July 2022 Reading Wrap-up

Hello Reader Friends! It's time for this month's reading wrap-up and grab something to drink because it's a long one. This month I read eleven books and I enjoyed them all. This month I read more adult books than before, 8 of them. I also read 2 graphic novels and one middle grade. This brings my total of books read this year up to 54 books which is great but no where near my goal of 100 books in 2022. I need to read nine a month for the rest of the year to reach my goal and the school year is about to start so it's not looking great on that front but who knows I may surprise myself. Anyway enough about that let's get into the books.

 

First up is the rest of the Discovery of Witches series. I finished book one in June and loved it but only gave it 4 stars because it took me a while to get into it. But then when I got far enough I loved it. The same can't be said for book 2 & 3. I devoured these books I finished both of them in 3 days and that's only because my mom made me go shopping so I had to stop for a few hours. Otherwise I would have read them nonstop. Because of how much I enjoyed book 2 & 3 I'm elevating the series to 5/5 stars. It may be a slow start but totally worth it.

Next up I went for a more lighthearted romance the Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. A graduate student in the biology department wants her best friend to know that she's over her last boyfriend and that her friend is clear to date him. So grabs and kisses some random guy in the hallway and pretends he's her boyfriend. but the man she kissed is none other than the biology departments most hated professor. He's willing to play along with the charade but has his own reasons. I loved this book. It was an adorable feel good book that is totally worth it. My only complaint is with some of the word choices, they jarred me out of the story and made no sense to me so I'm bringing this down to a 4/5 stars.

My mother and I devoured the first two books in the Thursday Murder Club series. The series follows a group of senior citizens, who usually spend their Thursdays looking over old cases, end up solving a fresh murder in their neighborhood. It was a great story and the characters are great. The interactions between them is hilarious and each of them have a fascinating background. I loved both books and can't recommend them enough. 5/5 stars.

I've seen this book pop up every once and a while and saw that it was on our Sora app so I borrowed it. It was a good story. The three characters make up a weird family. The spy who needs a kid to get close to his mark, the telepathic kid who wants a home, and the assassin who needs a family to look normal to her family and coworkers. I really enjoyed the first book and hopefully will read more soon when I need a pick me up. 4/5 stars

                                                        

One of my prompts for one of my many reading challenges was Read a book set in a nonpatriarchal society, and what better match for the prompt than Wonder Women? In Diana and the Island of no Return Diana meets a young boy who needs her help in freeing his Island from a demon bent on abducting Diana for his employer by using the island inhabitants as foot soldiers. Diana and her best friend set out to help the boy and a long the way she comes to realize she's not like other Amazonians. It was a cute tale but not something I can say I enjoyed a lot. It was quick and fulfilled the prompt. I'm giving it 3/5 stars.

                                   

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercombie has been on my TBR for a while and I finally got a hold of a box set and wow. I now understand why they call him Lord Grimdark because these books are Dark. I only read the first 2 but I enjoyed them a lot. I fully plan on reading book 3 soon but I need a break between them. Which is why my last two books of the month are much lighter. I'm giving this series 4/5 stars just because of the grimness of it.

One of my all time favorite series is the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I read most of the series last year and I just got this copy of the novella this month and wasted no time in reading it. It has everything I love about the series but in only 140 pages. I love the characters, I love the mysteries and I definitely loved this book 5/5 stars.

                                                                

The final book I read this month was A House Divided. It was a quirky graphic novel about an orphan girl who inherits a house from an unknown uncle only to find it occupied by a bunch of mercenary types looking for her uncle's treasure. I read this book to see if it's something to order for my students and it was a fun read. I'm definitely ordering it for my students. I just wish the volumes were longer. 4/5 stars