Authors Note: I do talk about 6 books in the wrap up. I started Shades of Earth by Beth Revis on August 29 and finished in early September, but I wanted to talk about the series as a whole so I tacked it on to this wrap up.

Welcome to the middle of September! Yes I am just now posting a August Wrap Up. I was traveling at the beginning of the month and then I just didn’t do it so here we are. I read 5 books this month, which is 3 books below my goal of 8, but that’s okay because my goal for September is 12. (Hi my name is Jacqueline and I like to make insane reading goals and then act surprised when I don’t meet them.) I was feeling some heavy Space vibes this month, and tbh I still am, but Septembers theme is books that my best friend recommended to me and I bought and then never read. I also started a rewatch of Star Trek: Next Generation in August. Data is my absolute favorite and I hate that they come for him like every other episode, but that is irrelevant to this post i just need all to that.

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw was up first for the month. This was left over from my July TBR where I was feeling some type of way about boats and the ocean. I really liked the vibes of this book. It gave me small ocean town mystery cozy vibes. Like this is the kind of book you want to read with a cup of tea on a stormy cold day curled up by the fire in a old house by the ocean. Like those are its vibes and I stan them. This book doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending, but its also not a crappy one. I was okay with the way it ended and where the characters ended up, but I do wish there a little more. I also wish it had been a tad more creepy; just a little darker. The story for sure leans into being a darker story but it could have leaned into it a bit more for my liking. Over all it was a 4 star read for me; would recommend, but wouldn’t make my friends read it.

Another July TBR left over is Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson. I have read this one probably about a 100 times (hence the 5 star rating) and still absolutely love it. Its a quick easy rom-com book. Although this book is more about the relationship between father and daughter then it is about romance but trust there is romance. I love Clio and how feisty she is. She just marches to the beat of her own drum and does what she needs to do and she not afraid to get her hands a little dirty. She has lived a bit of a crazy life when her and her dad invented a best selling board game, but her dads shenanigans drove a wedge between them especially after her parents got divorced. So when she has to spend the summer with him in Italy on a yacht most people don’t understand why this is Clio’s nightmare. Johnson has a way of making complete wacky situations seem really normal and I’m here for it.

I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK!! Aurora Rising is the first book I have read by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Although I do own the complete Illumonae Files trilogy.) and I am absolutely in love! so in love in fact that I have already bought other works by both authors. Aurora Rising is probably my favorite book of the year and has been quickly added to my favorite books of all time. I love me some sarcastic ass characters and lemme tell you this story is full of them. It is told from 7 different points of view which for some books is a disaster, but not for my baby. Each character has a distinct voice which makes it really easy to tell who is speaking. Our fearless Alpha is Goldenboy Tyler (Ty) Jones who is hot enough to melt a Popsicle in Alaska in winter. Scarlett (Scar) Jones is Ty’s twin and the sharp as a tack Face with a tongue like a knife. Cat Brannok is the sassy Ace and long time friend of Scar and Ty. Finian de Karran de Seelis is the Betraskan Gearhead that only speaks in sarcasm. Zila Madran is the Scientist on board with a tendency to shoot her crew mates. Kaliis (Kal) Idraban Gilwraeth is the teams Tank, hes also basically space Legolas who hates being touched. Then there is Aurora (Auri) Jie-Lin O’Malley who is not only a stowaway on Ty’s ship but the only survivor on a 220 year old ship thought to be lost in space. I love all of the characters so much, but my favorite chapters were always Auri, Kal and Finian. The only character who I was a bit eh about was probably Cat although I still did like her chapters. I am literally making everybody in my life read this book like ASAP. I need the second one!

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The world building in the Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis is excellent, but the characters are a bit meh. I didn’t find myself rooting for either Amy or Elder (the two main protagonists). The story is told from both Amy and Elder’s prospective. To me the voice of each character was really similar, the only way I told them apart without looking at the chapter header was the situation they were in and where and who they with. I was especially luke warm about the romance in these books. It was kinda eh. I literally shipped her more with the bad guy in book three then I did Elder. I gave all three books 4 stars but they were probably more like 3.5. I found Amy to be a bit self righteous and and a little selfish. She just wanted things done her way because that’s what she thought was right. I mean it was a shock to her and the entire ship when she was woken up fifty years early, but she acted like a child for all three books really. That being said the Eldest was a bit unnecessarily cruel to her. Elder was a bit on the dim side in my opinion and idk it that was because he was raised on a ship that had limited information and the information it did have was changed to match what the corrupt rules needed the message to say or if its just because he was way to young to be a leader. In the end I though the way the characters acted was a bit out of place and I don’t think it would be a natural way for them to react. Like there was this automatic sense of Us or them (especially in Shades of Earth) that made sense for the “shipborn” people cause that’s the culture of the ship and part of the brainwashing done by the leaders of the ship, but it doesn’t make sense for the “earthborn” people because obviously on earth we encounter different cultures and people on the daily and they were briefed that it was generational ship so there would be other people there when they all woke up. So that kinds made me a bit angry cause its like I don’t understand why that would happen especially when you need each other to survive a new planet. I found it a bit cliched and boring. It was an okay trilogy.