My July Wrap-up

Hey guys! I am so excited to share with you what I read in July. My reading increased a lot after pulling out of my reading slump which I am so happy about. I feel I ended up reading a good amount of books I enjoyed. So let’s dive in!

They Both Die at the End By Adam Silvera

Genre: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary, Fiction
Pages: 373 pages
Publication Date: September 5th 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Plot: On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

My Thoughts: I’ve been wanting to read Adam Silvera for such a long time. I am so happy I finally did. I ended up enjoying this book a lot. I loved seeing these two strangers come together and help each other on the last day of their lives. I probably would have given this book 5 stars if Death-Cast was explained more. I really wanted to know more about that. Overall I thought it precious and also emotional. I mean you know the outcome before you even start the book. I can’t wait to read more by Adam Silvera.

Thank you so much Sarah @ The YA Book Traveler & Emily @ Emily Reads Everything for this amazing giveaway during #BHPChat!

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Red, White and Royal Blue By Casey McQuiston

Genre: Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, New Adult
Pages: 423 pages
Publication Date: May 14th 2019
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Plot: A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

My Thoughts: So this book has been getting so much hype the last couple of months. I have been seeing so many people talk about this book. So I decided I had to check it out. I have to say I ended up really enjoying it! I just loved seeing Alex and Henry’s relationship develop. I thought it might take a while for them to get together but I’m glad it wasn’t too long of a wait. I feel like some books with have you wait until the end. I did like seeing all the things they had to deal with. It was such a roller coaster ride. I was so happy with the ending even though it did end up dragging on a bit. Such a cute read. I will be checking out more from Casey in the future.

This was a buddy read with Jenna @ J.K. I’m Exploring.

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The Storm Crow By Kalyn Josephson

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 352 pages
Publication Date: July 9th 2019
Publisher: SourcebooksFire
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Plot: In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life…until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother’s death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

My Thoughts: So this book wasn’t originally on my radar. I was intrigued by the cover and picked it for a buddy read. I am so happy I ended up picking this because it was so good!! I don’t usually read fantasy and I always wonder why after reading it. I’m not going to say too much because I would like to do a review for it but it was such an enjoyable read. It really took me for quite a ride. I am bummed this is only a duology but can’t wait to read the next book!

This was a buddy read with Kal @ Read Voracious.

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The Tea Dragon Festival By Katie O’Neill

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, LGBT, Fiction, Childrens
Pages: 136 pages
Publication Date: September 17th 2019
Publisher: Oni Press
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Plot: Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.

My Thoughts: I read The Tea Dragon Society last month and really enjoyed it. When I saw that the second book was on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to try to read it. I am so thankful that I got approved. This story takes place before The Tea Dragon Society so you get a mix of old and new characters. I ended up liking that a lot. I really enjoyed this because of one of the new characters we meet. I also really love Katie’s artwork. It’s so adorable. Everyone and everything just looks so cute. I can’t deal with it. I don’t want to say too much since I have a review coming out closer to the release date. I highly recommend this one.

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Shadow of the Fox By Julie Kagawa

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 409 pages
Publication Date: October 2nd 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Plot: One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

My Thoughts: This book’s story was very different from what I normally read. I don’t usually read too many fantasy but this one was so interesting. You get the story told from the different characters perspectives which I enjoyed. I do feel a lot happened in this book. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of is sometimes I would just get a bit bored with the story so I felt I wasn’t fully focused when reading this. I will probably end up reading the second book. I am curious to see how things continue on.

This was a buddy read with Shirley @ Shirley Cuypers.

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Hello Girls By Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 320 pages
Publication Date: August 6th 2019
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Plot: Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.

Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.

Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.

One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.

My Thoughts: I am so happy I got to read this early for the upcoming blog tour! It sounded very interesting to me since it’s a Thelma and Louise inspired story. I don’t want to say too much because my review will be up on Monday. I did enjoy this book. I felt like I flew through it but I did have some issues with it which I will be talking about in my review.  So stay tuned  for that!

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The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars #1) By Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Fiction
Pages: 324 pages
Publication Date: March 25th 2014
Publisher: Vintage Books
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Plot: Ten years after graduating from high school in Neptune, California, Veronica Mars is back in the land of sun, sand, crime, and corruption. She’s traded in her law degree for her old private investigating license, struggling to keep Mars Investigations afloat on the scant cash earned by catching cheating spouses until she can score her first big case.

Now it’s spring break, and college students descend on Neptune, transforming the beaches and boardwalks into a frenzied, week-long rave. When a girl disappears from a party, Veronica is called in to investigate. But this is not a simple missing person’s case. The house the girl vanished from belongs to a man with serious criminal ties, and soon Veronica is plunged into a dangerous underworld of drugs and organized crime. And when a major break in the investigation has a shocking connection to Veronica’s past, the case hits closer to home than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts: So in honor of Veronica Mars coming back, I had to pick this up. I am planning to rewatch all the old seasons and the new season with my friend. So while I wait for that to happen I needed my Veronica Mars fix. This was a reread for me. I ended up listening on audio this time around. I did forget what happened in this book but it was a nice refresh. Plus Kristen Bell narrates this one so that was really enjoyable. It was just so much fun being back in that world. Plus I could pretty much picture everyone mentioned. I can’t wait to watch the show again. I probably will be reading book two this month but not on audio since Kristen Bell doesn’t narrate that one.

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Have you guys read any of these books? If so what did you think? What books did you guys end up reading July? I would love to hear from you!

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