July Reading Wrap Up

let's see what we read this month

Welcome back to another reading wrap up…can you believe it is July? Because we most certainly can’t believe it. Little sis (Ammarah) is having the best time over on Bookstagram. Connecting with fellow readers and authors has been the best and getting the opportunity to review romance books has been a dream!!! Be sure to follow along the journey.

This month little sis read 8 books and big sis read 3, let’s get straight into our thoughts and ratings.

As always, these are just our humble opinions! Reading is such a personal journey…each of us brings our own quirks and feelings to every story, and honestly? That’s what makes book chat so delightful. If you’ve read any of these books, we’d be absolutely thrilled to hear your thoughts in the comments. Love them? Hate them? Somewhere in the messy middle? We’re here for all of it! And if you have any recommendations for our TBR, drop them below! We’re always on the hunt for our next book obsession.

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Little Sister

Insatiable by Leigh Rivers

Book One in The Edge of Darkness Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

OH MY GOSH! This was my entry into the world of dark romance, and WOW. This was emotional, toxic, heartbreaking, confronting, spicy and at its very core, it’s about two people who deeply love each other but with so many complicating factors can’t be together.

This follows Stacey and Kade in a dual POV story that will rip your heart out. It’s a childhood friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-I-don’t-even-know-what kind of journey. One of my favourite aspects of the story are the flashbacks. Getting to read about these two falling in love as teenagers was the most wholesome thing I have ever read, and it only added to how deeply invested I was in their story. I especially loved reading about Kade as a teenager, vulnerable, cautious, caring and simply in love with this twin sisters best friend…word of warning adult Kade is very different and but kind of also the same. It is angsty. It is high stakes. It will have you on the edge of your seat. And the ending? Tears were absolutely shed. I was speechless. Just a PSA to please take care of yourselves and check your trigger warnings with this series.

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The Plot Pact by Cali Melle

Book One in The Bar Down Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

A fun, spicy, professional ice hockey romance will do it for me every time.

Now, not all books are going to be five stars, and this wasn’t a give star—but that doesn’t mean it was bad. It was entertaining in the moment, but these characters and this specific story are probably not going to consume my every waking thought, and that is totally fine.

This follows Jade and Matteo: she’s a romance author (which I LOVE) with writer’s block, and he’s a professional ice hockey player who is struggling during the season. They have the cutest meeting at a local coffee shop, and after they meet, he starts playing better and she somehow finds her groove again with her writing. These two have great banter but I found this to be a little insta lovey?? I would have maybe appreciated a bit more yearning and tension…two things I personally love to read. I thought the pacing was perfect, and the spice was just enough to move Jade and Matteo along in their story. This already has a really wholesome element of found family AND it has team group chats, which I love. We also got crumbs for future couples and potential story lines so I am keen to see where this universe goes!

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Voracious by Leigh Rivers

Book Two in The Edge of Darkness Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was itching to jump back into this universe, and after the cliffhanger of book one, I’m surprised I held out as long as I did. This is a direct continuation from the first book, and it’s even more confronting, heartbreaking, and high stakes than the first one. I also found this to be a lot spicer than the first, but with that being said, these scenes reflect the overall nature of the story and truely showcase the characters mental and emotional states. I cried real, genuine tears for Stacey and Kade. It wasn’t performative, and I know they aren’t real, but the way this was written, I felt EVERYTHING. There were some scenes that were equal parts terrifying and heartbreaking to read and whilst I found none of the warnings from the author to be triggering, I still had to put my Kindle down and process what just happened.

The ending had me feeling absolutely sick and I all I truely want is for Stacey and Kade to be okay. Just a PSA to please take care of yourselves and check your trigger warnings with this series.

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The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was this month’s book club pick, and I genuinely enjoyed it! It was a bit different from my usual romance picks, but it was such a wonderfully written story. The main character, while a part of the royal family, had the same very real struggles that a lot of women can relate to…bar the royal and throne aspect, obviously.

This follows Lexi in a single POV, multi-timeline story. After experiencing great loss, Lexi finds herself in line for the throne. The story showcases royal drama, politics, gossip, familial issues, and just a girl in her twenties navigating her life while being left to make the ultimate decision.

I adored her relationship with her grandmother, and the fact that Lexi was living in Australia made me so happy, love the Aussie rep! I also loved reading about the royal protocols for dressing, travel, and just overall presentation. It was very well researched and realistic…truly Rebecca Armitage’s bread and butter.

My only criticism is the multiple timelines, which made it a little difficult to follow at times. I think even a dual timeline would have been perfect, and maybe the book was just a touch too long. But all in all, it was definitely an entertaining read that I wholeheartedly recommend.

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The Baby Bluff by Cali Melle (ARC)

Book Two in The Bar Down Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was lucky enough to receive this as an ARC! You can read my full review over on my Good Reads. But… this is a childhood friends to lovers romance with yearning and a golden retriever MMC who will quite literally do anything for her. I loved the found family, the banter, the group chats, the acts of service, the spice, their history and how safe and secure Theo and Lucy felt in their relationship! If you’re looking for a fun sports romance, that's equal parts entertaining and swoony, look no further, this is definitely worth a read!

Read my full review here...there will be spoilers <3

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Into Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

This was an anticipated release for me! I am absolutely OBSESSED with Chelsea Curto’s DC Stars series—like obsessed. No book in that series has been below four stars. While this romance story was good and had all the traditional Chelsea Curto moments (the spice, the yearning, the tension, the banter, the strong FMC, and the pathetically down bad MMC), I just felt like something was missing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. This story follows Quincy and Sebastian in a rivals to lovers, best friend’s brother, friends with benefits situation. Both our FMC and MMC work in meteorology and navigate hurricane season in Florida during the summer, which was actually super interesting and unique, something I hadn’t read before.

One thing that I absolutely loved…and something Chelsea does extremely well, is making her FMCs a force to be reckoned with in their field. She writes really fierce and sure women. And I LOVED that our MMC Sebastian was so incredibly supportive, truly only sang her praises, and stood up for her against the other condescending men in her space.

And then...there was a Maverick Miller mention (MMC from Face Off, Book 1 in the DC Stars series), and I did in fact throw my Kindle by accident out of pure excitement. In my opinion, he can do no wrong. I absolutely recommend this book. The writing was easy to follow, the story was well paced, and it was entertaining in the moment. But maybe it’s just not a story I’ll continue to think about…and that is totally okay <3

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Untamed by Julia Soren (ARC)

Book 1 in the Wild Sage Ranch Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

I was lucky enough to receive this as an ARC! You can read my full review over on my Good Reads. This one in particular follows Brock and Sienna in a dual POV story. Brock Wilder a cocky, bad boy bronc rider who is in desperate need of someone to help clean up his public image. Enter Sienna, a confident big city girl from Chicago who moves into the ranch house to help him…what could go wrong.

full review here...PSA there might be spoilers

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Say You Swear by Meagan Brandy

Book 1 in the Boys of Avix Series

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was recommended this by “Love Books A Latte” on Instagram and I’m so glad I moved it up my TBR list because I really enjoyed this! It wasn’t quite a five-star read, and that’s mainly because I found the start to be very slow. There was also a love triangle happening, which truthfully is not my favourite trope, and at times I found the dialogue and conversations between characters to be slightly cringe. But other than that, I truly understand the love this book and these characters get—in particular, the MMC, Noah Riley, is everything.

This is a sports romance following a group of friends who have some of the best found family I’ve ever read about. These friends are heading off to start college—the girls in the group ready for a new adventure and the boys preparing to play college football.

This was a lot more emotional than I expected, which I loved! I love when a sports romance has all the fun elements (spice, banter, tension, found family), but when there are also deeply emotional elements woven throughout, it makes it so much better.

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Big Sister

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This has been on my TBR for ages. I finally got around to reading it in July. It is a book which explores how our actions, thoughts, beliefs and biases impacts our relationship with money. For a book about money, I can assure you that there are not that many numbers in it. Each chapter is focussed on a key lesson around money and wealth building, such as “Luck & Risk” and “Getting Wealth vs Staying Wealthy”. I learnt a lot of new things and it is a short read (or listen if you choose the audiobook). A line from the book that I keep on coming back to is “every financial decision a person makes, makes sense to them in that moment and checks all the boxes that they need it to check”. This really captures how emotions and our own biases are tied into every financial decision that we make or how we can construct a narrative that makes sense to us. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to understand their relationship with money a bit better.

Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Su

Rating: ⭐⭐

In a nutshell, this book follows a former hedge fund manager who becomes assistant to a billionaire hedge fund founder. It had all the ingredients of something I'd normally love, but it didn't land the way I expected. A few time jumps came with little context, so I sometimes lost track of what was happening and which character was involved. The story at times also dragged and felt repetitive. Even the big “shock and awe” moments didn’t deliver much, and I kept waiting for more to happen.

Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn Williams

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Following on from the read above, this was recommended to me in my Audible app. This memoir by Sarah Wynn Williams follows her time working at Facebook in the policy team. The reader is given an entertaining insight into how decisions at the biggest social media company at the time made decisions that impacted the lives of millions of its users. I loved listening to the audiobook version of this (narrated by Wynn Williams herself), it felt like I was listening to a good friend gossip about their workplace. It was funny, slightly cringeworthy at times and think a lot of people can relate to this if you work in a corporate environment. Workplace memoirs are my new favourite sub-genre in non-fiction!

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What did you read in July ? Drop your favourite books in the comments below, and let us know if any of these are on your TBR. We’d love to hear what you thought if you’ve read any of them! Happy reading, and we’ll see you next month for August’s wrap-up!

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