July was a really slow reading month for me. I only managed to read 7 books in July and most of them were at the end of the month. This normally does happen around this time of year. I’m not sure why, but it does so I knew that it was coming.

And while I didn’t read many books this month, I did read a good range and I enjoyed most of them. I’m already having a good start to August, so let’s hope it keeps on going like this fro the rest of the month. Anyway, let’s get into it.

Check, Please!, Book 2: Sticks & Scones (Check, Please! #3-4) by Ngozi Ukazu: I finally got around to reading this one and gosh did I love it. This book like the first one just put a smile on my face. It makes me so happy. The romance is ADORABLE and I want everyone to read it. I even got my younger sister to pick it up recently and she loved it as much as I did. It’s a sports m/m romance that includes baking. What else more could I want? 

Wicked and the Wallflower (The Bareknuckle Bastards #1) by Sarah MacLean: I’ve been wanting to pick up Sarah MacLean for some time now and I bought the first book in her newest series a few months ago and it finally arrived at the end of June. And I’m so glad that I picked it up. Because this one was fantastic. I love romance so much. It’s full of banter and mystery and made reading it so much enjoyable. I’ve just ordered books 2 and 3 and can’t wait to read them when they arrive. 

The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12) by J.R. Ward: I’ve slowly been making my way through this series again. It’s a massive series and I don’t want to do what I did the first time is read 11 books in a row and then get burnt out. So I’m trying to spread them out. I enjoyed this one quite a lot. I liked being back with Wrath and Beth and seeing how their story is going, but from their point of view. They had to deal with many issues in this one and I liked how it explored both supernatural and mundane themes. 

Under Locke by Mariana Zapata: As I’ve said before, over the last couple months I’ve slowly been making my way through Mariana Zapata’s backlist of books. I think this one has to be one of my favourites. I liked the romance a lot in this one, as well as everything else that is going on. If you don’t know already, I love tattooed and tattooing so this one appealed to me from the start. Like all her books the romance is very slow, but I like seeing that sometimes in romance. 

Hands Down by Mariana Zapata: As I was reading her backlist titles, she released a new book and it was available on KU so I jumped on it. I enjoyed certain parts of this one, but it wasn’t my favourite that is for sure. I liked that it was a second chance/friends to lovers romance. It made for great tension and banter. I liked the friendship that Bianca and Zac had how it built. However, I felt that they jumped from friends to lovers, without anything happening. The reader knows how Bianca feels, but I felt that we didn’t know that about Zac and that made it jarring. 

The Reality of Everything (Flight & Glory #5) by Rebecca Yarros: This book murdered me. I cried so much while reading this one. I can’t talk about this too much as it does spoil the rest of the series, especially the previous book. But gosh, Rebecca Yarros is able to write grief in such a way that you feel everything and anything. It hurts the soul. My full review will be up soon for this one. But if you have read the first four books in this series, you need to read this one. 

A Widow’s Guide to Scandal (The Sons of Neptune #1) by Hallie Alexander: This book took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as I did. It includes not only a fantastic romance but also great characters. Henrietta was such a pleasure of a protagonist. I loved knowing about her life and I loved getting to know her more. Marcus was a character and he added another dimension to the novel that lifted it. You can check out more of my thoughts in my full review. 

And those are the books that I read in July! What books did you read in July? Have you read any of the books that I have? What are your plans for August? Let’s Chat!