The Five Best Books I Read in July and August

Lexapro and literary delights

Summer has come and gone, without really coming to Europe at all. It was a rainy summer, which makes it easier to forget the stress of climate change, and yet disappointed many.

Summer is always a difficult time for me in terms of my depression, and this was no different. I started Lexapro and was overcome with side effects for the first few weeks, including tiredness, nausea and a general restlessness.

This gave me a lot of time at home where I could escape into a literary world. So I managed to get through all five books in a series, as well as several others, once I escaped my fantasy binge.

Despite all the options, my best books for July and August were easy to pick. For once, I didn’t have to struggle, and I knew exactly which books I wanted to recommend to you.

1. Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan

This book had been on my TBR pile for a while now as it’s discussed a lot online, and I read another book by Daisy (Careering) a few months ago. But if I had known how incredible this book was, I would’ve pushed it to the top of my pile a long time ago.

I expected just another “sad girl in her twenties” book (which I love), but this was so much more than that. It was sexy and raw. The main character, Violet, was definitely flawe, and I often had to grit my teeth at some of her decisions, but that self-sabotaging streak lies in many of us and made her more real to me. While the book isn’t overtly queer in ways, it also is queer without requiring labels, and explores instead the desire and comfort in sex. It’s a book about power, having it, losing it, needing it. I loved this novel and have no doubt I’ll return to it again soon.

“Stuck in a dead-end job, broken-hearted, broke and estranged from her best friend: Violet’s life is nothing like she thought it would be. She wants more — better friends, better sex, a better job — and she wants it now.

So, when Lottie — who looks like the woman Violet wants to be when she grows up — offers Violet the chance to join her exciting start-up, she bites. Only it soon becomes clear that Lottie and her husband Simon are not only inviting Violet into their company, they are also inviting her into their lives.

Seduced by their townhouse, their expensive candles and their Friday-night sex parties, Violet cannot tear herself away from Lottie, Simon or their friends. But is this really the more Violet yearns for? Will it grant her the satisfaction she is so desperately seeking?” — Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan

2. Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw

I randomly stumbled across this book in Waterstones last time I was in London. I immediately switched it for a book in my pile — I have a three-maximum rule for bookshops! I’m relieved that I found this book, as I had never heard of it or seen it discussed online.

I needed a book all about bisexuality, and this delivered in so many ways. It’s rare to see bisexuality discussed in such detail and with such care, especially to have a personal approach from a member of the community. She covered the stigma in detail and took numerous angles to approaching it.

I think this is a must-read, not only for queer people, but those looking to become a better ally.

“Significant strides have been made in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, visibility, and empowerment, but the conversation is far from over. For psychological scientist and bestselling author Dr. Julia Shaw, the dearth of information on bisexuality was crushing, so she dug deep and found a colorful and fascinating world that she could help bring out of the shadows.

In Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw explores all that we know about the world’s largest sexual minority through a personal journey that starts with her own openly bisexual identity and celebrates the resilience and beautiful diversity of the bi community. This rigorous and entertaining book will challenge us to think deeper about who we are and how we love.” — Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw

3. Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout (series)

I was deep into a fantasy binge by the time I reached the Blood and Ash series, and I’m glad this wasn’t my introduction to fantasy. This book is detailed, to say the least. The entire series involves complex worldbuilding. But I love the trust that Jennifer has in her reader to keep up, even though I sometimes struggled to separate all the different terms.

Book two was definitely the weakest in the series, in my opinion, as it was just a lot of smut and no progression. But books three and four were incredible and kept me hooked. I loved the themes explored, especially how identity and sex were discussed in the novels.

Ease yourself into fantasy with some Sarah J Maas or Leigh Bardugo, and then come to Jennifer L. Armentrout when you’re ready for the expert level.

“A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.” — From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

I am a sucker for stories about sisters, as I’m one of three myself. It’s easy to see why this novel won so many awards, and comes recommended by Barack Obama. It’s filled with complex characters, intricate family ties, tragedy, love and everything in between.

It’s a story of passing in so many ways, particularly at a mixed-race character passing for white. The multiple perspectives allowed us to see this decision, and others, through many different lenses. A selfish act, a betrayal, a careless mistake, a terrifying decision. It always comes back to who is telling the story.

I particularly loved the interactions between Jude and Kennedy, and how the decisions of their mothers came back to determine the course of their lives. A must-read about race, identity, motherhood, abuse and love.

“The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.” — The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

5. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

I discovered this novel through a TikTok, claiming it perfectly fit the Lorde song, Green Light. This was enough to grab my curiosity, as it really doesn’t take much. I immediately bought this book on my Kindle, and then it took me a few weeks to get to it.

Once I started reading this novel, I struggled to put it down. I wanted to climb into the pages and disappear into this story. I’ve never been to Korea, and yet the author wrote Seoul so clearly that it feels like I was right there with them. There was a melancholy to the novel, a sadness that followed the character no matter how hard they tried to shake it off. The protagonist was brash and difficult, and yet so desperate to be loved.

I liked how the novel was split into four sections, marking these four periods of his young life, milestones woven into one another. Despite being a thought-led novel rather than plot-focused, there were still some twists and turns that provided context to earlier moments. A stunning novel, and perhaps the best book I read this summer.

“Love in the Big City is an energetic, joyful, and moving novel that depicts both the glittering nighttime world of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning-after. Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and ice-cold Marlboro Reds that they keep in their freezer. Yet over time, even Jaehee leaves Young to settle down, leaving him alone to care for his ailing mother and to find companionship in his relationships with a series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness, and another who might end up being the great love of his life.” — Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

Let’s hope that September brings some better weather, and you can enjoy these books in the sunshine! There are only a few months to go in 2023, and then it’ll already be time for me to do my annual reading roundup. I’m aiming to read sixty-five books this year, so let’s see whether I’m successful in that.

Will you be adding any of these books to your TBR list?

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