Are you ever on such a roll with reading books you love that eventually, you know the slump is coming?
I hit my reading stride over the summer in May, and I was pumping out five star after five star read. I was on top of the world through June, July, and for most of August re: reading consistency, and then BAM. I finished The Unhoneymooners, and suddenly, nothing had an appeal for me. I picked up long-awaited books from my TBR (You Lucky Dog was unlucky for me and I had no trouble hating The Trouble With Hating You), ARC with no luck, and when I finally really jumped into a favorite audio book (the Bob Iger biography), I started to get my stride back.
I was pumped! I knew I would like the Bob Iger audio book because I loved the print version of the book, but I just needed something to tweak my interest to get me back in the game. I followed it up with the Lauren Graham audio book (I'm about 50% through it so far, and I'm liking it), and I completely kicked my reading slump to the curb with The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. I will post a full review of this book on the blog later on in September, but let me tell you...The Scholomance came to play in book #2!
El and Orion are back in full force in book two, and I am so happy with the direction NN is taking this series. The focus in The Last Graduate really centers around El's personal development and her beginning to understand relationships. She forges relationships with her peers, Orion, and the Scholomance itself in this book. I love that the focus isn't completely on her and Orion in this story; in fact, he's really not in the story that much at all in my opinion. But, the parts he is included in, he really counts. There's some twists and turns in this story I didn't expect, and boy, that cliffhanger left me wanting more! I will be on pins and needles until the third book comes out, let me tell you.
My next read is Next Year in Havana. It comes highly recommended by one of my bookstagram friends, so I'm hoping I like it. It's a bit different than what I usually read, but I'm trying to branch out from my comfort zone this fall and read things that I enjoy, regardless of genre. Usually I stick very close to romance, fantasy, and some general fiction, but I'm trying to explore more historical fiction and see what I like. I know I like historical romances, so the jury is still out on how much I like a true historical fiction story. I am super intrigued by the Cuba setting, though, especially after watching the most recent episode of Fantasy Island!
I am happy to report that my reading slump is no more, and I have officially met my GoodReads reading goal of 80 books in 2021! I'm so excited! I'm unofficially hoping to make it to 100 books, and I think that is completely doable by the end of the year. Be sure to drop ways you kick your reading slumps to the curb in the comments!
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