After a slow summer of reading—thanks a lot, Love Island—I finally started getting back into a reading routine. Between warm nights on the deck and afternoons at the beach, I read five books, although one ended up being a DNF.
Want to browse the books before diving into my reviews? You can find all of my July reads on my July 2026 Bookshop.org list.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Yesteryear follows an influencer whose perfectly curated homesteading life takes a very unexpected turn. The chapters move between the present day and another time period, with random words and sentences bolded throughout.
I’d heard good things about this one and already had it saved on Goodreads, so when I spotted it in a Little Free Library, I grabbed it. Free book? Obviously, it was meant to be.
I had a general idea of what the story was about going in, but for the first third of the book, I was genuinely confused. I didn’t understand the alternating timelines, I didn’t know what the bolded words meant, and I wasn’t entirely sure I was reading the same book everyone else had been raving about.
There were several points when I considered giving up. At one point, I started skimming the bolded sections because they seemed important—and because I was hoping they might help me get to the point a little faster.
Eventually, I did what any patient reader does: I stopped reading and looked up reviews. The general consensus was that I should keep going. A twist was coming, and everything would eventually make more sense.
And a twist there was!
This is definitely a book you have to read while accepting that you may have no clue what is happening for a while. Once it picked up, though, I was invested. Overall, I enjoyed it and was glad I stuck with it.
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune
Frankie and George have been best friends since childhood, although their equally strong personalities have caused plenty of clashes over the years. After Frankie is unexpectedly dumped at the altar, George convinces her to take her honeymoon to Tofino with him, giving them one week to repair their strained friendship—and deal with a few long-buried feelings along the way.
I just love Carley Fortune. Her books are always worth the hype and the library waitlist. Lucky for me, my mom chose this one for her Book of the Month membership, so my wait was pretty short!
I loved how believable Frankie and George’s friendship felt. They clearly love each other, but they also know exactly how to frustrate one another. It felt very true to a friendship that began in childhood. From not liking your friend’s significant other to realizing you might be in love with your best friend, so many of the emotions and conflicts felt realistic.
Their chemistry was obvious, but I also appreciated that the story did not ignore the more complicated parts of their relationship. They had years of history, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and things they had never fully talked about.
I loved the supporting characters too, especially the meddling family members who had plenty of opinions about Frankie and George’s relationship. Because nothing says family love quite like becoming deeply invested in a relationship that is technically none of your business.
The Tofino setting made the book even more enjoyable. Having just returned from a trip to Vancouver, all of the descriptions of the ocean, stormy weather, and rugged British Columbia scenery made me want to book another flight immediately. Apparently, one trip was not enough.
I flew through this book in about a week, which is fast for me during the summer when we are trying to soak up as much time outside as possible. It was romantic, emotional, funny, and incredibly easy to get swept up in.
I highly recommend this one if you have had your eye on it.
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez
After a concert, Larissa makes a split-second decision to accept a ride home from Mike—and eventually starts dating him. The problem? She forms an incredibly close friendship with his best friend, Chris, and the two soon find themselves sharing books, adventures, and custody of a slightly chaotic rescue dog while trying to ignore the fact that their connection may be more than friendly.
Unfortunately, this was my least favorite book of July. I usually love Abby Jimenez, so I went into it with high expectations, but something about this one felt off almost immediately.
The dialogue and word choices felt much younger than I expected. As an almost-40-year-old, I kept wondering whether I had somehow wandered into a book that was not written for me.
About two-thirds of the way through, I checked the reviews to see whether I was being overly critical. I was not alone.
That was enough for me to put it down and move on. I already had a pretty good idea of how it was going to end anyway—and there are too many books in the world to force myself through one I’m not enjoying.
DNF. I still love Abby Jimenez, but this one wasn’t for me.
Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
Leigh has spent her life surviving unimaginable loss, and when a prison transport bus crashes, leaving her as the only survivor, she runs. She eventually finds refuge at a secluded flower farm in rural Alabama, where its owner and the makeshift family living there offer her a chance to heal—but escaping her past may not be quite so easy.
Ugh, I needed a book like this!
I love a good rom com, but lately, I have started to feel a little burned out by them. The market has become so saturated that sometimes it feels like I am reading slightly different versions of the same story over and over again. Years ago, there seemed to be a handful of romance authors everyone read, and now it feels like a new romantic comedy is released every five minutes.
Which, to be fair, is rich coming from someone who also wants to write a book and loves Hallmark movies.
Still, this story felt like such a welcome change. It had romance, but the romance was only one piece of a much bigger and more emotional story. There was grief, suspense, trauma, healing, complicated relationships, and a group of people who slowly became a family.
It was heavier than most of the books I have read lately, but it was also hopeful and comforting in a way I was not expecting. The characters felt layered and easy to care about, and I became completely invested in watching Leigh find a life beyond everything she had survived.
It reminded me of that feeling when you have been craving a genuinely good conversation and finally have one. You walk away feeling a little lighter, a little more thoughtful, and glad you made the time for it. That is what this book was for me.
It was easily my favorite book of the month.
What’s Coming Up in August
There are already a few books on my radar:
- When You Loved Me by Beatriz Williams
- Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
- The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott
- In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
What was the best book you read in July?
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