Somehow September just ran away from me. Books that should have taken a few days to read, went on for a week or two. There was also plenty of life to live, with sunny walks with the dogs, baking for my family and having them (kids & their spouses & my dad) over, spending time with my loved ones instead of books. I also spent one weekend reading my son’s almost complete enthralling trilogy, not published as a book (series), but available (in Finnish) in archiveofourown, Everything Underneath, by NotSoExtinctRex, which obviously isn’t displayed in the stats.

As for the books that are in the stats, there were 11 of them, 4298 pages.

• The Art of Charming a Changeling (Pigments and Paramours 1), by Sylvie Cathrall – A cutesie sweet slow pace, slow burn story as expected from Cathrall, with another quite autistic (and quite a bit traumatized) protagonist finding her way and herself and her love. A warm and heartfelt story, this 💜
• Rider of Dragons (Dragon Riders 1), by Aamna Qureshi – Set in the world of The Baby Dragon Café, this book starts a new just a touch darker series, delving into the illegal yet thriving dragon racing and the mafia style organization running them (along with a fare share of dragon poaching and other such activities). There’s romance, family drama, betrayal and the crash bang twist at the end that you kinda saw coming but couldn’t really believe in, so it just crushed you. How can things ever be right again?!
• The Last Graduate (Scholomance 2) & The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance 3), by Naomi Novik – Novik’s style is sort of slow pace reading while the story unfolds with twists and turns, with secrets and hidden darkness unveiled. A story of friendship and loyalty conquering the machinations of the powerlusty and setting wrongs right, one little bit by bit. A story of how good intentions may well be the road to hell (or at least evil), where evil may well have a noble origin.
• The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny) (Guides to Villainy and Love 2), by Tiffany Hunt – Embrace your inner villain (for it’s powered by the right things after all) and jump to save the world with Lord and Lady Blackrose. A story full of fun and adventure, but also of facing the past and hurt and letting go, making choices. There will be a book 3, we were left off on a cliffhanger – can’t wait! (though obviously have no other choice😄)
• Disenchanted (Selcouth 3), by Lucy Jane Wood – Third book in Wood’s series of independent withchy cozy mystery romatacies, so far my favorite of them (maybe? I did love the first one thoroughly too, second one not as much) with it’s fairytale world gone wrong, but obviously love conquers all. Sweet and lovely autumn read 💜
• Dragons of Safe Haven books 1-3, by Julia Huni – Books full of hope and heart and second chances. Cozy fantasy/romantacy stories that make you cry in the good way and leave you feeling warm and fuzzy because while there’s evil in the world, there’s a Safe Haven protected by the magic of love and care, where the evils feel (mostly) like just a distant echo. Wonderful heartwarming reads, loved every book 💜
  • A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement
  • A Blacksmith’s Guide to Dragon Rearing
  • A Rider’s Guide to Dragon Healing
• The Stonewater Kingdom duology: The Knight and the Moth and The Knave and the Moon, by Rachel Gillig – A tale of finding love, friendship and the truth in a kingdom ruled with decept and falsehoods and a need to find something to believe in. A beautiful and compelling story where nothing and no one is exactly what the seem – both ways, good and bad, and so much more than their appearance. And I love the gargoyle 😄

Sept 9, I’m so devastated! Totally wrecked! I was gearing for the supposedly guaranteed happy ending of the newest A.T. Qureshi book, Rider of Dragons, but what I got was a total betrayal twist with a cliffhanger!

I cannot contend! I mean, I don’t think there was a HEA guarantee anywhere, but the Baby Dragon Cafe books all had one, all were stand-alones set in the same Starshine Valley as this one, so excuse my mistake, but I was destroyed by this book! Funnily enough, though, it also sealed the 5 stars for the book 😄 And now I need to wait for a year for the next book 😭

Sept 20, I spent the weekend reading the breathtakingly beautiful and utterly devastating almost complete trilogy-long (I mean, 220 000 words so far, the equivalent of about 700 massmarket paperback pages) queer “coming of age” kind of story written by my son. My god, he is brilliant, and in my (admittedly a bit biased but as an avid reader still valid) opinion, it’s totally on par with the best books I’ve read in my vast reading life. A total emotional ride, an excellent read!

It’s a story about an autistic kind of a prince, forced into a marriage for political reasons, falling for the wrong guy (who, I hope, will turn out to be the right guy when the last chapters are finally done). A turbulent political atmosphere, a turbulent relationship, a turbulent unsure young prince who only has difficult choices. I laughed, I cried, I was torn into shreds, I felt an overwhlem of love.

It’s in Finnish, but if that’s ok, here you go: Everything Underneath, by NotSoExtinctRex.