July was a busy month for us. My husband is off of work (he is a teacher), and we went on two family vacations. Needless to say, I am happy to be home and to know that we won’t be going anywhere in the near future! Despite all of this busyness, I read eight books and listened to one audio book in the month of July. Read on to see a brief synopsis of each as well as my ratings.
1. When in Rome by Sarah Adams
Burned-out pop star Amelia (aka Rae) Rose spontaneously decides that she needs to escape from the relentless pressures of her life. Inspired by an Audrey Hepburn film, she drives to Rome, Kentucky. She makes it to Rome, but her plans are altered when her car breaks down in Noah Walker’s yard. Noah, a Southern gentleman, offers Amelia a room in his house until her car can get fixed. As the two grow close, they must contend with their vastly different lifestyles and the fact that Amelia will return to her life as Rae sooner than later.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
2. Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
Annie Walker has one goal: to meet a man and settle down in Rome, Kentucky where she owns and runs a flower shop. She is hoping that this will fix the problem of feeling like something is missing from her life. The only issue is that she is introverted and, by her assessment, terrible at dating. Enter Will, her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s bodyguard. He is openly averse to serious relationships, which makes him the perfect candidate to be her dating coach. As the two set out on their “lessons” and have the town thinking they are dating, things become a bit more complicated than either of them anticipated. Click here to see my post and full thoughts on When in Rome and Practice Makes Perfect.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
3. Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
Nisha Cantor is married to the powerful and rich Carl Cantor, living in the penthouse of a London hotel. Sam Kemp is a salesperson for a printing company with a depressed husband and a cranky teenage daughter. The two women’s lives would normally never cross—that is until Sam unwittingly takes Nisha’s gym bag home instead of her own. And the day the bag goes missing is the day that Carl decides to cut Nisha off, leaving her penniless and homeless in the process. Nisha must fight to get her life back on track while also searching for her missing bag which contains a very expensive pair of shoes.
Rating: ★ ★ ★.5
4. Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Fourteen year old Mary Jane lives a sheltered and highly structured life in the suburbs of Baltimore. When she is asked to babysit for a new family in her neighborhood, her eyes are opened to a different way of living. As the summer progresses and Mary Jane grows and evolves, she has to decide who she wants to be and come to terms with some hard truths about her parents.
Rating: ★ ★ ★
5. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist who has just secured a place in a prestigious art competition. However, after having emergency brain surgery, she discovers that she has developed “face blindness.” Despite her inability to see faces clearly, she develops a major crush on her dog’s veterinarian but also starts spending more and more time with another tenant in her building named Joe. Sadie has to figure out how to paint a portrait while she has face blindness while also navigating her feelings for two different men.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
6. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
Cassie is a self-destructive, alcoholic flight attendant. After a night of getting black out drunk, she wakes in Alex Solokov’s bed, only to find him dead next to her. She flees in a panic and does her best to remove any evidence of her being there. Once she returns to New York, Cassie mist figure out who killed Alex and whether or not they are out to kill her too.
Rating: ★ ★ ★
7. Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan
Sam lives an extremely structured life (by design). She is engaged to a dermatologist, lives in NYC, and words for an HR company. Things are going to plan. But when she and her fiancé Jack head to her family’s beach house on Long Island for a weekend, Sam is confronted by the life she has tried so desperately to put behind her. And part of that life is her first love Wyatt. Sam begins to return to her roots and examine the life she has built.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
8. Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Jack and her husband Gabe work together to test building’s security systems. Jack goes into the buildings while Gabe—a hacker—stays home and helps her on the technical side of things. After a particularly rough test, Jack returns home to find that Gabe has been murdered. She quickly discovers that she is the police’s primary suspect in the case. Jack must work to escape the police while also figuring out who is truly responsible for Gabe’s death.
Rating: ★ ★ ★
9. The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
Sixteen year old April lives in a motorless motorhome by herself. Her mother left when she was a kid, and her father has moved in with his new wife leaving April to fend for herself. When she can take it no longer, she packs up, steals a car, and starts driving in search of a new life where she can pursue her music. Told over the span of three years, April seeks to figure out who she is, who she can trust, and whether or not she can ever trust anyone to let them in completely.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ .5
Overall, I had a great month of reading. I honestly can’t believe I squeezed in so much reading time, but I’m not complaining! My favorite book of the lot has to be Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams. It totally lives up to the internet hype. If you haven’t read it yet, you can snag a copy here or at your local bookstore.
What was your favorite read of July?