July Wrap Up!

Hey guys! I'm a few days late on this wrap up but I am so busy at the moment. I'm trying (and failing) to do the Booktube-a-thon but it's proving a bit harder than last year since I also have uni to contend with this time. Are you guys participating? How are you going so far? I've only just finished my first book *hangs head in shame*. 

But anyway, let's get onto the wrap up! I read an amazing amount in July. 16 books! 16!! That's the best I've read in a long while, but it also means this wrap up is gonna get a bit long!

#1: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie [Goodreads Link]

So, as a kid, I used to LOVE the story of Peter Pan. I'm not naive enough to ignore, as I grew up, the more problematic elements of the story but I still adore the magic and wonder of it. So, this book was a little bit of a disappointment because of that. The magic was still there and the prose was beautiful (like, seriously, it was my favourite part of this novel), but I just couldn't ignore the problematic things and Peter frustrated me so much. I still enjoyed it but I ended up giving it 3/5 stars.

#2: Avalon High by Meg Cabot [Goodreads Link]

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did because I really love retellings of the Arthurian legend and this had the potential to be a nice take on the legend. Despite that, I was quite disappointed. The potential got lost in cheesiness and it all got a bit too ridiculous for me and I couldn't enjoy it anymore. I gave it 2/5 stars.

#3-9: Chronicles of Narnia Books 1-7 by C.S. Lewis [Goodreads Link]

I really can't be bothered putting each book down individually, but I read this as a part of the #24in48 challenge and by some miracle actually completely the whole series in that 48 hour timeslot. As a whole, I did enjoy this series. It's a classic tale full of all the magic and adventure you could want. My biggest criticism is that C.S. Lewis' own prejudices very obviously underpin a lot of the text which I was not a fan of. But if you ignore that, it's a lot of fun! Even if the ending was a bit of a disappointment. Individual ratings (chronological order)!

Magicians Nephew: 3/5

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: 4/5

Horse and his Boy: 2/5

Prince Caspian: 3/5

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: 4/5 (favourite in the series)

The Silver Chair: 3/5

The Last Battle: 3/5

#10: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews [Goodreads Link]

I did a full review on this one here (no spoilers!) so I won't talk about it much, but I will say that I did enjoy it but don't think it quite lived to the hype. I gave it 3/5 stars.

#11: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater [Goodreads Link]

So, a few months back, I gave Stiefvater's other series a shot and read Shiver. In a nutshell, I didn't like it so I've been hesitant to try this series, even with the hype. But alas, I really enjoyed this one. It wasn't a perfect book but it was enjoyable and the story is really interesting, although the strength of this novel comes from the characters and Maggie's wonderful writing. It also has a really great atmosphere. I gave it 3/5 stars.

#12: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater [Goodreads Link]

Having been pleasantly surprised by the Raven Boys, I jumped straight into book 2 and it just got better. I thought the story wasn't as strong (in regards to the overarching plot of the series) but the characters became more developed. They just feel so genuine reading them. I also just got my hands of book 3 so I'm super excited for it. But I gave this book 4/5 stars.

#13: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1: Legacy by Dan Abnett [Goodreads Link]

So, I bought this a while ago after hearing people constantly saying that this run of the GotG was far better than the new run but I don't think this volume lived up to that statement. It was entertaining but there just wasn't a lot of substance to the story or the characters which lessened the enjoyment. I gave it 2.75/5 stars.

#14: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: War of Kings by Dan Abnett [Goodreads Link]

Despite the disappointment of volume one, I still pursued to this next volume in hopes it would get better and thankfully, it did. The pacing got so much better and just, in general, these issues were a lot more entertaining. I flew through it and I can now see what people are talking about with this run. I gave it 4/5 stars.

#15: Captain America, Vol. 1: Castway in Dimension Z Book 1 by Rick Remender [Goodreads Link]

I love Captain America a lot so I'm sad that the first CA-centred comic series I read was such a mess. The story in this was so random and just took too many ridiculous turns. I gave it a very generous 2/5 stars.

#16: Captain America, Vol. 2: Castway in Dimension Z Book 2 by Rick Remender [Goodreads Link]

I don't have much to say. I wouldn't have read this had I not already bought it and they take very little time to read. This volume was even worse than the first. I gave it 1.5/5 stars only because there was little tidbits of good things. I won't be continuing this run.

So, there we go! I read a lot this month and I think it was equal parts good as bad, but nothing blew my mind this month (ie. no 5 star books). If you saw my TBR for July, you'll see that I read a grand total of one of the books I had planned to *sigh*. But oh well. I'm also getting closer to catching up on my Goodreads reading challenge. I'm still 14 books behind but it was wayyy worse at the beginning of July. Let's hope in August I can catch up completely!

So what did you guys read this month? Any amazing books? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

Jess, xxx