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Ashley’s July 2023 Book Haul and Reading Wrap Up

08.04.2023 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

July was a really busy month for me because we were wedding planning and recovering from the school year so I didn’t spend as much time reading as I wanted to.  However, I did conclude the month by getting married so that automatically makes this the best month ever.  Ultimately, I read 12 books, which beats my monthly goal of 10 books read.

Books I hauled in July:

  • Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
  • The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
  • Astra by Cedar Bowers
  • Beartown by Frederik Backman
  • Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
  • The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
  • The Legacies by Jessica Goodman
  • One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus
  • House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig
  • The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
  • Hamlet (The Play and the Movie)

Books I read in July:

1. The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: I read this on the recommendation of the librarian at my school.  It was very well-written and well-structured.  The way that various details were revealed was super interesting to me.  There was a lot of tension as well that was developed through the main plot of the book with the high stakes of the main setting.

2. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: I enjoyed reading this story, but it wasn’t my favourite memoir that I’ve read recently.  I think I just didn’t enjoy his stories as much as some of the others that I head read, though I did enjoy the behind the scenes of FRIENDS.  I did love that he was the narrator of the audiobook.

3. Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This book has a different vibe/formula from the first three books in the series, and I really enjoyed the change in tone as we have a more mature Alanna.  It’s well-written and I reall loved how eventful it was.  It made things go pretty quickly despite it being longer than thefirst couple of books.  I also enjoyed the further development of Alanna’s character, and the resolution of her story arc.

4. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: I really love the Daine books in the Tortall-verse because it adds another cool element to this world with the inclusion of wild magic.  I also liked the inclusion of the supernatural creatures, called immortals in this book, as I think Tamora Pierce did some interesting things with the creatures that she included.  I also liked seeing the characters from the Alanna books all grown up.

5. Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: I love Daine, and I think that her magical abilities are really cool.  It was fun to revisit this story and to see the way that her powers affect the world and the way she interacts with things.  It was an interesting storyline.

6. Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: I have to admit that I had a really hard time getting into this book.  Some of the characters, I just really didn’t care about.  It’s also just not as close to my heart as the Raven Cycle is.  I’m glad that I read it thought, but this series is not really my favourite.  I loved the epilogue however.

7. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This took me a while to read, but I’m so glad that I did because I ended up loving it.  It was really twisty, and I kept getting caught up with not knowing what was going to happen next.  I enjoyed the side characters that they encountered, and I especially loved the mixed media aspects that added to the story, I just wished that there had been more.  I had no idea how the story was going to come together at the end, and I found myself really impressed with the layers of the narrative.

8. Bump by Chiara Atik

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: I liked this story, though it wasn’t my favourite.  I enjoyed the full cast audio.  It wasn’t something that I knew much about, so it was really neat to learn more about it.

9. Lore Olympus Volume 4 by Rachel Smythe

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: I love the Lore Olympus graphic novels.  They are really well written and beautifully illustrated.  This was a really good edition in the storyline.  I liked the more development in the slowburn between Hades and Persephone.  I also liked learning more about the backstories of the characters and the deep connections between the different characters.  Rachel Smythe has done some wonderful world building.

10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: This was well done.  I liked hearing the stories of the young people who were featured in the book.  It was really interesting to hear them speak from their personal experience.  It’s very well done, and I’m glad that I finally read this.

11. All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This book took me forever to read despite being kind of short.  It just didn’t catch my attention in the same way as the other Maggie Stiefvater books do.  I did enjoy the final build up of the story, which is why I gave it three stars, but it just wasn’t the same kind of feel for me.

12. Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This is my favourite book in the Wild Magic series.  I loved re-reading with with my husband.  It’s really cool to see other parts of the world that Tamora Pierce built for these novels.  I also enjoyed seeing the increased influence of the gods and Daine’s powers on the animals around her.  I also love the inclusion of the dinosaur fossils and the way escalates greatly.  Daine grows a lot as a character.

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Filed Under: Ashley, Book Hauls, Reviews Tagged: book, book haul, book review, books, fantasy, fiction, graphic novel, reading, review, Reviews, thoughts

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Ashley’s Goodreads

The Complete Works
The Complete Works
by William Shakespeare
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
by William Shakespeare
All the Stars and Teeth
All the Stars and Teeth
by Adalyn Grace
I Am Still Alive
I Am Still Alive
by Kate Alice Marshall
Blood of Elves
Blood of Elves
by Andrzej Sapkowski

goodreads.com

Kari’s Goodreads

The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Contagion
Contagion
by Erin Bowman
Crown of Midnight
Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J. Maas
Queen of Shadows
Queen of Shadows
by Sarah J. Maas
Ruthless Gods
Ruthless Gods
by Emily A. Duncan

goodreads.com

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