25 books read this month.

July was a fun reading month for me. It was hot and steamy out so I spent a lot of time indoors or in the shade reading instead of out on the beach. I got derailed for a week when I got my piano (!) and spent a lot of time that I normally would have been reading with that, instead. But no regrets. A lot of the books I picked up this month were lighter, fluffier reads, but that’s not to say they didn’t hold messages for me, personally. I love when fiction still holds relevance, and I had a lot of those books this month. But not too many of them made it to my favorites list. These four books, however, did.

One Golden Summer, by Carley Fortune. There was so much that I loved about this book. I loved that the characters were more mature, I loved that they were well developed and nuanced, and I loved the way the author tied in the characters and major plot from Every Summer After without having it dominate or shift this story in any detrimental way. Charlie was the perfect, lovable, golden boy to lure Alice out from her place behind the lens of her camera and into the starring role of her own life. It was great to see and empowering to read. This was a really great story.

When We Ignite, by Alex Cross. This is a very spicy MM romance book that is so well done, the reader has no choice but to overlook the (many) problematic themes in this book. Ash, age 34 and gay, is completely smitten with his future brother in law Ethan, who is 19 and straight, and would be rightly dubbed a groomer and a stalker in any other circumstance. But Cross writes Ash so well that the reader is perfectly willing to accept this relationship as fate and end up rooting for them to get together. Ash is charming and patient and honest and Ethan simply doesn’t stand a chance against falling head over heels for him. Somehow, this book ends up being one of the sweetest love stories I’ve read despite the glaring age gap and the grooming tropes. I can’t explain it, but this book works so well. I can’t wait for book two to come out and follow the rest of Ash and Ethan’s story.

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. When I read, my mind creates the physical world in which these characters reside. And this book was giving a cross between To Kill a Mockingbird, Demon Copperhead, and the TV series Ozark in my head. And the character of ‘Outlaw’ Duchess Day Radley was fierce and formidable and absolutely perfect. The strength and mental fortitude that young woman had to face and endure in life was a testament to how soft most of us truly are. She was so wonderfully developed and hard as nails on the outside but soft as could be to her young brother Robin. There’s so much that happens in this book that I won’t summarize here like a book report, but Duchess is far and away the character to focus on, and she’s outstanding.

One Italian Summer, by Rebecca Serle. For two months in a row, I’m adding a Rebecca Serle book to my monthly favorites. This book, like In Five Years, allows the reader to experience the story without the construct of time getting in the way. It’s an interesting way to tell a story, and it worked very well in this book. The scenery in this story, which takes place primarily in Positano, Italy, is stunning, and plays a large role in the book. I could picture every twist and turn and staircase the author described, and it was so vivid. The characters were wonderful, and seeing Carol and Katy interact as friends was remarkable. I’m a sucker for a mother/daughter story, and the lessons that Katy was able to learn about her mother from spending time with Carol while in Italy was beautiful. I’ve seen a lot of more negative reviews of this book, but I thought it was really special. Yes, you need to suspend reality for a lot of it. But when you look at the messages in the book, I thought it was really well done.

Those were my favorites for the month of July! If anyone has any recommendations for me, drop me a line at [email protected]. I’m happy to broaden my reading horizons, always! Talk at you on Monday with my weekly wrap up.

Love, Karen