Feel free to skip ahead, I won’t be offended, we are officially back in a monthly hopeful reads era for August! I once again made a possibly (probably) too ambitious to read list for August, but at least it’s something! Will I stick to it or will I be distracted by all the Libro.fm ALCs, library books, friend recommendations, and new releases that I see over the next month? Only time will tell but I am choosing to be optimistic. Wish me luck!

Okay, back to July. I actually had a decent reading month! Finally! After two months in a row of not having a ton of time for reading I had a bit more free time and it was really great! I finally caught up with all my book pals and read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil and everyone was correct it was phenomenal, a truly incredible book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators did a great job, it was so immersive I did not want it to end. I also listened to another audiobook shortly after finishing that which incidentally had one of the narrators from Bury Our Bones which was really cool!

I also got the “sumerween” itch and read a scary book, They Fear Not Men in the Woods, which will be released in September. It was exactly what I was looking for and I’m about 5% more scared of the woods than I was a month ago. Fun! But I’m in the mood for more scary so you’ll see a few at least slightly scary books on my list for August.

And here we are, in August! with my list of hopefuls that includes a previous release from Silvia Moreno-Garcia that I want to read before getting to her most recent release, The Bewitching, and an upcoming release described as “gothic horror” that I just know is going to hit the spot. Also I WILL finish Katabasis before it comes out later this month.

July 2025 Reads

July 2025 StoryGraph Numbers

📚 total: 6 books
📖 read: 1,105 pages
🎧 listened: 24.25 hours

August 2025 Hopeful Reads

Women in Translation Month Reading

Women in Translation Month is an yearly event in August meant to celebrate women writers who write in languages other than English. Honor this month by picking up a book by a woman that has been translated into english! You can read more about WITMonth on the Women in Translation website. If you’re looking for some book suggestions you can check out the Libro.fm Women in Translation collection.

Bella’s Book Recs

I’ve shared a few different lists of book recommendations (my list of books with queer representation and my list of books that are great for halloween) but I’ve realized I didn’t have just a general list of books that I recommend… so now I do! This is a list that will continue to evolve and grow as I come up with more recommendations so keep in mind it’s not exactly 100% done, but I hope you enjoy!

Great places to get books:

  • Audiobooks: Libro.FM (use my referral code: lfm461686)
  • Free books: use the Libby app to get audiobooks and ebooks for free with your library card
  • Public domain books: use the Project Gutenberg website to view ebooks and digital copies of books in the public domain
  • Digital ARC books for reviewers: NetGalley