What I Read in July

Hello, hello, hello, & happy August! My 33rd birthday is in three days, & yet I spent most of July reading books written for seventh graders. I have no regrets. I read three books in one series (& am halfway through the fourth), but I managed to fit in three other books, too.

Know what I didn't read? Any of the three books I ordered from Book of the Month Club last month. Oops! I try to read one of them a month, but I have a bit of a backlog right now - which is fine, because it means I've always got something good in the queue. Today is BoTM's reveal day, so check it out if you're interested in getting new reads before they hit the shelves. My referral code will get you three months for just $30, plus a cute tote.

And now, onto the reviews!

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

This was a Book of the Month Club pick that I wasn't sure about. It's got a funky, bright cover, sure, but I feel like essay memoirs by hipster millennials are all the rage lately (saysas someone who wants to eventually write her own), & I just wasn't sure I wanted to bother. I'm glad I did because Koul, the daughter of Indian immigrants who's now a culture writer for BuzzFeed, has a funny, relatable voice & a lot of great stories. ★★★★★

The Gone Series (Book 1-3) by Michael Grant

I bought Gone, a dystopian YA novel, cheap from Loganberry Books - & immediately set to work tearing through it. The premise is that one day, everyone in town aged 15+ simply disappears - poof, gone. The result is a community full of youth in a beach town with a nuclear power plant at its center. The kids start gaining strange powers, the animals start mutating, & nobody knows what to freaking do. As soon as I finished Gone, I started on Hunger, which was even weirder than the first: talking coyotes, an abstract villain called The Darkness, a kind with a whip for a hand. And yet, I just could. not. stop, which led me to the third book, Lies. It was just as weird, & I loved it just as much. Must keep reading. ★★★★☆

A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration by Meg Keene

Keene is the chill-bride mastermind behind the website of the same name, APracticalWedding.com, & boy, was this book ever a reassuring lifesaver of a read. It's all about the many options for throwing a wedding, including some I'd never thought of, & more importantly, it gives you permission to ignore everyone's expectations. There's lots of great - & practical - advice in here for a wedding that doesn't bankrupt you, turn you into bridezilla, or make you lose your ever-loving mind. ★★★★★

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

As a true crime addict myself, I knew I wanted to get my hands on this non-fiction book, but what I didn't realize what that the author is from the Akron area. The book opens at a bar in Kent & mentions spots in my hometown. So weird! Renner investigates the disappearance of Maura Murray, a 21-year old nursing student who went missing in 2004 after crashing her car in a remote part of New Hampshire. Simultaneously, he tells of himself & his own life, including a lifetime of true crime obsession & how it affected his relationships, his family, & his mental health. ★★★★☆

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