For the month of September, I read five books. The books that I read were all middle grade, however, one of them is a classic. I’m very satisfied with the amount of books I read.

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty 📖📖📖📖📖-I really enjoyed this book, and I especially loved Serafina as a character. Serafina pretty much kept to herself for the majority of the book, yet she still found a way to immerse herself in the culture of the Biltmore Estate. My favorite things about this book have to be the relationship that Serafina has with her father and the friendship with Braedan. This book was fast-paced, fun to read and mysterious.

Pinnacchia by Joy Findlay 📖📖📖-Synopsis from Goodreads:
“There once was a time called The Great Separation, an era where the extremely rich ruled the world from large mechanical floating cities, scattered across the sky and those who were poor lived ‘grounded’ on earth. The ‘grounded’ worked and strived for recognition through steam engineering, electrical inventions and the making of fantastical gadgets so they could be invited into cloud cities societies and join those who lived ‘cloud-side’.

It was during this era that the Earth’s most famous mechanical engineer and inventor designed and built the worlds first cloud city, Skylands. Once it was built, Lord Peto, through tragic loss decided to live ‘grounded’ in a small rustic community below this great city. His was a story of lost love and found faith and a vow to stay grounded for as long as he lived. But this is not his story. This story is of a young mechanical boy Lord Peto created, lost, then found again.”

This book is 48 pages, however, there is a lot packed into it. While I did enjoy this book, I felt that it was rushed. I also felt that some aspects were too similar to the story of Pinocchio. This is the first steampunk book that I read, and I am definitely intrigued to read more steampunk.

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers 📖📖📖-I have always loved the movie, however, I like the book more. The book is more magical and enchanting, and Mary Poppins is more strict in the book. I felt that the chapters were more like short stories and didn’t flow well from one to the other. I would have loved if the chapters were more connected. Overall this was still fun to read.

Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty 📖📖📖📖-While I enjoyed this book, there was one thing that I feel this book lacked. This book didn’t have as much magic in it as the first one, however, it did have as much mystery as the first one. I love the growth and development of both Serafina and Braeden and I love how much their friendship has grown too. I also feel that Serafina has more freedom to roam around the estate. The most important aspect, in my opinion, is how Serafina found the balance between her life at Biltmore and her life in the forest.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children 📖📖📖📖-This book had some creepy aspects to it, and I really enjoyed them. This book was definitely intriguing and fun to read. Jacob, the main character, at times, came across as a whiny brat, and I found that to be annoying. I did love how Jacob wanted to learn more about his grandfather. The photos were really interesting, and I felt that they added to the peculiarity of the book. I’m definitely excited to read the rest of the series.

Well, this is late, but better late than never.  I felt like July was a really good reading month for me, as I read eight books.  Here is what I read in July.

Scouts Honor by Dori Anne Dupré– 📖 📖 📖*I received this for review from the author.

I loved the story of Scout and how beautifully written this book is. The only downside for me is that it was told from too many different perspectives, however, all those perspectives played an important part of the story. Another downside for me was that the story jumped from one time to another too quickly for me. There were also things that made me wonder what Scout was thinking when doing some of the things that she did.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse– 📖 📖 📖 📖 📖 I read this in elementary school when I was younger.  I loved it then and love it now.  What sets this book apart is that it is written in free verse diary entries.  The way that it is written makes it a quick read.  The content is dark, deep and a times depressing.

Finding Paris by Joy Preble– 📖 📖 📖 📖 📖 I loved this book, the story really kept me hooked.  And holy crap I did not see the plot twist at the end coming, I was really caught off guard a little bit by the twist.  I loved the development of the relationship between Max and Leo and how it took the whole book to fully develop.

***There is a trigger warning for rape.

Red Queen by Christina Henry– 📖 📖 📖 📖

*I received an eArc for review from Penguin First To Read

This is definitely not for children, it is deep and dark. I really enjoyed this twisted take on Alice In Wonderland, what I loved about it is how deep and dark it is. I’ve never read anything like this before! There were some things that were confusing, but that is only because I didn’t read the first book in the series. However as the book progressed I was able to get the main idea of what was happening. I loved the little plot twists as well. I was very intrigued by this book.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson– 📖 📖 📖 📖 📖

I did not expect to like this book, but I loved it.  It was out of my comfort zone, I’ve read contemporaries before, but not really much contemporary romance.  At first I found Andie annoying, and the book slow.  However as the book progressed, it became more fast past and I found Andie to be more likable.  I loved how the romance wasn’t insta-love, loved how Andie and her father were able to build a stronger father/daughter relationship, and how the events that occurred strengthened the relationships/friendships of all the characters.  I also loved how there were stories within the story.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll-📖 📖 📖 📖 📖

I first read this a really long time ago.  I forgot how much fun this book is to read.  It’s full of riddles, which at times can be confusing.  However, that is what makes it fun to read.  The characters are all colorful and unique.  Sometimes I forget Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a children’s book.  Lewis Carroll’s writing is beautiful, complex and magical.  While I was reading, I was able to put myself in Wonderland.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab-📖 📖 📖

At first I found this book a little confusing and hard to follow, but everything ended up making sense as the book progressed.  The plot twist was one that I didn’t see coming.  I found Mackenzie’s mother annoyingly overbearing and too nice sometimes.  I did love how creative the writing was, but I felt that some of the characters were boring at times.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman-📖 📖

I loved the unique and different format of this book.  However, I found myself bored and really struggling to get through it.