July reads. Hard to pick a favorite because they were all great. I tore through A Man and His Cat. Cat manga makes me smile. Four very strong horror titles. My review of Cargo motivated the author to go ahead with writing a sequel! How exciting is that?! I don’t know if my ego can take it. Craving in His Blood reminded me how much I like Zoey Draven’s writing. Yeah, it’s spicy, but her storytelling is so good. This book also reminded me that I haven’t gotten around to finishing my review of the first volume, which I also loved. I think I’ll turn it into a double. Nothing too heavy. All super enjoyable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Cargo, by Ruth Anna Evans
Unbortion, by Rowland Bercy Jr.
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Poop Poems, by T.R. Swerdlow
A Man and His Cat Vol 1-8, by Sakurai Umi
Craving in His Blood, by Zoey Draven

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Get in My Swamp, by G.M. Fairy
Remortalised, by A.J. Roe
Kaw Lake, by Ethan Richards

So let’s talk about these. I’ve linked to each one’s full review, but let’s talk about them some more because this was a great bunch of books. Cargo. I loved that book. It was the first by Ruth Anna Evans that I’d read and I was so impressed. It’s been a while since I read a book that left me feeling the way that one did. So imagine how I felt when Ruth Anna Evans announced that she was planning a sequel and it was my review that inspired her to expand on this story. I can’t wait. I didn’t write a full review for Unbortion, not because it doesn’t deserve one but because it made my jaw drop and I felt like that said it all. I feel like it would be really impactful pro-life propaganda. I mean who would ever have an abortion if there was a possibility that the abortion would unbort itself. It’s weird af and if you have an aversion to pregnancy in general, it is utterly terrifying. Coraline the book is Coraline the movie, but darker. My kid was very into Coraline for a while, so I’ve seen the movie a million times and actually really like it. The book is pretty great too. Poop Poems was a nice surprise offered to me by the publisher via contact form. It’s not great poetry, but it is funny af and sometimes all it takes to get a 5 star rating from me is a few good poop jokes.

Another surefire way to get a 5 star rating from me is to write about cats and draw cats and cats cats cats. I am not usually into manga. I’m trying to expand my horizons though so don’t come at me. Anyway I have found that I absolutely love manga that focuses on cats. A Man and His Cat is perfect. I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. It is so heartwarming and sweet. The man and his cat have their own set of issues, but together they heal one another. I just can’t. I might need this set for my shelf. We’ll see. And then there was Craving in His Blood. Listen, if you like monster romance that is not only smutty but has a great story with characters that make you feel things, pick up this series. I was not prepared for the emotional impact of this one. There will be a full review soon. Side note: I couldn’t figure out why the Kylorr were so appealing to me considering I don’t usually like vampire stories and then it hit me. The Kylorr remind me of the Venthyr in World of Warcraft. I spent most of the last expansion looking at the Venthyr and getting ideas in my head. Anyway. I loved this book. I could rave about it until the next one is released.

Apparently July was get Shrekt month because Shrek was around every corner at one point. Which brings me to the surprisingly good Shrek erotic fanfic Get in My Swamp. I have a reputation for my eclectic tastes in books. My friends are always sending me memes and weird book titles and mostly I laugh and move on, but every once in a while there’s something that I just have to read. This was one of those things and I am so glad I did. If you go into it expecting it to be true to the movies, you will be disappointed. Don’t take this one too seriously. It’s meant to be a fun read based on familiar characters. Remortalised was a fast paced story about people caught in a time loop with the undead. Not my favorite take on zombies, but a good read nonetheless. And Kaw Lake was a creature feature that hit the ground running and pretty much never stopped. I like monster movies and now I know I like the book equivalent. Great books all month. Not a single stinker, if you ignore the poop poetry.

So what’s next for me? Well. One of my favorite authors, Kristopher Triana, mentioned that his next book is up on NetGalley. I had to grab it, of course. And since I was on NetGalley, I perused the horror offerings and picked up a few more. And I have a few more from BoH Freview and a couple direct from authors. So many great looking books coming out in the next couple months. Stay tuned!