This is one of my favourite weekly tags, so many people do it that it’s really fun! In July, every book I read was 5 stars. Maybe I was being too liberal, but it was a brilliant selection. Sadly, I just don’t have time to review them all, but I’d still love to share my thoughts (and hopefully get some of your thoughts) on them. So I’m going to use this tag to do some mini reviews!
Wednesday is hosted over at Taking On A World Of Words, go and check out their site! If you’ve had a go at this tag, feel free to link your post in the comments. And here’s what I’ve been up to these past weeks!
What I Finished Recently
After nearly two years of excited anticipation, I finally read Any Way The Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell. I did manage to review this, and you can find my (spoiler free) review here!


New favorite book? Ahhhh A Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue by Mackenzie Lee was so entertaining. Some of the character development and plot was predictable, in the best possible way. Everything you wanted to happen, happened. However, other bits that were totally unexpected and I was hooked. IT WAS SO GOOD!

I have literally no complaints about A Good Girls Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson. None. I was literally skim reading it at the end to try and find out who did it, it was absolutely engrossing. The characters were brilliant, while I was scared that Pippa would be a book smart cringey nerd, she was a really competent and interesting character.
What I’m Currently Reading
Have you ever read something that is just… badly written? There’s no other way of phrasing it. I was intrigued by the premise of Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin, about the impact of the Troubles 18 years afterwards on a teenage romance. But it currently feels more like a tourist guidebook than a novel.

I’m also listening to 1984 by George Orwell on Spotify (slowly working my way through the free audiobooks…). It’s absolutely amazing. It’s reminding me why people read classics, why I read classics, why books become classics. 1984 fully deserves to go down in the history books and I am blown away by how this terrifying reality can be so easily compared to various historic (and present) scenarios.
There’s also a David Bowie album that was nearly the 1984 musical, if you need any more incentive to read it! I’m getting very excited seeing the meaning behind these songs I love.
What I Want To Read Next
I HAVE SO MANY BOOKS TO READ! It’s very exciting (and hard to know what to read next). I think I’ll probably go for To Kill A Mockingbird soon, because I really want to watch the film. What other reason could there be for reading a book?
My favourite posts of the month (or there abouts)
I’ve seen so many amazing posts this month, but some of my favourite and most creative ones had to be…
- Popular YA Books I Couldn’t Get On Board With by The Bookish Mutant
- Song Of Achilles by Leah’s Books
- The Other Me Arc Review by Midnight Book Blog
- Any Way The Wind Blows by Bookshelf Fantasies
WOW a whole month of 5-star reads? Sounds like you had a fantastic reading month!! GAH I can’t wait for Any Way the Wind Blows, I’m definitely going to try and buy it the next time I go to the bookstore…
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It was a pretty great month!! I finally read those books that had sat on my shelf for weeks lol. YEESSS I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!! I didn’t think it was as good as the others, but it’s still pretty amazing 🤩
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AAAAAAAAH I’M SO EXCITED
And thanks for the shoutout!! 🙂
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No problem!! I love your site 😊
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Finished- Blood of Olympus
Currently- will soon be Last Book in London
Next read- depends on when I finish that book
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*meant last Bookshop in London*
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Wow that’s such an interesting title for the last bookshop in London! What’s it about?
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The Last Bookshop in London:
“August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.
Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytellings to unite her community in ways she never dreamed- a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war”
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Wow that sounds great! Enjoy 😊
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Wow! It sounds like July was definitely a great reading month for you. I’ve been on the fence with reading AWTWB, but I might just have to give it a shot. And thanks for highlighting my post as one of your faves! 😊
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No problem!! You totally deserved it, and if you go for awtwb I hope you enjoy it (honestly it’s worth it) ☺️
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I’ve been on the fence because of the problematic elements in the first 2 books. 🤷🏻♀️
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Oh right? I’d heard a few uncomfortable things about representation in rainbow rowells book Eleanor and park but not about carry on?
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Yeah, there were some problematic elements in the Carry On series. It definitely made it less enloyabl
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Yeah, there were definitely some problematic elements in the Carry On series that made it less enjoyable. The bi rep was horrible, and the way she portrays her characters of color isn’t great.
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I haven’t actually heard a lot about this, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I’ll look into it 🙂
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I’m sorry your current read is going too well 😦 I’m glad you’re liking 1984 though! I had to read that book in my AP Literature class in High School and thought that it was absolutely wild! I had a really fun time reading it (even though it was such a strange story hahaha). I hope you have a great start to your August ❤
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Have a lovely August too! Ahh yes I’d love to properly analyze it, because I feel like I might be missing some of the bigger themes and just thinking it’s a cool (if not very strange) story
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Ah! I loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder especially because of Pip being so relatable, and 1984 is one of my favorite books of all time! I wish more people would read it
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That’s so cool that you enjoyed 1984 too! Yeah I think loads more people should read it – my English teacher keeps going on about it but it seems to be putting people off than anything lol
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Thanks for the shout-out!! I really enjoyed the Gentleman’s Guide too, and I’ve heard really good things about the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder!
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so glad to hear you enjoyed it too! 😍
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is such a fantastic book! I just ordered the final book today.
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1984 is a masterpiece and its astounding to think about when it was written and how much it foretold in many ways.
I absolutely love To Kill a Mockingbird too!
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Ahhh totally!! I’m so glad we agree 😊
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Sounds like you had a great reading month! I agree, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was hilarious! Have you also read the second book?
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No I haven’t read the second book! I can’t wait to try it, but I want to get my hands on the novella in between them first. Have you read that?
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Yes, it was a fun read!
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so glad to hear it!!
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Thanks so much for the nomination!
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