I would love someone to try to break down my personality by using July’s book list. I promise I’m okay. Happy Reading!!

Total Books: 15 (Almost tied my January 2025 all-time record!)
Physical: 7
Audio: 7
Mix: 1
DNF: 2

Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Format: Physical
Rating: 4.25/5

This genre is hit or miss for me, but Julie Clark’s writing delights me with consistent page-turner energy. It’s the same suspense as a Freida McFadden book, but the overall style doesn’t make me feel like I’m just waiting to be tricked – I’m more of a partner with the protagonist, if that makes sense. Anyway, this is a mystery full of family drama and general creepiness. A writer is hired by her estranged father to write his memoir, but she must solve all the puzzles. Murder! Secrets! Eek! If you like any Dateline/Cold Case shows, this is a pretty good book to scratch that itch.

Genre: Sci-Fi
Format: Audio
Rating: 4/5

Sure, it’s dated (1995 is shockingly 30 years ago) and an unnecessary sequel, but who cares! Ian Malcolm is back with a new group of dummies on an island, trying to find out what they can learn about dinosaurs without being dino-murdered. Slow and steady, this book actually contains less gore and a smaller cast than the original, which was nice. However, there is still plenty to dry heave about in this lovely tale of “no! don’t run THAT way!”

Genre: Nonfiction
Format: Audio (read by the author – an excellent audio book)
Rating: 4.5/5

This is an odd “first John Green book” for me to pick, as he is known for dramatic YA novels – but I’m familiar with his brother’s books and follow both of them on social media. This book recently flew into popularity, and I understand why. It’s a great (and unsettling) overview of the history, research, treatments, and effect of tuberculosis. He spells out the challenges and impacts of the disease, while presenting the information in an accessible, personal, and readable way. It would be a great gateway nonfiction book for reluctant readers. My only complaint would be that it didn’t go even deeper into the material, but he did supply books to read if you wanted to do just that.

Genre: Middle Grade Fiction
Format: Physical
Rating: 2.75/5

What do you do with a book that is perfection for the first 70% and then enrages you with the ending? Hahahaha. I don’t know, but this was that. I adored the sentient typewriter story – it had major The One and Only Ivan vibes. The writing was beautiful, but the twist SUCKED. I have had horrendous luck with books lately that lure me in with cuteness and then drop trauma, cancer, dementia, etc. This book took a turn, and I’m still mad about it.

Genre: Regency Romance (a couple explicit scenes)
Format: Audio/Physical Mix
Rating: 4.75/5

Look, I will never actually recommend a Bridgerton book. You did not hear about any of these stories from me. However, if you were ever curious about any of Julia Quinn’s books, I would honestly start here. It delivered all the banter and silliness and tension and escapism and fun like the original books without being too problematic or full of trauma dumping. Maybe I loved this one because I finally got a break from surprise cancer and dementia subplots! Huzzah!

Genre: Sci-Fi/Near-Future Dystopian
Format: Physical
Rating: 3/5

So much set up, very little payoff. I kept going and going, waiting for the author to tie up any loose ends on this story – but she said “nah, let’s just set it up for 350 pages and then end the book”. Gah! In a future where AI prevents crime by flagging suspicious dreams, a woman is detained without a hearing and gets lost in the system. There were so many questions about the woman and her fellow inmates, the staff, her lawyer, the corporation, her family, and more! I’m all about leaving things open to interpretation, but give me sooooooooome kind of closure. Anything. Whhhhhhhhhhhy.

Genre: Fantasy (with sneak attack unnecessary raunchy romance)
Format: Audio
Rating: 3/5

Parts of this book were the epic quest hilariousness that I’ve been looking for. Parts of this book were just icky and confusing. How do I reconcile such a roller coaster!? A naive lady inherits a magic sword that pops out a guardian when unsheathed. The woman and the sword-guy get the hots for each other while on an adventure to protect her inheritance from a toxic extended family. The first 40% was amazing and adorable (think Cinderella meets Tangled meets Aladdin), but it just goes downhill from there. I’m glad I tried it, but I doubt I’ll be picking up the sequel. (Trombone slide)

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Disney Retelling (rated PG)
Format: Physical
Rating: 5/5

Jesse Sutanto novels have been pretty positively neutral for me, but she definitely understood the assignment with this Mulan retelling. What a treat. The Meant to Be series has a few duds, but this book joins the Rapunzel remake (Tangled Up in You) at the top of my book list for the year. The story is updated to find Mulan filling in for her father in the male-dominated finance industry. She goes to “war” in attempt to buy a company, that just happens to have a hot Shang as the CEO. If you are a fan of the animated movie and need a contemporary romance that you can tell other people about without blushing, this is a fun one.

Genre: Contemporary Romance (Expliiiiiiicit)
Format: Audio
Rating: 2.25/5

Did I snort laugh when I saw this cover? Yes.
Did I want to read it? No.
Did I change my mind when the blurb said, “Love’s about the catch them completely off gourd?” Yes. Yes, I did.
Do I regret it? A little.

There were some excellent parts of this funny little book, but it went off the rails a few times and lost a lot of its charm by the end. It takes a lot of skill to bounce between….ahem…..relations…..and very serious chats about pumpkin farming. I recommend the first 30%. If you go beyond that, it’s your own fault.

Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Format: Physical
Rating: 3/5

My eldest won this at his school’s “Book Bingo”, and we decided to read it together. I warned him it was weird and charming. And, like I remembered, it was weird and charming! Many clever parts of this book sailed right over both of our heads, but it was nice to revisit this tale of a man stranded in the desert hearing tales from a little prince from the sky.

Genre: Fiction
Format: Audio
Rating: 3/5

This book was on a Goodreads list of “Magical Realism”, so I gave it a go. I like weird stuff. The first half was the vibes of Practical Magic (the movie, not the book), and I was pulled in. So far so good. HOWEVER. If you create a world where the dead can communicate via dreams after people eat magical pie and there’s a mysterious cat that leads you places…..do NOT spend 93% of the book drudging up old family drama and relationship issues. You have magical pie and curious birds and a mysterious cat to work with!!!!!!!!! It might as well have been a nosy neighbor sneaking messages to the people to solve their relationships, as the magic was a bit pointless. What was the reason for having magic in the book if I just have to listen to people trauma dump and awkwardly hang out!? (As far as cozy relationship/trauma dumping books go, it was fine.)

Genre: Fiction
Format: Physical
Rating: 3.75/5

Nothing to See Here made me a fan of Kevin Wilson. This book gives all the fun of his writing, following a group of half siblings on a road trip to find their father. One of my favorite tropes is “assembling a team”, and this book embraces the “get in the car and keep adding quirky characters” vibe I was looking for. While the ending is a bit anticlimactic, it was an interesting and easy-to-read book with vivid and memorable characters.

Genre: Regency Romance (Of the Clutching Pearls Variety)
Format: Audio
Rating: 2/5

When Bridgerton books are good, they are charming and fun (see above). When Bridgerton books are bad, they are problematic and cringe (this one right here). Oof. It started out with an adorable While You Were Sleeping vibe, but then turned into an icky slog. There were cute moments….but there were also lies and using self-induced food allergic reactions to avoid truth-telling. Super weird. I read comments that this was the worst in the series, so I might give the third one a try after a Julia Quinn break.

Genre: Nonfiction
Format: Audio
Rating: 5/5

Look, did I plan on getting absorbed into the events surrounding the death of the 20th president, James Garfield? No. My husband was also a little confused when his wife started giving a play-by-play of the election of 1880. But this book awakened the part of me that was a social studies minor once upon a time. The author weaves together Garfield’s life, the politics of the time, the story of Alexander Graham Bell, and the troubled life of the assassin. I love when history books are suspenseful.
Takeaways:
American politicians have always sucked, but Garfield was a decent guy.
Garfield didn’t even want to be president and voted against himself at the convention.
Two of his kids died of diseases we now have vaccines for and it will make you very thankful for modern medicine. Speaking of…
Garfield totally could have survived the gunshot wounds, but his doctor didn’t BELIEVE IN GERMS AND DIDN’T WASH HIS HANDS. (I’ll save the gore, but it was not a pretty death, y’all.)
History repeating itself is stupid (birther movement for Arthur Chestnut being from Canada, anyone?).
It took until the THIRD presidential assassination in 1901 to have security guards for presidents. Bonus Jeopardy points if you know who was killed. I had forgotten. Might be time for another book.

Genre: YA Dystopian
Format: Physical
Rating: 4.25/5

This random pick from the YA section hit all the right notes of early 2000 dystopian gems (This came out in 2011, and I wonder if the market was a bit saturated by then. I had never heard of it.). If you have a teen that doesn’t know where to go after Hunger Games, this is it. A love triangle, great world building, a quest, excellent cliff hangers on almost every chapter to make you keep reading past your bedtime. There’s angst and annoying parts, but that is the joy of the YA dystopian genre! I will warn against violence/gore, but it’s comparable to Hunger Games. I’ll be picking up the sequel ASAP to finish the story!

The Quit List Returns!

Everyone was miserable, and I realized I didn’t care which character was murdered. Next!

I do not want to read about multiple different erections within the first 8% when they are not even being fun. Next!

And on that note (ha!), it’s time to sign off on another month of reading. August is about to get busy, but I’ll try to get a few good stories rolling!