Indie Books Challenge: September 2021

For my personal Indie Books Challenge, I’ve decided to try to have at least half of all the books I read in a month be by an indie author or published by an indie publishing house, which I’m broadly defining as not published by one of the Big 5 because doing otherwise would break my already exhausted brain. So, how did I do in September?

I read 6 books and 3 were definitely indie books. Wow, 50% exactly! After an incredibly successful August comes a surprisingly successful September?! Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to me because I’m closed to review requests because online school has just been a serious downward spiral to the point where we jumped ship from the district and chose another online school that involves a lot more work, but at least my son is being given a real education and…not whatever that ragtag stuff he was getting from an online school that had no clue what it was doing and received no known (to me) support from the district it’s technically part of. So…yeah, kind of surprised by how well this month went even if I did read fewer books. Which I kind of enjoyed because I got to really savor them. Definitely some food for thought moving forward as a reader and blogger…

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The Indie Books

Miss Bennet’s Dragon by M Verant was my first indie read of the month, and I’m so glad it was! Definitely for fans of Pride and Prejudice, it takes the spirit of the book and characters, adds in some draca, and becomes something entirely unique and fun. It may have felt a little weird at the beginning, but I found it easy to be swept up in this retelling, and looking forward to the next book. My review

The Craftsman and the Wizard by Joel Newlon was one I wanted so badly to love. Traditional fantasy with a noble quest and what I thought was a motley group of characters. It turned out to feel like the author couldn’t figure out which character should tell the story, so both did, but they didn’t actually travel together. Still, it has a lot of heart, which I had to grudgingly applaud. My review

Nostalgia is Heartless by Sarah Lahey is the second book in the series, but I was assured it could be read on it’s own. To some degree, I would have to agree. I did feel caught up, though I sometimes wished I had known what had happened in the first book. There’s an adorable creature companion I wish there had been more of, but I liked this mostly because the main character was pregnant and dealing with impending motherhood.

The Books from the Big 5

My first read of September was to finish The Bone Ship’s Wake by RJ Barker. If you thought the second book killed you… I have yet to read a review of this book where it hasn’t slayed the reader. I just…have no words.

Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper is one I had been looking forward to. I’m really enjoying witchy reads this year, and, as it’s set around Halloween, this is the perfect time to read it! So far, I think this has my favorite sapphic romance, and there’s tons of fascinating magic. I’m not a fan of Halloween, but even I wouldn’t mind a visit to Thistle Grove. It sounds more fall festival than Halloween, so it’s right up my alley.

The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski is turning out to be another book to help get me into the Halloween season. This is a thriller about an exclusive group of moms and plenty of secrets. So far, it feels like every other thriller, but I’m eagerly anticipating all the twists and turns that should be happening soon!

Thanks for reading!

Head over to the Bookshelf to check out my reviews of books from the Big 5 and self-published, indie, and small press books.

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