Books I Read in July

When I started this blog, my goal was to write a review for every book I read. I mean, honestly, I rarely read more than a book a week, so how hard can that be?

But, with all my blogging, um, laziness recently, I keep falling behind on reviews. And the further and further I get away from reading some books, the more and more I realize that I don't actually care about writing a long, in-depth review for every book I've read. Of course, for the really good books, or the reads that I have a lot to say about, I still intend to do full reviews. But for the others (for now, until my blogging steam picks up again), I think I'll stick to these simpler end-of-month round-ups.

Also, I love how we're almost half-way through August and I'm only now writing about July books. I am just coming to accept the fact that this pregnancy is going to continue kicking my trash until the bitter end, and I will never be on top of my game.

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

I've enjoyed this series since the beginning. Despite a few risque moments that mean I would never actually recommend this series to a teenager, I actually think it was quite well-written. If you enjoy solid fantasy/dystopian-ish YA trilogies, this is a good one. However, I don't think this is one that will particularly stay with me. It was just nice escapist fiction to lose myself in for a while.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I read this one for my virtual book-club, and can I just say how much I LOVED it? This is quite sincerely the best middle-grade novel I think I've ever read. Yes, at times is was perhaps a bit sappy or overly sentimental, but what great middle-grade novel isn't a little heavy on sap sometimes? This one was just well written, the characters were amazingly crafted, and of course I cried through the end of it (though I AM pregnant, so I cry at everything). If you care about middle-grade fiction at all, this one is a must read.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.

Okay, technically I only finished this one in July (I started it in February, or something ridiculous like that). But, I actually wrote a full review here. It was that good.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Ah, I had such a love/hate relationship with this one. So many thoughts. In fact, I think I will do a full review on this one, because my feelings are too complicated to explain in a blurb. But you'll have to wait till next week, because how could I possibly write two posts in one week?





So, four books! Yay for July being a fairly successful reading month (better than June at least). August is not looking like it will not be quite as successful, but there are still over two weeks left, so I'm not writing this month off yet.