July Wrap-Up

Well this month I’ve read 46 books. It might be close to a record for even me. I’m a teacher-librarian so I’m off work for the summer and since I tore my ACL a couple months back, I still can’t really do anything active. Thus, I have been doing a lot of reading, and little else, this summer. Here’s my July rundown. I read way more books than I can actually keep up with reviews for, so heres a quick-list.

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I don’t think I had any Bad First Book Dates this month, I liked mostly everything I read enough to at least finish it. YAY!

They Who Fell by Kevin Kneupper
Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction – Angels vs Humans – Free on Kindle Unlimited
This was an easy, quick read where Angels are scary and have fallen from heaven to take over the Earth and basically enslave humanity. Its interesting, but the characters are not developed in any meaningful way.

Moon Dance (Vampire for Hire #1) by J.R. Rain
Paranormal Mystery – Vampire Soccer Mom – Humor
This was also an easy and quick read that was moderately interesting. However, the characters are not developed in anyway. The “romance” is not developed at all, the author just basically has the characters meet once or twice and then tell each other they love one another. At the end they kiss once. I’m not exaggerating.

Firelight (The Darkest London #1) &  Moonglow (#2) by Kristen Callihan
Victorian Paranormal Romance & Mystery – Beauty & Beast retelling
Firelight was a Beauty and the Beast retelling and it was a really beautiful story. I actually loved Firelight, and raced to read the next two books in the series. They weren’t as impressive to me though. It could be the Victorian setting and time period though, which is not usually my preferred genre. The author’s writing skill is superb. Characters and plot are well-developed.

The Rock Kiss series by Nalini Singh (Addiction, Hard, Courtship, Redemption, Wedding)
Contemporary Romance Series
As a great fan of Singh’s PNRs, I thought I’d try her contemporary books. I’ve mixed feelings about them, though. The first book is Rock Addiction and was not to my taste at all. It is more erotica, than romance, and the sex was too frequent and silly for me to really get into the characters. It was good enough that I read the rest though, and they were much better. #1.5 is Rock Courtship and that was fantastic. #2 is Rock Hard and was my favorite, its very different from the first book (in a great way). #3 is Rock Redemption which I really liked as well. That one is a very slow-burn romance that starts as a friendship. #4 is Rock Wedding, which wasn’t much to my taste. Its a second chance romance, though, which is never my favorite. So I do recommend this series but I suggest you quickly read through the first book to get to the rest of the books which are much, much better.

The Veil by Chloe Neill – my review –
Urban Fantasy – Link takes you to my review

Justice Calling (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress) by Annie Bellet
Paranormal & Urban Mystery with tiny bit of Romance – Free on Kindle Unlimited
This series comprises of shorter “novella-size” stories. It was really cute and a very easy, fun, and quick read. The main character is a geek extraordinaire, and the pop culture references are great fun. Her superpower is cool.

Cambrio Springs Mysteries series by Elizabeth Hunter
Shifting Dreams (#1), Desert Bound (#2), Waking Hearts (#3)
Light Paranormal Mystery Romance 
I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Hunter’s Elemental Mysteries for the past year or so, but had never read her other two series. I thought this one was regular contemporary but when I realized it was a small town paranormal mystery romance, I decided to give it a try and I really liked it. It was different and enjoyable. I’d consider these to be easy, light reads! Books 1 &3 are stronger than #2, in my opinion.

The Sylph Series by L.J. McDonald 
#1 The Battle Sylph (my review here), #2 The Shattered Sylph,  #3 The Queen of the Sylphs
Fantasy Romance – Free on KindleUnlimited
Although this series is not without its flaws, I admit I thoroughly enjoyed it! Its quite decent, especially considering it is free on KindleUnlimited. Not perfect, but more than enjoyable and surprisingly unique.

The Irin Chronicles by Elizabeth Hunter
#1 The Scribe, #2 The Singer, #3 The Secret, #4 The Staff & the Blade
Romantic Paranormal Urban Fantasy – First book only $0.99 on Kindle
I loved this series! I cannot believe I had The Scribe in my TBR pile for so many months without reading it! I should have trusted that Elizabeth Hunter would not disappoint. She doesn’t! This is a really well-crafted tale, her world-building is, as always, superb. The first book takes place largely in Turkey and is full of fantastic descriptions of the setting and people. This series features a unique set of people and villains, each with their own developed culture and history. Although I eventually got somewhat sick of the two main characters (the first 3 books follow 1 couple), the plot and other characters more than made up for it. Book #4 follows a new couple, so I really enjoyed that change of pace. **Highly recommend!**

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (ARC) – click for my review –

The Sight by Chloe Neill (ARC) – click for my review –

Wild Embrace by Nalini Singh (ARC) – my review –

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, & Jack Thorne
-click for my review– click for my live tweet reading transcript – click for pics of release party –

Usually each month, whenever I get sick of trying new books and authors, or if Im in a reading rut, I’ll re-read a series or other books I’ve read before. This month I re-read…

Macrieve by Kresley Cole (I love Cole, but hate the Macrieve book)

Elizabeth Hunter’s Elemental Series – Paranormal Mystery & Slowburn Romance
A Hidden Fire
This Same Earth
The Force of Wind
A Fall of Water
Building from Ashes
Blood and Sand
Waterlocked
The Scarlet Deep
The Bronze Blade
Shadows and Gold
Imitation and Alchemy