September Reading Recap
September Reading Recap: 8 Books I Read this Month
By: Brittany Shields
This was a productive month in terms of checking prompts off of the Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge. Five of the eight books counted!
One was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025.
And one was nominated for the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards.
Now that we are headed into October I’m realizing how far behind I am on the reading challenge and just my reading list and advanced reader copies in general. I better come up with a good plan for the rest of the year to get caught up on some of that.
I also have next year’s reading challenge on my radar. Over the years I’ve come up with over 160 different prompts and it’s getting harder and harder to come up with ones we haven’t done yet!
PopSugar usually puts theirs out in November and I try to put mine out around the same time. We will see if I can make it happen!
Lots to do, but at least it’s fun work!
Hope you had a good September month of reading. What fall vibes books are you reading in October?
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1. The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘Book with four POVs’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
This is your classic dual timeline historical fiction novel where you know the present day character is told a story from the past and you know there must be a connection between the characters but you don’t get to find out what until the end.
I will admit that the cover of this book caused me to keep putting off reading it because it just didn’t really look appealing to me.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The thing about this book that kept my attention was probably the characters and how the women, all with different personalities, helped and supported each other running their farm and farm stand after the man of the house was deployed for WWII.
The mysterious element of who was the spy on the island added some needed and compelling tension.
Read my full book review to get a character breakdown, a better plot summary, more about the book club element, and a book connection I was NOT happy to relive.
2. The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
Genre: Psychological Thriller
[Fulfilled ‘Book with a square on the cover’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“‘I didn’t do it,’ you tell your sister. ‘And if you don’t get me out of here, they’re going to kill me.’”
You gotta love a psychological thriller with twins separated at birth and the mystery of nature vs nurture— who is the dangerous one? who is the manipulator? or are they both being played?
Imagine hearing the news story about a wealthy socialite who was allegedly murdered by her older sister, now in the psych ward at a hospital awaiting trial… and it turns out: the suspect is your twin. A twin you never knew you had. And a twin who has requested your presence at the hospital.
Told in two different POVs— Mandy (first person) and Georgia (second person)— the reader must figure out if Georgia really did kill her sister and is exploiting her familial connection to Mandy as a way of getting out of it or if her reaching out to Mandy is a genuine, desperate plea for help.
Check out the full book review for more plot and character details, content advisory, some comments on the fears this book brings up, and a recommendation on a few other books this one reminded me of!
3. Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy
[Fulfilled ‘A book with an assassination’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“‘There was a time when people valued honor and loyalty— when serving a ruler wasn’t about obedience and fear… Do you think another court like that could ever rise again?’”
As I suspected I would, I enjoyed this book much better than the first (Throne of Glass)! The first book felt introductory, and this one felt more settled in. This one makes it more clear who the good guys and bad guys are.
We also get a better idea of where we’re going in the story. Throne of Glass sets up the reason for Celaena to be in the castle and have the assassin skills she does. But the plot there is around the competition of becoming the king’s assassin. It’s a conflict that it is limited in scope.
With Crown of Midnight we see the overarching conflict: an evil king using dark magic and taking over more and more for his kingdom, but there is a rebel group and talk of the princess Aelin, lost Queen of Terrasen, who could get an army big enough to rise against the king. It’s no longer just a competition within the courts of the castle but a problem that affects all the people in the land.
My full review gives more plot details and discusses answers to some of my questions after reading book one, gives my new questions, and provides some more context for the series as a whole.
4. My Dear Hemlock by Tilly Dillehay
Genre: Fiction/ Christian Living
“Tread no further if your sin is precious to you.”
If you have read C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, then this book will feel a little familiar to you. My Dear Hemlock is the modernized, ‘for women’ version of the Screwtape Letters in which we get a glimpse into the methods demons use to try to lure us away from the Lord or trap us in sin and apathy.
Obviously we don’t know what demons are up to and they don’t write letters for our perusal, but this work of fiction contains convicting truths; things that seem inconsequential or trivial could be slippery slopes and paths of deception that lead us further from our Creator.
There are 29 short chapters (maybe 2-5 pages each) that are titled by topic like: ‘On Confession of Sin’, ‘On Prayer,’ ‘On Parenting,’ ‘On Female Friendship,’ ‘On Sex,’ ‘On Wine Night,’ ‘On Empathy,’ etc. and written as letters from Madame Hoaxrot to her protege, Hemlock.
What we see throughout the course of this book is not the depressing, harrowing story of one woman’s demise into treachery, but the journey of a frustrated demon unable to tear this woman from abiding in her Lord, even when faced with challenges in marriage, parenting, friendships, work, illness, and ultimately death. It is a success story of how we can resist the attempts of the devil and in all things draw near to our Creator who has better plans for us.
Read my full review to see an important note on the foreword, see some of the things that stuck out to me, what was helpful for me to do while reading, some more quotes, and a comment on one reviewer’s critique.
5. Grateful: 30 Days of Growing in Thankfulness by Allison Brost
Genre: Devotional
“More than an emotion, gratitude is an invitation. It’s an opportunity to place our trust and hope in God over anything else we may be experiencing in the moment.”
When I saw this devotional, I figured it would be a good way to make a practice and a study of gratitude. I wish I could say it magically changed my life and I’m the most grateful person on the planet now, but that’s not how these things work.
Allison Brost wraps this idea of gratitude around the theme of growth. In fact the devotionals are divided into five different parts: Tending the Soil, Planting the Seeds, Putting Down the Roots, Beginning to Bud, and Bringing in the Harvest.
I found this a powerful way to look at how to increase in gratitude. We can’t grow it ourselves but if we keep abiding in Christ, he grows it in us. It’s an ‘ongrowing’ process.
Definitely an encouraging devotional that could easily be re-read multiple times a year.
Check out my full book review for more quotes and a link to Allison’s socials where she regularly shares the same kind of encouragement found in this book.
6. The Story of Redemption (Vol. 4, Matthew-Revelation) by Kristin Schmucker & Miranda Ewing (The Daily Grace Co.)
Genre: Devotional
I have read a lot of Daily Grace Co. devotionals. You can browse my reviews HERE. This is part of the four volume series titled The Story of Redemption which is an entire Bible reading plan from Genesis to Revelation and seeks to show how the whole Bible is the story of God redeeming a sinful people to himself for his glory. This volume covered the entire New Testament.
I think Daily Grace Co. devotionals have their place and I’ve really enjoyed a few of them that I’ve done, but this one fell short for me. Perhaps if you really only have time for something short and surface-y this one makes sense.
But there is just so much in the New Testament books that to take 3-4 chapters at a time and only have a short commentary, you miss so much.
I suppose the intention of the study was just to point to the redemption story and not get into all the little details and maybe that’s not necessarily all that I was hoping for in this study.
See my full review for links to a couple places I would recommend looking for some more in-depth devotionals.
7. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Genre: Historical Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a silver cover’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[Nominated for’ Best Historical Fiction’ in the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
I thought this book was very compelling, but even more so when I found out this book was inspired by the life of the historical woman, Martha Ballard, and events she chronicled in her diary. (She was the great aunt to Clara Barton!)
This novel is set in Maine during the late 1700s. Martha Ballard is one of the midwives in town. We follow her through several deliveries, getting an inside look at what it was like to be a woman and to give birth in this time period.
The other thread in this book is one of tragedy and murder. A woman in town has accused two men of raping her. One of them has since been found dead in the river, seemingly hanged. Martha plays a role in the trials of both events with personal knowledge and records she has kept from her duties. She is a woman that values both life and justice and is on a mission for both of those values throughout this book.
Check out my full book review to get more plot details , content advisory, some of my own commentary on the things covered in the book, as well as all the reasons I love Martha Ballard.
8. This Promised Land by Cathy Gohlke
Genre: Fiction/ Christian Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘A book that takes place on a farm’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
This Promised Land is unapologetically inspired by the story of the prodigal son found in Scripture. It is a second-chance family drama set on a Christmas tree farm in the mountains of Virginia in the 90s.
It’s not a son finding his way home, but a nephew and a great aunt looking for belonging and each experiencing forgiveness and love once again.
This is probably a great book for readers who enjoy family dramas or fiction novels. The main character, Ginny, is 65 and newly retired when she finds out the farm she thought she was disinherited from is actually hers. Disrupting her retirement plans she heads home, a place she never thought she’d go back to, and finds the family Christmas tree farm on the verge of bankruptcy and some angry nephews who think she’s trying to steal the land. Can they save the farm and restore their relationships?
Read my full review to get information about the character arcs and a couple critiques I have.
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