Alison’s July Reads
I fully embraced July this year, and of course that included the books I read. I chose light, summery reads so that I could relax poolside with a can of Poppi nearby and a good book in hand!
Summer After Ever by Kortney Keisel (3 stars). I discovered this month that I still had a Kindle Unlimited membership (I thought I canceled it in April!) so I made sure to bank on what I paid for - at least for the month of July! Summer After Ever was a part of a summer series, but was the only one I read. It fulfilled its purpose of being a quick, light summer read, but it wasn’t anything super memorable.
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (4 stars). I love Kristin Hannah typically, but for some reason it took me forever to get through Firefly Lane. I have never paused a book and started a different one so many times - I’m usually a one book at a time type of girl, and if it takes me more than a week to finish a book I’m either insanely busy or on a trip. Firefly Lane, though, was slow moving for me, and after some reflection, the friendship between Tully and Kate kind of made me anxious. All that said, I made it a goal to finish Firefly Lane this month and used a road trip to Virginia as my carved out time to wrap it up. I spent the last 50 or so pages with tears streaming down my face, and thankfully the thing I was anxious about did not happen (although something equally sad did). The ending redeemed the book for me, but I can’t say that I’m eager to read the follow up book, Fly Away.
The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh (4 stars). July was my month to choose a book for our book club, and after a series of extremely depressing book club reads, I wanted something that was fluffy and summery. The Summer of Yes was definitely a fluffy, feel good read with a happy ending, but it also contained enough “action” for us to have a proper discussion. It was also the perfect book to fulfill my July bucket list item of having an ice cream sundae for dinner!
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (5 stars). I loved this book. The characters were likeable - even the cocky male lead (which does not typically do it for me). The witty banter was perfect. I cried, laughed, awed. I did all the emotions. It’s been my favorite book this summer, and also my favorite Carley Fortune book so far.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (3 stars). I chose this read because I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and also because my 12 year old has expressed interest in reading it/watching the show. Where I have landed: I don’t get the hype and Emma will not be reading or watching the series.