July 2026 Reading Round Up – Book Reviews & Goals

Shadow Princess by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

I’ve finally made it back into the main series of Zodiac Academy – I didn’t realise quite what a mammoth undertaking I was making when I picked up the first book, but now I’m committed. I was worried I’d be a bit sick of the story by now, or maybe a bit confused heading back into the main series after the foray into Ruthless Boys, but fortunately it had all stayed in my mind.

The great thing about this entire world is that it’s easy to read. There’s a lot going on, a lot of characters and POVs, but they’re all so distinct that it’s pretty easy to keep track.

I loved the way the romances headed in this book, although my HEART at the cliffhanger ending(s) going on in this book. According to my reading schedule, I’m heading back to the beginning of the series again for The Awakening as Told by the Boys, so I’m going to be waiting on the cliffhanger for a bit longer, which is kind of killing me.

Without going into spoilers too much, the whole Max situation in this book had me very much amused, although I am strangely rooting for him here. I was missing Seth for a lot of the book, then when he came back in, argh! Not a fan of where that went, but great for the plot. There were a couple of gasp aloud moments as part of this storyline! I loved the development of Darius’ character, enough said there for no spoilers! And Orion and Darcy – I’m kind of obsessed with that relationship. Then there was the whole shadows plot (which I guess is kind of the main point!), which was dark, scary and a bit uncertain. It had me on edge all the time.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the next book!

The Frozen Dead by Bernard Minier

Sadly this just wasn’t a book for me. I can appreciate where others might enjoy this, as I think I would have done 10 years ago when I selected this book. Honestly I’m just not into crime stories nowadays!

The parts that were interesting and captured my attention were those set in the asylum, much of which in many ways were, as you’d expect, red herrings to the main storyline. I also enjoyed the overall setting of the French Pyrenees and the atmosphere it brought to the novel.

If I were a person who DNFed books, I probably would have put this down about 30%. The writing was very good, but there were descriptions and sections that just went on too long for me. Maybe at another time I might have enjoyed spending time with these, but at the time of reading, I felt like these were adding too many pages to the plot.

The overall mystery was well done, and while I picked up some unnerving feelings about certain characters throughout, the reveal was something of a surprise to me. There were a couple of twists towards the end that had me shocked.

Overall, this isn’t a bad book, but just not one for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

Arcana Academy by Elise Kova

This was a reread in preparation for reading the new release in the series, Prince of Swords (scroll down for more!). I loved it as much as the first time!

Check out my full review of Arcana Academy by Elise Kova here.

You’ll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle

I genuinely loved this book! What a fun world it created, and a sparkly, cute romance too.

Check out my full review of You’ll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle here.

The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook by Harper Graham

I was so excited to find out that book 4 wasn’t the final one for the Maple Falls series. We’ve done every season and come back around to fall, and as that’s my favourite, I was very happy! Like the rest of the series, I’m obsessed with this book. Dare I say, I prefer this series to the similar (but more well-known) Dream Harbor series?

You can read my full review of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook by Harper Graham here.

The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore

Every new book from Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series is an auto-buy for me as soon as they’re released. They’re lighthearted and cute, with a fantastic cast of characters and a fun romance. This one was no different!

Daisy runs the local flower shop in Dream Harbor, but her wedding flowers have caused a stir lately, thanks to the mayor’s dream saying that her flowers are cursed as they’ve caused marriages to fail recently! When Daisy’s ex turns up at her store, Elliot (a new guy in town, recently divorced) walks in at just the wrong (or right?!) moment to be declared as her (fake!) boyfriend.

Who doesn’t love the fake relationshp trope?! This was a great example of it, especially as he falls first.

Aside from their relationship, there’s a small mystery storyline going on in the background where the pair are discovering secrets of their ancestors through old photos and diaries who seemed to know each other, perhaps somewhat intimately. This adds some nice additional context, although it was a little odd when they suspect they could be related for a few pages! This plot line didn’t have a huge amount of depth, but it added interest.

It wasn’t my favourite of the series, I think because I didn’t connect all that well with Elliot as a character immediately, but I still really enjoyed the read.

Also I have to add here, if you like this series, you need to pick up the Maple Falls series by Harper Graham – very similar vibes but lesser known (see above!)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

This was an odd read. I devoured it in a couple of sittings while on holiday; I can’t say I “enjoyed” it, but I was totally enthralled.

Leah goes on deep sea missions, but the most recent one was a disaster. Their sub lost power on its descent, she and two others spent months on the sea floor in almost darkness, then miraculously they’re able to return. But her wife, Miri, has been left at home, also in the dark about what has happened to Leah. The book takes us through Miri’s perspective when her wife has returned, physically but seemingly not mentally, and also Leah’s slowly unravelling tale of what happened on her mission.

The isolation of the deep sea was absolutely fascinating. I’ve said it before, but I love these kind of isolated landscape books – I have a whole list of them, from those set in the mountains, or the Arctic, or in space. The deep sea makes for the perfect eerie setting for me.

The more contemporary part of the story was odd. At first, it’s emotionally charged, then it becomes more and more surreal. It’s a story of loss and grief, even when the person you’re grieving is right in front of you. Miri eventually accepts the loss of Leah when she’s under the sea, so when she returns, she doesn’t know how to feel or how to act.

You leave the book wondering what on earth (or in sea?!) you just read and what exactly happened, and I guess that’s kind of the point. It’s only a short read, but it leaves you floundering. This is a book with little plot really, but ALL the atmosphere.

The Awakening as Told by the Boys by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

I’m back on to powering through the Zodiac Academy world! In this installment, we’re thrown back in time to the first book but seeing it through the eyes of the boys.

I can absolutely see what the authors were doing here and why you need to read it at this point in the series rather than immediately after the first book. We’re now privy to a lot more information about the wider world of Solaria as well as the boys’ lives behind the scenes.

Whether this redeems them or not, I’m not sure. They are still highly flawed characters who make terrible decisions at some points. And it’s still a bully romance, which I’m stil not sure I like. But there are points where I’m rooting for relationships that I know are coming and trying to find the explanations for why they act the way that they do.

This was a good read, but not my favourite of the series so far.

Heartless by Elsie Silver

A nanny and single dad romance, where the nanny is feisty, witty and sharp tongued, and the single dad can barely crack a smile? Yes please!

Cade is a single dad who needs help with his little boy – the wider family does what they can, but they need more. So Summer (Cade’s sister in law), from the previous book, ropes in her girl friend Willa who she says has a lot of experience…or as it turns out, dealing with unruly boys at a bar! Cade is determined not to show his attraction to the nanny, but when they accidentally meet in the hot tub, it’s not that easy.

I’m never quite sure of the age gap romance thing, and I’m not fully invested in it here, but to be fair, most of the time I could pretend it didn’t exist in this book as it wasn’t really needed.

I read another single dad a couple of books before this and realised that I really love this trope. Willa looking after his little boy and falling for him first honestly just hit me right in the heart. The depiction of looking after kids this age was so true and realistic, I just loved it. I think possibly because I’ve got a little boy the same age, it hit hard!

Willa and Cade have so much heat and yearning between them, even though they try to keep it from themselves, each other and everyone else, it’s so obvious. I loved their relationship!

The cowboy romance thing was very popular when these books first came out, and I know I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m very much enjoying catching up with them!

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

A fun ride of a book, I didn’t quite know where it was going but it wrapped up well at the end, even if it was a little bit farfetched.

I picked this out for a quick, easy read on holiday, and it did as promised. The short chapters with constant twists and cliffhangers made it easy to speed through.

To be honest, the start was somewhat slow compared to other Freida McFadden books. I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to be picking up on or how it all linked. Of course, that’s kind of the point, but it felt like a long time before the story itself kicked in.

It was filled with red herrings that had you looking in various directions, but I got the big twist not too far before it happened and felt very smug. The wool was pulled over my eyes for a bit, but I wish it had been just a little bit more believable in the end.

As always, a good read, but not my favourite of her books.

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

This was such a strong heartfelt book. It went far beyond the usual realms of the fluffy lightweight romances I’ve been reading lately.

Xavier locks eyes with Samantha’s kitten first which is nestled in her T shirt when she brings it in for an examination; and he’s the vet who has to tell her that she’d be better letting the kitten go rather than put it through suffering. She’s determined to hate him, but somehow it just doesn’t work out that way. Then after the most ridiculous but fantastic date, she begs him to forget her as she needs to move far away to care for her mother. Again, it just doesn’t work that way and they fall into the hardest long distance relationship.

I only knocked this book down to 4 stars because I chose it to be a light and easy romance to read on an overnight flight home from Florida and it ended up being a lot heavier than I expected. My star rating reflects my enjoyment of it rather than how good it was, if that makes sense. It was so well and carefully written. The depiction of dementia, even though it’s not something I’ve experienced directly in a close family member, seemed so true to life and made the book all the more harrowing, which in turn made it a bit more of a slog to get through the hard parts. I’m not averse to a book with hard morals at all, but sadly I just wasn’t in the mindset for these parts at the time!

Xavier and Samantha’s relationship is one for the ages. It was so strong and passionate, with little inside jokes. It was amazing to see the two of them grow and develop by supporting each other but not giving up on their own characters. They were deeply written with enough of a backstory to flesh them out fully.

I did very much enjoy the writing style and the relationship, and at another time, I would have loved the more difficult parts of the storyline too. I will definitely read more from the author.

Prince of Swords by Elise Kova

We left book 1 on quite the cliffhanger. In Prince of Swords, Clara is in more danger than ever before, imprisoned again, and is ready to burn the world to the ground to rebuild it. There’s hope, but it’s balanced on so many things.

Take a look at my full review of Prince of Swords by Elise Kova here.

The Maple Bakery Murder by R. L. Killmore

When an opportunity to read a fall themed murder mystery with a romance falls into my inbox, I know I’m certainly not saying no! This is the 3rd book in the Cinnamon Falls world, and I loved it just as much as the others.

You can see my full review of The Maple Bakery Murder by R. L. Killmore here.

The Only Story by Julian Barnes

This was a really interesting read – I can’t decide whether I liked it or not. I was certainly entranced by it, and the writing style was fascinating, but it was a very different type of narrative to what I usually read.

This book tells the story of Paul and the love of his life, an older woman called Susan, after they meet playing tennis in the 1960s. There are the golden days where they sneak around his parents and her husband, then the middle days where life becomes ordinary, before finally, it all comes crashing down. And yet, it is still his only love story.

It is cleverly told. The narrative switches between 1st and 2nd person in the first parts, which is so unusual but works very well. It finally falls into a detached 3rd person in the final section. There is a growing sense of despondency and then hopelessness throughout the book. It’s not a happily ever after kind of love story, quite the opposite in fact – you can’t call this a romance book, but it is a story of a great love.

The writing was somewhat verbose, though it captured me instantly, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stick with it for a whole book. Fortunately I was, and the strange little quips and quiet observations of life that it brought it held my attention. There are intimate moments that almost make you uncomfortable to be intruding on them, small things like the way he tapped her teeth and his interest in the helices of her ears, and I attribute that to the writing being so well done.

I read it quickly, and it was a little strange to read an entire lifetime’s worth of love and life in such a short time.

I would definitely read another book from this author, in fact, I’m intrigued to find more and see if this style is similar across his collection of books or if this stands out from the rest.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.