July 2002 Book Favs

Like always I read a bunch of great books in July. Of course I can’t include them all in my favorites so I’ve narrowed it down to my top favorites. How does a book make the cut into my monthly book favorites round up? It has to be one that I couldn’t put down and even better if I found myself rereading parts or chapters.

In July, I also started using trackers on Instagram. I love having a visual of the books I’ve completed in a month and I love seeing others too. I used one made by thelithomebody, a bookstagrammer I follow. I actually decided to make my own for August when I was procrastinating the other day and playing around on Canva!

Of all those books, here are the ones I absolutely loved and couldn’t put down.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry – I wrote a review for this last week. Poppy is a travel writer who has found a lot of success over the past few years but she isn’t really happy. The last time she felt happy was on vacation with her best friend, Alex. After meeting Alex in college, the two would go away on vacation every summer. They did that for 10 years until 2 years ago when something happened that caused a rift between them. Determined to get her best friend back and be happy again, she reaches out to Alex for one more summer trip. I loved this book. It’s great if you love slow burn, friends to lovers reads.
Beach Read by Emily Henry – Click here for my review. January is a writer of happy love stories, but she’s got writer’s block and is under pressure by her publisher to have a draft done by the end of the summer. She decides to stay at a lakeside cottage her late father secretly owned to clean it out for sale and write. Unbeknownst to her, her new neighbor is Augustus Everett, her former college rival. While January writes happy, lighthearted stories, Gus writes heavier, more thought provoking stories. While at first, January has no interest in befriending the guy she did not like in college, the two do strike up a friendship and decide to help each other out with a challenge. January has to write a more “serious” novel and Gus has to write a lighter novel with romance and a happy ending. They will help each other along the way with January taking Gus on field trips worth of a romance novel and Gus taking her on field trips like interviewing former cult members. I loved this one and I was not expecting it to make me emotional, but I def teared up reading it! Great for lovers of enemies to friends to lovers and slow burn.
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison – I just reviewed this book this past weekend for a Christmas in July read. Stella has owned Lovelight Farms for a couple years and it’s barely surviving after a string of bad luck – broken fence posts, smashed pumpkins, missing deliveries, a pasture of dying Christmas trees. She enters a contest with influencer, Evelyn St. James, to try to win the $100,000 grand prize and social media exposure to help the farm out. The problem is when she filled out the entry form she said she bought the farm with her boyfriend and Stella does not have a boyfriend. With little to no convincing, her best friend Luka agrees to be her fake boyfriend for Evelyn’s visit. The other problem? She’s had feelings for Luka since they day they met 10 years ago. This was such an adorable story and I loved Stella and Luka’s relationship. Great for lovers of friends to lovers and fake dating tropes.
Crescent City: House of Earth & Blood by Sarah J. Maas – I will read anything Sarah J. Maas writes. I love her books immensely. I finally started the Crescent City series and as expected it did not disappoint at all. It would take me forever to try to explain the whole story to you, but basically the story follows Bryce Quinlan, half fae half human, who is an assistant to an antiquities dealer. She lives in Crescent City where all different kinds of people live – angels, fae, shifters etc. One night tragedy strikes and somebody or some creature viciously murders a few people it changes Bryce’s life forever. 2 years later, the murderer has struck again. Archangel Micah tasks Bryce with assisting in the investigation since she is the only person who got even the tiniest glimpse of the killer. She will be helping fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, who is also tasked with guarding Bryce. At first the two can’t stand each other, but soon they learn the other isn’t as bad as they thought. And that’s all I can say without giving away too much! Love this amazing book. It’s great for lovers of fantasy, fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, forced proximity. Read my review here.
The Deal by Elle Kennedy – This the first book in the Off-Campus series and I reviewed it here. This book follows Garrett Graham, captain of the Briar University hockey team and big man on campus. All the girls want this hockey god, but he has no interest in a girlfriend with hockey being his focus so he is perfectly happy hooking up with girls and not actually dating them. Hannah Wells is a music major at Briar, who has no interest in Garrett. In fact, she has a crush on a different guy. Hannah and Garrett have Ethics together and when Hannah gets an A on the midterm and almost everyone else in class fails, Garrett begs Hannah to tutor him for the re-take or else his GPA will fall and it could jeopardize hockey for him. Hannah refuses for a while, but then a deal is struck. When Garrett realizes that Hannah has a crush on a football player who barely knows she exists, he offers to help her social standing by sheer proximity if she will tutor him. The unlikely pair quickly grow close and realize there’s more to the other than they thought and soon they’re the one the other trusts the most in the world through all the ups and downs. I could not put this book down and have reread parts of it multiple times!
The Score by Elle Kennedy – This is the third book in the Off-Campus series and while I like books 2, 4, and 5 my favorites are The Deal and The Score. My review for it went up a few days ago. This book follows Dean & Allie. Dean is one of Garrett’s best friends, teammate, and housemate and Allie is Hannah’s best friend and roommate. Dean is a big player and never hooks up with the same girl twice. Allie just got out of a 3 year relationship and isn’t the type for flings. But after one drunken night together, neither can stop thinking of the other. Dean has never been interested in having a girlfriend, but now no other girls even interest him other than Allie. The novel shows how they both grow through some tough times and how an unlikely pair become each other’s world. I love Dean & Allie almost as much as I love Garrett and Hannah. It’s possible that my love for the two couples is equal, but I’m not sure lol.
The Chase by Elle Kennedy – Another Elle Kennedy book set at Briar! After I finished the Off-Campus series, I couldn’t help but read The Chase (review to come). The Chase is the first in the Briar U series. I didn’t originally intend to read this, but when I found out it’s about Summer and Fitz, I had to read it. Summer is the younger sister of Dean in the Off-Campus series and she makes an appearance in his book and and she’s also mentioned in a few of the other books. In The Score she meets Fitz and has an instant crush on him, but Fitz (who is a minor character in the original series) is more reserved and quiet so Summer’s over the top, bubbly personality kind of scares him and it’s hilarious. In this book, Summer transfers to Briar after she was “asked to leave” Brown. After a housing issue occurs, she has no where to go. Dean calls some of his former hockey teammates and finds out the house he used to live in is short a roommate. So Summer is now living with 3 hockey players, one of them being Fitz. After she overhears him saying some not so great things about her on New Year’s Eve, she decides she’s over her crush and Colin Fitzgerald is not worth her time. But, Colin does like her he’s just not good at expressing his feelings and Summer is a lot to take in. Can the two work it out? Especially with another one of the roommates, Hunter, crushing on Summer?
The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori – Review for this one to come soon as well. This was my first mafia romance and it did not disappoint. It is the first book in the Made series. Elena Abelli is 21 and the daughter of a mob boss, living in a gorgeous home in Long Island. Her little sister has been promised to Nicholas Russo, another mob boss, in his late 20s. When Elena first meets him she can’t help but think about how handsome he is, but it’s her little sister who is engaged to him not her. She made a mistake months ago and now her father says she’s not “fit” for marriage. Nicknamed the “Sweet Abelli”, Elena is known to be the sweetest, nicest girl but for some reason she can’t help but be sarcastic with Nico and say whatever she wants. Without giving too much away, some things happen that cause the engagement between Nico and Elena’s sister to end and an engagement between Nico and Elena to occur. Can Elena be strong enough for a marriage to a Made man? And what will happen when he finds out her secret? Can Nico handle his feelings for Elena? I could not put this book down! Elena and Nico were steamy together and I loved seeing their relationship grow. I haven’t started the second book yet which focuses on two other people who had little parts in book 1, but I hope it’s as good as this one!