July 2019 Wrap Up!

Otherwise known as “the month I participated in TWO readathon’s and managed to read more than I ever have in the month of July”! July is the worst month for reading for me. Kids, work, swimming, summer…. you know how it goes! But this month I was determined to stay away from a reading slump…. AND IT WORKED! I read EIGHT books and a total of 3,130 pages for an average of 391 pages per book….. I’ve never been more proud!!! I don’t have reviews for most of these though. I read the majority of them towards the end of the month and review are still coming. Here’s what I read this month:

JADE CITY by Fonda Lee <—– click for full review – 4 stars
This was one of those books that I wanted to read so badly, but the size intimidated me. But then, I kept seeing it pop up everywhere and everyone was loving it! Naturally I needed to know why! This book was just as good as promised!

THE CHALK MAN by C.J. Tudor <—– click for full review – 4 stars
I don’t know what’s been up with me lately but mysteries have been right up my alley! And this one surprised me quite a few times! It also gave me “It” vibes with the summer vibes, bike rides, and a group of boys with just one girl. It was also pretty fast paced and I liked her writing style! I can’t wait to read more from her!

MIDDLEGAME by Seanan McGuire <—— click for full review – 4.25 stars
Gah I love Seanan McGuire!! Her writing is flawless! And these characters……. I mean, so good! Even though this one was a little lengthy, it was well worth it! She always finds a way to make the impossible possible. I was a little nervous to read something out of the Wayward Children series, but she’s really amazing!

MORNING STAR by Pierce Brown – review to come – 5 million stars!
This book……. I’m still trying to calm down after reading this masterpiece!! This book was pure brilliance – epic – amazing – perfection…… are there any more words I can use to tell you how much I loved this book? This was everything that I hoped for in the series and, hands down, the best concluding novel in an original trilogy! Writing this review will be so hard. It’s basically just going to be me gushing like an idiot lol!

PAN’S LABYRINTH by Guillermo del Toro <—– review to come – 4 stars
I had no clue what to expect going into this. All that I knew was that this book is beautiful and I knew that it was based on a movie. This ended up being so much more beautiful, dark, and heart breaking than I could have expected! I fell in love with everything about it. As dark and sad as it was, it was equally balanced with magic, beauty, and connection.

SWIPE RIGHT FOR MURDER by Derek Milman <—– review to come – 4 stars
Reading the synopsis for this made me hope for a super fast paced and thrilling adventure – I got exactly what I hoped for! A late night hook up in a hotel room ends up with a dead body…. and that turns into cyber terrorism, a murderous cult, being hunted by the FBI, and so much more! This was one of those books that you just can’t put down because you NEED to know what happens next! I’m starting to love this author!

A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE by Josh Malerman <—– reread – 4 stars
I read this back in the summer of 2018 (click here for that review) and I decided to reread it for the Reading Rush readathon. I needed a book with 5 or more words in the title and the book I had originally chosen was awful….. so I picked this up as a quick last minute read for the challenge. It was still creepy and I still enjoyed it!

THE LAST NAMSARA by Kristen Ciccarelli <—– review to come – 5 stars
Why?!?! Why did I wait so long to read this book?!?! I absolutely loved it! It had a really bad ass female lead, dragons, magic, folklore, royalty, and so much more! The atmosphere was so entrancing and the writing…… *insert heart eyes* Not only am I mad about waiting so long to read this, I’m also mad that I don’t have the sequel RIGHT NOW!!!

Not only did I read 8 books in a month where I would normally read 4, BUT there also wasn’t a single book rated under 4 stars! What is this life?! I can’t choose a favourite though – it’s a toss up between Morning Star and The Last Namsara…… I hope your July was as fantastic as mine was!

Until next time, happy reading!