July BOOKS!

July was vacation month, so I did more vacation reads than anything else. Who am I kidding? I always do more vacation reads than anything else. Hah! I just did even less non-fiction and thought-provokers than usual. I also did more re-reading than I have done recently, because when I'm on vacation in new places, I crave familiar territory in my books! Travel is best with an anchor. I'm either anchored at home reading far and wide or traveling far and wide with a nice homey re-read anchor. 

Fiction:

1. *The Match by Sarah Adams: I LOVE SARAH ADAMS BOOKS. I just read these two for the first time not long ago, but I already wanted to read them again!
2. *The Enemy by Sarah Adams
3. If It's Perfect by Summer Dowell: perfectionist wedding cake decorator falls in love with a groom's twin brother. Sweet story, although at times the writing felt a tad stilted.
4. It's Just Business by Summer Dowell: the author hit her stride more in this sequel to If It's Perfect. Restaurant owner swoops in and outbids a florist on an oceanfront shop property, so the florist pranks his restaurant and sabotages the opening...and they fall in love. Hah, it works, it really does. I enjoyed this fun story.
5. A Temporary Marriage by Summer Dowell: to gain access to his trust fund that he needs for a business venture, the guy asks his business female associate (who has a crush on him) to marry him as a favor, with the promise of an annulment in the future. Even if the reason for the marriage was kind of lame, I still really liked this cute backwards love story. It's set in Denver, and I always have extra interest when stories are set in places I have seen.
6. A Temporary Boyfriend by Summer Dowell: second book in the fake love series. During a job interview, girl lies about having a boyfriend, then has to bring him to a company retreat. Her roommate's brother stands in as her boyfriend and... Poof, love! Haha. This summary doesn't show the fun journey, but it was cute and fun.
7. A Temporary Engagement by Summer Dowell: Third book in the fake love series. This was a fun mid-grade series. Nothing exceptional style-wise or story-wise, but light and fun.
8. The Nabob's Daughter by Jess Heileman: A sweet Regency romance: wealthy merchant's daughter battles a marriage contract by pretending to be a horrible person around her future in-laws. Of course she ends up falling in love with her arranged fiancé for real. This was a fun twist! Jess Heileman writes very well. I appreciate that in an indie-author.
9. -*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. (Technically I listened to HP #1 before this, but I slept through so much of that one I'm not including it on this list.)
10. *-Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher by Wendelin Van Draanen: SAMMY IS THE BEST! We made it through several Sammy Keyes mysteries on audiobook during our lengthy road trip. It's always fun when the parents and the kids like a book!
11. -*Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls by WVD
12. *-Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack by WVD
13. *Falling for Your Best Friend's Twin by Emma St. Clair: In preparation for the series finale releasing, I began re-reading the Love Clichés Series. Emma St. Clair is one of my favorite indie-author finds this year!

Non-fiction:

1. -Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor: Easily the best first-time read of the month. I LOVED this memoir from one of the greatest American female distance runners of all time. It was a fascinating peek into the daily life of a professional elite marathoner. Deena became extremely mentally tough by using each grueling running workout as an opportunity to build her mental power. Such a neat perspective. Loved it so much, I want to own it. Jeff and I listened to it during our long road trip, and even the kids got into this one when they surfaced from their backseat cartoons every now and then. I love Deena's journey from perfectionist placing her worth on her natural abilities to finding her worth within, learning to work hard to improve, and focusing on gratitude and inner strength to live life and run fast. It was a well-written book full of important messages and I want my perfectionist Rose to read the whole thing before she starts middle school.

I don't have any quotes or other insights from my July reading to share. Summer is brain-rest time, not brain-break time!

The Grand Canyon is like a good book: beautiful, adventurous, long, and intriguing.