Another month, another post saying goodbye to it. This times it’s July, which has been completely crazy. We’ve bought a house, sold a house and are moving in a couple of weeks. Plus, we’ve had family visiting – though I had to work through some of it unfortunately but it was still good to spend time together and catch up. In between I actually read more than I would have expected to and there were quite a few good books in the mix. All in all, it’s left me a happy bunny.

My favourite books were probably….

Hidden by Catherine McKenzie, a story of two women in love with one man and dealing with their grief when he dies. I thought this was great because not only was it well written but it made me think. Life isn’t always as simple as it seems from the outside. It’s the first Catherine McKenzie I’ve read but won’t be the last.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, with Cady – a well-off, well-bred New England teen – trying to put together the pieces of what happened to her after an accident. It didn’t have the ending I expected and wasn’t (or didn’t seem to me) like your typical young adult fiction and was cleverly written.

they were closely followed by…

Silent Scream by Angela Marsons and not just because it was set in the Black Country. It was a great piece of crime fiction with a good twist at the end. A little too long for me maybe but still a great page turner.

Fallout by Sadie Jones about a group of twenty heading into their thirty somethings trying to make their way in the changing world of the 70s as they fall in and out of love and friendships are made and fall apart. I loved all but one of the characters here and found the book absorbing. I didn’t want to out it down once I’d started.

I also liked Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo, though it was more a novella than a novel. It was a clever story of a hit man falling love and trying to save himself and the woman he’s fallen for – who also happens to be his target. I just wish it had been a bit longer so the characters could have been more well developed.

There was only one book I really didn’t enjoy this month and that was The Girl in The Red Coat by Kate Hamer which just didn’t click with me at all despite having heard good things about it. It was a mix of things including half the story being told in a child’s voice and a slightly supernatural element.

And that’s it for this/last month. What did you read – any recommendations?

Emma