When You Think You Can Read More Than You Can

Going into July, I knew I’d accidentally overcommitted. Three books due by July 7th, two by July 14th, and two more by July 21st. I also put off starting any of them until late June. I’m two days from the 14th and still have Make Nice and If Books Could Kill to finish. If you’re counting, that’s two books left and one that needs a review by Tuesday.

In honor of all my time being spent reading, here’s some quick takes.

July 7th

• Pretty Dead Things. Read it if you like a mystery that reframes an entire character at the very end of the book.
• Crash Into Me. Read it if you like books that analyze midlife and don’t mind a woman who might be blowing up her life.
• Most Ardently Yours. Read it if you love Mr. Darcy and found family stories.

July 14th

• Hot Girl Murder Club. Read it if you don’t mind multiple POVs and a lot of threads that do finally come together.
• Make Nice. Who knows. I’m 4% in. So far, read it if you like an island in maybe Michigan.

July 21st

• If Books Could Kill. The cover is pretty and that’s all I know about it.
• How Not to Kill a Crime Writer. Read it if you like a story with a mystery and a grief journey.

Other than reading, I visited my parents and stopped at Bluebird Books in Edmond. I couldn’t pass up their displays and spent way more money than I needed to on books that looked incredibly pretty.

The good news is I’ll have books for years. The bad news is none of them count toward my July deadlines.

I also listened to Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore for the drive. She’s just delightful, and also not helping my TBR. I finished it at 3AM because I loved it that much.

Usually I’m a mood reader, so trying to read this many books ahead of their release dates is starting to feel like a chore. I blame the publishers. They had too many good books coming out in July, so this obviously isn’t my fault.

I’ve already looked at the rest of my NetGalley shelf and made a rule: no more requests in August or September.

October, I see you coming.

See you next Sunday.