Another month of reads and reviews! I started the month of STRONG with three 5 star books! Two of them were the first books in popular YA series which is a genre I’m really finding myself drawn to. This month, I plan to focus mainly on YA books. While I’ve read the two mega popular YA series, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, I really haven’t read much else so I feel so behind on so many great series. I’m looking forward to slowly changing that!
Just wanted to mention Goodreads again! I am still so enjoying exploring this site and reading all the reviews and TBR lists. Feel free to add/follow me! I love meeting fellow book lovers, just mention you found me through my blog! 😉
July Reads + Reviews
#1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Off the heels of my favorite June book was my favorite book of July! And it’s by Taylor Jenkins Reid who wrote my favorite May book (she just might be my new favorite author). I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I cringed, I absolutely LOVED this book from start to finish! I both wanted to devour and relish every page and was so sad when it ended, not quite ready to leave Evelyn Hugo and her world behind. It’s about a Hollywood screen legend who decides to give a tell-all to a little known writer and what follows is an engrossing, brutally honest story of an incredibly driven and multifaceted woman. The characters are flawed, layered and interesting; the Old Hollywood setting is so vivid; the story never slowed or got boring for me. Like Daisy Jones, the book touches on some heavy topics but does so with care and respect. I NEED to find more books like this and if you know any, please let me know! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#2. The Selection – When I heard someone describe this as The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games, I knew I had to read this book ASAP! (No, the girls don’t literally fight each other for a guy, but there’s a numbered social caste system that‘s similar to the numbered districts in THG. Oh and there’s a love triangle, of course). It may be considered a slightly guilty pleasure read – it definitely could use a bit more world building and character backstory, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#3. Cinder – Four 5 star books in a row! This was such a fun and sweet read! It’s a dystopian/sci-fi Cinderella retelling where’s she’s a cyborg mechanic living in a post apocalyptic plague infested world. Of course there’s an evil stepmother, a prince, a ball, oh and an evil moon queen (whose scenes I found genuinely CHILLING). The later end of the book is just unputdownable and the ENDING! I need to know what happens ASAP! I also can’t wait to see how they’re going to intertwine other fairy tale characters into the story! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#4. My Dark Vanessa – Dark indeed. Incredibly well written but incredibly difficult and uncomfortable to read due to the deeply unsettling and heavy subject matter of a teacher grooming/abusing a student nearly 30 years younger and the irreparable damage it causes. Very disturbing, read with caution. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#5. The Last Flight – Interesting premise about two women on the run from bad situations who meet at an airport and decide last minute to switch plane tickets. It had some good suspense and tension in the beginning then quickly lost steam and my attention. Wraps up satisfyingly enough though (even if I wanted something a little more intense) and has a nice theme of women supporting women – overall, a quick and easy summer read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
#6. Then She Was Gone – Not at all what I expected but not exactly in a good way. Well written with well formed characters but despite being pretty bizarre and disturbing, it was still very predictable. I kept thinking the big twist must be that the twist isn’t going to be as obvious as it seemed – it wasn’t. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
#7. The Last Mrs Parish – I feel conflicted about this one! It’s about an envious woman who befriends a wealthy socialite in order to steal her perfect life and husband. It definitely has its fun guilty pleasure moments that I enjoyed but you spend a lot of time in the head of a truly AWFUL, conniving, manipulative person which made it difficult to read at times. I did see the twist coming but it was still interesting to see how things would all pan out. It’s hard to say much more without giving away spoilers but I could definitely see this as a Lifetime movie if that gives you any idea of the vibe of the book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
#8. A Study In Scarlet – Read this back in June, wanting to try a classic out. I really enjoyed this even the middle part that seemed super random at first (had me on the edge of my seat and invested in the characters and their fates). I thought it was a good introduction of the iconic characters of Sherlock and Watson and liked how the story all came together and found the ending satisfying. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What have you been reading this month?
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