🧨July Reading Thread!📖

[emma]

I had another meh reading month, most of them i rated 3 stars. I finished 7 books but one of them I've been reading with DS for a couple months so i don't know if it truly counts as a June read. 
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan - 3 stars
The Highland Fling by Meghan Quinn - 3 stars
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - 4 stars (kids novel read with DS)
Light Bringer (Red Raising #6) by Pierce Brown - 4 stars
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - 3.5 stars 
The Au Pair by Emma Rous - 3 stars
The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderband - 3 stars

Brandon Sanderson was new to me and given the hype i've seen around Mistborn i was expecting more; I felt whelmed. I started Hey Hun on audio, it's written by someone that was sucked into an MLM in the early 2010s. It's interesting but nothing groundbreaking or new. And I started The Immortality Thief yesterday. I feel like i've been in a book funk recently, nothings really been grabbing me 

[Pizzaslut]

Jul 3, 2024 10:46:09 GMT -6 imapenguin said:

Jul 3, 2024 7:49:40 GMT -6 angelashly said:

I finished the rom commers. It was decent.

The “twist” at the end though 🙄 other than that it was the feel good love story I expect from katherine center

It made me reduce the number of stars. 

[cdnfroggy]

June wasn't a great reading month - quality or quantity for me. We've been swamped with coaching softball, a wedding DH was in and traveling for my sisters high school graduation and I just didn't have much time. July is also shaping up to be busy, so we'll see how it goes. My June reads were:

-Sign Here by Claudia Lux - 3*
-Still Life by Sarah Winman - 3.5*
-Always Mine by Laura Pavlov - 4 *
-Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay - 3*

I am currently working my way through Ghost Station, it honestly isn't grabbing me, but we'll see. I'll probably jump back into a couple romances as palate cleansers.

[wedding]

I didn’t read much in June. My mind wasn’t in the right place and we traveled for the last two weeks.

I read the DI Amy Winter series by Caroline Mitchell. It was 5 books and they were all 4-5 stars. I also read Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner and didn’t like it as much. It had such potential but blew it a bit. I gave it 3 stars.

I’m hoping I get my reading mojo back in July. I just started The House of Last Resort and it’s good so far. I have a ton of holds coming up that I put off while away.

[angelashly]

I picked up only one left but with everything going on I put it back down and picked up Tangled up in you instead.

[leahcar]

Jul 3, 2024 11:07:49 GMT -6 emma said:

I had another meh reading month, most of them i rated 3 stars. I finished 7 books but one of them I've been reading with DS for a couple months so i don't know if it truly counts as a June read. 
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan - 3 stars
The Highland Fling by Meghan Quinn - 3 stars
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - 4 stars (kids novel read with DS)
Light Bringer (Red Raising #6) by Pierce Brown - 4 stars
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - 3.5 stars 
The Au Pair by Emma Rous - 3 stars
The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderband - 3 stars

Brandon Sanderson was new to me and given the hype i've seen around Mistborn i was expecting more; I felt whelmed. I started Hey Hun on audio, it's written by someone that was sucked into an MLM in the early 2010s. It's interesting but nothing groundbreaking or new. And I started The Immortality Thief yesterday. I feel like i've been in a book funk recently, nothings really been grabbing me 

I really enjoyed Hey Hun.  I also listened via audio.  I love a cult/MLM storyline, always.  

[abs]

Just finished Look on the Bright Side. I usually enjoy Kristan Higgins’s books and this was no exception.

Will probably read a thriller next.

[cakewench]

Jul 5, 2024 8:02:42 GMT -6 angelashly said:

I picked up only one left but with everything going on I put it back down and picked up Tangled up in you instead.

I actually just finished Only One Left! Gave it 3.5 stars.

[klw]

Just finished reading Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle. I added it to my list after reading One Italian Summer which I liked a lot better. It was a quick and easy read. Both books have a bit of supernatural in them which I’m kind of meh about.

[dc2london]

I need to stop reading The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware at night. It's freaking me out! But I usually have meetings til 930 and don't get to my books until 10.

[dc2london]

A Great Country was so good I finished it in one day while deep cleaning the fridge and starting a puzzle. Very thought provoking. CW for police brutality.

[dc2london]

Jul 6, 2024 15:33:01 GMT -6 dc2london said:

A Great Country was so good I finished it in one day while deep cleaning the fridge and starting a puzzle. Very thought provoking. CW for police brutality.

I finished the Ruth Ware book. It was fine, but it felt more like a horror movie in book form. I really liked The Woman in Cabin 10 and will be scared of fjords for life, but this Ruth Ware novel felt like it was trying to scare me, not entertain me. 3 stars!

[cnf]

I stayed up late finishing Queen Of Shadows last night and read the first chapter of Empire Of Storms. Going to set up the water slide for the kids this afternoon so they can play while I chill and read.

[angelashly]

I finished Tangled up I you. It was decent rom com wise but I pretty much figured everything out early and it was rushed at the end so it went down to a 3 star.

[bearfootzcontinued]

I enjoyed The Housemaid's Secret, working on The Housemaid is Watching.

My BOTM pick was Husbands & Lovers, my add-on was Middle of the Night, and DD also added on Lost Story. In other words, still need to work on limiting my book purchases, but I'm excited to read each of those.

[Pizzaslut]

I've read 3 so far this month.

Tangled Up in You - 3.5 stars rounded up. Cute, quick read. The ending felt like just a big word dump and I thought there could've been more to it all.

One Night Only - 3.5 stars rounded down. I liked the couple holiday books of hers I read more than this. I liked the characters but the main female had me rolling my eyes.

ACOTAR - 4 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I'm a little intimated to read the rest, which is why it took me so long to read this one. It just seems like SO MUCH READING.

I started The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue this morning on audio.

[abs]

Read The Five Year Lie last night while waiting for hurricane Beryl. Premise was interesting but it gets a solid meh.

[junch817]

My reading has TANKED this year for a multitude of reasons. I read 1, ONE, book in June. I haven’t done that since I’ve been a reader. If it’s taking me that long, I don’t like the book and I’ll quit. I mean, I am a typical 70 books a year reader. One book in a month doesn’t even compute. It was one I bought that I knew I should like and was just reading it at a bad time, so I kept going, but I wasn’t focused on it and I honestly barely remember it. I’m pretty upset about it, TBH. It was Homegoing. I SHOULD have read this book 4-5 months ago and would have read it in 2-3 days and loved it. I read it at the wrong time and it was a completely different experience, and I’m so upset about it.

Since finishing Homegoing, I started and finished Family, Family, which I had also been looking forward to since I first heard about it (I love Laurie Frankel) and it was a much better experience. It still took me 10 days but it was better than SIX WEEKS. Now I’m about 80% through Adelaide. It’s getting better but I’m still in a funk. It’s going to take a hit again with Big Brother starting up again next week.

I think I bit off way too much this year trying too many challenges AND buying a book tracker. What started out fun quickly turned into a chore and wow, I am really feeling the negative impacts from all of it as I can’t get out of this funk I’ve put myself in.

[byjove]

junch817, last year I was averaging 12-13 books a month. This year, actually for the first time in about 4 years, I'm averaging maybe like 4. I still like reading, life is just getting in the way!

[byjove]

Finished The Rom-Commers. It tanked for me about 3/4 of the way through when Emma got into her head too much so I didn't really care by the time the twist (idk, this didn't seem such a big deal to me?)... but I thought the cough thing was related to his childhood trauma- definitely something not explored enough. Never had I wished for a double POV so much. Charlie came across as completely flakey.

[cnf]

Jul 8, 2024 10:59:01 GMT -6 Pizzaslut said:

I've read 3 so far this month.

Tangled Up in You - 3.5 stars rounded up. Cute, quick read. The ending felt like just a big word dump and I thought there could've been more to it all.

One Night Only - 3.5 stars rounded down. I liked the couple holiday books of hers I read more than this. I liked the characters but the main female had me rolling my eyes.

ACOTAR - 4 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I'm a little intimated to read the rest, which is why it took me so long to read this one. It just seems like SO MUCH READING.

I started The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue this morning on audio.

ACOTAR is SO MUCH READING. I literally only read SJM books the entire month of June and I'm on my second book of hers for July already. I LOVE them, so it's been keeping me hooked in, but my gosh, it'll take me two solid months of reading nothing else to make my way through her full catalog of books.

I will say, my TBR pile is accumulating in my Kindle and library holds that I've been pushing out and out and out are starting to weigh on me, lol.

[angelashly]

Jul 8, 2024 12:09:39 GMT -6 byjove said:

Finished The Rom-Commers. It tanked for me about 3/4 of the way through when Emma got into her head too much so I didn't really care by the time the twist (idk, this didn't seem such a big deal to me?)... but I thought the cough thing was related to his childhood trauma- definitely something not explored enough. Never had I wished for a double POV so much. Charlie came across as completely flakey.

Yes!!

[thatgolfb]

I said I would be more involved in the other thread and then I ghosted lol. I just haven’t been reading all that much. But hi!

I did get a book in (the third Housemaid book) on the flights to OH, and am working through Looking for Jane right now which is a tough read but really good.

I’m back to listening to The Covenant of Water. It’s good, it’s just heavy, and soooo freaking long. I had to return the book on Libby last time and then it was a couple months till I got it back. It’s due in 1 day, so I may have to do that again. 😫 turns out I don’t listen to books as often during the summer as I do during the school year.

[thatgolfb]

Jul 2, 2024 6:07:29 GMT -6 boxerific said:

I only finished 9 in June, which is low for me. But had several 4 star picks in there.

The Vacation (John Marrs) - 4 stars
The Paradise Problem (Christina Lauren) - 4 stars
If Something Happens to Me (Alex Finlay) - 2 stars
The Guncle Abroad (Steven Rowley) - 3 stars
Flawless (Elsie Silver) - 3 stars
One Perfect Couple (Ruth Ware) - 4 stars
The Light Pirate (Lily Brooks-Dalton) - 4 stars
The Housemaid is Watching (Freida McFadden) - 4 stars
The Mystery Guest (Nita Prose) - 3 stars

I seem to be in the minority with the latest Housemaid. Most of what I'm seeing on booktok is people feeling very meh about it, and I saw a DNF up thread. I liked it, but I've also liked nearly all of her books.

I liked the third Housemaid too! But yeah, her books are just easy to consume twisty thrillers. I always read them super fast. I am almost always in the mood for those, versus heavier books.

[thatgolfb]

Jul 2, 2024 10:15:23 GMT -6 byjove said:

My reading is also much slower than last year, but I finished 5. The Phoenix Crown and the last MD were my favorite. I'm a quarter through The Rom-commers and enjoying it! Also about half way through our Wives Under the Sea.

I let my Phoenix Crown hold lapse and go back to the library. I usually like Kate Quinn, but it just seemed so slow to me. I think I was like 40% in. I do think when my hold comes back in, I will resume.

[thatgolfb]

Jul 7, 2024 20:06:39 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Jul 6, 2024 15:33:01 GMT -6 dc2london said:

A Great Country was so good I finished it in one day while deep cleaning the fridge and starting a puzzle. Very thought provoking. CW for police brutality.

I finished the Ruth Ware book. It was fine, but it felt more like a horror movie in book form. I really liked The Woman in Cabin 10 and will be scared of fjords for life, but this Ruth Ware novel felt like it was trying to scare me, not entertain me. 3 stars!

Sorry for being, well, my usual self here 😂, but which Ruth Ware book? I have been reading the thread but must have missed it. I usually like her books.

[dc2london]

Jul 9, 2024 6:53:15 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

Jul 7, 2024 20:06:39 GMT -6 dc2london said:

I finished the Ruth Ware book. It was fine, but it felt more like a horror movie in book form. I really liked The Woman in Cabin 10 and will be scared of fjords for life, but this Ruth Ware novel felt like it was trying to scare me, not entertain me. 3 stars!

Sorry for being, well, my usual self here 😂, but which Ruth Ware book? I have been reading the thread but must have missed it. I usually like her books.

The Turn of the Key

[thatgolfb]

Jul 9, 2024 6:54:41 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Jul 9, 2024 6:53:15 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

Sorry for being, well, my usual self here 😂, but which Ruth Ware book? I have been reading the thread but must have missed it. I usually like her books.

The Turn of the Key

Ah thank you! I remember liking that one a lot.

[sudsy]

I’m going through a rom com phase after DNFing too many other genres. I finished Yours Truly at the end of last month without realizing it was a trilogy. So now I’m reading Part of Your World. I’m not a big rom-commer, but I like Abby Jimenez. In between, I read another Elsie Silver book that was kinda meh.

[willow]

I finished book 5 of the Blood and Ash series and now I’m very annoyed that book 6 doesn’t have a solid release date yet lol. I think I will start on the prequel series.

cnf If you want another good fantasy series like the SJM ones, I recommend adding the From Blood and Ash series to your list!