Lately With Lila September 2020 | Bookopolathon, Meddling Teen Detectives, The Start of Spooky Season, & Sbooktober TBR!

PLEASE NOTE: This post contains affiliate links for Libro.fm, for which I receive a free audiobook if you use to purchase a subscription.

Hello, dear friends, I hope you are all safe, happy, and healthy (and if you are not, I am wishing good vibes your way)! Well, it seems we can cross yet another month off the seemingly unending list that is 2020—can you believe it? It feels like March was just yesterday but also an eternity ago? And also it feels like next year is just around the corner yet also eons away?? What a strange year we’ve had…

Anyhoo, strange years aside, I’m happy to say that September was a relatively prosperous reading month for me. After months on end of only managing to finish at most two books, I actually managed to finish…wait for it, y’all…three books! I know in the bookish community that’s not a lot, but when you consider that I’ve only finished one or two books per month for the past year and a half? Um? I’ll take it! So let’s take a look at those books, as well as my other September 2020 favorites!

✵.* • : ★ .•

BLOG UPDATES

N/A

✵.* • : ★ .•

BLOG POSTS

• Lately With Lila | August 2020
• It’s Cliche But I Gotta Say I’m Doing A 1K Q&A!
• A Dream Come True! | Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles Review
• Sun & Fun | Summer 2020 Favorites

✵.* • : ★ .•

BOOKISH STUFF

READ

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol. 1: High School Is Hell by Dan Mora and Jordie Bellaire (★★★★☆) Coming from a total Buffy newb—this graphic novel was awesome! It’s a modern “retelling” of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it’s a very easy place to pick up and start with no real background knowledge. The endearing characters and fun plot made this one a great read!
• Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles (★★★★☆) Aaaah, I loved this book so much! Full of compelling characters and an intriguing plot, Where Dreams Descend was such a dazzling read! My only gripe is that now I have to wait at least a year for the sequel 😉
• The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty (★★★★★) Y’all know I’m a super-fan of The Daevabad Trilogy, so seeing it come to an end is bittersweet. That being said, I couldn’t have asked for a better finale! The Empire of Gold was the perfect conclusion and it left me very satisfied.

TBR

• The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab (Audio/ARC) By some miraculous mistake, I received the audiobook of Addie Larue as part of my Libro.fm October audioARC package—a snafu which left me screaming in joy! I still can’t believe my luck and I intend to devour this one immediately.
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Audio/ARC) Black Sun is a Native American fantasy that I’m SO excited to have in my hands! Plus, I’m reviewing this book for a book tour, so it’s one I’ll definitely be reading this month!
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (Audio/ARC) I technically began Legendborn months ago, but I’m still finishing it up. I’m beyond so in love with this book and I can’t wait to see how it wraps up!
• This Is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi (Audio/ARC) This is another book I’m super hyped for and that I’m also part of a book tour for. This is a super cute looking contemporary involving a bookstore and a group of girl who work there. It looks like so much fun and I can’t wait to dive in!
• The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi (Audio/Library) My library loan for the audiobook of The Silvered Serpents just came in and, y’all, I am do freaking excited! I adored The Gilded Wolves and I’ve heard great things about this sequel, so hopefully I’ll be able to dig into this book soon!
• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Audio/Purchase) Last on my list is A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, which I purchased in September. This book looks delightfully dark! It’s about a girl attending a school where the only options are to graduate or die trying. I honestly don’t know much about the story beyond that, but the basic premise has me intrigued.

SBOOKTOBER TBR

I’m taking part in Sbooktober this year and luckily my regular October TBR jives with this year’s set of prompts! To find out more information about Sbooktober, check out the readathon’s Twitter.

“Room”	Prompt	Selected Book
Costume Party	Fantasy Costume ↝ Read A Fantasy	Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Refreshments	Devil’s Food Cake ↝ A Black Cover	The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab
Dance Floor Playlist	I Put A Spell On You ↝ A Book With Magic	Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Festivities	Carve Jsck O’Lanterns ↝ A Face On The Cover	This Is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi

BOUGHT

ARCS ACQUIRED

Thank you to the kind publishers who approved me for these ARCs and ALCs, as well as to Libro.fm for distributing the ALCs

✵.* • : ★ .•

AUGUST 2020 FAVORITES

NOTION

I actually discovered Notion about a year ago, but I only started using recently, just before the Notion craze hit the bookish community haha! I’ve been using it to organize my life, my classes, this blog, my creative endeavors, and just my thoughts in general and, I gotta say, so far it’s been working (which is like a miracle for someone like me with severe ADHD). I’ve been having so much fun making and customizing my own templates and I’m glad to have found an organization tool/system that seems to work—now let’s just hope I stick with it!

ENOLA HOLMES

Okay technically I finished the last 15ish minutes of this film on October 1st, but I watched the vast majority of it in September, so I’m saying it counts! Anyhoo! I absolutely ADORED Enola Holmes! It reminded me so much of myself when I was younger and of my own relationship with my mom. Everything about the film was so adorable and I can’t help but hope we get several sequels! I definitely recommend Enola Holmes if you haven’t already seen it!

MUSIC

✵.* • : ★ .•

THE WORD AROUND THE WEB

FOR READERS

• Mishma at Chasing Faerytales interviewed Shveta Thakrar, author of the 2020 debut Star Daughter
• Laura from The Book Corps recommended trans and non-binary authors to read instead of The Author Who Shall Not Be Named
• Molly of Mols by Moonlight shared 101 dark fiction books that aren’t by men
• Margaret from Weird Zeal showed us her book inspired playlists
• Samantha at Bookish Villainy mused about how minimalism has improved her book collection and her reading
• Krisha at Bookathon interviewed Lobizona author Romina Garber
• The Bookish Twins recommended books to read if you love Dragon Age
• Sabrina from Wordy and Whimsical gave her thoughts on DNFs
• Rhi of Marshmallow Harmonies matched books with songs from Lorde’s Pure Heroine and also with musical soundtracks
• Sofi at A Book. A Thought. talked over things she dislikes in books
• Clo from Cuppa Clo illuminated why she’s changing how she buys and consumes books
• Sarah of Faeryreads wondered why some Adult fantasy books get labelled as YA
• Calling all K-Pop stans! Shealea at Shut Up, Shealea has a post recommending K-Pop romance books
• Caitlin of Caitlin Althea reacted to book Twitter’s unpopular opinions
• Have you fallen for bookstagram yet? Check out Kate from Kate, A Dreamer‘s post recommending 12 cozy bookstagram feeds
• Sumedha at The Wordy Habitat asked if non-fiction is the “superior” genre
• Sofia at Bookish Wandress celebrated Latinx Heritage Month by showing us fantasies by Latinx authors
• Em/Zainab from Em’s Bookish Musings gave us a great list of 28 books by authors of color to put on our Spooky Season TBRs as well as a list of 15 books by authors of color with bisexual representation
• Piera Forde over at the booktube channel Piera Forde shared a hilarious video about how reading YA ruined her life
• Lais from The Bookish Sky gave her take on our expectations of own voices books
• Cotton Candy Book Witch talked about fat representation in books and how they don’t feel represented
• Ally of Ally Writes Things gave examples of books you may dislike if you like a certain book
• Emma at The Bookworm Girl reviewed the pros and cons of Audible
• Veronika of Wordy And Whimsical shared her favorite books with yearning
• Kat from Novels And Waffles recommended books to read based on your Camp Half-Blood cabin
• Tasya of Literary Huntress also had some recommendations—Halloween recommendations based on your reading preference
• And, of course, we have plenty of autumnal book recommendations:
  • from Caro at Bookcheshirecat
  • from Stacey at Pretty Books

FOR BLOGGERS

• Lisa at Way Too Fantasy discussed book recommendations
• Naty of Naty’s Bookshelf shared some tips for book bloggers using WordPress’s block editor
• Clo from Cuppa Clo looked back at the evolution of her formatting over three years
• Tessi at Bookrapt talked about why she no longer uses bookstagram as her main platform
• Melanie from Mel To The Any, god bless her, shared her bookish Notion templates and I am OBSESSED!
• Cielo at Bellerose Reads put together the ultimate guide to ARCs
• Shealea of Shut Up, Shealea showed us where to buy affordable and gorgeous blog themes

FOR FUN

• Cande from Latinx Magic shared why they use the term “Latinx”
• Cotton Candy Book Witch explained how they’re celebrating Mabon
• Tish of the booktube channel Little Wolf discussed dark academia and, I gotta say, as a fellow Black woman who has found it difficult to get into that particular ~aesthetic~ due to lack of diversity (be it racial/ethnic, LGBT+, disability, or socioeconomic), it was really nice to see someone like me gush about this topic!
• Tasya at Literary Huntress showed off her favorite K-drama soundtracks

✵.* • : ★ .•

SEPTEMBER 2020 MEMORIES

It’s been said before, but needs saying again…How the f*ck are we only in October in this never-ending hell dimension that is 2020???! God, is it not over already??! Have we not stared into the void and seen our souls enough—just let it end already!!!

Okay, but in all seriousness, I feel like nothing has proved the weirdness of that wacky little thing we call time more than 2020. But we can breath a little easier, friends, because we’re just two months away from the end of 2020 and then we can move on and never look back!

Anyhoo! Rants about 2020 aside, September was pretty bland for me. I soldiered through my classes, tripped over my first test (but made it through!), and even managed to turn in a few assignments late. What can I say? I’m a champion at online school (*weary sigh*). But! Nevertheless, I have persisted and I’m hoping that’s what matters!

✵.* • : ★ .•

FORWARD THINKING

It’s Spooky Season, friends! Time to break out the bats and spiderwebs and fake blood and celebrate 🎵the most wonderful time of the year🎵! I actually don’t yet have any real plans for this Halloween (I mean, other than chowing down on some candy haha) but I’m hoping my friends and I can coordinate some kind of virtual event, whether it’s watching a spooky movie together or getting all dolled up with nowhere to go and breaking out the alcohol (don’t worry, we’re all of age). Other than that, though, October is basically a wasteland of unending schoolwork! Although, I did see several vloggers cooking what looks like delicious meals, so I’m definitely planning on attempting to replicate some of those. Besides this, though, it’s really all possibility from here on out. Regardless, whatever may come, I’m ready for adventure!

✵.* • : ★ .•

SPILL THE BEANS, FRIENDS!

• How was your September?
• Is there anything you’re looking forward to coming up in October?
• How are you celebrating Spooky Season?