For Top Ten Tuesday tomorrow I’ll be sharing my autumn TBR, so it’s the perfect time to see how much of my summer TBR I actually read!
This is a particularly fun wrap-up for me because it means I’ve officially been holding myself accountable for my progress with my seasonal TBRs for a whole year – my first post like this was wrapping up my 2019 summer reads – and this is something I’m going to keep doing. Now that I know I’m checking in on my progress at the end of each season it’s made me much better at not only reading more books on my TBR, but also at choosing books for my TBR that I’m genuinely excited and in the mood to read.
I have to admit that summer ended up being a bit more slumpy than I hoped it would be. A lot of that is down to me going back to work, and therefore having much less time to read than I did when I was furloughed, but one of the books on my TBR ended up putting me in a bit of a slump, too…
Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Empire of Gold by S.A Chakraborty
Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
Beach Read by Emily Henry
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
6/10 – a little over half ain’t bad!
While I feel like my summer reading suffered thanks to feeling slumpy, I still had a pretty strong reading season!
After enjoying Get a Life, Chloe Brown earlier this year, I devoured the second book in this romance companion series, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and absolutely loved it. I ended up really enjoying Emily Henry’s Beach Read, too! This year more than any other I’ve taken full advantage of how comforting, fluffy and happy the romance genre can be.
Because it’s me, though, there was still plenty of fantasy in my summer reading. I finally crossed Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand off my TBR and loved it; it’s cemented the love I have for desert fantasy, which I’d like to keep picking up more of, and I can’t wait to read the companion novel.
Speaking of finally crossing books off my TBR, I got to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest novel, Mexican Gothic, over the summer and had such a good time reading it. I need some more Mexican horror in my life and I’ve loved seeing so many more people reading and enjoying Moreno-Garcia’s work!
What I’m most chuffed with is that I was able to finish up two trilogies with two chunky final novels. I read the entirety of the Daevabad Trilogy on my kindle so I had no idea S.A Chakraborty’s The Empire of Gold was over 700 pages long, but I sped through it and adored it. It was such a satisfying ending to what has become one of my favourite trilogies, and I can’t wait to get my hands on what Chakraborty publishes next.
Sadly, Assassin’s Quest wasn’t quite so successful for me and, other than going back to work, is the other reason I ended up in a major slump over the summer. I loved Royal Assassin so I was so excited to dive into Assassin’s Quest, but for me it was far too long and, to be honest, a little boring. I find Fitz far more interesting when he has other people to talk to and he spends a lot of this novel alone, through a plot that drags, only for everything to essentially be solved in hindsight during the epilogue. I was not impressed!
I am really disappointed in myself for not getting to A Song Below Water or Queen of the Conquered. Only reading one of the three Black authors on my TBR this summer has really annoyed me. I tried reading A Song Below Water several times and, for whatever reason, I couldn’t get into, but it is one I want to go back to. I also gave Queen of the Conquered a try and it’s another one I’d like to read this year, but it has one hell of a dark opening chapter and I just wasn’t quite in the mood for it.
The Unhoneymooners and Dragon Unleashed are another two that will remain on my TBR for now! I’m going to save The Unhoneymooners for next summer, I think, as it isn’t one I’m in any rush to read, but I would like to cross Dragon Unleashed off my TBR this year if I can.
All in all, I read six of the ten books on my TBR and really enjoyed five of them, so it wasn’t a bad summer at all! I’m still bitter that Assassin’s Quest was such a disappointment, though…
Mexican Gothic sounds really good and everyone seems to enjoy it, so I’ll have to try to read that soon. I really hit a reading slump this year too but I’m hoping I’ll read more this fall/winter to make up for it! I had a big stack of books I planned to read this summer and barely touched them. 😦
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Ugh that’s the worst! Reading slumps can be so frustrating, but sometimes we just have to embrace them and give ourselves a break–especially during a year like this one. 🙂 I hope you’re back into reading soon and that you enjoy Mexican Gothic if you pick it up!
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Great job! Mexican Gothic sounds fantastic. I can’t wait to read it myself!
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Love this idea! I did the opposite – read The Unhoneymooners and decided to save Beach Read for next summer, haha. Loved it though, hope you enjoy it – it’s a perfect summer read so I understand why you’d save it! 🙂
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Six out of ten is great!
I found Assassin’s Quest a bit boring too, to be honest. I just finished Ship of Magic, however, and I LOVED it. It may even be my best book of the year so far; it’s totally different.
I have to say that I didn’t love Mexican Gothic, but I realise I’m pretty much alone in that 😀
New follower, hello!
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Thanks, and thanks so much for following! 😁
I’ve heard such good things about Ship of Magic and I really want to read it, so I’m glad you enjoyed it! I felt the need to take a break from Robin Hobb after Assassin’s Quest, but I’d like to get to it this year for sure.
Mexican Gothic is an odd one, so I understand why some people didn’t like it! My favourite Silvia Moreno-Garcia novel is still her debut, Signal to Noise. 💜
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You did really well, 6/10 is so great! 😀
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Thank you! 🙂
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6 out of 10 is an awesome accomplishment! I loved Mexican Gothic too, it was such a good and absorbing read.
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Thank you! Mexican Gothic was so good–it’s definitely put me in the mood for spooky books.
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I would say you did pretty well 🙂 Most important is that you enjoyed your reads!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Thanks Evelyn, that’s very true!
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I usually feel like if I read 30% of books on a particular TBR, then that’s a success haha so well done! I didn’t make a summer TBR but A Song Below Water and Mexican Gothic are both on my general TBR. Or were – I finally started Mexican Gothic a few days ago 🙂
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That sounds like a good reading rule to live by! 😀
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I think you did great😁 I’m going to be looking back on my last quarter reading in a week or so and I’m pretty sure i failed, lol.
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Thanks Tammy! 😀 Haha I think we can afford to be a bit kinder to ourselves this year!
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You did great! I know for sure that I didn’t finish my summer TBR. I keep getting distracted by new books and don’t read the ones that have been sitting around.
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Thank you! Same–I’m a magpie when it comes to new books.
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I think you did a great job! The Unhoneymooners was a fun read, so I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
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Thanks! I’m looking forward to getting to The Unhoneymooners one day, I’ve heard lots of good things about it.
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6 out of 10 is awesome! Well done, Jess 😃 Sorry to hear that one book put you in such a slump but you’ve read a lot of great books that are also on my TBR. I had no idea Queen of the Conquered was by Kacen Callender and even though I still haven’t read any of their books, knowing they authored it has piqued my interest even more! Hope you feel less slumpy soon. Happy reading ❤️
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Thanks Dini! 🙂 Yeah, I’m glad I crossed AQ off my TBR but I wish it hadn’t put me in a slump in the process. I still need to read some of Callender’s work – I keep hearing so many good things about their books! I hope we both enjoy Queen of the Conquered when we get to it. 😀
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I think 6 out of 10 is really good! I definitely didn’t get through my summer tbr list
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Thanks! 🙂 It’s so easy to get distracted from the TBRs we set ourselves.
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