July wasn’t quite what I planned, because I spent a lot more time watching booktube than was ideal (a mood), but its fine. I read 12 books, participated in the reading rush and got very excited about the upcoming NEWTs readathon in August. Perhaps it was not the greatest success, but I’m ready for August, and all the new releases that are coming in the upcoming months (there are so many, I actually can’t).
This month, as I said, I read 12 books, and two of them were five star reads (although, technically, they were sort of the same book). My average rating was 3.7 stars, which basically means that I enjoyed the majority of the books that I read. This was the month of me reading graphic novels for the first time, and I have to say, I really like them! I love looking at different art styles and appreciating the stories through pictures rather than words alone. I don’t think that they are something I will read all the time, but it is nice to pick up one or two when I don’t feel like reading something heavy. But anyway, here are the books that I read in July.
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
This is a very important contemporary following three teenage girls who are trying to gain justice for a girl who left town after being gang raped. This book clearly deals with heavy topics, so please bear that in mind if you want to read this book. It was beautifully written and I loved the characters, although I just wish we got to spend more time with them. The book wasn’t exactly short, I just felt like we weren’t always really with the characters – it was a little disconnected in a way, as if we were watching the characters rather than experiencing their thoughts and feelings, and they felt like they were well developed, I just didn’t get to see it. But this book was really powerful, and I would definitely recommend.
★★★★
Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
I used to read a lot of books by Agatha Christie when I was younger (mainly the Poirot mysteries), and I actually really love her Mary Westmacott books. Some have said they are more like romances, but I don’t think that is true at all. To me, they don’t really fit into any sort of genre, but in a way they are just as clever as her mysteries. Having read Agatha’s autobiography also, this book surprised me in how close to her real life this book is. The names are changed, and things are a little different, but this is very much a depiction of Agatha’s own first marriage, and I really loved this book. It was well written and sad, and I think that more people need to be reading it.
★★★★
The Spanish Bride by Laurien Gardner
This is a book about Catherine of Aragon that has been sat on my shelf for a while. To be fair to this book, I was never expecting great things, but I just found it very flat and boring. The way the author chose to structure the story made little sense, and some of the more momentous and interesting events were skipped over, whereas the narrative lingered on scenes of little occurrence nor importance. I also would have much preferred it if it had been told from the point of view of a real person – I mean, there are so many maids of Catherine that very little is known about that the author could have elaborated on, but no. This was enjoyable, but a little flat.
★★
Royals by Rachel Hawkins
I thought this might be lighthearted and fun, and it was, but it was also really annoying and cringe-worthy – much more so that I was expecting. I mainly read this because of a desire to read the sequel…and I really hope the sequel is better. I also had hope from the cover redesigns that made these books look way less tacky and a whole lot cuter. Unfortunately, that did not affect the story itself. I liked it, but it isn’t something I would return to, or ever really think about again.
★★★
Good Omens Script Book by Neil Gaiman
I watched the show of Good Omens recently and became obsessed, so I had to get this. I loved it, obviously, seeing as it’s basically just the show written down. Aziraphale and Crowly are meant to be together, I tell you. And this story is so hilarious and beautiful and still holds up to this day, despite the original book being written in 1990. I did this sort of the wrong way round (I read the book after this), but I do recommend the book, the script and the show with my entire being.
★★★★★
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This was both cute and overwhelmingly powerful and I loved it. Alex and Henry were a perfect pair; I loved the writing style (third person present tense!! yay!); I loved all the characters – they were so well developed and fleshed out. This book was not perfect though, and I think there needed to be a lot less unexplained political stuff that I did not understand at all, and made the book a little sticky in places. And I have a wish that Henry had also had point of view chapters, because Henry’s my fave and it would have spiced up the book a bit. But those are only very minor complaints and besides that this book was spectacular.
★★★★
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
This is pretty much the first graphic novel I have ever read, and I really loved it! This one is so cute and heartwarming and accepting and I loved the art style. That being said, I do really like graphic novels, but I can’t see them becoming all time favourites simply because I find them a little too…I don’t really know, not simplistic exactly, just it’s obviously hard to make them as detailed as a novel. But I would definitely read more in this format, and I loved reading about Nick and Charlie. Although we have to admit that Nick’s dog was super cute too…
★★★★
All We Could Have Been by T E Carter
This didn’t feel the most original, I have to put it out there, and I did have issues with it, but the second half of this one was super intense and I really liked it. I do admit, I think that T E Carter’s previous book, I Stop Somewhere, was a lot better than this one. Personally Lexi’s character to me didn’t stand out, and I think that although there were a lot of topics successfully handled in here, I didn’t find it as powerful as I Stop Somewhere. And the book spent way too long on the first half building up the tension and not revealing what it was that Lexi’s brother had done. But if you want to read a dark contemporary book covering interesting themes, then I would still recommend.
★★★.8
Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neil
Yes, after I read Heartstopper I kind of got in a mini graphic novel mood, so I picked up this one (which is actually my sister’s) and read it from cover to cover. And damn, this one was super cute. The colour illustrations are stunning and I adored the story, simplistic as it was. It has beautiful messages about saving our planet and not taking more than we need, and I think kids and adults everywhere need to be reading this.
★★★★
We Are Blood And Thunder by Kesia Lupo
I wanted to love this one, but I was just so, so bored. Nothing happened, the characters were uninteresting, and while maybe the twist at the end was cool, I just couldn’t find it in myself to care. The whole world needed to be way more explored, and the magic system was intriguing, but only the bare bones of it were here. There was nothing to hold my interest. I can only remember the name of one character, Constance, because she was mildly more interesting than the others. This book wasn’t terrible, or offensive in any way, it was just dry and dull.
★★
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
I’ve been wanting to get more into romance books recently, and I picked this one up because the cover is really nice (yes, I know, that’s a terrible reason), and for some reason it reminds me of the Red, White and Royal Blue cover? Like, it has the exact same font and the same style of illustrations and everything? Not a similar book at all though, but still really fun, and I loved the strong female friendships, and the romance, and the writing was much better than I expected. For some reason we are sort of programmed to scorn romance books and think they are really cheesy and cringe, but they are honestly not! I really liked this one, and my romance reading journey has only just begun….
★★★★
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I finally read the actual original book after getting through the tv show and the script book in entirely the wrong order, but let me tell you I love them all I swear, and I have so much respect for the ways in which the tv show was updated to make it more inclusive and ugh this whole cluster of books is fabulous and I love them to pieces and Crowley and Aziraphale are the best angel and demon in the universe. thank you goodbye.
★★★★★
So those were all the books I read in July. My “i’m gonna read so much this summer” plans kind of went out the window, but oh well, I enjoyed most of what I read. I hope you all had an amazing reading month in July with no disappointing books, or at least some fabulous ones to balance it all out.
Have you read any of these, and what are your thoughts? And tell me about what you read in July!
The Bookish Courtier 