And just like that another Summerween has come and gone. I wasn’t able to be as involved with Summerween as I wanted to this year, but I was still able to participate and complete the prompts, which I’m very happy about!
As always, with the end of Summerween comes my wrap up and mini reviews, so let’s get to it!
The first book that I read for Summerween was Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. This fulfilled the following prompts: read a novella, manga, or listen to a spooky audiobook, read a book in the dark or at night and read a horror or thriller book. I’ve had Ring Shout on my tbr for a while now and I’m really glad that I got to start off my Summerween experience with this one.
I actually didn’t know about the fantasy element to the story, and I really enjoyed it. I love when authors combine horror and fantasy, it typically works so well and I thought that this was one of those cases. What I loved was that even with the fantasy elements, this story felt so real. I really felt for these characters and was emotionally invested in their well-being while reading.
Ring Shout ended up being a 3.5 star read for me. I thought the writing was vivid, the plot interesting and overall it was a very enjoyable read. The only reason I’m giving it 3.5 stars instead of 4 is because I was super distracted while reading it and found myself taking a lot of little breaks while reading or zoning out and then needing to reread. That’s 100% on me and not the book, but since I wasn’t fully engaged the entire time I was reading I didn’t feel that I could give it a full 4 stars.
My second book of Summerween was The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert. Which fulfilled the prompts of: read a novella, manga, or listen to a spooky audiobook, read a horror or thriller book, and read a book that’s been on your tbr for a year or longer. I remember reading The Hazel Wood by this author and loving it and the writing style/atmosphere specifically, so I was really looking forward to reading The Bad Ones and it luckily was the only horror or thriller book that I owned that had been on my tbr for over a year, so this was the perfect time to read it.
Unfortunately, this was not a successful one for me. I listened to the audiobook while at work, and typically, that’s not an issue for me. Even while doing my tasks I can listen and follow along with the story, but I just couldn’t with this one. Nothing about it captivated me. The characterization, plot and atmosphere felt severely lacking for me, and to be honest, I was just waiting for it to be over. The Bad Ones ended up being a 2 star for me, which was definitely a disappointment.
Summerween read number 3 was Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin, and it fulfilled the prompts of read a book in the dark or at night and read a horror or thriller book. The second I heard about this book I knew I had to read it. Firstly, that cover is insane, I’m obsessed. Secondly, it’s giving MAJOR Little Shop of Horrors vibes, and as Little Shop is one of my favorite musicals, there was no way I could pass up a book that had a somewhat similar plot.
When I tell you that I was obsessed with this book! I love books set in Ireland, and I’ll be totally honest, while it’s not like the book really transported me to Ireland, just knowing it was set there was comforting to me. The atmosphere was great; I could really imagine this somewhat desolate mall and that giant plant. Honestly, I was just vibing with this book from the get-go. It’s exactly the kind of weird that I like, I mean the story was told from the plant’s POV! How could I not vibe? I really thought everything about this was so interesting — I think going into it pretty blind is the way to go because I had no idea where this book was going from one moment to the next.
Eat the Ones You Love was a 4.5 star read for me, and am looking forward to reading more of her work.
The last book that I read for Summerween was Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson, fulfilling the prompts of read a book with a sky on the cover, read a book in the dark or at night and read a horror or thriller book. This one intrigued me from the second I read the synopsis and I had it on my tbr cart for a while, so I was really glad to get it read during Summerween.
I was hooked from the moment I started reading. The pacing of this book was fantastic! I read an incredibly slow paced thriller at the end of June, and the second I started Tell Me What You Did, I was like “YES! Now this is the pacing you need for a thriller!”. I really didn’t want to put this one down. Like, I legitimately would’ve read this 420 page book in one sitting if I didn’t have to go to sleep so that I could be a functioning adult the next day. I didn’t want to stop reading, I needed to know what was going on!
Since I read a lot of mystery/thrillers, I’m always looking for a book that does something new, and this book did something I’ve never seen before and am OBSESSED with. There were QR codes throughout the book, and if you opened them, you’d get a piece of “video evidence” with an actor acting out part of the scene you just read. It honestly was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a book in a long time and I got so excited every time one popped up. This really made the reading experience for me, and gosh the videos were chilling!
Tell Me What You Did was an easy 4.5 star read for me, and I’ve already got another Carter Wilson book lined up!
I started a few books during the week of Summerween that I got pretty far in but didn’t finish during the readathon. I finally started reading Gillian McAlister’s Famous Last Words, and got 162 pages in during the last few days of Summerween. and really enjoyed it! I finished it a few days after the readathon ended and it was very successful for me, so I’m looking forward to reading Wrong Place Wrong Time next since I have a physical copy!
The other book that I started was an ARC of Stacy Willingham’s next release, Forget Me Not. I read 27 chapters during Summerween and as always with Willingham the vibes were excellent! I’ve loved all of her books, and I knew this would be the same. I finished this shortly after I finished Famous Last Words and not only was it a 4.5 star read for me, but it’s also my favorite of Willingham’s books!
While I didn’t read all of the books that I had on my Summerween tbr (which we all knew was far too ambitious for my current schedule), I completed every prompt which is my ultimate goal for every readathon, knocked 3 books off of my physical tbr, and had an overall successful Summerween experience, so this was an absolute win for me!
Did you participate in Summerween? What did you read? What were your favorites? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time 💜
