Welcome to the last day of July, aka bookish wrap-up time! July was truly a summer reading month, packed full of contemporaries and romances. I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed just about everything I read this month, and I read a whopping 13 books (amazing, what with my evil time-and-brain-cell-sucking summer course). I also found a horror novel that I actually, genuinely love (Five whole Stars, people!) which I thought would never happen. Hereby I declare that July was an excellent reading month for me. Books read: 13 Pages read: 4,773 Genres read: Mystery, Paranormal, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novel Favorite book read: The Girls Are Never Gone, by Sarah Glenn Marsh When All the Girls Are Sleeping, by Emily Arsenault ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ Boarding school mystery! Y'all know how much I love those. Check out my full review here! You Know I'm No Good, by Jessie Ann Foley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This one dealt with all kinds of important issues and featured super realistic characters. Great read! I highly recommend. As Far As You'll Take Me, by Phil Stamper ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fun buddy read with April @bookedtillmidnight! The writing left something to be desired, but there were lots of heartwarming moments, self-grow, and Britishisms. Overall, delightful! Bloom, by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganuchaeu ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved the music and baking that starred in this graphic novel. The pacing was really weird, though. The State of Us, by Shaun David Hutchinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I've kind of got a thing for political romances?? That's a category, right?? Some parts of this one were a bit iffy, but generally I enjoyed it! Sugar Town Queens, by Malla Nunn ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The mystery element and vivid imagery in this one was great! Unfortunately the characters were either massively underdeveloped or deeply unlikeable (or a lucky combination of both!). See my full review here. Like Other Girls, by Britta Lundin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved the friendships in this book! We've also got some kickass girls challenging gender norms. I vote yes. Full review coming soon! The Girls Are Never Gone, by Sarah Glenn Marsh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Love love love this book!! All sorts of paranormal ghost-y stuff going on; also, great diabetes rep and an adorable dog named Waffles. Full review to come! The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar ⭐️⭐️⭐️ So heartwarming and full of emotion! Fabulous sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance. Plus I adore the sisterly love in this one. As If On Cue, by Marisa Kanter ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ Nerdy characters abound! Seriously, these characters are the best, and I loved the focus on music and plays. The enemies-to-lovers in this one was so good too. Especially recommend this for fans of What's Not to Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka! Admission, by Julie Buxbaum ⭐️✨ This was just a bit boring. The main character's ignorance irritated me too. Pretty disappointing. Love & Gelato, by Jenna Evans Welch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book was adorable and the perfect summer romance! I loved the Italy setting, and the romance was so sweet. Fantastic buddy read with Paige @pagebypaigebooks! Beasts of Prey, by Ayana Gray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was my only fantasy read of the month, but it was really good! The world-building was fantastic and I loved how the author incorporated mythology into the book. Full review to come! Okay, now that that's done, we can move on to August! Does anyone have any plans for August, reading or otherwise? I'm personally planning on finally diving into Rule of Wolves (it's so thick, it intimidates me so much), and my Fall school semester starts mid-August. Also, exciting news, I got a job! It's at my school's campus library, and I should be starting work around when my classes start.
How many books did you read in July? Which one was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
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Okay, so please be honest with me: yesterday, on June 30th, did you realize it was the last day of June?? Because I most certainly did not until about 10:26am when I saw someone's June wrap-up and was like, Huh isn't this early? Pretty sure I was still under the impression for some reason that it was only, like, June 27th?? I don't know why, but I was absolutely convinced I still had a few days left in the month. But then I had the brilliant realization yesterday that *surprise surprise* it was the last day of June and I did not by any means have my own wrap-up put together. Ugh. Anyway, I still managed to throw together my June wrap-up in time, so here it is! I feel like I had a good reading month and read some great books (and actually some off my tbr! Hooray!). Some were hilarious, some were heartbreaking. I actually cried while reading a book for the first time in a while. So let me tell you all about them! Books read: 13 Pages read: 3,929 Genres read: Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller, Retelling, LGBTQ+ Favorite book read: Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly The Box in the Woods, by Maureen Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A new mystery for Stevie Bell to solve! Yay! I had a great time reading this book. Check out my full review and tour stop for this book here! Switched, by Cassie Mae ⭐️⭐️ Kayla and Westley's obliviousness to their own feelings was aggravating. Ugh. But there were some cute moments. The ending was interesting, though--I'm still not completely sure if I liked it or not, but it was definitely a bit far-fetched. The Extraordinaries, by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Was this book full of cringey, second-hand-embarassment moments? Yep. Did some of the characters (I'm looking at you, Nick) make me want to scream and throw the book across the room? Absolutely. But was it an entertaining buddy read with my amazing friend Paige at @pagebypaigebooks? It really was. We had lots of fun predicting things (and we did predict nearly everything in this book!) and laughing over characters' awful decisions. So hooray for buddy reads! Fence Volume 1, by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente, and Jim Campbell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really fun graphic novel! I love these characters and learned a lot about fencing. Fence Volume 2, by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente, and Jim Campbell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I flew through both Volume 1 and 2 of Fence in one day! These are great quick reads! Fence Volume 3, by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente, and Jim Campbell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic volume! I really need to read Volume 4 now! Curses, by Lish McBride ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast! Hob is my favorite character and the curse support group was fabulous. Full review soon to come! You Have a Match, by Emma Lord ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved the Parent Trap vibes in this one! Plus it took place at a summer camp, making for a perfect summer read. The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass ⭐️⭐️ I really wanted to like this one, but I just didn't. It has some great representation, but it was too gory for my liking and there were some very disturbing scenes. I'm just not a horror fan! Heartless, by Marissa Meyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Omg my heart 😭 This book was SO GOOD and broke my heart into a million pieces and just whyyyyy. (Fun fact: I saw someone picking up Heartless at my library the day after I finished it and kind of went total fangirl on them, like OMG YOU'RE GOING TO READ HEARTLESS?! AHHHHH!! They were probably a little freaked out, but they did seem excited to read it after all my animated gushing over it.) Dark and Shallow Lies, by Ginny Myers Sain ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ This book was seriously so good!! I didn't know exactly what to expect going in, but I absolutely loved it. The small-town-mystery vibes were perfection. Full review coming soon! Not My Problem, by Ciara Smyth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ The levels of hilarity in this book were off the charts. It had the ideal balance of humor and good ol' real life problems. Highly recommend this especially for fans of Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales! Poisoned, by Jennifer Donnelly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another fantastic buddy read with Paige! This book was amazing, even better than I'd hoped, and it made me really nostalgic since Stepsister (another great book by this same author) was Paige's and my first-ever buddy read! This book had so many heartwarming messages about kindness, love, and being your true self. I highly recommend it! And with that, June is now over! Time to move onto July...
Have an awesome start to the month, everyone! |
Hey there, bookworms!My name is Rose (she/her) and I'm the creator of Books of Magic and Mystery. I love reading YA books, especially fantasy and mystery. When I'm not reading, you can find me baking, studying, or cuddling with my super-furry pets. Visit me on Instagram @booksofmagicandmystery! Archives
October 2021
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