July kind of kicked my butt. I had some unexpected personal things crop up that took a lot of my mental capacity to deal with. And I dealt with that by playing Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing mostly. I did read, and I did get through a chunk of the TBR with only one DNF. So let’s talk about what I did read.
Here is what I read in July
I think my main issue with my TBR is that there are so many chunky books that get added (I used to think that was anything over 700 pages… but these days anything over 500 can cause me to slow down too), that I try to read all the shorter books quickly so that I can at least say I read a lot… and that’s not fair. So, this month I did the oppsite, I tried to focus on the chunkier books, picking up the shorter books when I simply needed a break. Which is why I have multiple chunky books on the go as I go into August – I just didn’t finish them.
I did DNF a book in July, but I’m not sure if it’s a soft or hard DNF yet – I’ll probably decide at a later date! But that was, unfortunately, Exquisite Ruin. I also didn’t get to Tower of Dawn, and even though it’s not officially on my August TBR, I am still hoping to read that as well! I would very much like to finish the Throne of Glass series this year!
Reading Stats for July
Stats about the types books I read
| # Physical Books off TBR | # of Days Read | # of Pages Read | # of Kindle Books | # of Audio Books | # of Books Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 31 | 3,016 | 5 | 0.5 | 7 |
Stats about the Spice level in the books I read (a 🌶 in the review list indicates a spicey book – if it’s followed by /ish it’s more steamy than spicey)
| W/ Spice | W/ Steam | Without |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 3 |
Stats about the Ratings I gave the books I read (now that I rate books that I’d add to the 6 star club with 6 stars, there won’t be an additional tally in the 5 star column for these books)
| Joined 6⭐Club | 5⭐ | 4.5 ⭐ | 4 ⭐ | 3.5 ⭐ | 3 ⭐ | Less than 3⭐ | DNF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Book Bracket Entry – Favourite Book of the Month
book of the month
shield of sparrows by devney perry
I knew when I started this and couldn’t stop reading that we had not only a 5 star feeling, but a likely contender for the 6 star club AND most likely the book of the month. Safe to say, that was all true… And I knew very quickly.
I love the characters in this, Perry’s writing style and world, the monsters! The treaty! The banter! Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about SoS, and I am so, so glad it was picked as a Book Club pick.
runner up
fairydale by veronica lancet
Do not get me wrong, I struggled with Fairydale. It is a large book! And before I decided to do an immersive read, I was close to DNFing because I was confused and struggling to choose to read Fairydale. But as soon as I started doing the immersive read I was, well, immersed! I only ever wanted to read Fairydale which did definitely make it hard to read at work – since this was VERY spicy. This is not for everyone, but I am so glad I read it.
Biggest Surprise of the Month
Dead Until dark by charlaine harris
This was a re-read, and my previous review was 4 stars (I thought it was 5! But that was simply a misread) and so I expected to really enjoy it. I unfortunately, did not. It’s not often that I have a negative biggest surprise… but sadly this was the biggest surprise this month.
General Reflection
Where did July go? I was reading every day, and yet I feel like I read barely nothing! This has definitely been a weird month. But I read Shield of Sparrows in July, and this is the newest addition to my 6 star club! I just cannot explain how much I loved it, I already need book 2!!
Aside from that, I don’t regret the books that I read this month even if I wish I had read more. I also started a BookTok (@reading.with.tylerrose) and I’m looking forward to navigating BookTok, but I’ve done this in order to hopefully find more people to yap about books I love, with! One of my friends also started on their BookTok journey (@FictionalJames) and I am excited to see what they do next!
Review Dates
Infernal Hearts by Danny Haliwell (ARC) – Available Now – 3.5⭐🌶
Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh – Available 5th August – 4.5⭐
Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry – Available 7th August – 6⭐🌶
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris – Available 11th August – 2.5⭐🌶/ish
The Seven by Robyn Delvey – Available 13th August – 4⭐
Fairydale by Veronica Lancet – Available 15th August – 4.5⭐🌶
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang – Available 19th August – 3.5⭐
Reading With Tyler 
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