July Book Round Up!
July had some of my highest and lowest personal moments of the entire year, and so my reading was all over the place and largely dictated by what was available from my library hold list. I’ve started a dozen other books during this month, but these happen to be the ones I finished.
1. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating - Christina Lauren
Cute. I don’t often like characters like Hazel, where like their only flaw is that they’re too quirky, but in this case I think her backstory was rounded out enough that it didn’t annoy me.
2. My Favorite Half-Night Stand - Christina Lauren
I was on edge because I genuinely don’t like catfishing stories, but I get how it started in this case. And though I liked the resolution between Reid and Millie, I was hoping for a little more with Millie’s family to build it up at the end. But I did love the friend group.
3. Counterpoint (Twisted Wishes #2) - Anna Zabo
Kinda forgot I’d started this series, quite frankly, but I was genuinely avoiding my stack from the library and downloaded it because I think the author is reliable.
4. Prince’s Gambit (Captive Prince #2) - CS Pacat
I got quite a bit of attention after my less than stellar reaction to Captive Prince, but I always intended to finish the series anyway. And I have to say, I think this was a big improvement. Like with the characters established, the real plot could finally get going.
5-7. This Time Forever series (Building Forever #1, Renewing Forever #2, Chasing Forever #3) - Kelly Jensen
Overall an enjoyable series with some good couples. These were my only real vacation reads, which I shouldn’t have even been reading because I had homework at the time.
8. Heartstopper, Volume 2 - Alice Oseman
I already this part of the web comic online, but it’s so cute and I love having the physical book.
9. Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson
I gave this a very generous 4 stars on Goodreads, even though it was a 3.5 kind of read for me because I expected more from it. I think the narration was a little heavy-handed when making a point rather than just letting the characters be, so there was nothing wrong with it except that I wanted to feel a little more depth. I also would have liked more time spent in the libraries themselves, but this was still an enjoyable story.
10. A Rogue by Night (The Devils of Dover #3) - Kelly Bowen
Finally got around to this one after downloading it the day it was released.
11. Love and Other Words - Christina Lauren
This was a little more brutal on the feelings than I could really handle right now, and Macy's situation hit uncomfortably close to home for me. I definitely enjoyed the alternating timelines to tell the story, but honestly Macy and Elliot were perfect for each other only because they would be awful for anyone else. I think I have to rank this at the bottom of Christina Lauren books I’ve read so far.
12. Between the Devil and the Duke (Season for Scandal #3) - Kelly Bowen
After I finished that last series by her, I was reminded of another I still had to finish.
13. Kings Rising (Captive Prince #3) - CS Pacat
I admit this was an ending worth waiting for. Got a little thrown off when the narration started following Laurent, but overall I liked seeing how characters were playing so many steps ahead of where I thought it was all going.
