What did you read in July?

[Vespasia]

It's already a new month! What did you read in July? Feel free to be more descritpi8ve than usual since we haven't had our Friday threads the last few weeks. 

[dearprudence]

The Best:
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Good:
Piglet

Shark Heart

How to Know a Person - nonfiction about learning to connect and communicate with others

The Paris Novel - woman's mother dies, and leaves an inheritance required to be spent in Paris. So she heads off to Paris and discovers art, food, fashion, and creates the family she never had.

Lies and Weddings - same author as Crazy Rich Asians, returns to the world of the ridiculously wealthy as a non-rich doctor is swept into their world at the wedding of her hyper-rich friend.

Fine:
Margo's Got Money Problems - teen mom starts an Onlyfans account when she can't find work and childcare.

I Hope This Finds You Well - woman with childhood trauma attempts to protect her job by reading her coworkers' emails.

Not Good:
Confessions of a Curious Bookseller - rantings of a narcissistic woman with a very loose grip on reality.

[estrellita]

Fathomfolk **
I wasn't a fan. I struggled so hard to get through this one because I don't like not finishing books! It was my first Illumicrate book and it's so pretty, but the story was just meh. It's about this partially submerged city inhabited mostly by humans, and "fathomfolk" immigrants which are a variety of water creatures that have a human form also. There were some good metaphors in the book for racism, but other than that.. I just didn't care about the story and didn't know what was happening half the time.

Heartless Hunter ****
This was pretty good. It's about a witch and witch hunter in a place that's outlawed magic and executes witches. I liked the story but there were a few things I felt were weird or didn't make sense. It's a series, so I'll be interested in what happens in the next book!

Not in Love *****
I love Ali Hazelwood's books. It's another STEM romance with a food scientist and investor that is trying to take over the company the FMC works for. This one is much spicier than the previous books but still a good plot IMO.

[dearprudence]

estrellita I was equally unimpressed by Fathomfolk

[travella]

4* good
All the Glimmering Stars by Mark Sullivan(best book I read this month. I'm not usually a fan of his writing style but the story was really good, his writing just couldn't provide the level of emotion I was looking for.)
Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

3*
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

2* Didn't Like
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, 2.5*
We Must Not Think of Ourselves by Lauren Grodstein- didn't care for her writing style, the story meandered and came off very flat and dull
The True Story is Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

DNF
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles (I just couldn't get into this book).

[tacokick]

Liked the most:

Teddy by Emily Dunlay

Day One by Abigail Dean

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima

Liked least:

The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us by Rachelle Bergstein

[Vespasia]

The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak  - 3* This was disappointing and rather boring

The Russian Cage (Gunnie Rose, #3) - 4* Another fun installment of the series

The Serpent in Heaven (Gunnie Rose, #4) - 4* Still good but I missed the main characters

Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Legacy of Orïsha, #3) - 2* Terrible

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen - 4.5* This was unique and well done

Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel, #2) - 4* Loved these characters

When Among Crows by Veronica Roth - 4* I spent a lot of this book looking up Slavic folklore but in a good way!