Hello everyone, welcome back to the blog! It still feels like yesterday when I stayed up all night waiting for 2022 but here we are, at the end of July. Time’s really moving too fast and none of us know why. And as my apologies for not having a monthly wrap-up for the past two months, here’s one to make up for it!

In short, July was…unpredictable. I thought maybe I could get some reading done this month and put out a number of blog posts. Not saying that I didn’t do them or anything, but they just didn’t go as planned, you know? Literally everything was happening through deadlines and that ultimately lessened the quality of the posts. Not all of course, but some.

And if you’ve noticed, I’ve posted like three blog tours this month alone, and my huge thank you for the blog tour companies for choosing me because otherwise, I’d have no idea on what posts to write. And I’ll forever be grateful to everyone who took the time to read, like and comment on my posts, seriously, you guys are the best!

Anyways, enough of my emotional talk, let’s get into the wrap-up, shall we?

I read a good amount of books this month, but I wished I could’ve taken more time to sit and savour the pages, but nevertheless, I loved reading! At times, reading felt like a chore, but I was able to enjoy most books that I read! Here’s all the books I read in July.

what i read

what souls are made of by tasha suri

What Souls Are Made Of is definitely one of those books that I wish I’d read slowly, eating up the prose page by page. But unfortunately, I was on (several) deadlines and had to finish this book as soon as possible. But that didn’t make the book any less amazing! Read my full review that I posted a couple weeks ago (see here)!

three kisses, one midnight by roshani chokshi, evelyn skye and sandhya menon

Back when this book was announced, I was super excited for it! But going into the book, it felt like the book just wasn’t for me. Maybe I’ve outgrown YA Romance, or I was just not in the mood for it, but this sort of fell flat. I’m pretty sure other readers would love this book though! If YA Contemporary Romance x All The Witchy Feels is your thing, you should totally give it a go, keep your eyes peeled next month when it comes out!

alliana, girl of dragons by julie abe

Middle grade fantasy is so clearly winning! What I best loved about Alliana was the atmosphere and the vibes. The friendships were wonderful and heartwarming, and the plot wrapped up neatly, while also leaving place for might be future sequels! You should definitely check this one out because it’s just so wholesome!

the very secret society of irregular witches by sangu mandanna

Yes, I’m gonna be reading everything Sangu Mandanna puts out, so good luck stopping me. After her picking up her Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom (review here), I instantly fell in love with the author’s writing and atmosphere! This witchy romance (what is it with me and witches this month lmao) with a found family trope (!!!) captured my attention a few months ago and I’m so grateful to have been approved for an e-ARC via Netgalley You definitely do not want to miss this because it’s just so cute—3 baby witches, a grumpy librarian, an old gay couple and of course, our main character Mika Moon!

Is this part where I’m supposed to scream and rave about my recent reads because I’m so ready to do so! The Lady or the Lion, with all of its unapologetic Desi-ness and The Oleander Sword with Priya and Malini’s yearning for each other is literally my weakness. I haven’t full finished both of these books but I know they’ll end up on my favourites list!

what i hope to read next month

This August, I’m hoping to tackle the thickest ARCs on my shelf that have been glaring at me since God knows when. The First Binding and Sons of Darkness are two epic fantasies based on South Asian myths that I’m really hyped for! And The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ARC that I requested because basically everyone was raving about it and I clearly couldn’t miss it!

There’s also Babel that I hope to reread, not necessarily this month. Funny story, I sat down to draft my review post for the book but surprise, all my notes and highlights were lost!! 😭 I hope rereading it will only let me appreciate the book tons more than I already do but also go through little things that I missed on my first read!

what i watched

The only two shows that I religiously watched were Miss Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi. While both of them started off great—one might say, amazing —they clearly failed to neatly wrap up the plotlines provided there were only 6 episodes. Other than the messy tying of loose ends, I loved every part of both of them, from Obi-Wan and Leia’s dynamic to all the Pakistani feels in Miss Marvel (the partition!! 💖)

the blogosphere

I’d posted a pretty good number of posts last month and I’m proud of it! My favourite one’s gotta be Disability Books to Read This July and Beyond which highlights a lot of amazing books featuring disabled representation!