Planned Reads for October.

It's Halloween, which means I get to read one of my favourite genres - horror! I have a lot of exciting reads waiting for me on my shelves, but I've picked out a few I'm hoping to get to.

I've read one of Michelle Paver's ghost stories before, 'Thin Air', and loved it! Now I've nabbed a copy of 'Wakenhyrst', an England-set period horror/mystery about a painting, a family secret, and murder. I'm a big fan of scary stories set in big, old houses so this should be perfect for me!

'The Phantom Of The Opera' by Gaston Leroux is a classic that has been on my list for a long time. I love the musical and the film, but have never read the book. I hope I love it just as much!

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's 'The Deathless Girls' is one of my most anticipated reads right now, and I really hope I get round to it! A feminist retelling of 'Dracula'! What's not to love?

I'm a big fan of Frances Hardinge, and 'A Skinful Of Shadows' has intrigued me for a while. It looks like it's full of my usual Hardinge loves - an original plot, plenty of whimsy, and some sinister spooks!

The master of horror, Stephen King, hasn't been on my Halloween list for a while and I strongly feel that I haven't found the right book of his yet. Having now become a cat owner, I'm really hoping that 'Pet Sematary' will give me the chills I've been looking for.

It is kind of bugging me that I still haven't read Melissa Albert's 'The Hazel Wood' yet. It definitely looks like a good read for October, and any blurb that contains thee phrase 'dark fairytales' has my attention.

Planned Reads for September.

I have a brand new list of books that I'm desperate to read this month! I can't believe how close it is to Halloween, and so I'm starting to get a feel for some different genres!

I have started and am a good way through 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh and liking it so far. It's full of necromancy, has a bisexual MC, and a gorgeous front cover. I hope to finish it soon!

'The Poet X' by Elizabeth Acevedo looks absolutely amazing, and I'm really excited to give this book a try! I love a PoC MC, and I'm looking forward to some spoken word poetry!

Speaking of poetry, I've been really intrigued by this fairly recent acquisition: 'Aphrodite Made Me Do It' by Trista Mateer. The cover is so stunning, but I love the idea of poetic dialogue between Mateer and Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love.

I'm also in the mood for some epic fantasy if I get time this month, and 'The Poppy War' by R.F. Kuang has definitely caught my eye! Hopefully it lives up to the crazily good reviews and hype!

I want to try and get a bit further through 'A Song Of Ice & Fire', and so the next book I need to read is 'A Dance With Dragons: Dreams & Dust' by George R.R. Martin. It's more epic fantasy which is a good genre for September!

Lastly, I want to read 'His Last Bow' in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'complete Sherlock Holmes' collection. I'm really looking forward to having my socks blown off for this one, the previous instalments in the series were very impressive!

Planned Reads For August.

I'm enjoying the smaller expectations each month, especially as I'm going through a bit of a slump at the moment. I have six books, mostly pulled over from last month's selections that I didn't get to, that I can hopefully read this month!

That's right. I'm still promising to read 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh. In fact, I have actually started now, but it's taken me a long time to get to that point thanks to...the slump. I'm excited for the bisexual MC, necromancy and hopefully some fun, magical, queer shenanigans.

'Hello Me, It's You', a collection of letters compiled by Hannah Todd, caught my eye a while back but I'd like to read something that focuses on mental health this month as my own has been off lately. It has good reviews, with many saying they were bawling while reading, so I have a good feeling about this book!

I'm kind of feeling the non-fiction vibe this month, and I started reading 'They/Them/Their' by Eris Young a couple of days ago in a bid to read more on non-binary, queer and transgender issues. I'm learning so much so far!

So, pulled over from last month is 'Summer Bird Blue' by Akemi Dawn Bowman. I want to read this while it can still be considered summer, and this book focuses on grief which I tend to find are reads that I enjoy.

I have to say, 'The Love Interest' by Cale Dietrich looks like a lot of fun! If spy schools don't immediately catch your attention, how about a love triangle with a twist? Will my gay-loving heart be able to cope when the two boys battling to win the girl's heart fall for each other instead?

I liked 'They Both Die At The End' by Adam Silvera, and Love, Simon, the movie based on Becky Albertalli's 'Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda' was a big hit with me too, so it stands to reason that a collab beetween the two would be right up my street. Enter - 'What If It's Us'. I can't wait to read this book!

Planned Reads For July.

Even though I'm officially 'back', I'm really enjoying the lack of pressure when I pick less books per month, so I'm picking out another six for July! Seeing as the 6th July is London Pride, I really want to focus include some LGBTQ+ reads, but also Summer puts me in the mood for lots of contemporary reads with light, fun covers!

'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh has been on my TBR for way too long, and as much as I love seeing it's beautiful cover on my pile, I want to read it too! Pink, necromancers, a bisexual MC and plenty of fantastical shenanigans are all things I am so here for!

I took a few of the books on this list on my honeymoon with me, 'The Love Interest' by Cale Dietrich being one of them. I love the idea of two boys from rival 'spy' academies working agains each other to get the girl but maybe...falling for each other? So original and fun!

My next pick is a book perfect for the season! 'What If It's Us' by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera sounds like the gay rom-com I've always wanted. I hope it lives up to the hype I've built in my head for it!

Madeline Miller's 'The Song Of Achilles' looks like a stunning addition to my list of July's reads, and the following that this book has is more than enough to convince me that I will love this. It contains Greek Mythology, my favourite, and an LGBTQ+ outlook on the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus.

I love watching Queer Eye so is it any wonder that I want to read Tan France's autobiography 'Naturally Tan'? It looks super funny, and as Tan is from England originally I'm quite excited to read about his experiences in this country.

My last choice looks like it will take my emotions and drown me with them, but I'm really loving the cover and concept of 'Summer Bird Blue'. I enjoyed the last book I read that focused on grief immensely ('The Astonishing Colour Of After' by Emily X.R. Pan) and this one is set in Hawaii!

Planned Reads (& Hiatus) For June.

Once again, I'll keep this post and my expectations short as I'm going to pretty much be book-free in the first couple of weeks of June thanks to all the wedding bits I need to do! Afterwards I'll be on my Honeymoon and do have plans to relax and get some reading done then, but we'll see how it goes!

I've talked many times about 'Enchantée' by Gita Trelease, and I think it's pretty clear how much I need to get cracking with this book. I am part-way through it and enjoying it so far!

Another book I've been eyeing up? 'Shadow Of The Fox' by Julie Kagawa. It was on last month's TBR and I am a bit disappointed I didn't get to it yet, it looks like a cool concept. The mixed reviews are making me pause but I look forward to immersing myself in a book set in Japan.

I wanted to read more LGBTQ+ books this month, seeing as it is the month of Pride. I've picked 'Trans Power' by Juno Roche as I'm taking the opportunity to educate myself on a subject that I really should know more about.

I have also picked a few LGBTQ+ fictional reads and the first is 'The Love Interest' by Cale Dietrich. I love the idea of spies and Government agencies mixed with a typical sweet boy falling for a bad boy scenario. I can't wait for this one!

Madeline Miller's 'The Song Of Achilles' has been recommended to me by a vast pool of people, and I love that it's historical fiction, a retelling of Greek mythology and LGBTQ+.

I don't know huge amounts about 'What If It's Us' by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera other than the fact that it's an M/M romance but I'm already digging it! This was actually gifted to me on a Secret Santa wish-list group which was pretty cool!

Hiatus...

So now that I've given you guys an idea of my reading plans for this month, I guess I'll spend a minute informing you all that I am getting married on 17th June and so will be on hiatus until then! This means no posts from me until after the wedding. I plan to take my laptop with me on my honeymoon in Croatia and it would be nice to really spend some time catching up but I won't promise anything as it will be...you know...my honeymoon. Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and invest in my blog, I'll try not to be away too long and will organise a big catch-up post when I am back in the UK on the 26th, but you can probably expect to see posts from the 18th onwards!

Planned Reads for May.

I am inclined to put a little bit less pressure on myself for the next couple of months reading-wise, as the wedding is coming up fast and I hate feeling as if I'm constantly playing catch-up. I'm setting myself a target of six reads this month, though I doubt I'll even do that!

'Enchantée' by Gita Trelease is probably one of my most anticipated 2019 releases! It's a bit disappointing that I haven't finished yet but I have high hopes for doing so in the next couple of months, as I have actually started it now! I'm liking what I've read so far, though the size of the book is a little intimidating!

I've been eyeing up 'The Astonishing Colour Of After' by Emily X.R. Pan for a while, as the premise and the cover are absolutely stunning! It not only deals with a lot of themes, it's apparently a contemporary with a little bit of magical realism/fantasy thrown in for good measure and is set in Taiwan!

Speaking of books set in a totally different culture, I love the idea of Julie Kagawa's 'Shadow Of The Fox' Japanese-inspired fantasy! It's had kind of mixed reviews but the cover is stunning and I really want to read something by this author.

I really fancy reading some shorter stories, and this 'Little Black Classics' collection dubbed as feminist stories has really peaked my interest. 'The Yellow-Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman contains three short stories which I'm excited to read!

There's not much to say about 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh than I've said in past Planned Reads posts. I want to read it so badly and I hope that I can get to it soon!

It has been a while since I've read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes' stories, and 'The Valley Of Fear' is up next! I hope it's as good as 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles, which I enjoyed immensely!

Planned Reads for April.

The fact that I'm getting married in a couple of months is both super exciting and extremely stressful! We are already at April? What?! March went super quickly though. But I'm super ready for another month of amazing reads.

'Enchantée' by Gita Trelease has been on my radar for a while, and it's probably one of my most anticipated 2019 releases! It's a bit disappointing that I haven't got to it yet but I have high hopes for doing so in the next couple of months!

I also love Sara Barnard's books and was totally pumped to see her release a sequel for 'Beautiful Broken Things', 'Fierce Fragile Hearts'. I can't wait to see Suzanne, Caddy and Rosie again and be back in Brighton! I hope I love it as much as I loved the first.

I have been drooling over 'Reign Of The Fallen's' cover for quite some time. But I recently looked a little more into the synopsis of Sarah Glenn Marsh's necromancer-fantasy novel and I am so hyped to see bi rep in it that I must read it at once.

Speaking of LGBTQ+ rep, Samantha Shannon's stand-alone epic fantasy, 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree', also has plenty to spare! I'm a little nervous about the size of this book but I think that it will be well worth it!

I received 'And The Mountains Echoed' as a present last year and was super excited, because my sister has been recommending Khaled Hosseini's books to me for an age. I can't wait to give this book a go!

Mat and I have watched Marie Kondo's hit Netflix series, and now I want to read the book that started the hype, 'The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying'. Anything that can help me to become a little bit better at life will be most welcome.

'Illuminae' by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is a book that I feel like everyone has read but me. There's a whole series now! But I'm excited to read it at some point soon, and I've found a whole new appreciation and love for sci-fi recently.

I'm also really in the mood for a retelling of a fairy tale, and 'Cruel Beauty', which re-imagines Beauty & The Beast with some Greek Mythology thrown in for fun, looks amazing! I can't wait to read this!

Planned Reads For March.

There are still a lot of reads from last month that I'm desperate to get to, so I'll be putting them on this month's list! I do also have a couple of other reads this month that I'm looking forward to getting into!

Sara Holland's 'Everless' has been on my TBR forever, and I know the friend that is desperate for me to read it is so disappointed in me for keep putting it off so enough is enough. I am not reading anything else until this book is read!

As soon as I'm done with 'Everless', I will be moving straight onto Leigh Bardugo's 'Crooked Kingdom' which I have been super excited about reading forever. I can't wait to finish this duology and hopefully love this book as much as the first one!

I received this next book as a gift for Christmas and am absolutely head-over-heels in love with the cover. A book about the undead and necromancy with a sugary sweet pink colour scheme is absolutely my aesthetic! 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh looks amazing, and I'm particularly excited about this one.

This is also hopefully the month that I'll get to read two of my most anticipate 2019 reads - the first being 'Enchantée' by Gita Trelease! The french revolution, mixed with magic? Amazing! I'm all about the court intrigue and dash of romance that I'm sure to find in these pages!

The second hotly anticipated 2019 release is of course Samantha Shannon's 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree' because everything about this book looks breath-taking. Epic fantasies are my jam and this one is written by a woman so I'm excited to read this!

'Rubyfruit Jungle' by Rita Mae-Brown is deemed to be one of the coming out books, and it was suggested by a friend of mine, whom I record a podcast with. It's actually one of our chosen reads. I'm certainly intrigued, and definitely in the mood for something classic to bury my nose in.

I love Sara Barnard's books. We all know this. 'Fierce Fragile Hearts' is actually a sequel (of sorts) to 'Beautiful Broken Things', her debut! I really adored that first book and look forward to continuing Suzanne, Caddy and Rosie's stories!

I love a good mystery now and again and so Kimberly McCreight's book 'The Outliers' looks awesome! It involves telepathy, being on the run, cryptic clues and a missing friend, but other than that I don't know an awful lot about this book. I have to say though, it has some pretty mixed reviews so I'm hoping it's as good as it sounds!

I also thought I'd take the time to highlight Pretty Deadly Blog's new Bookish Bingo card! Running from March to May there are some awesome categories here! I look forward to joining in.