July was a month of longer fantasy epics. And a few ARCs. And a decent number of novellas (<200 pages), which brought up the overall number of books finished. Sometimes you want to read but don’t want to put in a lot of effort with the storylines, so novellas are a great way to keep reading but not have to get involved in a 500+ page epic.
All of the books finished this month were (bolded titles are audiobooks): Done and Dusted // Prey Tell // Berries and Greed // Angel // Impact // His to Keep // The Christmas Deal // His Christmas Wish // His: Dominic // Tower of Dawn // His Dirty Demands // Kingdom of Sweets // Ink // His to Command // A Light in the Flame // Moonstruck // City of Bones // Was I Ever Free // Yellowface // Radium Girls // King of Pride // Ward // Headcase // The Stardust Thief // Traveling with Gentlemen // Kingdom of Ash // Sweet Vengeance // Behind the Net // The Anti-Hero // Grump Gone Wild // Grump Gone Bad // Whole Lotta Grump // Cruel Summer // King of Wrath
The three audiobooks were all rereads, as I had previously read them as ebooks, and loved them. The Necessary Evils series that Moonstruck and Headcase are part of is so good as audio (Liam DiCosimo is the narrator and he is spot-on for these stories). And King of Wrath is probably my favorite of the Ana Huang books between her Kings of Sin series and Twisted series (so far at least). And the male narrator, Jacob Morgan, was PERFECT for the character of Dante. Plus, it was a duet narration, which is SO GOOD. More audiobooks need duet over dual narration, I think. It helps you get even more immersed in the story.
I finally finished the Throne of Glass series this month, with Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash. Those were hefty books, and I think I actually liked Tower of Dawn more than the last book. But I did like the series as a whole. Now that it’s done, I can start reading the Crescent City books (already finished ACOTAR). But I may hold off a bit longer on those, as I have a lot of others I want to get through first, and a break from the Sara J. Maas universe is probably a good idea right now.
Sweet Vengeance, Behind the Net, and The Anti-Hero were all close in the favorites race for this month. They were all spicy romances with a lot of heart and nuance and emotional stakes that hit all the right notes. I think of all the books read, Cruel Summer was the biggest disappointment, based on what I had been seeing all over social media. Although I may just not be a Morgan Elizabeth person, this is the second book I have read of hers that did not seem to land (for me). Also, there were a surprising amount of typos and issues with the book. Normally, for indie authors, I give a pass to some degree of grammar/typo issues due to the nature of the publishing process, but this author has a ton of books published already, so this level of typo/grammar problems is a bit concerning. Not to mention, the “Mean Girls” plotline and anemic character development left a lot to be desired. Again, for me. I know reviews and opinions on books are highly subjective. Although it did put me off from trying to seek out her books in the future.
Heading into August, I have a few ARCs to get through, and as always a TBR list a mile long. But we are also getting back to the academic season, so the overall numbers will probably slow down, and audiobooks take up a bigger share (commuting is my main time to listen to audiobooks).
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