July was a strange month. It seemed incredibly long. I started a new position at a different university (still working from home) so had the switch in schedule from that which caused me to space out my days a little differently. I participated in Bookopol-athon which I attempted a new blogging format for. We had two Shadowhunter Saturdays, I participated in an awesome blog tour and some great buddy reads, all of which made it an amazing reading month. However, I still didn’t manage to complete my set TBR, including some ARCs I needed to get to! Overall, I have a bit mixed feelings about it all as some of the month was amazing with other weeks just seemed to drag and no reading got done.
WRAP-UP STATS
BOOKS: 13
PAGES: 3213
(Page count includes Audiobook page numbers)
RATINGS:
5 STARS: 3
4.5 STARS: 0
4 STARS: 4
3.5 STARS: 3
3 STARS: 2
2.5 STARS: 1
Book of the Month
The Ship of Shadows
Maria Kuzniar
This had to be my pick for book of the month. This was just a fun packed, pirate filled read. I got a beautiful finished copy from Puffin books as part of The Write Reads Blog Tour. It was so much fun getting to read what everyone thought of this book. For me just was just magical. I loved the characters and the world-building was just so detailed. You can read my full review HERE. I also got to be part of the Middle Grade Marvels Author interview which you can read HERE.
WHAT I READ –
I have a full wrap up already for the eight books I read as part of Bookopol-athon. I am not going to rewrite all those again but if you are interested in reading my thoughts on them all you can find my Bookopol-athon Wrap up HERE.
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste was also the Middle Grade Marvel’s July Book of the month. I now have a mini review for it which you can read HERE! I will have the reviews for the rest coming very soon (apart from This is How you lose the Time war which was a re-read).
Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Melissa Bashardoust
My very first read of the month, I had this as an eARC, then received an early printing in a Fairyloot box as the release date was pushed back due to Covid. I really did enjoy this, but it didn’t blow me away. I felt it was lacking a little the world building for it to be a great read for me. I have a full ARC review here.
City of Ashes
Cassandra Clare
City of Glass
Cassandra Clare
I grouped both of these together as I pretty much read them back to back as part of Ellie from Read To Ramble and I’s Shadowhunter Saturday project. I found myself enjoying this series more and more. Again I have posts with my review and Ellie’s thoughts for both The City of Ashes and City of Glass if you would like to read them.
The Angel of Crows
Katherine Addison
I managed to finish this off in the very last minutes of the month. It took me quiet a while to read this book. I received it as an eARC but unfortunately didn’t finish it in time to review it for release data as I hate to admit it, but I found it rather boring. It was a little bit of a struggle to get through as I just didn’t want to pick it up. There was just a real lack of effort to the writing which masked what had the potential to be some amazing worldbuilding. So disappointing. I have an ARC Review if you wish to read my full thoughts.
So that was my rather short and sweet wrap up for July. Other than the quick reads summarised in my Bookopol-athon wrap up, I have managed to write a review for the majority of books on this list which is fantastic. I am planning to get mini reviews up for soon for the Bookopol-athon list but the two eARC graphic novels will have to wait a bit closer to their publication.
I really loved taking part in The Write Reads Blog tour and the Middle Grade Marvels Book Club and encourage you to go visit them on Twitter if you are interested to know more.
What was your favourite read in July? I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!
Happy Reading!
Fi's Bibliofiles 