Note: I’m currently having weird commenting issues, so if you try to comment and get a very angry “Access Denied” screen, it’s not you, it’s me. If you do get this error, could you be so kind as to let me know (my email is stephanywrites@gmail.com!). My hosting company has told me this is fixed, so it shouldn’t still be happening!
Books Read
(7/7) Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein (★★★★★ – e-book, Libby, 2025) – a gorgeous story about the power of sisterhood and the sacrifices required of a family with a star athlete. I adored this book and everything it had to say about family, trauma, and healing.
(7/7) A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles (★★★☆☆ 1/2 – e-book, Libby, 2023) – a m/m historical romance involving a few too many convoluted plotlines for me to keep up with. But the romance was a star!
(7/9) First Wife’s Shadow by Adele Parks (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Hoopla, 2025) – a domestic thriller that started off rough but quickly turned around thanks to some sensational twists and turns. It’s not a standout in the genre, but a great choice if you love a good domestic thriller.
(7/16) Go Gentle by Maria Semple (★★☆☆☆ – print, library, 2026) – one of the more disjointed stories I’ve read. It felt like this was three different books in one, and none of it made sense to me. I really liked the idea of a coven of older women living on the same floor of an apartment building in NYC, though. I wanted more of that, less of everything else.
(7/17) Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young (★★★★☆ – e-book, Libby, 2023) – a surprise pregnancy is not my favorite romance trope, but more and more authors seem to be doing it right, and this was definitely an example of that. I loved this!
(7/22) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (★★★★★ – audiobook, Libby, 2021) – my first PRK book and it won’t be the last. In this book, he details the rise and (somewhat?) fall of the Sackler family, and it is insanely well-researched and well-written.
(7/26) No Matter What by Cara Bastone (★★★★☆ 1/2 – print, Book of the Month, 2026) – a lovely second-chance romance about a married couple who are trying to find their way back to each other after a traumatic event. It is beautiful, funny, and a reminder of the healing power of love.
(7/31) The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (★★★★☆ – print, Barnes & Noble, 2023) – a fictionalized retelling of Martha Ballard’s life, a midwife living in the late 1700s. This book is long and dense, but I fell head over heels for Martha!
(7/31) The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne (★★★☆☆ 1/2 – audiobook, Spotify, 2026) – an oral history of the beginnings of The Midnight Show, an SNL-type show that started in the 1980s. It also follows the meteoric rise of one female comedian and her disappearance after the second season.
Book Stats
- # of books read: 9
- # of pages read: 3,556
- Genre breakdown: fiction (4), romance (3), nonfiction (1), thriller (1)
- Format breakdown: print (3), audiobook (3), ebook (3)
- Fastest read: A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (7 days)
- Slowest read: The Frozen River (13 days)
- Biggest reading day: July 31, 2026 (182 pages read, 3 hours, 58 minutes of audiobook listening)
- Star average: 4
Superlatives
- The best book I read in July: Empire of Pain
- My favorite romance in July: Out on a Limb
- The book I thought I would love more than I did: The Midnight Show
- The book that might have been TOO literary for me: Go Gentle
- The book that proved that Lisa is my best recommendation source: Spectacular Things
Reading Miscellaneous
Unread Shelf Project | July prompt: A book you bought on a whim: Cat’s People by Tanya Guerrero. I picked this up at a local indie during my reading crawl earlier this year. I bought it based solely on its gorgeous cover and was hoping for a sweet found family novel. Alas, I DNF-ed it after 43 pages. The writing style just wasn’t working for me, and I’m kinda tired of the “lonely woman who lives with her cats and everyone pities her” trope. (Books it beat out: A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch, So Far Gone by Jess Walter, and Little Bee by Chris Cleave.)
Where I traveled this month (in my books): It wasn’t an eclectic month of traveling through books, but I did get to enjoy some different time periods. For example, I was in present-day Maine as well as Maine in the late 1700s. I was in present-day NYC as well as NYC in the 1980s. And I visited Romney Marsh and Hampshire in England.
DNFs: One. My only DNF for July was Cat’s People.
Something I learned from my reading: There was a lot I learned about the practice of midwifery in the 18th century, and especially about specific laws and customs surrounding having children out of wedlock.
What’s Coming Up in August
- The Clocks by Agatha Christie – I’m marching along in my quest to read all of the Hercule Poirot mysteries. I’m not reading them in order, but whenever I’m at a bookstore and see one I haven’t read, I pick it up and add it to my collection!
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa – This is my pick for August’s challenge for The Unread Shelf Project, which is to read the shortest book on my shelves. At 147 pages, it fits the bill.
- The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower – I only have two more volumes to read before I’m all caught up, and I’m both excited about being current and so sad I won’t have more Emma books to read for a while. I might start gathering print versions and reading them in that format next. I am obsessed. (Also, I feel very vindicated that one of my friends read the first book and was like, “Meh. I don’t get it.” I told her to keep reading, so she did, and she’s just as obsessed as I am now. YES!)
- Wild Side by Elsie Silver – I’m excited to dive into the third book in Elsie Silver’s Rose Hill series. It’s a marriage of convenience trope, which I tend to really enjoy, so I hope this one works as well for me as her previous novels!
What were your favorite and least favorite books of July?
I had three great reads in July – one was a reread, Writers and Lovers. I also loved Dear Monica Lewinsky and The Remains of the Day. I didn’t have any really bad reads in July at all! I didn’t enjoy The Names, but I could still appreciate the writing, so I didn’t rate it badly.
Writers and Lovers yesssss. I want to reread that book at some point. One of my most loved books!
I’m also on an Agatha Christie quest, but mine is to reread all her books (except for the ones that really stand out, and I remember the endings). I’m doing the same thing you are- just picking them up whenever I find them, and not trying to read them in order.
You had a good month of reading! Two five star and only one real dud. I would call that a success!
It was a pretty successful reading month. I wish I had read MORE, lol, but 9 books in a month is solid for me. 🙂
My reading was all over the place in July. I liked Ella Minnow Pea, although I thought it was sort of terrifying. I also really liked The Unseen World and Sarah Beth Durst’s Spellshop books. I think you would like Durst, too, actually. I didn’t LOVE Kittentits, but I was constantly surprised by it and the creativity was off the charts, so I appreciate it for what it was.
I’ll check out the Spellshop books! I also want to read Ella Minnow Pea but I’m also not sure my brain can handle it lol
I really want to read the Emma M. Lion books. I need to see if they are available through Libby. Taco got a library card recently so now I have 15 more Libby holds (insert evil laugh)! Mwahahahaha. My best book of July was “The Hand That First Held Mine” which is a backlist book by Maggie O’Farrell. I did not see how the 2 stories were connected and there is no breaks between the 2 stories so it took some patience but it paid off! The worst book was probably ‘The One Day You Were My Husband” but it was a “reader, know thy self” issue. I don’t love domestic thrillers. But it was on a number of summer reading lists so I decided to give it a shot.
The problem with the Emma M Lion books is that I’ve only found them on audio with my library! But I think Jenny said her library has some of them on order finally, so I hope other libraries will get on board. I really think you will love them!
Ohhhh you need to tell me about the “The Unread Shelf Project”. I am struggling to read all the books on my shelf and maybe if I make it a challenge….
I just realized that Elsie Silver has some books out after I caught up on the podcast.
Need to have a closer look.