July turned out to be a much better reading month for me in terms of quality which I’ll take over reading lots of 3 star books like my June ended up being. That being said, I did only finish 7 books this month but I’m really happy with all of them except one. I’m so excited for some of my upcoming August/Sept reads and I’m also really making an effort to read 1 backlist book off my TBR every week or 2 for my Throwback Thursday posts. I think it’ll be fun to go back and read some of the books that at one point I said ‘oh I’ve gotta read that’ but then it’s fallen down the tbr black hole. Moving on…
BOOKS READ IN JULY
Goodbye, Vitamin By Rachel Khong ( This was an engaging, quirky read with a super likable main character that made a perfect one-sit read, 4.5 Stars)
Slightly South of Simple By Kristy Woodson Harvey ( This was my bookclub’s July pick and while I thought the setting and dialogue was a plus, overall the story was just ok for me, 3 Stars)
The Force By Don Winslow ( A mammoth door stop of a book that I read in a day and a half because it’s just that good! This had everything I loved and will be on my top 10 of 2017 for sure, 5 stars)
Hum if You Don’t Know the Words By Bianca Marais ( Reminiscent of The Help with wonderful setting details and compelling characters, this had mystery, drama, and humor, and even though I’m not thrilled with the ending, I highly recommend this, 4 Stars)
All the Wicked Girls By Chris Whitaker ( One of my new favorite authors, I love the writing, mystery, and characters that inhabit the pages of Whitaker’s books. And his mysteries fool me every time. Just fantastic! 5 Stars)
Safe By Ryan Gattis ( My review will be up later this week but this was a case of loved it early on and the love went downhill as the story progressed…)
The Jealous Kind By James Lee Burke ( This was an audiobook which seemed to check all my boxes for what I would like, but I found myself so irritated with the main character Aaron that the whole story fell apart for me…Will Patton as narrator was awesome though, 2.5 Stars)
TRIED BUT COULDN’T GET INTO…
READ HALF… BUT HAD TO PUT IT DOWN….MAY REVISIT
I absolutely love Don Winslow’s writing and the action, suspense, and characterization were fantastic, HOWEVER, it was so realistically violent…I’m talking beheadings, torture, burning, and murder after murder that I had to stop because I couldn’t get the images out of my head at night. That’s some exceptional writing…but I need to sleep! It’s going to be a movie in 2018 so I may try to revisit this at some point
FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH
Another month come and gone! Am I the only one who can’t believe we’re going to be talking about our AUGUST reads soon?? It seems like it was just January yesterday. As always, I’d love to hear if you’ve read any of my July reads as well as YOUR favorites of the month so feel free to dtop me a line in the comments. Here’s to another month filled with fabulous reads!!
HAPPY READING!
itsbooktalk.com 
I may have to add “All the wicked girls” to my TBR as I love a character driven novel that contains surprising twists.
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Oh you’d definitely like Chris Whitaker’s books then Lynne! I was so excited that this book had such a great mystery that completely fooled me:)
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Its interesting how your experiences with the two Winslow books are so different. I know you really liked The Force. Love the Wine you are with has an interesting title, sad to hear that it didn’t work out. Glad you had a good reading month though. Enjoy August reads 🙂
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Thanks Diana! I will go back to The Cartel for sure but in small doses:) August reading is looking good, I hope yours is as well!
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I’m happy that you enjoyed the majority of your reads, I read a lot of ‘meh’ books this month. I went to the library today and they don’t have The Force 😔 and it’s so expensive to buy so I’ll have find another way to acquire it.
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Bummer:( I wonder if your library would order a copy for you? Sometimes ours does that when they don’t own one. Maybe used ones will pop up on Amazon soon as well. I really think you’d love it!
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I’m not brave enough to ask my library to order one haha 🙈 I’ve not even been a member for a year
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You can do it Janel…you’re a good library patron I”m sure 😂
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I’ve been hearing more and more about The Force! I’d like to try it, but the length is definitely puts me off.
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It is long at about 550 pages but it really reads like a fast paced movie and I think you’ll find that like me you’ll finish it quickly because it’s so hard to put down! I’d love to chat about it if you give it a try:)
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Quality definitely trumps quantity every time! I’ve been struggling with ho-hum books, too. Glad you found some you really connected with.
It’s crazy that July is over already! I need to get my own wrap up post together.
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Just went to NG and requested All the Wicked Girls and added it to my TBR. Also added The Force to my TBR. Hum if You Don’t Know the Words is near the top of my ARC pile, as is Goodbye, Vitamin. Glad to hear you enjoyed them!
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Oh wow, yes I’m kind of jealous you get to read all those for the first time!!:) I really hope you enjoy them and if you’d like to chat about any give me a shout
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Looks like you had a good month, there’s a few there that I’ll have to have a closer look at which will probably end up on the list 🙂
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I read some really great books in July: Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan was the favorite, The Long Way Home by Louise Penny was terrific as all of hers are, Trap the Devil by Ben Coes is a terrific read in the Dewey Andres series, Camino Island by John Grisham is a great book but a departure from his courtroom drama, The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan is a great WWII novel based on actual happenings, Testimony by Scott Turow is also a departure for this author who goes international, The Late Show by Michael Connelly is a terrific introduction to a new character and series, The Little French Bistro by Nina George is not as good as The Little Paris Bookshop but worth the time. I am about half way through Dead fall by Linda Fairstein and should finish today which will qualify as a July read. I am loving it. Fairstein continues to write great procedural with terrific New York City settings.
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Thanks for all those recs! I’ve never read Linda Fairstein but you’re the second person to say her books were good in the last couple days so that must mean I should read her! You had a great reading month that’s for sure
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I also only got one disappointment in July, which is fantastic I think! 🙂 Yay for us finding great stories…Or great stories finding us!! Have a fabulously bookish August, sweet Renee! x
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[…] favorites for the scope and genre of books they ended up reading in July were on: Keeper Of Pages, It’s Book Talk, The Book Stop, Pace Amore Libri, Clues And Reviews, Lois Reads Books, Secret Library, Death By […]
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