I found a lot of great reads in July, spanning multiple genres and coincidentally a rainbow of color covers. Let’s get into it!

Stats

#readmyowndamnbooks: 4

2024 releases: 5

Reviews

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Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (5 stars) – I was prompted to pick up this poetic memoir ASAP after it appeared on the New York Times Top 100 Books of the 21st Century list, and I’m so glad I did. The writing is incredible, and the story is difficult and heartbreaking while the personal themes are expanded to encompass themes of racial reckoning in America. Highly, highly recommend.

Old Enough by Haley Jakobson (4.25 stars) – I really loved this coming-of-age Sapphic contemporary college story. The voice felt fresh and authentic; the audiobook was extremely well-done; and the main character’s past trauma is revealed slowly but treated with care. There’s a lot of found family and complicated friendship dynamics, which I tend to enjoy reading about, and I’d highly recommend it. I’ll also definitely be looking for what this author comes out with next.

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey (4 stars) – I enjoyed the heck out of this cute, silly rom-com centered around a washed-up golf atar and his biggest fan. I’m not really a golf person (I’m not at all a golf person) but I was watching a tournament with my dad on Father’s Day and was inspired to pick this one up. I really liked the grumpy/sunshine dynamic, the incorporation of the heroine’s Type 1 Diabetes, and the sweetness of the story. It also set up its sequel, The Au Pair Affair, well enough to make me pick it up immediately afterwards.

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis (4 stars) – Not my favorite Connie Willis by a long shot, but I still enjoyed this humorous first-contact road trip story featuring a found family of quirky characters and unique alien universe-building.

Monsters We Have Made by Lindsay Starck (4 stars) – This was a creepy, surreal mystery centered on the mother of a daughter who committed a terrible crime as a child, supposedly inspired by an internet horror myth. Years after the crime, her daughter has been released from a detention center and has disappeared, meaning that her mother now is forced to get much more involved in her life and the mystery that still surrounds her crime. I was hooked and intrigued by the premise and the audiobook; I also really liked the ending.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley (4 stars) – I’ve read very few mystery/thrillers so far in 2024, but I was attracted to this story’s premise of the opening of an upscale forest retreat for the upper crust in a small town that couldn’t want it there less. The seemingly Gwyneth/Goop-inspired protagonist is at the story’s center, and the multiple perspectives feature various characters with mysterious backstories and secrets that culminate in the resort’s doomed opening weekend. I enjoyed the twists, multiple perspectives, and creepy local mythology; I think it was a very well-crafted story that makes me want to pick up more from Lucy Foley.

I received a free copy of The Midnight Feast from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What’s Eating Jackie Oh? by Patricia Park (4 stars) – This was a cute contemporary YA novel featuring a teen TV cooking competition; discussions of anti-Asian racism, particularly post-pandemic; and complicated family dynamics. I thought that the protagonist’s voice felt very authentically teenage, and I always enjoy a culinary-focused read. I did think the story was a bit young for me, but I can’t really complain since I knew it was YA when I picked it up; I just think a younger reader would enjoy it even more.

Stories Are Weapons by Annalee Newitz (3.25 stars) – I feel like this needed to be longer and more thorough, and the thesis wasn’t fully integrated, but I did learn some interesting things.