October Wrap Up

**October Reading Wrap-Up: A Journey Through Books with Haley**

Welcome back, book lovers! It’s Haley here, and October has officially come to an end—can you believe it? While I’m sad to say goodbye to fall, I’m already excited for November because my birthday is at the end of the month. That means lots of new books are on their way! But before we dive into November’s literary adventures, let’s take a look back at what I read in October.

### Honorable Mentions: Almost There

First up, two honorable mentions for books I’m still in the middle of. I’ve started *The Silmarillion* by J.R.R. Tolkien, and even though I’m only 10 pages in, it’s already intriguing. This one has the potential to be a keeper! On another note, I’m halfway through *Northanger Abbey* by Jane Austen for my early Romanticism class. I was doing great until midterms hit hard, but I plan to finish it soon. Trust me, I can’t wait to dive deeper into Austen’s brilliant writing.

### The Last Olympian: A Series Finale That Delivered

Speaking of series finales, I recently finished *The Last Olympian* by Rick Riordan, the final book in the Percy Jackson series. This one was action-packed from start to finish! There were so many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. The resolution felt spot-on, leaving me satisfied except for a few minor unanswered questions—perfectly setting up the next series, *The Heroes of Olympus*. I gave this book a solid five stars and highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.

### The DUFF: More Than Just Fluff

After finishing *The Last Olympian*, I needed something lighter to lift my spirits. Enter *The DUFF* (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Sonya Hartnett. This book follows Bianca, a cynical girl who feels like the ugly friend in her group. The story explores themes of self-worth and relationships in a way that’s both relatable and refreshing. While I appreciated the depth of the issues tackled, there was one part that left me wanting more. Still, it was a cute and fun read, earning a four-star rating from me.

### Throne of Glass: A World to Fall In Love With

Next up is *Throne of Glass* by Sarah J. Maas, the first book in her *A Court of Thorns and Roses* series. I had previously read *Assassin’s Blade*, a collection of novellas, but this full-length novel blew me away. The world-building was incredible, and the characters were so well-developed. If you haven’t jumped into this series yet, trust me—it’s worth it! The protagonist, a female assassin, is fierce and memorable.

### The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Miss

Switching gears, I picked up *The Castle of Otranto* by Horace Walpole for my Romanticism class. This gothic novel was… well, let’s say it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It felt a bit whiny and overly dramatic, which might have been more appreciated in its time. While I gave it three stars, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea.

### The Iron Trial: A Middle-Grade Magic Adventure

Up next is *The Iron Trial* by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, the first book in their new fantasy middle-grade series. This one was about a boy named Callum who dreads magic but ends up at a magical school called the Magisterium. While the ending was fantastic, I felt the middle dragged a bit. Overall, it’s worth checking out if you’re into magical adventures.

### The Diviners: A Historical Fiction Hit

Finally, wrapping up my October reads is *The Diviners* by Liesl Lambert (previously known as Lia Whitaker). Set in the 1920s, this historical fiction novel centers around Eevee, who moves from Ohio to New York to live with her uncle, a museum curator of creepy artifacts. When her uncle gets involved in solving a murder, Eevee finds herself right in the middle of the action. The prologue hooked me instantly, and while I felt some spoilers were inevitable, the book was dark, fun, and everything I wanted in a read. Five stars for sure!

### Conclusion: More Books on the Horizon

And that wraps up my October reading! While it wasn’t as hefty as I’d hoped due to school commitments, it’s been a great mix of genres and worlds. I’ve got some reviews planned for these books, so make sure to check those out when they drop.

Until next time, happy reading, and don’t forget to pre-film your videos—trust me, you’ll thank yourself later! Bye for now!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone it's Haley and today I'm going to be doing my October wrapup so I can't believe October's already over but I'm so excited it's November because my birthday is at the end of November so that means I'm going to be getting a lot of books so I only read six books in October 7 if you count the one I read for school but October is also a crazy month for midterms and everything and like assignments and stuff and really I should be studying right now but I'm not I mean I'm saying it's a study break but it's really not because in order to have a study break you have to have started studying I haven't done that yet oopsies okay so now let's just get into the books that I read in October so first I'm going to start off with two honorable mentions so right now I'm reading SI and Storm by laber Dugo I'm like 10 pages in so this one doesn't really count but hey here it is woo and I'm also halfway through North anger Abby by Jane Austin I'm reading this for one of my classes um my early Romanticism class and I was doing really well but then I had a crazy amount of midterms in one week so I had to put it on the back burner and I haven't picked it up in like a week and I have to have it read for next week but I'll get through it you know I'll get to it I'm really enjoying it though I really like Jane Austin's writing okay so now into the actual books I read for fun this month so the first one I read this month was The Last Olympian by Rick Ryan so I am now finally finished the Percy Jackson series and I'm asking for the heroes o of Olympus series for my birthday so hopefully I'll get it and then I can read that one as well I loved this book I think this one may be my favorite out of the series it was so action-packed there was just so much going on there was like never a dull moment and I felt like the resolution in this book was just spoton there was nothing that was left kind of like to question except for like minor things that make it um so it can continue in The Heroes of Olympus series but other than that I just thought it was so amazing I love this book I definitely recommend this series it's so fun and it's awesome just yes and actually on Thursday they had in my city someone was putting on the Lightning Thief musical so I didn't know it as a musical but like these people from New York came down and they put it on and it was really really cool it was it was good it was funny I don't know check to see if you have the Lightning Thief musical at a theater near you because it was really entertaining so yeah I gave this book five out of five stars and then after that I needed something light and fluffy because as The Last Olympian was the final book in a series it really was just intense and I just needed something to lift my spirits because I was sad that that series was over so this book is about a girl girl named Bianca and she's pretty cynical and negative about everything and she definitely does not think that she is the pretty one out of her two gorgeous friends so she um is talking to this guy so this book is about a girl named Bianca and she's pretty cynical and just not really a positive person and she feels like the ugly one out of her group of friends because her other two friends are absolutely gorgeous so she's kind of down on life and she's kind of upset about that because the manl he says that in the synopsis so I'm just going to use that term um he calls her the duff which stands for obviously the designated ugly fat friend and she's pretty upset about that and she vows that she absolutely hates Wesley but then she ends up kind of turning to him to release her stresses and she ends up kissing him and it's just it's a very destructive relationship that ends up developing but of course this destructive relationship turns into to something much more than either of them expected so I liked the fact that this book conquered some really big issues that everyone really faces um from time to time and I thought it was pretty good I gave it four out of five stars I think maybe 3.5 um there was one part that I felt like it wasn't adequately resolved um one situation in this book but other than that it was really cute it was fun and it was just it wasn't like your normal contemporary and I don't know I really enjoyed it so after that I picked up Throne of Glass by Sarah J moss this is the first book in The Throne of Glass series so I had already read the assassin's blade which is the bindup of novellas um for thron of Glass series and I did enjoy that but I don't really like novelas so then I decided I would finally just jump into the series and oh my God I loved this book I have a review up um yeah I have a review up for this so I will link it here but also down below and oh my God it was so good the characters were awesome and I completely understand the hype I mean it's just such a great story and it's so interesting and the world is just awesome I really loved this book and if you didn't know this book is about a female assassin and so badass just so badass and then after that I picked up the castle of a Toronto by Horus Walpole I picked this up for my Romanticism class um the same one that I'm reading North anger Abbey for and I didn't like this book it's a Gothic and it's really just annoying and whiny and I'm sure if I read it like in the time that it was written I would have really enjoyed it but it just wasn't for me I gave it I think like three stars maybe 2.5 and the next book I've read is the iron trial by Cassandra CLA and Holly black I actually have a review up for for this one as well I've been doing really good with reviews lately um but yeah this book is the first book in a new fantasy middle- grade series by Cassandra clir and Holly black obviously um and I enjoyed this book I gave it four maybe 3.5 stars um my problem with it was that it was a little bit slow through the middle and then it just picked up really quickly at the end and the end was awesome but the middle was a little bit lacking so this book is about a boy named Callum and he has been warned by his father to stay away from Magic but he ends up um being accepted to the magisterium which is the magic school and of course crazy stuff happens at the magisterium so yeah if you want to know more about this book and my thoughts on it I will link my review right here and also down below as well and the final book I read in October which is also part of the reason why I didn't read that many books is the divine ERS by Lia Bray as you can see this book is quite chunky so it took me a while to read but it was amazing I gave this book five out of five stars I was just from the um prologue I was just immediately immersed in the world this is a historical fiction um paranormal book that takes place in the 1920s which I love that era so I really enjoyed that and it centers around the main character Eevee and she moves from Ohio to New York um to live with her father or her father her uncle who he is the he owns this Museum which is like the Museum of creepy Crawley so it has all these like Paranormal artifacts and everything and her uncle is asked to help solve a murder case and of course Eevee gets herself wrapped up into that so I don't want to give too much away because I felt like um some of like the big punchlines were kind of spoiled for me a little bit um just from listening to other people's synop es but this book is crazy it's creepy it's dark but it's also really fun and interesting at the same time it was just really just everything in package and I'm going to do a review for this I haven't uploaded it yet but um when I do I will link it right here and also down below so those are all the books I read in October I know it's not that much but I am really busy with school so I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I'm going to go and pre-film some more so I'll see you guys soon byehey everyone it's Haley and today I'm going to be doing my October wrapup so I can't believe October's already over but I'm so excited it's November because my birthday is at the end of November so that means I'm going to be getting a lot of books so I only read six books in October 7 if you count the one I read for school but October is also a crazy month for midterms and everything and like assignments and stuff and really I should be studying right now but I'm not I mean I'm saying it's a study break but it's really not because in order to have a study break you have to have started studying I haven't done that yet oopsies okay so now let's just get into the books that I read in October so first I'm going to start off with two honorable mentions so right now I'm reading SI and Storm by laber Dugo I'm like 10 pages in so this one doesn't really count but hey here it is woo and I'm also halfway through North anger Abby by Jane Austin I'm reading this for one of my classes um my early Romanticism class and I was doing really well but then I had a crazy amount of midterms in one week so I had to put it on the back burner and I haven't picked it up in like a week and I have to have it read for next week but I'll get through it you know I'll get to it I'm really enjoying it though I really like Jane Austin's writing okay so now into the actual books I read for fun this month so the first one I read this month was The Last Olympian by Rick Ryan so I am now finally finished the Percy Jackson series and I'm asking for the heroes o of Olympus series for my birthday so hopefully I'll get it and then I can read that one as well I loved this book I think this one may be my favorite out of the series it was so action-packed there was just so much going on there was like never a dull moment and I felt like the resolution in this book was just spoton there was nothing that was left kind of like to question except for like minor things that make it um so it can continue in The Heroes of Olympus series but other than that I just thought it was so amazing I love this book I definitely recommend this series it's so fun and it's awesome just yes and actually on Thursday they had in my city someone was putting on the Lightning Thief musical so I didn't know it as a musical but like these people from New York came down and they put it on and it was really really cool it was it was good it was funny I don't know check to see if you have the Lightning Thief musical at a theater near you because it was really entertaining so yeah I gave this book five out of five stars and then after that I needed something light and fluffy because as The Last Olympian was the final book in a series it really was just intense and I just needed something to lift my spirits because I was sad that that series was over so this book is about a girl girl named Bianca and she's pretty cynical and negative about everything and she definitely does not think that she is the pretty one out of her two gorgeous friends so she um is talking to this guy so this book is about a girl named Bianca and she's pretty cynical and just not really a positive person and she feels like the ugly one out of her group of friends because her other two friends are absolutely gorgeous so she's kind of down on life and she's kind of upset about that because the manl he says that in the synopsis so I'm just going to use that term um he calls her the duff which stands for obviously the designated ugly fat friend and she's pretty upset about that and she vows that she absolutely hates Wesley but then she ends up kind of turning to him to release her stresses and she ends up kissing him and it's just it's a very destructive relationship that ends up developing but of course this destructive relationship turns into to something much more than either of them expected so I liked the fact that this book conquered some really big issues that everyone really faces um from time to time and I thought it was pretty good I gave it four out of five stars I think maybe 3.5 um there was one part that I felt like it wasn't adequately resolved um one situation in this book but other than that it was really cute it was fun and it was just it wasn't like your normal contemporary and I don't know I really enjoyed it so after that I picked up Throne of Glass by Sarah J moss this is the first book in The Throne of Glass series so I had already read the assassin's blade which is the bindup of novellas um for thron of Glass series and I did enjoy that but I don't really like novelas so then I decided I would finally just jump into the series and oh my God I loved this book I have a review up um yeah I have a review up for this so I will link it here but also down below and oh my God it was so good the characters were awesome and I completely understand the hype I mean it's just such a great story and it's so interesting and the world is just awesome I really loved this book and if you didn't know this book is about a female assassin and so badass just so badass and then after that I picked up the castle of a Toronto by Horus Walpole I picked this up for my Romanticism class um the same one that I'm reading North anger Abbey for and I didn't like this book it's a Gothic and it's really just annoying and whiny and I'm sure if I read it like in the time that it was written I would have really enjoyed it but it just wasn't for me I gave it I think like three stars maybe 2.5 and the next book I've read is the iron trial by Cassandra CLA and Holly black I actually have a review up for for this one as well I've been doing really good with reviews lately um but yeah this book is the first book in a new fantasy middle- grade series by Cassandra clir and Holly black obviously um and I enjoyed this book I gave it four maybe 3.5 stars um my problem with it was that it was a little bit slow through the middle and then it just picked up really quickly at the end and the end was awesome but the middle was a little bit lacking so this book is about a boy named Callum and he has been warned by his father to stay away from Magic but he ends up um being accepted to the magisterium which is the magic school and of course crazy stuff happens at the magisterium so yeah if you want to know more about this book and my thoughts on it I will link my review right here and also down below as well and the final book I read in October which is also part of the reason why I didn't read that many books is the divine ERS by Lia Bray as you can see this book is quite chunky so it took me a while to read but it was amazing I gave this book five out of five stars I was just from the um prologue I was just immediately immersed in the world this is a historical fiction um paranormal book that takes place in the 1920s which I love that era so I really enjoyed that and it centers around the main character Eevee and she moves from Ohio to New York um to live with her father or her father her uncle who he is the he owns this Museum which is like the Museum of creepy Crawley so it has all these like Paranormal artifacts and everything and her uncle is asked to help solve a murder case and of course Eevee gets herself wrapped up into that so I don't want to give too much away because I felt like um some of like the big punchlines were kind of spoiled for me a little bit um just from listening to other people's synop es but this book is crazy it's creepy it's dark but it's also really fun and interesting at the same time it was just really just everything in package and I'm going to do a review for this I haven't uploaded it yet but um when I do I will link it right here and also down below so those are all the books I read in October I know it's not that much but I am really busy with school so I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I'm going to go and pre-film some more so I'll see you guys soon bye\n"