July 2025 Wrap Up Post
Life
Overall, July was pretty good. I had my birthday, I got a few weeks off from chauffer duty, and I have phone service again. My brother put my mom and I on their phone plan, which came with new phones for both of us. So I now have a pink iPhone 16 plus and no longer have to worry about being stranded somewhere with no way to call for help when I’m driving alone.
My eye strain got a lot worse this month, to the point where I stopped sight reading for a couple of weeks because of the constant headaches. I thought about creating a go fund me or something to try to get money for new glasses, but I don’t have a bank account or anywhere for the money to be transferred into, so that’s not going to work. For now I will continue to focus on books that I can get in audio from the library and sight read a little bit at a time as I am able.
About 15 years ago, my mom had open heart surgery due to aortic valve stenosis. Her replacement valve is starting to fail (they last about 10-15 years, so it’s not unexpected), so she’s been having a lot of tests and procedures to determine the best course of action- either a balloon procedure to reopen the current valve, another open heart surgery to replace the valve again, or just letting it be. When the valve was initially replaced, her heart would not keep a beat and they had to put in a pacemaker that is 75% responsible for keeping her heart beating. So there’s a lot of anxiety around all of these appointments. We won’t know what’s going to happen until mid-September.
Other than that, I’ve been working on some behind-the-scenes blog stuff and creating a new editorial calendar for the next year. There will be some changes that I’ll talk about next month, but you won’t really see any content changes until September. I will note that I am aware that the white ink is difficult to read on the new header, but for some reason the changes aren’t saving in the system when I try to change the ink color. I am still troubleshooting this, so hopefully it will be corrected soon.
Books
Read:
I finished 23 books this month:
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi ****
The Rival by Emma Lord ****
Beyond Eden by Catherine Coulter ***
ASAP by Axie Oh ****
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison ****
Together, Apart by Erin A. Craig, et al ****
Pride or Die by CL Montblanc ****
The Reunion by Beth Reekles ***
Sticky Readers by Margaret Andrews ***
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater ****
This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith ****
The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman ****
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein (re-read ****)
Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis *****
Blog Wonderful by Dana Fox ***
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich ****
The Badass Blog Planner by Sarah Morgan ***
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella ****
The Rebel’s Guide to Pride by Matthew Hubbard *****
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley ****
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest ****
Under All the Lights by Maya Ameyaw ****
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest ****
Series:
Completed: 3
Progress: 6
Started: 4
Added to Shelves:
I was approved for 12 eARCs through Net Galley
Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow
The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose by Robyn Green
Last First Kiss by Julian Winters
Joy to the Girls by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick
The Fangirl Project by Beth Reekles
The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer
Love and Video Games by Zachary Sergi
Mint to Be by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc
The Story of My Anger by Jasminne Mendez
Leave it On the Track by Margot Fisher
Fireblooms by Alexandra Villasante
Like in Love with You by Emma R. Alban
And was invited to read 2 eARCs by the publishers
An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister (Atria)
Pomona Afton Can Totally Catch a Killer by Bellamy Rose (Atria)
Blog
Reviews:
The Rival
Together, Apart
Pride or Die
The Reunion
Full Speed to a Crash Landing Review
The Rebel’s Guide to Pride
Spotlights:
Discussions:
2025 Quarter 3 ARC Update
Mid-Year Check-in
Who I Want to Be
Current Series I’m Reading
Birthday Reads
Another Year Older
Happiness Project Kickoff
Happiness Project Month 1- Blog
Leaving My Comfort Zone
Dewey’s 24-Hour Reverse Readathon~ July 2025
Favorite New-to-Me Authors, So Far This Year
Summer Reading Check-in #1
Why I Blog
Where Do We Go From Here?
Bookshop Dreaming
Uplifting Voices:
Becky Albertalli
Synithia Williams
Features:
June Wrap Up
June Challenge Update
July Currently Reading
July TBR Stats
Mental Health Check-in~ July
State of the Resistance~ July
Recommended Reading July
August Calendar
I’ll be linking up to The Sunday Post with The Caffeinated Reader and the Monthly Wrap Up Round Up with Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.
Covers link to Bookshop.org (affiliate*)
All the books you are approved for from NetGalley look worth a read. Enjoy your new phone! It sounds like you have a lot going on with your mom. Medical worries and appts can be so draining. FWIW you can have a venmo acct w/o a bank account and you could ask people to donate via your venmo account. That way go fund me doesn’t take a cut of your $ either. I am sure some people would donate toward you getting new glasses–even w/o a go fund me.
I’ll look into that, thank you.