July Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

It's crazy to think we're now 3/4 of the way through the year! Where has 2017 gone? Before getting into this post, I want to apologies for my absence from social media since my last post. In all truthfulness, I didn't feel like posting. I felt that the amount I was posting was too much, so I decided to have a bit of a social detox and I am happy that I did it. I was feeling very stressed and down because I was putting so much pressure on myself to post frequently.

But enough of that, July was a decent reading month. I managed to read five books in July and I'm proud of that. I recently changed my Goodreads reading challenge from 75 to 60 books because I know I'm not going to get to read 75 books because I'm so busy. I read a wide range of books in July and loved almost all of them.

The first book I read was a audio book of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. I got the audio book through the Overdrive app and listened to it over several days. I gave it 4/5 stars. It was really interesting reading a book set in World War Two that had real influences from the war. I'm yet to delve into the world of Historical Fiction and this was a nice introduction. I loved that it was told from four different perspectives and each character had their own narrator, making it easier to know which character you were listening. The only reason I docked a star was because the beginning was a bit slow and it took me a while to make the connections between the characters.

I then read Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I got a finished early copy from the Zoella Book Club in WH Smiths. I gave it 5/5 stars. I loved this book so much, so much so that I am contemplating giving it a higher rating on my 2017 favourites over Lord of Shadows. It was so nice to read a YA book about feminism and reading it made me feel so empowered. I am going to write a full review at some point soon, so keep an eye out for that. It isn't out in the UK till September, but you can get it in WH Smith before then.

Next I read a book for my local Waterstones book club and that was Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. I gave this 2/5 stars. In all truthfulness, I have absolutely no clue what happens in this book. I found it very hard to follow the narrative and the writing style made it impossible for me to understand who was speaking. It was interesting learning about the American Civil War, but apart from that, I did not enjoy this book.

I read The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury in one day. I gave it 4/5 stars as it was a super quick read and it was just a fun book. I don't think I've taken anything profound away from it and I've read similar books before, but it was nice reading a book so quickly that was just for fun. I'll pick up the next two books eventually, but for now I am happy that I've finally read The Sin Eater's Daughter.

The final book I read in July is a part of a reread I'm starting and that is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I have listened to the Harry Potter books on audio book (the Stephen Fry version) so many times, I could quote them in my sleep. But I can't remember the last time I picked them up in physical format. I read it in two days, I obviously gave it 5/5 stars. I actually finished it on July 31st. As this post goes up, I'm currently reading Goblet of Fire.

So that concludes my wrap up for July, I can already tell August is going to be a good reading month as I've already read two books. I still have loads of books I want to finish before I go back to college though.
Carenza x