Indie Books Challenge: October 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 October?

I read 7 books and only 1 was definitely an indie book, but, of all the books I’ve read this month, that’s the one that sticks with me the most. So this month was clearly not one for indie reads. It might have something to do with the fact I closed to requests over the summer. I just couldn’t keep up with the emails, and I’m sure I still have some sitting from back in May. Anyways, I do have a ton of traditionally published books from NetGalley and publishers that have October and November publication dates, so had to jump on those in the limited amount of time to read I suddenly found myself with. Will November be better? Doubtful.

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The Indie Books

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse by Will Soulsby-McCreath was my only indie read of the month. I’ve been very excited about this one since it’s by one of my favorite writing bloggers and I was so honored for the chance to review this one! The characters were so good, they made my jaw drop. The story offered some turns I did not see. And, really, the world is so incredible. My review

The Books from the Big 5

I started off October by finishing up The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski. As a thriller, it left something to be desired. As a Halloween read, it was a lot of fun. My review

Sophie Valroux’s Paris Stars by Samantha Verant was my next read of October. This was one of my most anticipated reads this year, and it did not disappoint! Since it’s centered around a female chef working hard to prove herself in the culinary world, reading this made me so hungry and itching to cook something fancy. But I also love Sophie and I love all the people around her, and what could be better that a book set at a French chateau? My review

All the Feels by Olivia Dade follows Spoiler Alert, a romance novel I actually enjoyed. I had high hopes for the sequel, but it didn’t quite work for me. But it was nice to at least see Marcus from the first book around. A bit of a cringe-worthy read to me.

The Seventh Queen by Greta Kelly was actually something of a dreaded read to me. Why did I request it from NetGalley then? Because the first book ended in a cliffhanger in such a way that it made me feel like I only got half the book. I did not like the main character, but I was pleased to see she didn’t annoy me quite so much in the second book and the romance was turned way down.

The God of Lost Words by A.J. Hackwith is the third in the Hell’s Library series. I’m sad it’s the end of the trilogy because I love these books so much. They revolve around libraries that exist within various cultures’ death realms, but focus on the Unwritten Wing in Hell.

And then, because I had to find out how it The God of Lost Words ended, I hurried to finish it, so started on Noor by Nnedi Okorafor because I needed something to read to my daughter as she fell asleep. Okorafor’s books have received high praise and have been recommended to be a few times, so I decided to try out this one when I saw it on NetGalley. Which also means I have high hopes. We’ll see how it goes.

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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