July is already over and that means most people are on summer holidays now. In the Netherlands, summer holidays started from July 8 till July 22 and end from August 19 till the latest few provinces get back to school on September 2. I however, don’t have holidays. I had my first portion in the last week of June, stretching out till the first week of July. My next break will be in late August/early September. I noticed that I didn’t have holidays, because I managed to read a lot. More than when I actually had plenty of reading time on my hands. Unfortunately I can’t seem to get much reading done outside, it’s either too cold, too windy or too melting hot. So, let’s take a look into my month of July!

My monthly stats

According to my monthly stats on The Storygraph, I read a total of 11 books. My number of pages read in July is 4,202 pages and I’ve listened to 18.47 hours of audiobooks. This is not particularly correct, since one of the books I’ve listened to isn’t available on Storygraph. It is, but not the audiobook edition and I can’t seem to find the ISBN to add it. From these 11 books, I’ve hauled 2 this month. I’ve hauled 5 books in total, so that’s pretty decent I think. Most books I’ve read fall under the romance genre, which was to be expected with this warmer weather and me still being in my romance era. I read mainly ebooks and mixed both Dutch and English. My average rating for the month of July is 3.68 stars. In the image below, you see my monthly data at once. It won’t have an image description as most has been written here already.

My read books

Links will direct you to accompanying reviews on my blog.

1. Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau – A golden oldie I found when I was cleaning out my external hard drive. It has been on it for years! I enjoyed this young adult dystopian, even though it’s quite predictable now. Younger readers will enjoy it though. Ebook, 3 stars
2. Mile High by Liz Tomforde – This sports romance has been sitting on my TBR for a while and I just randomly picked it up. I hadn’t been reading for a few days, so I figure dthis one would work. And it definitely did. Ebook, 4 stars
3. Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee – A chonker I managed to finish quite quickly. I was invested from start to finish. Fantasy is not my go-to genre in summer, but this one worked just fine. I wanted to read this book before my winter fatigue starts again so this month was just perfect. Audiobook, 5 stars
4. Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross – Now the hype died down, ifinally dared to finish this duology. This book was different from the first one and unfortunately the duology as a whole is quite forgettable. Audiobook, 3.5 stars
5. Daniels belofte by Marijke Vos – An originally Dutch historical fiction I thoroughly enjoyed. Ebook, 4 stars
6. Reckless by Lauren Roberts – I didn’t intend to read this book already since I finished Powerless not long ago. However, I just couldn’t resist. It’s your typical second book in a trilogy. Not bad, but not remarkable either. The ending makes me curious for the next and final book though. Ebook, 3.5 stars
7. Breek ons. Niet. by Laura Kneidl – This book hasn’t been translated into English, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Ebook, 3.5 stars
8. Under your spell by Laura Wood – I saw many positive reviews for this book so my expectations were quite high. Unfortunately the middle part was the best part, the beginning and ending were really disappointing. Overall, it fell flat. Ebook, 3 stars
9. In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros – I practically forgot about this book, but the Dutch publication put it back on my radar. I always love this author’s contemporary novels and the emotions that come with these. However, this one falls flat for me since I didn’t feel emotionally invested in the characters and their story. Ebook, 3 sttars
10. Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura – A romance novel set at the Olympics is just the perfect fit for when the Olympics are in full swing. However, the book itself again fell flat for me, especially in terms of characters and writing. I explain this more in my review. Ebook, 3 stars
11. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas – I ended this month with finally finishing this reread. It took me since mid June. That has nothing to do with the book itself, but purely with the time of year. Fantasy is not my go-to genre in summer. Audiobook, 5 stars.

My bookhaul

1. It All Comes Back To You by Melissa Wiesner
2. Let The Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura
3. Frambozenzomer by Lucas Versteeg
4. Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
5. Reckless by Lauren Roberts

Overall, July was a pretty good reading month! I’m currently listening to one book, but I can’t finish this before midnight so that will be added to my August wrap up.

How was July for you?