July Reads Wrap-Up

Nine books in July, mostly audio and mostly romance (nothing new for me), with a last-minute planned tandem read and one very anticipated finale of an enemies-to-lovers duology that ran into August, but I will still count. It's my blog after all.

So here's the full rundown:

Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Summary: Follows an aspiring novelist in her early thirties, waiting tables and grieving her mother while trying to finish the book she has been writing for years, all while caught romantically between two very different men.

Themes: Grief and how it sits alongside ordinary life, financial hardships, the pressure of unfinished creative work, and choosing between stability or uncertainty in love.

What I loved most: The protagonist, Casey. A struggling writer working as a waitress, saddled with crushing debt, grieving the loss of her mother, facing medical issues, and reeling from a breakup, all while just trying to figure out life. She clings to her dream of a creative life, wondering what the future holds and whether she's somehow gotten it all wrong. Yet through every challenge she remains determined and true to herself. I rooted for her from the beginning, and Lily King did an exceptional job creating a well rounded, relatable, and sympathetic character. I related to some of what she was going through, felt her pain, rejoiced in her successes, and wasn't ready for the book to end.

What didn't work for me: Most of the men in the book are jerks to some degree or other, and it takes some patience to wait for Casey to catch up and recognize some signs of being in a problematic relationship. The ending was also too perfectly wrapped, with everything sorting out extra smoothly, compared to how messy everything else in her life was allowed to be.

"I'm both the sad person and the person waiting to comfort the sad person."

Tempting Venom by Rina Kent

Summary: A MM dark hockey romance about two rivals whose long-standing feud turns into something neither of them expected.
Themes: (Almost Friends-to-)Rivals-to-Lovers hockey romance with a side of organized crime, mental health issues and trauma.

What I loved most: The banter. Petty Preston made me actually laugh out loud multiple times and I mean OUT LOUD, specially calling Dahlia every name under the sun except her actual name. And his verbal sparring with stubbornly patient Marcus was genuinely funny too. The hockey rivalry backdrop sets the perfect push-and-pull dynamic for these two. They share a dark, dangerous and fiercely emotional mutual obsession, that is quite addictive.

What didn't work for me: The repetitive and tedious internalized homophobia, the glossed over and anticlimactic emotional conversation, and the almost soap opera ending.

"Like the universe built him out of pure temptation and then dared the rest of us to try resisting."

Heart The Lover by Lily King

Tandem read: part I, then Writers and Lovers, then parts II-III
Summary: A companion novel to Writers and Lovers, centered on a college love triangle between the narrator and two best friends that resurfaces decades later under difficult circumstances.

Themes: The long shadow of first love, friendship as its own kind of romance, and how differently a story reads depending on who's telling it and when (miscommunication trope, in a way?).

What I loved most: The structure. Heart the Lover is written in three parts, and turns out to be about the same protagonist as Writers and Lovers, Casey, though she goes by "Jordan" for most of the book, and we don't actually learn her real name until the very last sentence. That is what made the tandem read work so well: part I covers her college years, before the events of Writers and Lovers, and parts II and III pick up decades later, reuniting her with the same two men from her college love triangle under much heavier circumstances.
Splitting the book made the college section hit differently than it would have on its own. Considering that Lily King wrote Writers and Lovers in its entirety years prior to this release, there were some tiny inconsistencies in the story, but I'll forgive her for it, because reading these novels chronologically gave such a powerful emotional momentum that I think would have lacked otherwise.

What didn't work for me: Hypothetically, the timeline. Just like with what I loved most, if I hadn't read part I, then paused to read Writers and Lovers in full before coming back, following the whole story in chronological order, I fear it wouldn't have been as emotionally impactful, and therefore wouldn't have liked it as much. And while I can sympathize with Jordan/Casey in wanting to seek closure, and almost absolution, with her first love, some of her decisions left me uneasy.

"A great novel, a truly great one, not only captures a particular fictional experience, it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you're reading it. And it preserves it, like a time capsule."

Forsaking Midnight by Emily McIntire

Summary: Lance Calloway has spent six years fighting in an unsanctioned cage, loyal to only one thing: his best friend, Arthur. When he's asked to protect Genevieve DeGrance, the woman engaged to his best friend, the line he's never crossed starts to blur. As Genevieve digs into the secrets buried in Rosebrook Falls, she realizes the only honest person in her life might be the one man she's forbidden to want.

Themes: Loyalty versus desire, force proximity, love as a force that upends duty and social expectation.

What I loved most: The modern Arthurian nods. I had no idea this was a retelling of Lancelot and Guinevere until I looked it up, which in hindsight should've been obvious solely based on the names and the first chapter taking place at the "Round Table Tavern", but I digress.

I did a little research to understand what I was working with, which was that their affair supposedly led to the downfall of Camelot, with Lancelot becoming a hermit and Guinevere a nun by the end. I was sure this book wouldn't follow the same tragic ending, and that's what kept me hooked throughout.

What Didn't Work for Me: Before my Arthurian revelation, I kept mixing this series up with Sav R. Miller's Monsters Within series, which made it harder to place the characters and plot early on, but that's fully on me. I was also hoping for more forbidden tension between Lance and Genevieve. The plot was alright, but it felt like I missed some of the slow burn and belligerent sexual tension that usually makes the trope work.

"Don't tell me who I am, when all I want to be is yours."

The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren

Summary: Scientist Emery Finch has spent three years married to Luca, but her all-consuming top-secret research keeps pulling her away from him. After Luca suffers a tragic accident, Emery makes a desperate and highly illegal choice to save him, and he wakes up with no memory of her or their marriage. What follows is a strange kind of second-chance romance, one where Emery has to win back a husband who doesn't remember falling for her in the first place, all while trying to keep the secret of how she saved him from unraveling everything around them.

Themes: STEM-y Second-chance romance, identity and trust, the line between duty and honesty.

What I Loved Most: The stakes. This was an action-packed story, and going in blind expecting a typical Christina Lauren rom-com, I was left completely bamboozled in the best way. The sci-fi, thriller-adjacent twist gave the story a such a fun spin and it kept me genuinely on my toes instead of coasting through a predictable plot.

What Didn't Work for Me: Lying as the foundation of a relationship. When they first met, they clearly had instant chemistry and decided to be together fairly quickly, but her entire career was a lie, one that ultimately put him at risk and led to the book's unfortunate events. The villain also felt too left-field for me; I never once considered them a suspect, since they were more of an afterthought throughout the story, so it was a little hard to believe they were the mastermind behind everything. The pacing also felt uneven at times. The quieter stretches where Emery and Luca were just relearning each other were easily the strongest part of the book, but the plot kept pulling back toward the external thriller elements instead of letting that reconnection build.

"On paper, we still don’t make sense, but it turns out love doesn’t happen on paper. In person it’s abundantly clear: Our two lost souls found their home in each other."

Bound by Ali Hazelwood

Summary: An audio-original dark academia novella about Vero, a grad student who turns her art history skills into a forgery side hustle, only for her talent to catch the attention of Dr. Viktor Ashworth, a seriously reserved, very British professor with secrets of his own. Instead of turning her in, he "politely" kidnaps her and makes an unusual deal: forge a lost, mysterious ancient manuscript for him. As they work side by side in secret, their partnership turns dangerously magnetic, and the job grows riskier.

Themes: Opposites attract, forgery and deception, paranormal romance

What I loved most: In very Ali Hazelwood fashion, she wrote another STEM/Academia romance, this time with a paranormal twist that felt fresh compared to her usual contemporary settings. The danger and secrecy woven throughout, along with the forgery/heist plotline, kept things somewhat engaging and gave the story a fun, intriguing setup.

What didn't work for me: I didn't love this one overall. The world-building and Viktor's backstory never fully came together, and I think the novella's short length is to blame. There just wasn't enough room to build up the stakes of his secret or make his motivations feel earned before everything had to wrap up. Everything felt rushed toward the end, which made the resolution feel unsatisfactory.

Unbound by Ali Hazelwood

Summary: A follow-up audio novella pairing a centuries-old revenant with an overworked ER doctor she can't seem to stay away from for over a decade.

Themes: Immortality and isolation, duty versus desire. 

What I loved most: The doomed yearning between the undead and a pediatric doctor. There's something about that inherently hopeless dynamic, of an immortal who can't let herself get attached falling for the one mortal she can't stay away from.

What didn't work for me: Just like with Bound, the story itself is fairly weak. We barely got any relationship development at all. We start the story with Lilit and Roman already having feelings for each other, but we never actually see why these two would fall for one another or how they'd work as a couple in practice. And for a vampire romance, it felt almost unbelievable that we never got to see him actually turned. Instead, the story skips ten years into the future for an epilogue, which left the most pivotal moment of their entire relationship completely off the page.

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi

Summary: A fantasy retelling of one of the most talked-about women in history, this novel follows Cleopatra VII throughout her life and offers a magical twist on the question that has plagued historians for centuries: what really happened to Cleopatra after her death?

Themes: Interesting world-building, sisterhood and betrayal, divine power and destiny, love versus duty.

What I loved most: Her voice. This is a book where we finally get to hear Cleopatra's story told from her own point of view. History has often reduced her to a footnote defined by the men around her, painted as sexual and powerless. In reality, she was far more: educated, multilingual, resilient, smart, loving, admired, and deeply opinionated. Saara El-Arifi challenges historical depictions of the queen, framing her as a strategic ruler, loving mother, and divine leader rather than merely a "seductress." We watch her walls come down as she falls for Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony, but what stays constant throughout is that her first love, and her first duty, is always to Egypt.

What Didn't Work for Me: The betrayals. While the book stays somewhat true to historical records, I wished we'd gotten more time with the sibling dynamics before everything fell apart. The divine powers were an interesting addition that gave the story more depth, but the ending ultimately fell flat for me. That said, I appreciate the creative risk El-Arifi took. Cleopatra's name has outlived generations, and it will continue to for generations more.

"Though I had known this was coming, nothing prepares you for the loss of all the unclaimed moments yet to pass."

BONUS: The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley

Summary: The romantasy sequel to The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy, this novel follows an assassin and a healer from opposing orders as their forbidden attraction finally comes to a head against the backdrop of a deadly plague and a looming war.

Themes: Loyalty to an institution versus loyalty to a person, the line between healing and harm, and love as a rebellion against everything you were raised to believe.

What I Loved Most: The slow burn actually pays off. After a full first book of tension, watching Osric and Aurienne finally stop fighting what's between them felt earned instead of rushed. This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it did not disappoint! Brigitte has such a magical way with words; it's almost poetic, full of yearning and adoration.

What Didn't Work for Me: The looming war. I felt like the political plot behind the plague was resolved nicely, but it left a lot of uncertainty around the ripple effects on the Tiendoms and the Orders. Perhaps that's intentional, leaving room for more books in this world, which would be fantastic.

“They teetered at the edge of the water. The fall was a half-step away. Everything was precarious – the moment, the threshold, the balance. They were split. Irresolute. Harrowed. They wanted. They shouldn’t. It was madness. It was the purest sanity. It would be an end. It could be a beginning.”

JULY WRAP

Average rating: 3.2/5

I am still deciding what's next, there are a few upcoming releases on my TBR list and some books that have been circulating online that have piqued my interest, but we will see what August brings. Stay tuned!