August Books - 2015 Real Book Challenge

I feel like I say this every September, but where did summer go? Hard to believe it's behind us already. I had a decent reading month in August. The summer seems to be when the budget comes in for my local library because that's when they order like nuts. There have been no shortage of new and interesting books to read, such that my book total for the month is 10, and 9 of those were real books.

With just 4 months left in the year, I'm in great shape to meet or surpass my reading goals. I'm at 93 of 100 books for my GR challenge and 45 of 50 for the RBC. I should be able to meet both goals by the end of this month, but we'll see. You just never know what's around the bend.

Details about the challenge can be found here: Real Book Challenge.

2015 Real Book Challenge Goal: 50
August 2015 Real Books: 9
Number Of Books Still To Read To Hit Goal: 5

Best book of the month? That's an easy question this time around. Hands down the best 2 books I read this past month were A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and The Heart of Betrayal, by Mary E. Pearson. Both will probably end up on my best of 2015 list.

Maas has become one of my favourite writers, and when I found out she was retelling Beauty and the Beast I rushed out to get a copy. I'm not sure how it escaped me until that point. I was reading something Stacee at Adventures of a Book Junkie posted, a top 10 Tuesday post where she talked about favourite retellings. I about swallowed my tongue when she mentioned ACOTAR. She is the one who introduced me to Maas. It's kind of fitting she whipped my uninformed ass into shape about this book. Go read it. It's, as Stacee would say, amazeballs!

And I loved The Kiss of Deception so reading the next book in the Remnant Chronicles series was a no-brainer. I admit I was a little afraid of being let down since book 1 was SO good, but guess what? The Heart of Betrayal was equally brilliant. Even more intricate and intimate than the first. I didn't think I could love the characters more, but I fell harder with every word.

Least favourite book this month? I didn't read anything horrible this month. (YAY!) Who Do You Love, by Jennifer Weiner was a let down for me. I was expecting a great love story, and while the pages had emotion and character growth, the mains didn't fight for one another like I wanted them too and ultimately I was left feeling disappointed. All of Me, by Jennifer Bernard, was a swing and a miss. Tee hee, baseball humour, because the story is about a pitcher sent down to the minor leagues. I just never fell in love with the characters, and the story was kind of slow moving. It wasn't horrible, simply okay.

The real books I read in August are: