Hello lovely book people, how are you doing? It’s August. I’m not entirely sure how that’s happened as it only seems like yesterday we were welcoming in the New Year. It’ll be Christmas before we know it 😐😳. I’m already seeing a lot of Christmas books being offered up for review. I do tend to look away in disgust as a mini protest (😂🤣 please tell me I’m not the only one!) but I also understand that the publishing world needs to work a couple of months in advance!
Let’s swiftly move away from this unseasonal festive chat and get to the actual point, my #CaseClosed post for July. #CaseClosed is my monthly wrap up post where I share the books I’ve read, the content I’ve posted on the blog, the state of my NetGalley shelf and how my Goodreads challenge is going. Plus I’m also including a #20BooksofSummer2025 challenge check-in this month and next.
During July I read the grand total of nine books, which is a pretty average month for me. Maybe, based on how things have been going, a little above average? I aim to read at least eight books a month so nine feels like a good result. Not quite last month’s eleven but at least I can say all the books I read were full length novels (they weren’t last month; one was a short story and one was more of a novella). As a side note, Richard Osman was apparently the star of the show in July! I read two of his books. This may be a recurring theme for the next few months. You have been warned…
The nine books I read were:
➡️ We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
➡️ 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon
➡️ The Night I Killed Him by Gill Perdue
➡️ Broken Girls by Joy Kluver
➡️ Love Kills by David Jackson
➡️ The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
➡️ The Final Vow by M.W. Craven
➡️ Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
➡️ In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan
I’ve already reviewed We Solve Murders (which I LOVED!) on the blog. Keep your eyes peeled for the rest at some point in the future. You’re probably looking at the far distant future rather than any time soon though. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve stupidly taken on more review copies than I have actual space for on the blog. Add to that the 20 Books of Summer challenge, where I’ve included some of my own books — otherwise I’ll never get to read them — and my blog diary is full for the foreseeable! Hopefully normal service will resume in the last few months of the year!
During July I posted the following reviews…
🖤 Believe by S.M. Govett
🖤 Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones
🖤 Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson
🖤 The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair by MacKenzie Common
🖤 The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner
🖤 We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
🖤 The Stranger in Room Six by Jane Corry
🖤 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
🖤 The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
🖤 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I posted five Top Ten Tuesday posts during July…
⚪ Tuesday 1st July – Books I Enjoyed That Are Outside My Comfort Zone
⚪ Tuesday 8th July – Books I’d Like to Re-read
⚪ Tuesday 15th July – Auto-Buy Authors
⚪ Tuesday 22nd July – Books Set in Australia
⚪ Tuesday 29th July – Books with a Holiday/Vacation Vibe
I also posted five WWW Wednesday posts where I share my previous read, my current read and what I plan to read next.
🟧 Wednesday 2nd July
🟧 Wednesday 9th July
🟧 Wednesday 16th July
🟧 Wednesday 23rd July
🟧 Wednesday 30th July
And of course, there was #CaseClosed for June.
My most popular review on the blog in July was Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson.
My most popular non-review post in July was my Top Ten Tuesday contribution from Tuesday 22nd July – Books Set in Australia.
My Goodreads Challenge progress is looking the best it can possibly look! I decided to take the heat off in 2025 and instead of going for my usual ‘one book every four days’ (roughly 92 books a year) I’ve gone with the more sedate 60 books over 52 weeks which I see as one book a week. It’s not 52 for two reasons 1) I started two books in 2024 and finished them in 2025 so they shouldn’t count towards my total. And 2) I’ve added a number of short stories/novellas which I don’t count in my challenge total (only full length novels). Makes some kind of strange sense somewhere! So far this year I have read 63 books which means I have officially completed my Goodreads challenge for 2025 🥂🎉🙌
On to my NetGalley update for this month. For anyone not familiar with NG it’s a site where you can request early copies of digital books in exchange for a review. I’ve been on NG since I first started the blog in 2016 and we’ve….had our moments…? I find it very easy to get carried away and request ALL the books, only to realise a few days later that I do actually need to find the time to read ALL of the books! One of my bookish goals for this year is to get my NetGalley shelf down to five ‘to-be-read’ books at a time. I made a pledge at the end of January to reduce the number of books to be both read AND reviewed on my shelf. I was, at the time, feeling overly confident. Then I realised that would mean cutting back and unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be something I am capable of!
Following a bit of a shock last month (there was only one book on my NetGalley to-read shelf and it wasn’t even mine!! It was a book for my guest reviewer) things have continued to be ‘under control’ throughout July. Phew!
This is what I currently have to read on my NetGalley shelf.
💟 How to Survive a Horror Sequel by Scarlett Dunmore
💟 The Afterparty by Ruth Kelly
💟 Darker Days by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Once again, the number of books I still have to review on my NetGalley shelf is high. However, I do feel I’ve made a tiny amount of progress throughout July and I’m pinning EVERYTHING on August being the month I FINALLY catch up with writing reviews.
So in summary…..
January: 11 eARCs to be read | 14 to be reviewed
February: 14 eARCS to be read | 11 to be reviewed
March: 12 eARCS to be read | 12 to be reviewed
April: 9 eARCS to be read | 11 to be reviewed
May: 5 eARCs to be read 🥳 | 14 to be reviewed 🙈
June: 1 eARC to be read 🍾 | 11 to be reviewed 🙈🙈
July: 3 eARCs to be read 🥂 | 7 to be reviewed 😥
There are also nine non-NetGalley books I need to write a review for. I can’t ignore them, I need to look them in the eye and face the challenge head on. August WILL BE THE MONTH I FINALLY CATCH UP!
As mentioned, I’m including a 20 Books of Summer 2025 check-in as part of my #CaseClosed post this month and next.
These are the twenty books I chose for the challenge. I’ve included my progress, whether there have been any changes and a link if I’ve reviewed them (I am actually reading AND reviewing #20Books books in the challenge window! Who am I? I don’t recognise myself. I don’t usually review #20Books books until the autumn/winter!). Although, I can guarantee you won’t see some of these reviews until the autumn. Everything to do with me, nothing to do with the fabulous books.
1. ☑️ We Solve Murders by Richard Osman – read and reviewed
2. ☑️ The God of the Woods by Liz Moore – read and reviewed
3. ☑️ Love Kills by David Jackson – read, review to follow
4. ☑️ We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough – read and reviewed
5. ☑️ We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter – read and reviewed
6. ☑️ The Compound by Aisling Rawle – read, review to follow
7. ☑️ The Night I Killed Him by Gill Perdue – read, review to follow
8. ☑️ The Stranger in Room Six by Jane Corry – read and reviewed
9. ☑️ The Outback by Sara Ochs – read, review to follow
10. ☑️ Chasing Shadows by Robert Bryndza – read and reviewed
11. ☑️ The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards – read and reviewed
12. ☑️ Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones – read and reviewed
13. ☑️ 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon – read, review to follow
14. ☑️ In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan – read, review to follow
15. ☑️ Broken Girls by Joy Kluver – read, review to follow
16. ☑️ The Final Vow by M.W. Craven – read, review to follow
17. ☑️ Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney – read, review to follow
18. Butter by Asako Yuzuki
19. The September House by Carissa Orlando
20. Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Seventeen books read with three to go and there’s still a month left! I’m a little giddy. I’ve only ever managed to complete the challenge once before (in 2020 when we were in lockdown). I’m certainly not going to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, but I’m reading Strange Pictures at the moment so after that, I’ll only have two more books to read before the end of August. It’s *deep breath* looking likely (🙏) I will complete the challenge this year. Keep everything crossed for me please 🤞
Out of the nine books I read in July, my book of the month is…
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Nothing else stood a chance really!
That’s it for another month. Thanks as always for getting this far and for your continued support. I hope you have a wonderful August, stuffed to the gills with the very best books. If you’re also taking part in the 20 Books of Summer Challenge I would LOVE to know how you’re getting on. Please let me know in the comments! Happy reading one and all. See you soon lovely people!
P.S. If you’re looking for your next read then check out the hashtag #fivestarflashback on Bluesky. I’ve been re-sharing all of my old reviews from the dawn of time itself (or 2016 if you prefer). It’s been so much fun digging in the DP archives! There are around roughly five reviews posted a day so lots of lovely book suggestions if you’re in need of inspiration.
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