Books Read
1) Twice Tempted by a Rogue by Tessa Dare (★★★★☆ – e-book, Libby) – A fun historical romance novel with a kickass female protagonist and a thrilling conclusion.
2) The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas (★★★★☆ – print, owned, Target) – An intriguing story about the different ways a woman’s life can unfold, whether or not she decides to have children with her husband.
3) You Can’t Be Serious by Kal Penn (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Libby) – A really wonderful celebrity memoir about an Indian actor turned White House staffer turned actor again.
4) It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (★★★★☆ – e-book, Libby) – A superfun contemporary romance about a socialite who has to transform her late father’s rundown bar in a small town.
5) Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo (★★★★★ – print, owned, Target) – A really compelling nonfiction read about all the ways toxic white masculinity has slowed down progress in our society.
6) The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Libby) – The second in a series about a group of teens solving mysteries at a boarding school in Vermont.
7) A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy (★★★☆☆ – e-book, owned, Amazon) – A historical romance with a really inventive plot that didn’t fully live up to my expectations.
8) How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love by Logan Ury (★★★★☆ – print, library) – A book about dating in the modern age that made me feel a lot less stupid about my struggles with dating.
9) Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆ – e-book, owned, Amazon) – A short and sweet contemporary romance that gave me all of the happy feels.
10) Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley (★★★★☆ – print, owned, Thriftbooks) – A book about a woman who is allergic to human touch… and what happens when she finally emerges from the reclusive life.
Book Challenges
- Book Club: Our book club pick for July was The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano and we had a fascinating discussion about it! All of us loved the book (I think everyone gave it 4 or 5 stars), but wanted something different from the ending. Our book club is comprised of married women with kids, single women without kids, and married women without kids, and we had a good discussion about motherhood and the expectations of women.
- Unread Shelf Project: I had a DNF for the Unread Shelf Project this month! The prompt was “a book set in a country/culture different than yours” so I chose A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which I thought I was going to love. Unfortunately, it just bored me to tears and I gave up after 147 pages.
- Goodreads Challenge: I had some DNFs for my Goodreads Challenge this month, which is fine! I’m mostly trying to get through all the books I added to my list so long ago, and a lot of those books just don’t work for me these days. I DNF-ed Ex-Libris by Anne Fadiman and How to Be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky, but loved Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley. That’s 3 books crossed off for July, woo!
Book Stats
- # of books read: 10
- # of pages read: 3,413 pages
- Genre breakdown: Romance (40%), Nonfiction (30%), Fiction (20%), and Mystery/Thriller (10%)
- Format breakdown: e-book (40%), print (40%), and audiobook (20%)
- Fastest read: How Not to Die Alone (4 days)
- Slowest read: You Can’t Be Serious (11 days)
- Star average: 4.0
- % of books by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community: 20% (eeks!)
- Abandoned books: 4 (A Gentleman in Moscow, Ex-Libris, How to Be a Person in the World, and The Duchess Deal)
- Goodreads goal check-in: I set a goal of 135 books this year and currently, I am 4 books behind schedule.
Superlatives of June
- Favorite book of the month: How Not to Die Alone by Logan Ury
- Favorite romance of the month: It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
- Least favorite book of the month: A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy
- A buzzy book that definitely lived up to the hype: The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas
- A buzzy book that definitely did not live up to the hype: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
What was the best book you read in July?