MY BEST READING MONTH EVER! || JULY 2020 WRAP UP

Hullo, bookdragons!

THIS MAY BE MY MOST ICONIC READING MONTH EVER. Originally, I planned to dedicate July to reading Rick Riordan Presents books but my life is nothing but inconsistent so I ended up reading a lot of other books that I didn’t originally plan. SUCH IS THE LIFE OF A MOOD READER.

I’m starting to believe that July is my peak month because last year in my wrap-up I was also incredibly happy. It’s also a coincidence that I planned my personal RRP readathon in July when last year on the same month I had a Riordanverse readathon and had the best time of my life. Is this sorcery??? Maybe so. I have mad respect for July now 😌

READING

Did you know that I reached my goal of reading 100 books in July? WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT? Definitely not my overachieving ass who increased the goal when I was very sure that I could reach it (I increased it after I read my 92nd book lmao). My original goal was 50 but I read too much and look at how far we’ve come.

Ever since I took my Goodreads reading challenge seriously in 2018, I always wanted to reach a goal of 100 but I never got around to reading so many books. But now I finally did it! Aside from the pandemic cutting the academic year short, I also read a lot of manga volumes and comics this year that’s why I reached this goal so quickly.

Aside from this overall goal, I READ A TOTAL OF 29 BOOKS IN JULY. It seems so many because I read quite a lot of comics this month and I counted every part. I also don’t have a life besides reading. I’m not really a fast reader, you guys. I just don’t have a life ❤️

Here’s a look at my reads this month:

Rick Riordan Presents Books

I read five Rick Riordan Presents books this month which I think is good enough (this is me making myself feel better). I managed to read more than one series so I still accomplished something (making myself feel better part two). Reading these books really filled my heart with joy.

📚 The Pandava Series by Roshani Chokshi — The Pandava series is based on Hindu mythology and has an Indian cast of characters. It also makes me so happy because one of the main characters is half-Filipino. I love this series so much because it’s full of adventure, snarky characters, and it pays importance to the themes of friendship and family. I’m so excited for book four!

📚 Sal and Gabi series by Carlos Hernandez — Sal and Gabi is an ownvoices Latinx middle grade sci-fi duology that has a diabetic MC and Latinx characters. I also enjoyed reading these books because the writing is so humorous and heart-warming. It’s kinda weird with its soft AIs and sentient toilets (don’t ask me about this) but it’s contemplative at the same time.

I’m excited to read more RRP books in the future! READ THEM ALL AND SUPPORT OWNVOICES AUTHORS OF COLOR!

Audiobooks

I also listened to three great audiobooks in July.

📚 Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust — This is a queer fantasy that I adored. It is inspired from Persian mythology and has a lot of fairytale vibes. I also fell in love with the lush world it is set in.

📚 Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo — I read my first Elizabeth Acevedo book and from now on I will read every single book she will write. I loved the audiobook so much that it made me tear up once or twice. The storytelling is really really BEAUTIFUL. I want it injected into my veins.

📚Stamped: From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi — This is a chillingly informative read. I appreciate how it emphasized how racist views just keep on repeating throughout history. definitely recommended for people who are looking for books that will educate themselves on this matter.

Comics

I recently watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra for the first time and now I’m complete trash for these shows. I’m still in the process of reading the ATLA comics and I’m having the time of my life. Whenever I need serotonin bursts, I read them. Whenever I want something light to read after reading an utterly heartbreaking book, I read them. Let’s just say that they keep me stable during these challenging times. I love the gaang so much 😭

ARCs

I don’t know what I did in my past life to be blessed with ARCs of my most-anticipated books of the year. Whatever that was, the fact stands that the ARC gods really blessed me this year 😭

📚 Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles — I absolutely loved reading Where Dreams Descend. I couldn’t help but tweet a lot when reading it because I couldn’t contain my feelings. You can read my thoughts in my full review. It’s pitched as Moulin Rouge meets Phantom of the Opera dashed with Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus. Please pre-order this magical book because it comes out this month!

📚 Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas — I also have nothing but love for Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. This is a queer Latinx story with a trans MC and is set in Día de Muertos. It’s also very gay and has Latinx magic! Aside from being a brilliantly-written paranormal fantasy, Cemetery Boys is also a thought-provoking book that will leave your heart full by the time you finish it.

📚 These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong — These Violent Delights deserves all the hype. Set in 1920s Shanghai, this Romeo and Juliet retelling will surely sweep you off your feet. It has gang blood feuds, monsters, scary insects, and EXTREME YEARNING AND MUTUAL PINING GOODNESS. If this book is not on your TBR yet, I’m really judging you right now 😶

Book of the month

THIS HONOR BELONGS TO THE BURNING GOD ONLY. I just finished writing my full review of this book the other day and I ended up crying again. You need to wait for my full review to know all my thoughts (it has 1.7k words 💀) but I’m going to say now that YOU WILL NEVER BE READY FOR THIS BOOK. It’s brilliant. It’s brutal. It will absolutely destroy you.

BLOGGING

I’m slowly getting my blogging groove back and that makes my dragon heart so happy. For the past year, I’ve been struggling to find motivation to blog but now I’m discovering the love for blogging again. Drafting posts gives me comfort now and I’m even growing less insecure of writing my full reviews.

I have to give everyone my thanks for that. Your continuous support really encourages me to post more content. Also, thank you to the kind bloggers who nominated me for this year’s Book Blogger Awards. It really makes me emotional because there are still so many people who love what I write despite my inconsistent posting schedule. I appreciate and love everyone so much. I wasn’t able to post a nomination post for my faves but I definitely passed a nomination form.

Anyway, this month I was able to publish four posts! I’m celebrating because I only posted one in June. This is an improvement and an achievement.

If you want to read my July posts, here you go:

AUGUST GOALS

This post is already long enough but I’m putting some goals here so that I have something to look back to next month and also to make myself accountable:

• Read all the books in my TBR for Wikathon
• Read and review ARCs
• Publish at least three posts on the blog
• Format my full review for The Burning God
• Study a bit before uni starts (lmao this is the most improbable thing on this list but i digress)

That’s it! I’m excited for August because of Wikathon and I’m happier because I found out that uni is going to resume in September and not this month. I hope I can read as many books this month as I did in July. I hope yall also have a great reading month ahead of you! 

How many books did you read in July? What was your favorite book of the month?