I’m going to admit – July went by too fast for me. I feel like it was just a couple of days ago I was making the June wrap-up post, and now I am making the July one? I did cross a milestone in my Goodreads reading challenge, though, so I guess the month did happen lol. I made it to 200 books read this year, which is amazing because that was my goal a few years back and now look at me, finishing that many books by July itself. By my current estimates, if I keep at the same speed, I might get to 350 books this year?! But yeah, I am not getting ahead of myself – life happens and sometimes you cannot do stuff. For now, though, the lead gives me a bit of leisure space to read a minimum of 96 books in the next 5 months.
I read a total of 34 books this month – 17 full-length novels, 1 novella, and 16 graphic novels/manga. I loved most of the books I read, so it was a good month for reading, too!
Ah-mazing!
Pretty good
Try it out, maybe?
Reread
And now, onto the yearly challenges, which I am assessing the status of, at mid-year
Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge
Progress: 61/100 books
I finished some long overdue books on my TBR, like the ones from the Hollows series.
Status: On track
Contemporary Romance reading challenge
Progress: 33/21+ books (Grand Slam)
The romance keeps on going…
Status: challenge complete!
AtoZ reading challenge
Progress: 22/26 books
V 
X Y Z
Nothing this month
Status: quite ahead
Cloak and Dagger challenge
Progress: 23/35 books
Status: ahead
New Release challenge
Progress: 108/200 books
Status: a bit behind
Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading challenge
Progress: 146/100 galleys
Status: Challenge complete!
2019 Debut author challenge
Progress: 14/24 debuts
Status: on track
Audiobook challenge
Progress: 18/50 audiobooks
Status: quite behind
Monthly Keyword Challenge
Progress: 5/12 keywords
Dystopia Reading Challenge
Progress: 17/16 books
The Hollows series is set in an alternate timeline dystopia where supernatural beings called Inderlanders live alongside humans, and The Silver Queen is set in a futuristic world where vampires rule the living humans.
Status: Challenge complete!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Progress: 27/25 books (Ancient History)
The Orphan’s Song is set in 18th century Venice, Gods of Jade and Shadow is in 1920s Mexico and US, Sparrowhawk is Victorian England, and The Lady Rogue is set in 1937 Romania.
Status: challenge complete!
Retellings Reading Challenge
Progress: 10/25 retellings (Fairest of them All)
– retelling of Maya folklore
Space Time Reading Challenge
Progress: 6/20 books
Series to Finish Challenge
Progress: 9/24 series (2/12 new + 7/12 old)
Status: quite behind!
Year of the Asian Reading Challenge
Progress: 23/51 books
Jade City, Jade War and Spin the Dawn were written by Asian diaspora authors, while Cats of the Lourve was translated from Japanese.
Status: quite behind
Besides these year-long challenges, I also had three reading challenges.
Sci-Fi July (July 1-31)
I had planned to reread 5 SciFi books and I read 6!
Off the Grid Readathon (July 12-14)
Planned to read 6 books, and while I didn’t read my original TBR, I did read 6 books.
24in48 (July 20-21)
I read for a total of 27.5 hours over 48 hours
ICYMI
TTT: Childhood Manga Favorites
TTT: Auto-Add Authors
TTT: Settings I’d Like to See More Of
TTT: Audiobook Narrators I Adore
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #55: Queer rep
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #56: Bisexual rep in contemporary fiction
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #57: Queer rep in fantasy
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #58: Sapphic rep
Book Blogger Hop: July 5-11
Book Blogger Hop: July 12-18
Book Blogger Hop: July 19-25
Book Blogger Hop: July 26 – Aug 1
Stacking the Shelves #67
Stacking the Shelves #68
Stacking the Shelves #69
Stacking the Shelves #70
Shouting from the Shelftops #11
Shouting from the Shelftops #12
Other news
- I might be hosting a new readathon in September so I’ll make the announcement soon in the next week or so. Watch my Readathon page for info!
- As always – please help support my blog and my art with contributions through Ko-Fi (every small donation helps!), and by buying my designs on Society6 or TeePublic. You could also help out for free, too – by using my affiliate links (see sidebar) when you are about to purcahse a book, or by using my Scribd share code to get a free 60-day trial of the service (come on guys, free books for 2 months is a no-brainer!)
How was your July? Did you have a time warp like me?
YA on my Mind 
Wow! Great month!