My Month Is Booked: September 2025

Welcome to the My Month is Booked linkup for September! :] What did you read in August? If you have a reading challenge going, how are you doing on that? (I’ve made it to 51 out of my 52-book goal, so I’ve upped it to 60!)

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Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir – Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate last-chance mission to save humanity…but he wakes up not even remembering his own name, let alone what the mission was. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a long time + is a million miles from home, with only two corpses for company. As his memories fuzzily return, Ryland tries to puzzle out an extinction-level threat to Earth.

This is coming out as a movie next year! It’s written by the same author as The Martian + I heard it was a fantastic audiobook but it wasn’t available as one from any of the 10 libraries I have a library card with, so I read this one. There are parts that get a bit more science-heavy, but I really enjoyed it!

City of Night Birds, by Juhea Kim – Natalia Leonova is a former prima ballerina who was forced off the stage after a devastating accident. Two years later, haunted by old memories + addiction, she returns to St. Petersburg to face the ghosts of her former life and make a decision about her artistic future.

This was beautifully written, but I did feel the plot meandered a bit at times (nothing that listening at 1.25x speed couldn’t fix though). Te timeline-jumping got a bit confusing since it seems to happen without warning. Kim’s writing style is very lyrical + evokes a lot of gorgeous imagery + I felt it captured well the life of a [very talented] dancer.

The Enchanted Greenhouse, by Sarah Beth Durst – This is the second book to The Spellshop (which I wrote about here! Why are all the covers of her books so gorgeous?).

If you read The Spellshop and remember Cas, the talking spider plant, this is written about the librarian (Terlu Perna) who brought him to life and was turned into a wooden statue as a punishment + to warn others against using magic. Several years into her punishment, she wakes up in the dead of winter on an almost-deserted island with hundreds of magical greenhouses and finds that the only other human inhabitant is a grumpy gardener. When she finds out the magic that’s keeping the greenhouses alive is failing, she resolves to help.

A super cute and cozy story about second chances + healing from isolation/loneliness/past wrongs, with a grumpy x sunshine-type slow-burn romance.  I low-key want to live on this island…

The Book of Cold Cases, by Simone St. James – In 1977, a small town is shaken by the “Lady Killer Murders” — two random men are murdered + strange notes are left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect — a rich, eccentric, loner seen fleeing from one of the crimes. After she is acquitted, she fades from the public eye to the isolation of her mansion. 40 years later, a true crime blogger is granted an interview with her.

I listened to this one as an audiobook and was very much drawn in + wanting to know what happened next! It did get a little predictable as time went on (the book is split into 2 parts) — I would’ve liked to remain in suspense for more of the book, but the conclusion was mostly satisfying (I don’t agree very much with some of the main character’s actions, but I can agree to disagree with her).

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, by Sangu Mandanna – Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain, until she resurrected her great-aunt, lost most of her magic, and was exiled from her Guild. She helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire where they help those in need, until she finds out about an old spell that could help her to restore her power.

I was super excited for this to come out since The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is one of my favorite books (wrote about it here!)! <3 This has the same cozy, whimsical, heartwarming vibes as her other book, although I found it more bittersweet. Her first book remains my favorite and I feel is more cozy than this one, but the worldbuilding, (mostly) lovable characters, and found family aspect in this book are also very charming.

• Have you read any books-turned-to-movies lately?
• Any particular genre you’ve been gravitating towards lately? With everything going on in the country right now, I’ve definitely been on a more cozy-reads/happy-endings kick lately.