Lisa Loves Literature: July 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to August

I got a tiny bit of writing, well, a couple chapters in my short story edited, not much though. I got all my books unpacked, and went through them for ones to get rid of. And let's say I have a ton to take to Half Price Books, as well as I've added quite a few ARCs or will be adding to my giveaway on my weekly Cleaning up my TBR post. I'm getting more used to my house. Very happy to be here. I still don't have the little mini-fence put up in my backyard so my dogs can wander and play while I sit and read or blog or write or whatever outside. The last part I should have needed was supposed to arrive the 1st of August, but it didn't. And now I'm still waiting. :-( I also worked a ton of hours at the bookstore in July, which made for good money, but not so much time for writing and reading. School meetings for teachers and librarians started on August 1st as well, so that means I don't have as much time as I did for anything! Oh well. I'm glad to be back I think. Other than the getting up in the morning. I kind of started looking to date again. Met a guy who I thought would be perfect on Tinder, only we don't end up being compatible in certain ways, partly because I don't think he's looking for serious like I am. I guess he was quite a bit younger than me, so that makes sense. Oh well, enough with my personal stuff!

On with the reading stats for July.

According to Goodreads, I've read 134 of the 220 books goal up to for the year. July made up 16 of those. I am only 5 books ahead of schedule, so I'll be at this goal for awhile. Unpacking, lots of hours back at my bookstore job, all of it has got me to be behind on reading. Hoping I'll get caught back up at some point, but I doubt it now that school is back on.

Here is a list of books I read in July, and I'll link to my review if I've finished it:

Accidentally in Love by Katy Ames
He's a Brute by Chloe Liese
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
The Shortest Distance Between Love and Hate by Sandy Hall
Rebel Heir by Vi Keeland
Making Up by Helena Hunting
All Boy by Mia Kerick
Victor by Brenda Rothert
Sightseeing in Manhattan by C. Lesbirel
When Polly Met Olly by Zoe May
The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid
Lies by Kylie Scott
The King by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Perky by Julia Kent
We Own Tonight by Corinne Michaels

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for two audiobooks that weren't part of any tour. I'm sure I'll get them this month probably.

Books that I read in June but didn't get reviewed until July are:

Follow Me Back by A.L. Jackson
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish. I'm up to 8 for the year, two of them were from this month.

I was up a few more in July for posts, up to 41, but it's still below where I have been earlier this year. I'm still trying hard not to take on too many blog tours if I can help it. Of those 41 posts, 16 were reviews, and a couple of those posts had multiple reviews within them. I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too, except for this monthly wrap-up post being late I guess, although not as late as last month!. My rating was a little lower for July books as well, down to 4.3 stars. I had one book I rated at only 2 stars, and usually, if I'm going to rate that low, I don't even bother to rate it, or finish it. But this one I kept going and thinking it was giving a bit more, eventually it would pay off. It didn't. That book was Wilder Girls by Rory Power. I guess I just felt so strongly about how much it disappointed me that I felt the need to share that.

Okay, on with my challenges.

1. Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.
July 3rd
July 10th
July 17th
July 24th - includes August 1st books

I'm still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven't been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that. Don't know if that'll ever get going again.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little. But then I have been getting rid of physical books as I unpack. I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well. Here are the posts for that:

July 6th
July 13th
July 20th
July 27th

2. My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not as far ahead as I was, I'm still ahead!

3. I am working on editing again. And once I get that fence put up in my back yard, I hope to really have time to get that short story edited and possibly submitted to Carina Press. I may set the goal to get it done and submitted by the end of 2019.

Still nothing from my list. :-(

No new discussions this month. Again.

And.... I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once again, didn't do any from my list!

I mentioned last month about mowing in my new house. Well, I've done it twice now, and really it's not that bad! I will be so glad when I can finally retill up the yard and get all the huge gopher holes taken care of. I think I will still try to get someone with a lawn service to come clean up all the plants on my fence, and maybe get rid of the bushes in the front and back of my house that I don't want. But that requires money! And time to find someone.

Looking forward to in August:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month, some are already read since we are half-way through the month, so I'll link right to those reviews if they're done:

Resist by K. Bromberg - the book in a new duet by a favorite author of mine. And it didn't disappoint! Reviewed on August 2nd, two posts, because I accidentally signed up to review with two different PR groups. Here is the 2nd post.
#murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil- A favorite author of mine, finishing a great series! Reviewed on the 3rd.
A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause - reading right now. Hope to post a review as soon as possible!
The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais - Planning to post a review on the 11th.
Remember Me by Chelsea Bobulski - Posting a review as part of a blog tour on the 12th.
Truly Mine by Kennedy Fox - reading as part of a tour and reviewing on the 13th.
The Nanny Rules by Melynda Price - reading and posting a review for a tour on the 15th.
I Hate You by Ilsa Madden-Mills - part of a blog tour, reviewing on the 20th
Best Player by Jaqueline Snowe - review on the 23rd
Color Me In by Natasha Diaz - part of a blog tour, review on the 26th
That Forever Girl by Meghan Quinn - I hope I'm doing this as part of a tour with my review on the 27th
Kiss Me Not by Emma Hart - should be a review for a tour on the 29th
The Husband Maker by Karey White - listening to this audiobook right now and enjoying!
Whiskey Surprises by Jaqueline Snowe - I think I have a blog tour/review due in September for this one.
Handle With Care by Helena Hunting - I think this is another I'll be reviewing for a tour in September.
Babe Driven by Lizzie Chantree - I signed up for a blog tour review for this one in September, don't know for sure if I'll end up getting it read, but we'll see!
We are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar - I have an ARC of this, going to try to read and post a review on the 31st.

It's possible it could be another audiobook or other book fit in there, but we'll see how much time I have. Fingers crossed since most are for tours! I am going to try to add in some of the books from my challenges as well.

Now, next weekend I'll be at the Book Bonanza convention in Dallas, Texas. I'm so excited, going to be some of my unicorn authors I still need to meet, plus some of my all time favorites that I love. I'll take a few actual books to get signed, but to save my back and from having to carry a ton of books, I've made my own autograph book to get signed again this year.