July 2018 Wrap-Up

Wow, I can’t believe that July is already over!  I only have four weeks before I go back to school, Yikes!  Actually I start to get a little bored right around now and start thinking about and looking forward to going back to work.  But I had an awesome reading month! I think I might have broken a record at least for myself.  I’m going to be on vacation the last weekend of July, so I am writing this before I leave.  At this point I know that I will have these books done. I will probably get two to three more done while I am gone, but I will have to put those on next month’s list.  My predicted reading total for this month will be almost 30 books, but some were novellas, many were middle grade which are usually pretty fast reads and then one was a graphic novel.  Many of the middle grade books were also audiobooks, which means I can listen to at least two of them to every one YA read.  I am going to break these down into categories for you to make it more manageable. 

Audio-Books (3)

All of these books were really good.  Loved When Dimple Met Rishi, it was such a fun read.  I finally got around to the second book of The Girl From Everywhere and just loved it as much as the first.  Burning city was also good, but not as good as Ace of Shades was.  

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Young Adult (4)

These are the YA books that don’t fall into any other category.  Both Learning to Swear in America and Trouble Never Sleeps were hilarious and I loved them both.  A Reaper at the Gates was a bit disappointing, I just never connected with it like I did the first two.  Every Breath is an older book that is a Holmes like story.  It is set in Australia.  There are three books in the series and I will probably review the series when I get it done.  Just picked up the second one from the library. 

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Middle Grade Books (9)

Many of these were audiobooks and all of them except 3 were Sasquatch Award nominees.  Loved Amie Kaufmann’s Ice Wolves and I hope to have a review up for that one soon.  Sheets was the one graphic novel I read this month and it was pretty cute.  I loved that the ghosts wore sheets.  

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ARC’s (all from NetGalley) (5)

Not a bad one in the bunch here and a little something for everyone.  The Soul Keeper was an interesting take on what happens to your soul after death.  Both The Dark Beneath the Ice and The Cheerleaders were dark and definitely page turners.  Keeper of the Bees was a companion novel to the Black Birds of the Gallows, and it was just as fascinating as the first one.  

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Novellas (4)

These are technically considered to be adult books, but I see no reason why older teens wouldn’t enjoy them too.  I am in love with the Murderbot Diaries.  They are such and interesting take on the whole AI genre.  There is one more book coming out in September and then I will write a review on all of them.  I’m still hoping the last one will pop up on Netgalley soon as the others have all been there.  Legion is an old story by Brandon Sanderson that is being reissued with a second slightly longer novella and a brand new third story about Stephan Leeds, AKA Legion.  He has multiple personalities and they all help him solve crimes, sort of like Sherlock, but not quite.  I’m having some trouble getting my hands on the second one, my library doesn’t have it, so a review may not come until the release of the new one in September.  

I will be on my way home when this posts.  Not sure what I will be reading while I’m gone, but I think it will be A Darker Shade of Magic, The Belles (audio) and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (ARC).  I will be visiting family, so it is always hard to tell how much reading time I will get, but the flights there and back are quite long and I always get a lot of reading done then.  I hope your July reads were as satisfying as mine.  

Did you have a favorite read this month?  Do you have something you are looking forward to next month?  Leave a comment and let me know.