July 2022 Reading Wrap Up

This wrap up is going up both later than I wanted and anticipated, but with good reason! July was one of the busiest months I’ve had in a while! But despite all that business, I had a fantastic reading month, both in quality and quantity! So why don’t we get right into the wrap up so you can hear about all the bookish (and non-bookish) things happening in my life right now!

Books Read:

In July I managed to read 14 books! Not only that, but I had multiple 5 star reads, tons of 4 star reads, and I even managed to vary up the genres that I picked up! I also read quite a few review books that I’m behind on, which is always nice. This month truly was fantastic in so many ways!

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

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Yes, that’s right friends! I read FIVE 5 star books in July! Oh, and 4 of them aren’t even romances or graphic novels! Imagine that! Starting off, I read Chef’s Kiss which is such a cute graphic novel that really dealt with a lot in such few pages. There’s a romance, yes, but there’s also a great focus on friendship and figuring out what you want to do with your life, especially when your plans don’t pan out.

Then we have a non-fiction essay collection which I HIGHLY recommend to any romance readers out there, especially if you try to prioritize diverse works. These essays made me think, made me consider how I approach Black romances, and just were fantastic and entertaining pieces.

The next two books are from the Murderbot series, which I finally started on Chana’s recommendation! And my gosh, this series is fantastic! The second book is probably my favorite, but book one was just so gripping that it made me NEED book two in my hands immediately. And if that isn’t the sign of a great book, I don’t know what is!

Lastly, we have A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. I read a Psalm for the Wild-Built this month as well and gave it 4 stars because I really enjoyed it, but the sequel was even better. It reminded me how much I enjoy cozy sci-fi and now I may just have to read the entire Wayfarers series!

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

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Next up we have my six 4 star reads! Maggie Moves On is a review book that I ended up enjoying so much! My review for it will hopefully go up in the next few weeks, so I’ll make you wait for that to hear my full thoughts!

I read A Lady For a Duke hoping I’d love it, but scared, since the only other Alexis Hall book I had read previously was Boyfriend Material, which I loved, but this book promised a very different tone. Yet I need not have worried as this book featuring a trans heroine and a disabled hero with PTSD was so complex and just fantastic. If you’re at all interested in the premise, I’d definitely recommend picking it up!

Then I read a graphic novel called Batter Royale that I had for review, but the file was corrupted. I finally got my hands on a copy from the library, and had so much fun! This is another one that you’ll have to wait for my review to see my full thoughts!

And as I already have a blog tour review for For Butter or Worse posted, this is another one that I’ll just say I enjoyed!

And you’ve already heard my thoughts on Psalm for the Wild-Built too! Not only that, but I already mentioned the Murderbot series. Book three was my least favorite so far, but still pretty great!

And with that we move on to my 3 star reads of July!

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

I find it so interesting that both of my 3 star reads this month were graphic novels! For Tidesong, I needed more from the story. More background, more fleshed out characters, more interactions. I was just left feeling unsatisfied! The Greatest Thing had similar problems. There were some aspects that I felt were just poorly done or paced, so I ended up not enjoying it as much as I hoped to.

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Rating: 2 out of 5.

Ah, this book. I have a 2 star review written for it, and while I think it’s a good review, I kind of dread posting it, because I so wish I could have had more positive things to say!

Books Acquired:

Purchased:

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Sooooooo, listen, I may have gone over my 5 books a month rule in July, but I have excuses! Firstly, my actual goal is less than 60 books purchased in 2022, and I’m doing great on that goal, so this one extra book won’t be a problem. But also I caved in the Barnes & Noble buy 1 hardcover, get the other 50% off. Did I even need two hardcovers? No! But July had stressful moments and we all know how powerful retail therapy can be!

I purchased The Dead Romantics because I heard good things and it sounded like fun. That’s all the reasoning I got for this one. Always Be My Duchess is a Pretty Woman retelling, and while I haven’t watched that movie, the premise does sound amazing, so I bought it. Then I heard about The Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon and it sounded fun and ridiculous, so of course, I purchased it on a whim. The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School however was one I heard really great things about and therefore picked up. I’m actually really excited to read it, so hopefully I get to it soon! Lastly we have the hardcovers that I got at Barnes & Noble. I really wanted to pick up True Biz because I really enjoy books with Deaf rep, and so I knew that was coming home with me. For the second book, I browsed a bit until I came across A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting, which sounded like my thing, so I picked it up!

After writing up this section I realized that I was a lot less particular about the books I bought this month than usual, but I hope that regardless I end up reading and loving each of these books!

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Gifted:

When you’re in a book store and your mother offers to buy you a book, you grab the chance, even if there aren’t any books that immediately grabbed your attention when you were browsing! At least, that’s the logic I used. My mother was already waiting to pay when she made her offer, so I quickly grabbed Adult Assembly Required, as I’d enjoyed The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by the same author. This book isn’t going to be top priority for me, but I’m curious to see if I enjoy it when I get around to it. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Publisher:

Forever publisher continues to be the greatest and sent me a physical ARC of Season of Love! I’m hoping to read it soon, and I’m so excited that I’ll be able to pick up the physical book now!

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NetGalley:

I had a widget for this book and I was determined not to use it until I had read 4 more NetGalley titles. And while I caved a bit early, I did end up reading 4 NetGalley titles this month in the end, so technically I was just rewarding myself early. I’m actually already in middle of this one, so hopefully you’ll get to hear my thoughts about this book in next month’s wrap up!

Things I Did:

At this point I have completely forgotten what happened in July. I know I was busy and I know I was preparing to move and to start a new job but the actual details escape me. Except I do remember that I spent over 3 hours browsing linen choices until I found a pattern I liked, so maybe that explains how I spent my time! (In general all furniture decisions were made with a great deal of thought. Probably more than necessary!)

Posts I Loved:

I did blog hop a little in the beginning of the month and here are two of the posts that I really enjoyed!

Mint wrote a great post about not accepting review requests which I found fascinating!

Meanwhile, Angela had fantastic tips for attending book signings and/or conventions!

How was your July? Did you have any 5 star reads? Which of the 3 review books that I mentioned should I prioritize posting their reviews?

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