun, catchy song and I love it.

Halsey – I Am Not A Woman, I’m A God

Umm, the entirety of Halsey’s new album ‘If I can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ is a masterpiece, and choosing just one song to feature here was difficult, but really, check out the entire album please 🙂

Ateez – Deja Vu

Another great comeback for Ateez. I love Deja Vu (but really, the whole album is amazing)

Stray Kids (Bang Chan and Hyunjin) – Red Lights

So my Stray Kids bias (Bang Chan) and one of my bias wreckers (Hyunjin) (the other bias wrecker is Han, in case you were wondering 😉 ) are featured in their own song and it’s a dark and sexy concept? Yes, please.

Coldplay & BTS – My Universe

This is a late addition and I almost didn’t add it. Not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting to love it, but then I caved and listened and I actually ADORE IT. A powerful collab and a feel-good song

And also… A PODCAST

I’ve been saying I wanted to get into podcasts for a while, and while I subscribed to many and listened to a few, I just haven’t been able to get into a habit of consistently listening to one yet. But now this may have changed, because I found The SEOULMATES Podcast. It’s a podcast where two girls, Maddie and Kim, talk about kdramas and occasionally kpop. And… I love it? I mean, none of my IRL friends or family watch kdramas or listen to kpop (though I did get my husband to watch 2 kdramas with me this year!) and I miss talking about it, you know? But now I can listen to these girls talk about their love of Hyun Bin’s dimples and their favorite Crash Landing On You scenes for 2 hours and I LOVE IT.

Check them out on Spotify here

September was pretty low on the TV watching. I continued my Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatch with a few episodes of season 5, watched 3 episodes of Angel season 1 and I finished the final 2-3 episodes of Doom At Your Service. Also, I watched the first episode of It’s Okay To Not Be Okay and 2 episodes of Because This Is My First Life.

So I watched a few things, but not enough to share any detailed thoughts yet 🙂

September really just flew by. And yet I can’t remember doing anything specific? I started working again after my 2-week vacation and I’ve just felt super busy yet again. I even had a 2-week blogging break to catch up on things and yet very little feels caught up *oops* Not sure where the time went but that’s okay. It means October was here just that bit more quickly 🙂

Things that made me happy this month:

• The new Annette Marie book and a deeper focus on my favorite character from that series.
• We still had some nice weather, but also gearing up towards fall, which is my fave season.
• Listening to the SeoulMates podcast.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

• HALLOWEEN! (also my birthday, yay 🙂 ) I can’t wait to plan my watch list, I’ve been craving a Practical Magic rewatch, as well as The Faculty (for some reason I’m super nostalgic for that old aliens-taking-over-highschool movie) and of course, Hocus Pocus.
• So many bookish releases! I’m mostly looking forward to The Ex Hex, Payback’s a Witch, Well Matched and All The Feels.

How was your September? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in October? Any plans for Halloween?

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