July Wrap Up (2021)

Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And it's the end of July, which means it's time for my monthly wrap up!

I got a fair amount of reading done this month, though the pacing was a bit all over the place. 

But I'm happy with what I achieved, nevertheless. 

Come and see what I read, I hope you enjoy. 

1. Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigation #1), by B.B. Alston

Although I tend to be quite picky with my middle-grades, I'd heard fantastic things about this, so in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to pick this up. (Although I really didn't want to start another series at the time, I figured this was worth it.) 

Amari and the Night Brothers follows Amari, whose brother is currently missing and nobody knows where he's gone. But then Amari discovers a ticking briefcase in her brother's wardrobe, a briefcase for Amari's eyes only. When she opens it, she finds there was more to Quinton than she first though. Turns out he was an agent at a secret magical institution, and he's left Amari a ticket to enrol at this institution. Upon arrival, Amari has one goal: to find out exactly what's happened to her brother. 

Obviously there's more to it than that: student rivalries, trials that test your physical and mental capabilities (for Amari to become an agent) and an evil wizard trying to take over the institution, but that's the main theme. I was so happy that I decided to pick this up and I'm eagerly anticipating the release of book 2! 

2. The Ghosts We Keep, by Mason Deaver 

I was not prepared for the emotional turmoil this book was about to throw at me. Despite that, it was very easy to fall into Liam's head and feel what they were feeling. It literally took me a couple of days to soar through this, and honestly, I wish I could read it for the first time again. 

The Ghosts We Keep is about Liam, who doesn't know which way is up at the moment. After losing his brother Ethan, and growing further apart from his two friends, Liam isn't sure where to go from here. Feeling more alone and isolated than ever, he finds himself wanting to spend more and more time with Marcus, Ethan's best friend, who it seems is the only one to at least understand what Liam is going through. This book discusses issues such as losing a sibling, grief, losing a friendship, also the protagonist is non-binary which is something I rarely read about and I am here for it. 

3. Blackout, by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon 

This was a completely spontaneous buy- it reminded me of the In the Heights film I'd seen a couple of weeks previously. Also, it was a number of short romances by a bunch of authors I knew and loved. Of course I was always going to buy it. 

Now, some of these stories I loved, and wanted to carry on reading, and others I really didn't get on with, as is usually the case with books with multiple authors. But, the whole story flowed nicely, none of the chapters felt too long or too short, and overall, this turned out to be a quick and easy read that can be finished in a weekend/ couple of days. 

4. Lore, by Alexandra Bracken 

This has been on so many TBR's, I've honestly lost count of how many. But I finally managed to finish this! With audiobook I have to admit, but it still counts as reading! 

If you didn't know, (which if you don't I'm surprised, because this book has been everywhere since it's release in... January I think?) Anyway, Lore is a book about the agon, which takes place every seven years, and is Zeus' way of getting revenge on the gods, and he turns them into mortals for seven days so the hunters have a chance at assassinating them and becoming gods themselves. Lore fled from God-dom the nights her family was slaughtered, but when the original god Athena shows up at her door, looking for an alliance, and the chance to kill the person that murdered her family, she can't refuse. 

I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't prepared for what this book turned out to be. I haven't read an Alexandra Bracken book in a while, so it was probably that. But listening to the audiobook made it so much more fast paced, and I think I enjoyed it all the more because it was something I was listening to. But this truly felt like a book that had everything: friendships, fighting, drama and romance. Favourite Alexandra Bracken novel so far. 

5. The Ocean At the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman 

Going into this, I wasn't sure what I was going to think. Basically, over the past year or so, I've been actively been pursuing all of Neil Gaiman's books, and with most of them, I've had fairly major problems with the writing style. But this one was completely different. Whenever I'd asked the opinions of people that were well-read in Neil Gaiman's books, The Ocean at the End of the Lane definitely wasn't a book that was mentioned often. 

But for some reason, I had a feeling about this, that it wasn't going to be like the others. It's why I stuck it on my "Want to Read" shelf on Goodreads (which I very rarely do). And I was totally right! I didn't have any problems with the writing, I loved Nettie and the narrator, I detested Ursula, the world was explained the perfect amount, wasn't too info-dumpy at all, in fact it wayed on the opposite side; and I was engaged throughout. 5 stars, likely to be included in my favourites post at the end of the year. 

Okay! That's my July Wrap Up (2021)! I hope to read some more next month (especially as I'm doing a 24 hour readathon tomorrow, which includes the Kane Chronicles). 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the post, feel free to comment what you all read this month, and we can talk about it! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon with my August TBR (2021)! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx