Amy Scott's Thoughts

Bookish Thoughts for October

I have so many bookish thoughts for October! It was a month full of fun and interesting reading!

I had Kindle Unlimited for part of the month, so I focused my reading heavily that direction at the start of the month. I finished the Sweater Weather series and then jumped into bingeing Kortney Keisel’s books. Her new release, How Jenna Became My Dilemma, featured the main characters as actors making Keisel’s YA dystopian series into a television show. Keisel made her Desolate World series available on KU as a result and I was curious. It had been a while since I read anything dystopian. It was fun to add some diversity to my reading (but I will say the books are super light on the dystopian vibes).

It was a big month for series reading. I finished The Chronicles of Narnia, which I had started in September. It’s always a joy revisiting these favorite books of mine. It was a special treat to share them with Owen this fall as well. I will fondly remember introducing Owen to Narnia and then camping out there for a while myself.

I had a surprise book discovery this month – Hero Debut. I don’t always keep on top of new releases for my favorite authors – it could be a full time job if I let it. I was surprised to see that Angela Ruth Strong’s August new release was a follow-up to her book Husband Auditions. I love it when a novel turns into a series. This series – Love Off Script – takes place in the PNW so I enjoy the familiar setting. I’m now very excited that there will be a third book in the series at some point!

To wrap up my bookish thoughts for October… A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber. So much to say about this one! This book follows The Ballad of Never After which ended with quite the cliff hanger. I’ve been waiting in suspense and anticipation for over a year to see how this story concludes. I devoured this book because I just had to know how it ended. Unfortunately, anything that is highly anticipated rarely meets up to the hype and I felt that way about this book. I like how it ended… but I felt like a lot of questions from the overall series went unanswered. It’s killing me to have so many questions at the end of a series. I ordered the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition which features an alternative ending as the bonus content. This bonus content improved the ending in my opinion. While I enjoyed this series, I’m disappointed with all the loose ends that didn’t get tied up by the finale.

Top Picks for October

Non-Fiction: The Worry-Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too by Sissy Goff. I’ve read many books by Sissy Goff and other counselors out of Daystar Counseling. Their parenting tools and wisdom are top-notch. I highly recommend them. This book was focused on “you” as a parent because who you are affects how you parent. As someone who is prone to worry and anxiety, I was drawn in by the title. I could see the same tools that Sissy Goff and David Thomas use for the kids they counsel also being useful for parents. I recognized quite a few of the tools mentioned in the book. Sissy Goff is an encourager and champion of parents (and she’s a fellow Enneagram 1). Her purpose is to help parents be healthy so they can raise healthy kids. It was an excellent read.
Fiction: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. Opinions vary on which book in The Chronicles of Narnia is the best. Many say it’s the original story, the one that started it all – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Many love Caspian and would say that Prince Caspian or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are top. As an adult, I would say my top three are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, and The Magician’s Nephew. I really can’t pick a favorite out of the bunch, but I did want to highlight The Horse and His Boy. As a child this was my least favorite of the books and now as an adult it’s one of my most favorite. It’s strange how opinions change with age. As a young reader, I didn’t feel that The Horse and His Boy moved the plot of the overall series along. As an adult, I feel it’s one of the best stories in the series. It truly is an epic adventure and C.S. Lewis is one to the best storytellers ever!

The Book List for October
1 Star = I did not like it. 2 stars = It was okay. 3 stars = I liked it. 4 stars = I really liked it. 5 stars = It was amazing.

Non-Fiction:

• Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad: The Perspective Shift That Could Completely Change the Way You Mother by Abbie Halberstadt – 3 stars
• The Worry-Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too by Sissy Goff – 4 stars

Fiction:

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis – 5 stars
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis – 5 stars
• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis – 5 stars
• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis – 5 stars
• The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis – 5 stars
• Easy as Pie by Carina Taylor – 3 stars
• A Not So Fictional Fall by Savannah Scott – 3 stars
• Absolutely Not in Love by Jenny Proctor – 3 stars
• How Jenna Became My Dilemma by Kortney Keisel – 3 stars
• The Rejected King by Kortney Keisel – 3 stars
• The Promised Prince by Kortney Keisel – 3 stars
• The Stolen Princess by Kortney Keisel – 3 stars
• The Forgotten Queen by Kortney Keisel – 4 stars
• The Desolate World (novella) by Kortney Keisel – 3 stars
• Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – 3 stars
• The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber – 4 stars
• A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber – 3 stars
• The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman – 3 stars
• Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne – 3 stars
• Hero Debut by Angela Ruth Strong – 4 stars