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Yep, it’s currently August 31st and I’m just now recapping the books I read in July. I wouldn’t even bother because it’s been so long, but I love looking back at these posts and I also love sharing my favorites (and not so favorite) books with all y’all! 🙂
I read…wait for it…12 books in July. Yes, 12! August’s recap definitely won’t see that many, but that’s the life of a teacher! Sadly, not a lot of them were 5 STARS books…
I started off July reading with this YA contemporary. It was a cute one, but a bit long at almost 500 pages! It’s about a girl who struggles with anxiety. She creates an online comic that becomes VERY successful, but no one knows she’s the one behind it.
Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS
I was really excited about this one when I read the synopsis. It’s about a boy whose family owns a bookstore. In one section of the bookstore, people can leave notes inside books for others to find. The boy’s best friend moves away and leaves a note the night before she leaves and then returns a few years later. There was just something “off” on this one for me. I just didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.
Rating: 3 out of 5 STARS
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer and it did not disappoint! It’s about a girl who rescues a man from a burning car. The man turns out to be a famous hockey player and the two fall in love. It’s really good.
Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS
I read Laura Dave’s earlier book Eight Hundred Grapes a few summers ago and loved it. When I saw the cover for her newest book, I was even more excited because how gorgeous is this book? In fact, it’s probably my favorite book cover of the year so far. I sadly didn’t love this one as much as I thought I would
| I can’t wrap my head around this book. On one hand, I enjoyed it greatly and loved many of the characters. On the other hand, I can’t get over how the book ended and the choices the main character made. And we are left with so many questions! It’s also a lot more serious of a read than I anticipated. I like the theme of how hard it is to maintain authenticity in the social media world, but there were some plot points that I just didn’t like. I don’t think there’s enough substance for a sequel, but I wish this one would have been a bit longer so we could have gotten more closure on the fate of these characters
Rating 3 out of 5 STARS |
Oh my goodness gracious, this book! It was the July pick for our LaLa Life Book Club and it did not disappoint! There’s a big discussion on my Instagram about this one, so after you read it head over to read what everyone else thought. The ending! Oh my goodness! Sooooo good!
Rating: 5 out of 5 STARS
Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors, but I didn’t not love her release last summer (One True Loves) and I did not like this one either. Now, I will say I’ve heard nothing but good things about both of these books, so clearly I’m the minority, but there was just something about this one that I didn’t connect with. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Evelyn Hugo had been a more likable character. It just seemed like her solution to every problem was to get married.
Rating: 3 out of 5 STARS
Oh man, this book was such a disappointment. I picked it up at Target after reading the synopsis because it sounds like the perfect thriller, but I really didn’t like it. There was way to much technical speak when it came to the sister studying to be a doctor and the mystery just wasn’t all that great. Not a fan of this one.
Rating: 2 out of 5 STARS
After the disappointing thriller, I decided to pep myself up with a romance quick read. R.S. Grey’s newest book was so good! If you love romance stories, pick this one up!
Rating: 5 out of 5 STARS
Renee Carlino is an author that I really want to like, but I haven’t had much luck with the majority of her books. I’ve liked one (Before We Were Strangers) but I don’t care for any others. I picked this one up thinking that maybe I would like her older work, but nope! I really didn’t like this one.
Warning: Spoilers below!
Despite the low rating, this isn’t a bad book. I found the plot enjoyable and I was interested in learning what happened to Jamie and Katy. I just found the writing to be so cheesy and “pukey” I thought Katy was annoying and Jamie was such a puke…a term I like to use to describe him after he uses words like “baby,” “sweetheart,” and “angel” hours after meeting a girl. I’m all about some terms of endearment, but those were too mushy gushy for my taste. I don’t usually mind “insta-love”, but I found it unbelievable in this book and found myself rolling my eyes multiple times while reading. This book just had too much going on. Take for instance, [the whole newspaper story storyline. She writes the negative story and it gets published and she thinks she will be fired because of all the backlash the article will draw. Yet miraculously problem is solved because all the characters were thinking it was a bigger deal that it really was. What? If this book didn’t have a number of other storylines to deal with in Jamie and Kate’s life (finding biological parents, diabetes, family member deaths, etc) this whole negative newspaper story wouldn’t just have been swept under the rug. (hide spoiler)]And don’t even get me started on the [whole father storyline. That seemed like it was thrown in at the end to extend the issue of how Jamie and Katy were going to end up together. I mean, she meets a guy that knows her mother and then immediately starts calling him “dad”?? That just seemed unreal to me. I would think most people would need time to process a major life change like that. And how random was it that Paul had been trying to get in touch with someone to ask about Katy’s mom because he always wondered what happened to her. Hello? You’re married and have 5 kids, but you’re trying to hunt down an ex girlfriend’s daughter just so you can see how is she?? That made no sense to me. (hide spoiler)]
I didn’t enjoy this book, but I think many others will. I think lots of people can overlook the things that made this book a disappointment to me, but sadly it wasn’t a favorite of mine!
Rating: 2.5 I just can’t do 3 STARS, but 2 is quite enough..
B.A. Paris took the thriller world by storm last year with the book Behind Closed Doors. I LOVED that book! This one wasn’t as good, but I still loved it! I LOVED how well the ending was done. It fully explained all the little “clues” left throughout the book.
Rating: 4 out of 5 STARS
I absolutely love when I find a romance series that follows the same group of characters like The Wallbanger series and like Lauren Layne’s books. When I found this series from Sarah Morgan, I thought I had found my newest obsession, but something about this book didn’t work for me. I just never really connected with the characters and didn’t think the romance was developed enough. It just wasn’t for me.
Rating: 2 out of 5 STARS
I love young adult and Kasie West is a really big author right now, so I couldn’t wait to read her newest release. It was really cute and I enjoyed it! I’m sure a lot of high school kids will eat this one up!
Rating: 4 out of STARS
I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading and loving!
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I found your blog through Mix and Match Mama, and I'm really digging your posts! It has everything I love in a blog: books, teacher fashion (I'm a teacher), favorites, and even tv show suggestions. Love!