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July Reading Wrap Up

 

I did not read all of the books on my TBR because I felt like mood reading. But I read quite a few books, and I can’t wait to share them with you!


 

·         The first book I read this month was Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin. This book follows a witch (Lou), who is being chased by the Chasseurs (a group of witch hunters), until one day she must marry one of them to keep herself hidden in plain sight. This is an adventurous book that kept me on my feet during the whole story.  This is a very well-written book and the first in a series. I rated this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40024139-serpent-dove?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=pStwrEKbti&rank=1

 


·         Train To Nowhere by Anita Leslie was next.  After such a strong start with my first book, this one fell flat. This is a memoir of a young woman during the Second World War as she works as an ambulance driver. I usually like memoirs. However, this follows an incredibly privileged woman as Winston Churchill’s niece, making her almost untouchable. We follow her as she's an ambulance driver, but during the whole memoir, it's her complaining about not having the things that she's used to; she continuously complains about being dirty, while I do understand this because that would be a challenging thing to compensate for and it is an excellent insight to have. But she complained about every little detail, from servants not serving her correctly to sleeping in a German bed, which is very uncomfortable according to her, and having to share that bed with a few other people. I have difficulty relating with her during the story as she perceives herself as superior to many of the other races she encounters and puts them down quite often. I just really did not enjoy this book for that reason, as she just complained about how bad she has it, and I ended up giving this a 2 star out of 5. But this is a good read if you want to write a paper on how the privileged elites in Britain served during the war.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33009096-train-to-nowhere?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Itut7Lg1fU&rank=5

 


·         A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Bridget Kemmerer. This is a beauty and the beast retelling, although it's not one of my favorite retellings of this tale. Kemmerer does an excellent job of immersing the reader in the world that you are transported to. In this book, we follow Harper, a girl with cerebral palsy, and she gets taken by a Guardsman of a Kingdom to visit the Crown Prince (Rhen); it is her job to free the king from the curse that he was put under. This is a very adventurous story, has a great representation of disability, and I cannot wait to continue the series. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43204703-a-curse-so-dark-and-lonely?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=dpMyeK1OuS&rank=1


·         Verity by Colleen Hoover was the first Colleen Hoover book I have read. I would classify this as a kind of romance thriller vibe; it was not my favorite book; however, if you enjoy Jane Eyre, it was a similar retelling of this classic but with a bit of a twist at the end; so I would say this is Jane Eyre but make it modern. There is not much that I feel like I can say about this book because I'm afraid I will give a spoiler away. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59344312-verity?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Pb527UPr4n&rank=1


·       My next book was the Egyptian Book Of the Dead, which John Romer translated. I skimmed this book and did a little research for a class I took because I wanted to learn a little bit more about the Egyptian Book Of the Dead, which we covered in class. I saw this at Barnes and Noble, and I thought it would be an exciting read; this is a very chunky book as it was about 900ish pages, according to Goodreads, but I enjoyed it. I loved the images in this book, and the way they showed hieroglyphs was incredible. Still, Romer explaining what was happening in the image or the hieroglyph made this a great study aid and an excellent resource for me in the future. I am excited to write a few papers on it in some of my future classes or just for fun. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. It’s a little bit dry, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really into Egyptian mythology or you're doing research-based projects

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3401616-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead

 


·         The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan. I am working my way through the Percy Jackson and the heroes of Olympus books; I did not read them as a child, so I get the privilege of reading them as an adult. This book is my favorite of the Heroes Of Olympus series, and I love that Riordon sprinkles in some of the well-known and loved characters of his past series, such as Tyson, Mrs. O'Leary, and Grover. This book follows Percy Jackson as he goes on another mission. Still, instead of being in a Greek camp, he is in a Roman camp, and Percy has lost his memory,y so he has no recollection of his past life, Annabeth, or any of his other companions. So we follow Percy as he goes on a quest with a few new friends while trying to save the world. I enjoyed this book. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars. I gave it a 3 star instead of 4 because I like the other Rick Riordan books and the Percy Jackson series better. I felt like this was an excellent book, but it did not hold up to the Percy Jackson series, which is just my preference. It was a very well-written book, and I enjoyed it

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9520360-the-son-of-neptune?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=m4RmJ3Z9Wx&rank=1

 


·         The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff. This book gets the award of making Savanah cry this month. This is a historical fiction based in Warsaw, Poland, during World War 2, I believe this is set in 1942, and we follow a Jewish family who tries to escape the liquidation of the ghettos in Poland; we follow this family as they attempt to escape the horrors of concentration camps and the liquidation process. This book has lots of heart-wrenching moments, and I could hardly pick up another book. After this, it made my heart ache. But I highly recommend this book as it shows the great distress the Polish Jews were under during the German occupation during World War 2. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54737067-the-woman-with-the-blue-star?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=hElxOP7RAh&rank=1

 

 


·         Next, I read All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This Novella is the first in the series, and we follow a murderbot who is not very good at its job, and it goes on a mission with some humans. I just really did not enjoy this read. I thought it would be a bit of a lighthearted read and kind of funny from other reviews that I've seen, but I could not get into this book. I didn't enjoy it, so I gave this a 2 out of 5 stars, and I probably will not continue with this series.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32758901-all-systems-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3rXsGXePB4&rank=1

 


·         Then I read Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. We follow Sophie Foster, a typical girl who happens to be a telepath and has a photographic memory, but we find out Sophie is not as ordinary as she first thought. We find out that she is an elf and must be taken to the world of the elves and other mythical creatures because the humans have not followed up on their end of the bargain with keeping world peace. This book is very adventurous, fun, and light-hearted. I thoroughly enjoyed this middle-grade book and will continue with the series, but I think I will listen to the audiobooks instead of reading the physical copies. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12842828-keeper-of-the-lost-cities?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=GdbZ2od27e&rank=1

 

 


·         I listened to the Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard on Audiobook this month. I loved this book so much and enjoyed listening to it when I could not sit down and read. This book follows a community of vigorous (the reds) and silver-blooded people (the silvers). The Silvers have been oppressing the Reds for years and forcing them to live in crowded cities to fight their wars, but the Reds have decided that they have had enough of this discrimination and fight back. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and planned on continuing the series. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22328546-red-queen?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=UrMyA6bAWW&rank=1

 


·         I am continuing the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, and I completed the third book in this series Pardonable Lies. This is also one of my Prime Day haul books! I don’t want to give too much because this is a mystery. But of course, we follow Maisie as she tries to prove a young girl's innocence in a murder case and finds herself in harm's way. This is not my favorite Maisie Dobbs book, but I still gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

·         Goodreads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7432.Pardonable_Lies?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3LSewx5vaC&rank=1

·         

 


·         The last book I finished was Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin. This is the second book in the Serpent and Dave series, and this book just fell flat; I wish the Mahurin would have stopped with the first book because it was terrific, but this book just felt like she lost momentum, and I probably will not continue with the series simply because I don’t want to ruin the book I have in my mind of Serpent and Dove. I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars.

So I would list my book in the order below, starting with my favorite and ending with my least favorite.

1.      Serpent and Dove

2.      The Woman with the Blue Star

3.      Red Queen

4.      A Curse So Dark and Lonely

5.      Pardonable Lies

6.      Keepers of the Lost Cities

7.      Egyptian Book of the Dead

8.      The Sone of Neptune

9.      Verity

1     Train to Nowhere

Al1.  All Systems Red

12   Blood and Honey

 

All in all, I had a great reading month. I can’t wait to see what the next month holds.

Have a great day,

Savanah

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