I made it my mission for 2023 to get myself back in touch with the things that bring me joy, and nothing made me happier than reading. It’s been an upward battle, and then my health struggles and unending brain fog throughout 2022 made reading tough. In 2023 though, I double down with fun, new, and interesting books, prioritizing the time to read, and even got C into reading too, for the first time in a while.
It’s what put me on track to meet and level up my reading goals this year. In January I set my reading goal for 10 books I’ve already met that goal, and upped it to 12 books for the year, but unofficially, I’m aiming for 15 books. You can check out all the books I read this year on Storygraph, add me as a friend there!
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What I Read in July
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
5/5 Stars
Beach House Book Club Read
This was my first Elin Hilderbrand novel, and I’ll fully admit my preconceived ideas of her books were wrong, and this book blew it out of the water. From page 3, I was hooked. I loved the story, I loved the perspectives on girlhood and womanhood, and loved the gossip! One thing that surprised me was just how good the dialogue was, reading it truly felt like I was hearing it from the characters themselves. One great point a friend made about this book,
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
5/5 Stars
I was inspired to read Mistborn by C, who was reading another of Brandon Sanderson’s novels. The fantasy genre was one of the first that I seriously read, so returning to it with such a classic felt good. I love the story so much, and the writing was so enjoyable. Every bit of it was described vividly, the characters are very real, and it establishes a really strong start for a universe of stories.
This was also the first audiobook I’ve ever listened to. I enjoyed the opportunity to multitask while taking it in, but it’s not exactly a simple book, so there were quite a few times when I had to back up and re-listen to a part a few times. I’d probably recommend reading this one over listening, but still a good audiobook!
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
2/5 Stars
Storygraph had some incredible reviews of this book, I picked it up on a whim from a local bookstore. Let me tell you, one of the weirdest and frankly, dumbest books I’ve read. It starts out ok, super cute backstory, fun characters. The plot is super light and pretty see-through, but it’s not meant to be War and Peace. Then like a third of the way through there was the strangest plot twist. And it kept. Getting. Weirder. There were some decent parts, but I was so busy waiting to find the next weird twist, I never really enjoyed the half-decent bits. The suspension of disbelief ask is much too high and the payoff is much too cheese. Definitely would not recommend.
