Weekly Reading Roundup: September 24th to September 30th

It’s Sunday and you know what that means! It is time for another weekly reading roundup!

It has once again been a slow reading week due to a hectic work schedule, but that is okay!

I read two books this week, both part of a series from when I was in middle school.

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Fallen by Lauren Kate

Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

My rating: 4 stars

Okay so this book (and the whole series I am sure) is NOT good. It was, however, a blast to read.

I personally love books that make me cringe and laugh and this definitely fit that bill. For some reason, my brain was convinced this was a vampire series. It is very obviously about angels, hence the title. So that’s on me.

I will say, you can tell this was written by a white woman in the late 2000s due to the appropriation of Indigenous culture (particularly using “powwow” to describe a meeting, yikes.). I am glad I bought this secondhand because I would hate to give the author my money. Are the pieces of appropriation long and drawn out? No. But still, entirely unnecessary and yet unsurprising.

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Torment by Lauren Kate

Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

My rating: 4 stars

Similar to the first book in this series, this was very cringey, but kind of a hoot to read.

I will say it is better than the first at least slightly. I do not recall any cultural appropriation in this one, which is an improvement.

It was silly and heavy on the “not like other girls” narrative, and I always go into books written in this era expecting that, so I was prepared.

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What book(s) did you read this week? Let me know in the comments!