Monthly Wrap-Up: July

            Welcome to the end of July!

            This month has been decidedly off-kilter for me once again. I’ve got some grand plans and I believe I’ve figured out a better collection of posts that will be easier for me to write and more helpful for keeping up with the posting schedule. Without further ado, let’s talk about the books I read this month.

Reading Update:

– Emily the Strange: Piece of Mind by Rob Reger, Buzz Parker, and Jessica Gruner

– Where It All Lands by Jennie Wexler

– Rattlesnake Road by Amanda McKinney

– The Last Heartbeat by Katerina Simms

– The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

– Goth Girls of Banff by John O’Neill

– The Queen Will Betray You by Sarah Henning

– The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill

I’ve also read 39% of Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard. I probably won’t finish by midnight, but if I do, I’ll edit this post to reflect that.

            My favourite read this month was without a doubt The Queen Will Betray You. As the sequel to The Princess Will Save You, I wasn’t sure if it would continue the amazing adventure that the first book delivered on. Let me tell you, it was so much better. The political intrigue ramped up to a whole new level. This second book also had all The Princess Bride vibes that I wanted, adding in amazing little details every so often. I can’t recommend this series enough.

            My least favourite book this month was The Bone Way, but since it was a novella I’m going to talk about my second least favourite read of the month, Where It All Lands. The premise of this book sounded so promising, and I thought I would love it. So, my expectations were a little higher than they should have been, but I still found myself quite disappointed by the end of this book. The format of this book turned out to be detrimental to the plot and character development because it told two different versions of the story one after another. This led to the story being half the length and not allowing enough time for the characters to be built and then develop. I gave this book 2.5 stars, 3 on Goodreads. My low rating was the reason I chose not to post a review on this book.

Writing Update:

            I’ve planned out a whole short story that I’m calling “The Chemistry of Yolks” inspired by one of my best friends. I’m going to use posts to keep you updated on my progress through planning and writing the first draft of the story. Hopefully, the first post will be up soon.

            I haven’t been able to get a lot done on my novel this month, but I fixed my boyfriend’s gaming computer, so I let my novel slide a bit. It was worth it, but I’m looking forward to refocusing. I have two more beats to take notes on, then roughly plan out the last five beats. Then I’m going to try planning scene by scene, using the fifteen beats as a guide. August should be a wonderful month for novel planning. I know I say this every month, but I need to say it until it happens. I’m feeling great about this.

            That’s it for July. Tune in tomorrow for a look at what I want to read and write in August. Thank you for reading!