July 2024 - Reading, Writing, and Randomness Monthly

Welcome to July! July is my favorite month, not just because it’s my birth month. July, with its prime mid-summer spot, is a time for peak culture - so many great books, movies, and music coming out. Four day weekends, great concerts, long daylight hours, tomato season in my garden. And on TOP of that, my birthday! While I’ve been struggling a little to get out of my post-Covid, ‘can i just watch Drag Race and do nothing’ funk, all these things are definitely helping.

Reading

Star rating on a scale of 0 - 5. Titles in BOLD link to full review. ✨ indicates a 5 star read

• Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.75

  • The first in Jimenez’s interconnected “Part of Your World” trilogy provides an adorable city girl/country boy romance.

• Happy Medium by Sarah Adler | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75

  • Contemporary romance with a supernatural twist when a scammer meets a skeptic and discovers she’s not the fake she thought she was.

• This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

  • Much lauded and hard to define romance between two agents of opposing time travel forces.

• Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75

• Pink Glass Houses by Asha Elias | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.25

Writing

I’m deep in edits on the third draft of my new adult, contemporary romance HORRIBLY IN LOVE and I’ve officially made it past the halfway point! 23 out of 40 chapters done! HOORAY!!!

Shout out Corner!

Congrats to my friend Lainey Cameron and her awesome podcast partner Paulette Stout on the launch of their new podcast, THE BEST OF BOOK MARKETING! These ladies know their shit when it comes to Marketing and this podcast is sure to become a must listen for indie and small press authors, especially.

… and Randomness

• I’m not the first to the Chappell Roan party, but if you haven’t arrived to the soiree yet, her Tiny Desk Concert is a great introduction. Between Chappell and the new albums from Billie Eilish and Charli XCX, my ears are full of amazing female musical artists and I’m not even a little bit sorry.

• Elections are inescapable in the news right now and, frankly, the situation in the US is terrifying. Sorry to bring this newsletter to a close on kind of a down note, but this is an important topic. Two very crucial reads, especially if you’re an uncommitted voter right now:

  • Liberals are SCARING ME by Sassy Latte (Patreon link, subscription may be required). Sassy does a great job of laying out why the discourse about Biden and white liberal handwringing has the potential to cause major harm to POC in particular.

  • This BBC explainer on Project 2025. Why does a Biden loss have such potential? Because of Project 2025, the conservative plan to systematically strip systems of checks and balances, strip anyone other than white men of many of their rights, and turn the US into a Christian theocracy. It sounds like an alarmist conspiracy theory, but it’s really not.

Sorry for the downer. Go out and enjoy the sunlight now. And then maybe talk to an uncommitted voter friend. Society will thank you (fingers crossed).