This summer has simultaneously felt as if it has been a 100 years and just a blink at the same time. I honestly don’t even remember what happened in June, so I really have no excuse on why I didn’t post an wrap up. July on the other hand was hard for me. My company decided to move my store location to a bigger store so we closed the last week of July and packed everything up, moved and then unpacked and staged for the next two weeks and then finally reopened last Friday. So I was working a lot in July and it left me physically, mentally and emotionally drained. With the store reopened my schedule is finally getting back to normal so I am starting to feel like normal. So with out further adieu here are my June and July reads.

Aurora Burning was one of my most anticipated releases of this year and it did not disappoint me. Since this is a sequel I won’t be going in depth on the plot to avoid spoiling the first one, but I will say that this book broke my heart in the best way possible at the end. I laughed, I cried, I screamed. Finian is still my favorite. Kal and Auri are one of my favorite couples of all time. Everyone please for my sanity go read this series. Its on my all time favorites. Not surprisingly this was a five star read for me.

I have so many feelings about the ACOTAR series that I literally have not been able to shut up about them since June (though technically I read A Court of Frost and Starlight in July). I even have a playlist on Spotify that I update regularly (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/265tcEUdIEQVQ9NIAXPfyN?si=OUq8XDicSDazdU74Em-k-Q) with songs that remind me of the series. I do plan to do an in depth analysis and review of this series cause I think there is a lot to unpack with these books. This series has my #1 spot on my favorite series list. I have already pre-ordered A Court of Silver Flames. Nesta is one of my ABSOLUTE favorite characters and Cassian is my man! Again unsurprisingly all three of these were five star reads.

I’m not going to lie to you this book felt very strange to read in today’s political climate. I will give it props for pointing out that Civil War reenactments are inherently racist and that there really isn’t anything romantic about a Plantation home. I read this directly after A Court of Wings and Ruin which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Compared to the masterpiece that is ACOWAR, Confederates Don’t Wear Couture doesn’t hold a candle to it, but it is so different that it did help me avoid a reading slump. This is also a sequel to Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink. As far as contemporary romances go it was cute and easy read. I don’t think I would recommend it to anybody unless they were looking for something hella specific, but I did enjoy it so I did give it 3 stars.

Now for a contemporary romance that I absolutely LOVE!! Love & Gelato is the perfect summer read, especially during a pandemic where none of us are going anywhere remotely vacation-y. After the death of Lina’s mother she gets sent to live with the father she never knew about in Italy of all places. Lina is less then thrilled about leaving her best friend, Addie, and everything she has ever known behind, but she soon learns that there is more to her move to Italy then Lina thought. She comes into possession of the journal her mom kept during her time in Italy and Lina begins to unravel the mystery of what happened between her parents and along the way she makes some friends and even meets someone that maybe more. I loved the romance in this book not only between Lina and Ren but Lina’s parents as well. It was so cute and I cannot wait for the third one in this series, Love & Olives, to come out later this year. Love & Luck (which I read in March) is the second one in the series and Love & Gelato is the first, Though it you don’t have to read them in order. If you are a fan of Anna and the French Kiss trilogy then you will adore these books. 5 stars from me!

As you probably have noticed I have been trying to finish up series I have started. Here’s yet another sequel. The Rose & the Dagger is the sequel to The Wrath & the Dawn. I will forever love Khalid and Shazi, but I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I loved the first. I wanted more romance, more magic, more conflict, more tough choices. Just more. It was still a 4 star read though.

Oh look another sequel! I honestly didn’t realize I read this many sequels in the pas couple of months. This book gave me MAJOR The Surface Breaks vibes. Their plots and themes were incredibly similar. I did love the story and much like The Surface Breaks I want more. I felt as if this book was a build up to something more and it ends right before everything goes down. Sea Witch Rising takes place about 50 or so years after Sea Witch and had a backdrop of the very beginning of WWI. I did love the first one better, but this was still 4 stars.

This book was given to my mom by my Great Aunt and then my mom passed it down to me a few years ago when I was going through a hard time. This is a children’s picture book and yet I will never read it and not cry. It has such a beautiful message for those who suffer from depression or any other mental illness. It always makes me feel less alone and reminds me that I do mean a lot to my friends and family and how sad they would be with out me in their lives just like I would be sad if they weren’t there. Its a great tool to discuss mental illness with children and a great story to remind adults that they are loved even when the darkness doesn’t let them feel that love. Five stars for me!

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love the Caraval trilogy. Legendary is no exception. I normally am not a fan of love triangles, but this one was just so well written that I loved both and wanted her with both I’m not going to lie. I fell even more in love with Julian and Scarlett. Five stars!