July was in many ways a bit of a disappointment as far as my reading went. I struggled with many of the books and found them to be long and slow. This was really unfortunate, as some of the books, especially the ARCs were by favorite authors. But, oh well, I guess this does happen from time to time.
As you can see from the graphic, I had a lot of books come in under 4 stars. But there were some really good ones sprinkled in there as well. I finished 6 audiobooks, 7 ARCs and 3 physical books for a total of 16 books. The audiobooks were my lifesavers this month. I pretty much enjoyed all of those. All of the titles, except for one, link back to my reviews.
Favorite ARCs
The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold was a fun second book in the spy thriller series. I loved the couple and the story was a full of edge of your seat moments.
The Creeping Hand Murder was also a fun twist on the murder mystery. It was a you solve it type of story, where we were handed the interviews, photos and other things the police would gather and then you have to solve the mystery. It was a hard one to solve!
The Incredible Kindness of Paper was such a sweet and wholesome story. I loved the two main characters and their search to find each other all while spreading kindness throughout New York City.
Five Found Dead was good. I loved the mystery and the cast of quirky characters. I had a bit of a hard time with parts of it though. My review should be up early next week.
Reading Challenge Books
First-Time Caller was really good and probably my favorite book of the month. I really liked the main characters and their romance was so much fun. Looking forward to the next one.
Hell’s Half-Acre was my nonfiction read for the month. It was really interesting and I enjoyed the audiobook as well.
The Magician of Tiger Castle was an ARC that I really enjoyed. It also happened to fit a prompt for the 52 Book Club’s Challenge, so that was a bonus.
Favorite Reads
Sorry, I’ve got nothing for this one. All of my physical books were pretty disappointing and I don’t feel like talking about them again.
Favorite Audiobooks
So many good audiobooks this month, but these three more or less topped the list.
Don’t Let Him In was such a twisty tale and the audiobook was fantastic. They had a full cast and the narrator for the ‘him’ in the title was excellent.
Fever Beach was a lot of fun. I just loved all of the quirky characters and there were lots of laugh out loud moments.
The Summer I Ate the Rich was a surprisingly good story. It is not at all a horror book, although there are a few squeamish moments. I enjoyed learning about the Haitian culture and the food sounded amazing.
Even though it is only the second day of August, I am hopeful that the reading will be better. At least the ARCs, which are many, will be good I think. I hope your weekend is going well and that you are making time to read. Until next time…
Confessions of a Serial Reader 
I hope you’ll have more luck with your reading in August! And Five Found Dead is new to me, but it sounds interesting! I’ll look forward to your review!!
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So far it has been better, although we are only on day two! 😂
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I hope you have a better time with your books in August! Reading this also made me think about how different people assign ratings differently – for me, a 3.5 book is still a book I quite enjoyed and would even recommend a lot of time, but it feels like under 4 stars for you is generally not positive!
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I think I gave the 3.5 stars just because it was a favorite author. It really was just a 3 star read. Usually a book gets 3 stars if I liked it but had many issues. Under three usually means I really didn’t like it. Which doesn’t happen often.
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Ah I get that! And when it’s a favourite author and the book isn’t as good as your hoping, then a three stars feels even more disappointing. (Also just to clarify it wasn’t a criticism, I find it really interesting how different people conceptualise what star ratings mean!)
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I didn’t take it as a criticism at all. I also find it interesting the way people use the star system. I’m not a huge fan of rating books even though I do do it.
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