It’s time for a look at my July reading life!

It’s time for another wrap-up/haul post — and some fun stats!

This month was Graphicsathon, so I read a LOT of graphic novels, and this is going to be a doozy of a post!
Some of the graphics I read were in a series, so I’ll try to consolidate as much as possible.

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The month at a glance: books completed: 30 (!!!!) books DNFed: 4 average rating: 3.8 (I expected it to be much lower than this tbh) best book: Square³ worst book: Strangers	PAGES READ PER DAY:

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What I read:

(each title link will direct you to my review for more thoughts!)

emoji key:
✨ review copy → 💞 buddy/group read → 🔁 re-read → 🎧 audiobook → 🍰 graphic novel/manga
🫙 TBR jar → 🗓️ 2022 TBR → 🌻 seasonal TBR → 😻 Devour Your TBR
💫 half-star

• Anybody Home? // Michael J. Seidlinger: ✨ + ❌DNF❌ → So devastated. This was an incredibly anticipated release, but it was so boring and confusing for me.
• Wash Day Diaries // Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐💫 → Loved the premise, but this was just okay (and had some very dodgy mental health rep).
• Stargazers // L.P. Hernandez: ✨ + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → One of my favorites of the month! Horror with heart, indeed.
• This is How You Lose the Time War // Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone: 🌻 + ❌DNF❌ → Listen, nobody is more disappointed than me, but this did NOT do it for me.
• The Sneaking, Hiding, Vibrating Creature // Nathan W. Pyle: 🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → This was so freaking cute and I recommend it to any cat lover!
• Bone Parish series // Cullen Bunn: 🔁🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → I re-read the first 2 volumes, vol. 3 was new-to-me, and I adored the whole series.

• The Me You Love in the Dark // Skottie Young: 🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → This was an absolutely incredible blend of horror and toxic romance and I LOVED it!
• Alice Ever After #1-2 // Dan Panosian: 🍰 + ⭐⭐ → I usually love dark retellings of Alice in Wonderland, but this wasn’t fun and was poorly told IMO.
• Blackwater // Jeannette Arroyo & Ren Graham: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐ → I feel unkind giving this such a low rating because I found out at the end of my eARC that Netgalley had given out incomplete copies (WITHOUT mentioning it… which is super frustrating!) and the eARC ended in the most abrupt, awful spot, but I did get to read almost half of this book and what I read was so blah.
• Crumbs // Danie Stirling: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐💫 → This was super whimsical and pretty! I adored the first 80% but didn’t like the ending, so it ended up with a 3.5.
• Over My Dead Body // Sweeney Boo: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → Another favorite of the month and I’ll probably buy a finished copy. This was lovely and featuring a super fun, diverse witchy school.
• Broken Beautiful Hearts // Kami Garcia: 🫙 + ❌DNF❌ → This just wasn’t for me, and when I was considering DNFing it, I read spoiler-y reviews and found out that I probably wasn’t going to appreciate the direction it took later on.
• The Dead Romantics // Ashley Poston: ✨💞🎧 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → I’m so, SO happy that I gave this author another chance, because I adored this! Buddy read with Ashley!

• Screams From the Dark // Ellen Datlow: ✨🌻 + ⭐⭐ → There were a couple of gems from authors I mostly already adored, but this anthology overall was one of the worst I’ve ever read, as much as that pains me to say.
• Wait Till Helen Comes Graphic Novel // Mary Downing Hahn: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐ → This was just okay. I know it’s an adaptation of an older book, but I didn’t expect it to feel so dated, still!
• Frizzy // Claribel A. Ortega: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → Such a gorgeous, adorable, sweet graphic novel with a very important message about racism, colorism, and anti-Blackness.
• The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 // James Tynion IV: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐ → A really cool premise, though the art didn’t do any favors for this massive cast of characters.
• #thighgap // Chandler Morrison: ✨🌻 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐ → So much less “extreme” than I expected based on this author’s reputation, but not a bad read – just a bit repetitive (and SO heavy on the body-shaming).
• Lore Olympus: Vol. 2 // Rachel Smythe: 🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → The “puppy love” between Persephone and Cerberus… I could read entire volumes JUST about that. ♥
• The Conjuring: The Lover // David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick: ✨🍰 + ⭐ → I love The Conjuring films so I wanted to love this, but NOPE.
• All My Friends Are Ghosts // S.M. Vidaurri: 🍰 + ⭐⭐ → A cute premise, a terrible execution.

• Heathen series // Natasha Alterici: 🔁🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → The first volume was a re-read so I could finally complete the series and I loved it even more the second time around.
• Square³ // Mira Grant: 🫙 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → This month’s #1 fave! Nobody who knows me is surprised… it’s a Mira Grant title, after all. (and it was SO timely and effective)
• Cryptid Club // Sarah Andersen: ✨🍰 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ → I LOVE the Cryptid Club comics and this collection was so cute!
• Strangers // Michaelbrent Collings: 💞 + ⭐ → It’s SO incredibly rare that I give a book 1 star, but this was awful, infuriating, and had some of the most misogynistic, over-the-top slut-shaming I’ve EVER read.
• Men, Women, and Chainsaws // Stephen Graham Jones: 🫙 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐ → REALLY fun and creepy – highly recommending this to my fellow Texas Chainsaw fans!
• Hell Followed With Us // Andrew Joseph White: ✨💞 + ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 → I had so much fun with the body horror and religious zealot aspects of this that it was aaaalmost perfect! Also, the trans and autistic rep? Chef’s kiss! Buddy read with Sam!
• Kill River // Cameron Roubique: 💞🌻 + ⭐ → No big deal, I only spent years meaning to read this and being 100% convinced I would love it for it to end up boring me to tears… 😭
• Darling // K. Ancrum: ✨💞 + ❌DNF❌ → Nah, not for me. I think it’s time for me to accept that K’s writing and characters aren’t my jam anymore, sadly. Buddy read with Malli!

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And now, for some of my favorite recent hauls:

July treated me pretty well in the haul department, as you can see 👀

• The Rat King // L.P. Hernandez (ebook purchase; adult horror)
  
• Hidden Pictures // Jason Rekulak (purchase; adult horror)
• The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors // Doug Murano (purchase; adult horror anthology)
• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy // Megan Bannen (audio review copy; adult fantasy/romance)
• The Drowned Woods // Emily Lloyd-Jones (audio review copy; YA fantasy)
• Cafe Con Lychee // Emery Lee (gift – thank you, Malli!; YA romance)
• After the People Lights Have Gone Off // Stephen Graham Jones (purchase; adult horror)
• Under the Whispering Door // T.J. Klune (purchase; adult fantasy/romance)
• What Moves the Dead // T. Kingfisher (purchase; adult horror)
• This Vicious Grace // Emily Thiede (purchase; YA fantasy)

• Lute // Jenn Marie Thorn (ARC; adult horror)
• Bunny // Mona Awad (ebook purchase; adult horror)
• Dear Medusa // Olivia A. Cole (eARC; YA contemporary novel in verse)
• Hungry Ghost // Victoria Ying (eARC; YA contemporary graphic novel)
• We Are All So Good at Smiling // Amber McBridge (eARC; YA contemporary novel in verse)
• Girls From the County // Donna Lynch (ARC; adult horror poetry)
• Beautiful Atrocities // Ross Jeffery (ARC; adult horror)
• Audition // Ryu Murakami (ebook purchase; adult horror)
• Return to the Black Farm // Elias Witherow (giveaway prize – thank you, Malka!; adult horror)
• Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films // Nina Nesseth (finished copy for review; adult nonfic)

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And finally, a little life update:

July was honestly a pretty rough month in our home! I don’t want to harp on too much about it, but it was a rough mental health month, I think mostly due to the fact that I have summertime SAD and July is always the worst month for that (it’s so hot and humid, right in the middle of summer, and fall still feels so far away). There was also a lot of anxiety surrounding the kittens getting their spays as well as Lyric going for her first routine check-up in a long time, but thankfully, everything went well with all 3 cats and everyone seems happy and healthy! I also had my hours at work cut in half for the time being, which is super stressful, but I’m staying positive and hoping it’s a very temporary problem. Needless to say, though, I’m really happy to say good fucking riddance to July, and I’m hoping August is better and calmer!

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How was your month? What was your favorite book you read or hauled, or what was something nice that happened in your life?

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— destiny ♥

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