July 2021 Wrap-Up

Hello and welcome to July’s Wrap Up post! We hope you had a good month and are entering August with renewed energy. This year is flying by fast and we are excited to reflect on another month to see what we read. 🙂

Kriti’s Selection

This month flew by! I feel like there were so many social commitments thanks to things opening up here in Canada but somehow I did my bare minimum comfortable reading and a little more. Here’s all I read this July:

Number of library books: 2/8
Review copies: 6/8
Buddy Reads/ Book Club: 2/8

Books:

• Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace – SciFic, – Buddy read with Erynn. – We had a fun time discussing this one and look forward to sharing our thoughts on the 3rd. Learn more about this one on Goodreads.
• Small Places by Matthew Samuels – New Adult Fantasy – This was a fun book where Dungeons and Dragons fans will find some familiarity. Review on the blog on 4th along with a Q&A with the author. Learn more about the book on Goodreads.
• The Last Nomad : Coming of Age in the Somali Desert by Shugri Said Salh – Memoir – Review on August 5th – Some back to back review days this week! I loved this book for so many reasons and this is a great one to learn about the country of Somalia. Add it to your Goodreads.
• Owl Eyes Motel by Barbara Avon – Short Stories, Horror – See my review in our horror wrap up and add it on Goodreads.
• Lying with Lions by Annabel Fielding – Historical Fiction – This was an interesting book with LGBTQ representation and strong women characters. I did a spotlight on this one on the blog. 
• What We Carry by Maya Shanbhag Lang – Memoir – I connected to this book culturally but at the same time, highly recommend this one because it talks about taking care of parents as they get older and develop Alzheimer’s. See full review on the blog later this month. Add it to your Goodreads.
• The Iron Crown by L.L. MacRae – Fantasy – I raved about this book on the blog in July. Learn more here and check out the author interview too.
• All are welcome by Liz Parker – Fiction – This book is hilarious and I can’t wait to share my review and author interview with you on the 9th and 17th respectively. Find it on Goodreads in the meantime.

I tried out a new blogging routine in July and I hope to carry it forward for as long as I can. I spent one morning of my weekend writing and scheduling blog posts. That kept the rest of my weekend and weekday evenings free to read. If you follow me on Instagram then you would have noticed a change there too. I am not posting there as much. Building these social media boundaries has me feeling quite empowered. I still periodically have my moments of “wish more people saw/liked my content” but if I don’t want to put any extra time into a platform (my blog is where I want to focus my energy), then what is the point of mulling over such things?

I connected with lots of indie authors through my Indie Recommends Indie series and I am quite excited to continue that journey. If you are an indie author and want to participate in the series or know someone who can, please do check out the series home page here.

I enjoyed the reading hours with Ariel and sometimes the cats joined me too! Fiona is finally settling down with Dantes and it is the best feeling to see her relaxed. I met my friend Erynn for the first time and it was awesome to discuss books with her in person. 🙂

What was your highlight of July?

Ariel’s Selection for July 2021

This month, I stayed committed to my goal of appreciating and only reading 1-2 books at a time. I was able to read through seven books this month which feels like a small amount, but I feel like I enjoyed my reading experiences more because of this. As always, a highlight of the month was our horror-of-the month read, where Kriti and I explored horrors by authors we hadn’t read before.  Next month, I’m going to be participating in the Trope-ical Readathon for August, and I hope to get more Netgalley arcs completed. I plan to continue my 1-2 books at a time plan especially as my personal life gets busier in these upcoming months.

Number of Books on Last Month’s TBR: 170
Number of Books on TBR Now: 166

Number of books on my Netgalley TBR (to be compared with next month’s Netgalley TBR): 12

Books read: 7
Library Books: 2/7
ARCS: 5/7

Special Bookish Reads:

Horrorstor: Horror-of the Month with Kriti
The View Was Exhausting: Grand Central Physical Arc
Velvet Was the Night: Favorite read of the month and the next Ariel’s Arc installment

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What did you read in July 2021? Tell us some of your favorites so far!

We hope you have a wonderful August ahead, reading and otherwise.