I’m doing things a little different this month so I can do a final update for the Run Away with the Circus reading challenge and my Snarky Reading Recap. I’m just going to dive right in by giving you the rating system!
I’m going to keep with the formatting from the Run Away with the Circus weekly updates and add the doggies in as I go. Of note, before we get started – July was a little nuts. As I mentioned in one of my reviews, I am currently living in Puerto Rico, and there has been some political unrest here that has led to less time available for me to read this month. Plus, I moved! So there has been a lot going on. Don’t judge too harshly, please. ❤
A Snarky Reading Recap + Run Away with the Circus Reading Challenge
Menagerie: Read a book with an animal in the title: In Progress
- Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean [Read the review!]
So… I wrote the review for this one without finishing the book, which is something I RARELY do. And I could only do it for this particular book because a) it’s romance, and the tropes allow me to sort of predict what’s going to happen, and b) Sarah MacLean is always wonderful and I have faith that her books are going to always make me happy in the end. But I didn’t technically finish this before the end of July, so no rating will be given until next month. I know, I KNOW! I don’t do this! But I had reviews to write!
Big Top: Read a book with red and white on the cover: Complete!
- Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller [Read the review!]
I can’t describe this one in a couple of sentences – you should read the full review. Sam J. Miller writes so well. He’s become one of my instant-read authors – you know those authors where you’ll buy the book without reading the synopsis? Yeah, he’s on my list now.
Rating: 4 dogs petted.
Cotton Candy: Read a light and fluffy book: Complete!
- Betraying the Billionaire by Victoria Davies [Read the review!]
So light. So fluffy. This book was the beginning of all the romance that I read in the month of July, and I have absolutely no regrets about it. The full review will sum things up best!
Rating: 3 dogs petted.
Flyers: Read a book about/set in space: Complete/DNF
- The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World by Amy Reed [Read the review!]
Mehh on this one. Another DNF, but I might go back to it at some point in the future. It just wasn’t what I needed in such a turbulent month.
Rating: 0 dogs petted.
Grandstand: Read a hyped book: Complete!
- Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover [Read the review!]
I’ve been meaning to read another Colleen Hoover book since I read Slammed back in 2016, but Slammed was so problematic and poorly written that I wasn’t sure I wanted to read another one. I’m glad we read this one for book club, because it was much better! And a really fun, easy read as a palate cleanser.
Rating: 3 dogs petted.
- Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry [Read the review!]
OOOOOOKAAAAAYYYY don’t hate me, but I did the same thing with this book that I did with Brazen and the Beast… I haven’t finished it yet! I was getting down to the wire for the reviews I’d committed to, so I’m more than halfway through both of them and I just have to FINISH! Because they’re both so good! This is another one that I just trusted from the point I got to onward in order to write the review because I love both of these authors. I WON’T DO THIS AGAIN, I SWEAR. Rating coming next month!
Ringmaster: Read the first book in a series or a standalone: Complete!
- The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright [No review planned on the blog]
I listened to this one on audio, and it was very interesting, and clearly super well-researched. Lawrence Wright knows what he’s talking about. It was such an excellent expose on Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, and I cried the entire time he was talking about the day of September 11th. If you’re interested in how al-Qaeda and some of the other big terrorist groups came to be in the years leading up to 9/11, this is a really good option. I would highly recommend, if you can stomach it.
Rating: 3 dogs petted.
- Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean [Read the review!]
SO GOOD. SO GOOD. SO GOOD. Oh, sorry, we’re not singing Sweet Caroline? But seriously, this book is just exactly my thing – the grump and walking sunshine. Omg, I just LOVE that trope so much. So anyway, read the review if you want!
Rating: 4 dogs petted.
A light month, but sometimes that’ll happen. I anticipate more light months ahead as life gets busy again, but it’ll taper off at some point. It always does, and I always come back, because I love the book reviewing life.
Happy reading!
Snark & Squee 