DramaRambles 🌸

reading challenge

My currently reading and September tbr altogether is too much at 13 books.

I recently came across Kendall Watson on YouTube and I’m enjoying her videos a lot and she did one where Spotify chose how long she read for. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I’m giving it a go as I’ve got a few days of annual leave to get some reading in!

My music taste is pretty varied and I feel like that is very clear in this post.

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Song One

First song up was With a Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles, which runs for 2:44, which means I’m reading for 2hrs 44 mins. I have such a soft spot for Ringo’s vocals.

I started off strong by finishing out the Heartstopper series.

Heartstopper Volume 6; Alice Oseman

• rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• pages: 438
• time: 46 mins

The last volume was very sweet and it was nice to see both Charlie and Nick have room to become their own people, and in doing so, seeing the growth they’ve done throughout the series by the decisions and actions made. I’ve rated this one higher than I probably should have, but I enjoyed the book and there’s a lot of nostalgia here.

China Dream; Ma Jian

• rating: ⭐⭐
• pages: 112 pages
• time: 1hr 58mins

I liked the sentiment that memories have power and that they can cling to us, or resurface despite us trying to push them away. Our memories and experiences can cause difficulties for oppressive agendas which is why they’re seen as such a threat in this novel.

Our main character was not likeable, and he’s not supposed to be. I didn’t like the inclusion of the sex and sexual content. Despite being a page turner, I didn’t really have a great time reading this.

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Song Two

Shuffle then gave me Can’t Control Myself by Taeyeon! I love her so much! This song means I’m reading for 3hrs and 1 minute.

Malibu Rising; Taylor Jenkins Reid

• rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• pages: 99
• time: 1hr 49mins

Malibu Rising has been a ‘current’ read since March… And I can’t express how happy I was to change it to ‘read’. Despite the huge gap, I did really enjoy this one.

I was much more invested when we were in the dual timeline learning about their parents relationship and upbringing within the ‘present’ narrative of the party. Sometimes it felt like we were learning a lot of unnecessary things about random people at this party, but it definitely put into perspective the lives around the siblings, especially Nina.

I’m also kind of interested in reading Carrie Soto is Back as she has an appearance in this one.

Marrying Winterborne; Lisa Kleypas

• pages: 85
• time: 1hr 12mins

I used the rest of song two to get some more pages into Marrying Winterborne. This is the second book in the Ravenels series set in Victorian England.

In this one we’re following Helen as she is trying to win back her fiancé, after a misunderstanding at the end of book one. They’ve not really spent much time together, but when they do I’m fully invested. I love when a romance male lead in obsessed! We found out some information in these pages about Helen which is making me stressed!

I’m now 54% of the way into Marrying Winterborne.

If you want to get into historical romance, I would say that Lisa Kleypas is a good place to start. The Wallflower series is my favourite series from her.

Song Three

It’s actually really odd that this was chosen because the same day I heard someone play this really loudly somewhere down my road. May It Be by Enya comes in at 3:31, so I read for 3hrs and 31mins.

The Ministry of Time; Kaliane Bradley

• rating: DNF
• pages: 34
• time: 30mins

I wanted to love this so much. The British intelligence service have been able to transport a small controlled group of people from different years in the past and we follow them as they are acclimatising in the modern day with their handlers. However, not everything is as it seems and there may be a more sinister reason for the experiment.

I was so bored. I just didn’t want to pick this back up. Some of the characters were interesting, but I didn’t really like our main character. It felt really weird that this grown woman was acting jealous. The writing style also felt quite distant and I felt like I was just being told things rather than actually seeing it happen.

I DNF’d on page 113.

Behind Five Willows; June Hur

• rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
• pages: 186
• time: 2hrs 33mins

Another one that’s been on my ‘current’ reads shelf for a while is Behind Five Willows. I started this in June and then got a bit bored, so put it on pause. However, I think this should have been a single sitting/single day read because I did quite enjoy the second half a lot.

This novel is inspired by some aspects of Pride and Prejudice, but Hur has infused the novel with her usual Joseon setting and uses specific historical events to make it her own. This follows Hae Won who transcribes novels in a time when they are banned and she catches the eye of a nobleman who she knows more about than she originally thinks.

Most of Hur’s books have a mystery/murder element and I kind of wish this one did as well. It felt a little too simple and nice. I mean I did enjoy the relationship between Hae Won and Seo Jun, but I would have loved to see them work together to solve some mystery.

Yesteryear; Caro Claire Burke

• pages: 27
• time: 28mins

With a little under 30 mins left of song three I continued on in Yesteryear. I’m really enjoying this! I actually really love how unlikeable Natalie is and it’s interesting to see how she forged a place for herself in the ‘trad-wife’ influencer pipeline.

I kind of wish that we were spending a bit more time in the alternate timeline because I don’t feel like I really know that family as much as I would like being 52% of the way in, especially the husband.

This is such a great debut so far and I’m excited to see where this goes as I’ve heard it gets wild!

Song Four

I Can’t Stop Me is one of my favourite Twice songs! It comes in at a solid 3:25, so I read for 3hrs 25mins.

Prophet Song; Paul Lynch

• pages: 22
• time: 32mins

For song 4 I’ve started Prophet Song and I am interested, but I was struggling a little with the format. I was reading this out and about and I think it’s one that I need to really focus on, with no distractions! We’re following a family who live in Ireland, which is now a State and a secret police organisation is becoming more powerful. This causes a lot of concerns for our main character’s family as the father is the head of the teachers union who are currently planning to strike.

My main issue is that there aren’t any quotation marks around speech and I got a bit confused when there were longer conversations or conversations with more than two characters. As well as trying to differentiate thoughts from speech.

I will go back to this, but for the rest of the song I chose to pick something else.

Great Big Beautiful Life; Emily Henry

• pages: 164
• time: 2hrs 53mins

I have never read an Emily Henry, but I was intrigued by the synopsis when Great Big Beautiful Life first came out. I’m not interested in contemporary romances, but give me a mystery and some romance and I’m more inclined to have a peek.

We’re following Alice who is competing with a well established journalist for the opportunity to write the memoir of a now reclusive ex-socialite. Margaret Ives has secrets and it seems that, now in her 80’s, she wants the truth about her family to come out.

The writing style is so ‘easy, breezy Covergirl’ and I’m having a great time. The characters feel natural and Alice is really likeable. The interviews and past sections are really interesting, but the romance feels a little too quick, but it seems on brand for Alice. Hayden, on the other hand, I’m a bit more unsure of. He seems really guarded, so it feels a bit less natural that he would already have feelings only 165 pages into a 400 page book.

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Wrap Up

While my currently reading/tbr is still a bit too big, I’m really happy with the progress made with just these four songs.

• pages: 1,167
• reading time: 12hrs 41mins

During this challenge I read Heartstopper, Vol.6 (4⭐). I finished China Dream (2⭐), Malibu Rising (4⭐) and Behind Five Willows (3.5⭐). I then DNF’d The Ministry of Time.

I made progress in Marrying Winterborne (now 54%) and Yesteryear (now 52%). I then also started Prophet Song (7%) and Great Big Beautiful Life (39%).

I didn’t make any further progress during this challenge in Caraval (20%), When a Scot Ties the Knot (14%) and Operation Mincemeat (27%). As I haven’t finished Marrying Winterborne, I haven’t been able to start Devil in Spring yet.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe 💕