How is it the end of August? Kids are back at school next week and they’ve only been home about five minutes…

Anyway, books. My summer holiday reads haven’t entirely followed my TBR plans back at the start of the month, but I have hit and passed my reading target of 36 books in 2016 – now I just get to see how much I beat it by! I have caught the book bug once again. (Total so far stands at 38)

So, what did I read in August?:

Haunt Me by Liz Kessler 3.5/5* – Review coming next month, nearer to the book’s publication date.

Harry Potter & The Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling 4/5* – I think I fared better with this than many thanks to having read plenty of scripts as books in the past familiarising myself with the style. I enjoyed the trip back to Hogwarts and my teenage self is much in love with Scorpius Malfoy. Not perfect by any means but an enjoyable and indulgent trip down memory lane on a new adventure and I do hope to see it on stage one day.

Prescient by Derek Murphy 4/5* – I accidentally read this one, I got a sampler of it at YALC and just had to get the ebook of it then and there to keep on reading. I talk more about it in this post.

Noah’s Brother by Dick King Smith 4/5* – Tori and I read this together. We got given a copy by my gran when she sorted out her bookshelves and I was excited to read a DKS story I hadn’t read before. We both enjoyed the story – some of the jokes going above Tori’s head but amusing me, I loved that it had these different levels of humour. An interesting and funny alternative ark story that kept the heart of the story pure whilst adding a typically DKS twist.

The Graces by Laure Eve 5/5* – My favourite book of the month by far that comes out tomorrow – full review here.

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell 5/5* – This was a World Book Day short story and I loved it. It was a simple story about a girl joining in a camp-out queue for the last Star Wars movie (Episode VII). It was utterly adorable, funny and a totally indulgent nerd-fest. It made me giggle and left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside afterwards.

I also read several sampler books that I picked up at YALC and blogged about them here, here and here.

Tori and I have been sharing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone together as well this month. I am enjoying introducing Tori to the magic of Hogwarts 🙂

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