July 2025 Book Reviews!
- Christine
- Aug 1
- 11 min read
It always seems like summer flies by so fast! It's hard to believe that it's already August. I hope you are making your way through your summer reading list if you have one. Personally, my "real job" has made it a little tough to keep up with my reading. I've had quite a few 12 hour work days lately and sometimes it's just hard to even focus my eyes in the evening to read.
On a positive note, our new lanai is almost finished. We have new comfy furniture and I've created a little book nook that allows me to read while I have a view of the pond behind our house and the sunset. It's amazing!
Just a friendly reminder to make sure you are following me on both Goodreads and The Story Graph to see my book reviews as I do them. Send me a friend request on either so we can follow each other.
I also wanted to share a great podcast I've come across for readers and writers. It's hosted by author Evelyn Skye, who wrote the soon to be released book "The Incredible Kindness of Paper", which I loved (read my review here). On the podcast, Evelyn interviews various popular authors and dives into everything from their approach to writing, thoughts on publishing, etc. Check it out here!
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Broken Wings: A Flight Attendant's Journey by H. Nattanya Andersen
This book is the story of author Tanya Andersen and her battle with the airline she worked for after experiencing PTSD resulting from an engine explosion she experienced during a flight while working as a flight attendant. The book is part the telling of her story and her fight to get PTSD recognized as something that people in her industry experienced, as well as exposing some of the other hazards of air travel - both for passengers and those who work in the industry. As Andersen fights through the red tape of both the airline industry and the mental health industry towards her goal of going back to work, she shares all of the hurdles she faced.
A couple of things about this book before you read it. First, since I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and it was an e-book, I really didn't pay attention to when it was written. As I got into the book, I realized that the incident that triggered Andersen's PTSD happened in the late 1980s. The book itself came out in 1999. So, many of the things she talks about regarding the airline industry are quite old and likely out of date. Second, this is probably not a book you want to read on a flight (or if you are getting ready to get on a plane). Eye opening for sure, but probably not super comforting if you are someone that already isn't super comfortable with flying.
In general, I found the book to be a bit too detailed. By the end of the book, I just wanted to get to the end and find out what happened in Andersen's case. After covering a lot of detail about everything she went through, the ending itself seemed very rushed.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of four stars.
A Cyclist's Guide To Villains & Vines (A Cyclist's Guide Mystery, Book 2) by Ann Claire
This is a fun and light "whodunit" that I really enjoyed. Sadie is the owner of a cycling tour company in France. Her latest group of tourists are the Silver Spinners - a group of quirky and spry senior citizens who have hired Sadie to take them on a cycling tour of the Alsace region of France. But instead of cycling and wine, the group finds themselves in the middle of a murder mystery when one of the Silver Spinners decides to go out for a midnight ride in town and discovers a dead body.
As the mystery unfolds, it turns out that the murder victim is someone tied to the past of one of the Silver Spinners. Did the Silver Spinners book this trip because one of them knew that the victim lived in this small French village, or is it just coincidence?
A little cheesy at times, but if you are looking for a mystery that is just a nice, easy read for the beach, this book will do the trick!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
By Midnight: A Thriller (Beyond The Bridge, Book 3) by Susan Specht Oram
This book is the third in a series. While the book description explicitly states that it can be read as a stand-alone, I feel like it would have been helpful to read the first two books for the backstory. It's true that this book in itself told a separate piece of the story. However, all of the characters were continued on from the past books and you had to sort of piece together what happened previously to understand the situation.
In this particular book, we start out with Jack, who has somehow suffered a traumatic brain injury and ended up in the hospital. As part of the injury, he's lost his memory and has no idea about his previous life - including his ex-wife and daughter. In addition, it seems that Jack has married Abby since the injury. Abby is the one that discovered Jack in the hospital when he was admitted as a John Doe. It appears that Jack has incurred significant debt due to his sneaker collecting habit. The person that loaned him the money is now wanting to collect and threatening to harm Jack if he doesn't pay up. Throw in the mix Jack's best friend Buzz, who it appears might have something to do with Jack's injury, as well as another friend - Craig - who is in jail because Jack was working as an informant for the FBI and turned him in for scamming the elderly.
As you can tell from the above summary, there is a lot going on, which is why I think this is difficult to read as a stand-alone. The plot itself is a bit out there. These very odd characters - including a violin teacher that also has some past history that is only hinted at - just appear in and out. I found the writing - especially the dialogue - to be a bit choppy and simplistic. This book may have been better as part of the whole series, but I found it hard to enjoy as a stand-alone.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones
This is a collection of short stories which all have different characters and plots, but all take place in Washington, D.C. The general theme of each story is that they center on Black people who have found themselves in D.C. when either themselves or their parents were seeking what they thought would be a better life in the "big city in the North" versus their rural communities in the South. And while most stories don't explicitly state when they take place - and they do take place in different time periods - generally it's at a time where the end of slavery in the South is still fairly recent.
Many of the stories focus on the conflict the characters find between their desire for what they think will be a chance at a better life in a city like D.C. and the things they knew and loved in the places they came from.
Like many collections of short stories, these were very hit and miss. I really enjoyed some of them. I found them interesting, fully developed and worth reading. Others were confusing and very challenging to get through.
For the most part, the writing was very good and overall worth the read. But because of some of the misses, I can only give this book a solid three stars. This book is #70 on the New York Times list of the "Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Three out of five stars.
Death At The Doorstep by Linda W. Fitzgerald
This mystery is set in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Karin is a recent widow who is struggling with the loss of her husband. Her best friend convinces her to go see her therapist friend, Dana. However, when they arrive for Karin's appointment, they find Dana's home surrounded by police and discover that Dana has been found dead. And when a local university student also dies under suspicious circumstances and they discover he was one of Dana's patients, Karin and her friend decide they need to search for the murderer.
For some reason I just struggled to get into this one. I think it was just a bit too slow-paced for me. I can't point to there being anything wrong with the writing or the story, it just wasn't anything special for me.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Meet The Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly And His Moll Kathryn Thorne by Chris Enss
This is the true story of George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife Kathryn Thorne. After the two were married, they worked together committing mostly bank robberies. When the bank robberies weren't producing enough money to maintain their lifestyle, they decided to turn to kidnapping. Their first kidnapping attempt was of oil tycoon Charles Urschel. After collecting the ransom and letting Urschel go, the husband and wife find themselves on the run from the law.
This book covers the story of the Kelly's, from their checkered pasts before meeting through their marriage and crime spree together. It also covers their time on the run, their capture and trial, and what ultimately happened to both criminals.
I found this book and the Kelly's story very interesting. At times it read a bit too much like a newspaper article and not a book, but overall I thought the author did a very thorough job while still keeping a good pace in the book.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
A Jew In Gaza: Memoir: Humanitarian Heartbreak, Hubris and Horrors by Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind
This book recounts the author's first hand experience as an American Jew living in Gaza in 2022 and 2023 while he was serving as Mission Director for the International Health Corp. While it's difficult to not be political when talking about an area that is one of the most complex areas of the world for many reasons, the author attempts to focus on the actual people living in Gaza that he worked with and their experiences.
The book starts out in 2022, when the author was facing challenges in the area, but still able to work with his team. It ends with October 7th (luckily, he was outside of Gaza for the weekend at the time) and the days after. The book was written around the time that seemed to be leading up to the start of the U.S. presidential election. It's very interesting to read it today and see some of the things the author was concerned about - all they way from how other countries responded, Iran's involvement, etc. - and how some of that has played out in reality.
The one downside to the book was that I read the e-book version, and the author included images of a number of PowerPoint slides he uses in lectures that had a lot of information on them. Those slides were very difficult to read in an e-book. It would have been better to just include the information as regular text in the book.
The author clearly has his own opinions on the area, the war and what the right resolution is, however, I think he did a good job of describing the realities of the area in a way that those of us that aren't as educated on it can easily understand.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Need To Lead: A TOPGUN Instructor's Lessons On How Leadership Solves Every Challenge by Dave Berke
Dave Berke is a former Marine Corps officer, fighter pilot, TOPGUN instructor and ground-combat leader. He now works with two other veterans who have formed their own consulting company focusing on leadership.
In this book, Berke shares what he learned during his time in the Marine Corp about leadership in a very practical manner. His tips are shared in the form of stories for things that he experienced during his time of service. Following those stories, he expands on his tips and then shares real life applications from his work in the corporate world as a consultant.
I found the tips in this book to be helpful and told in a way that kept me interested and were easy to understand.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
This book will be released on October 21, 2025. To pre-order your copy on Amazon, click here: Kindle, audiobook or hardcover.
Rum Punch (Ordell Robbie & Louis Gara, Book 2) by Elmore Leonard
This book was made into the movie "Jackie Brown" by Quentin Tarantino. It's the story of Ordell Robbie, who is selling guns and keeping the money he makes in Freeport. In order to get the money back to the States, he enlists the help of flight attendant Jackie Brown, who brings some of the cash back with her each time she works the flight back and forth to Freeport. When the feds catch on to what's happening and catch Jackie with the cash and some drugs after one of her trips, Jackie works to come up with a way to save herself from both jail and Ordell.
Definitely action packed, but I feel like this was probably better as a movie instead of a book.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
In this book, the author tackles the topic of how the disproportionate incarceration of Black men has led to what she compares as a second era of Jim Crow. She specifically focuses on the War on Drugs and how the way laws and the enforcement of those laws has led to a system that so many people of color can never get out of and never recover from.
Written at a time when Barack Obama was President and many people were feeling that the country had taken such a big step forward with his election, the author examines how what seems like steps forward may not be moving forward at all.
This book is very enlightening, as I think many people will be surprised at who some of the biggest proponents of the War on Drugs over the past several decades. And while written several years ago, it's so relevant in today's political climate and some of the things we see happening in the current administration.
Even if you don't agree with all of the author's theories and data, this is well worth your time if you are interested in learning and looking at things from a different perspective. This book is #69 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
That's it for July! I hope you enjoy the rest of summer and happy reading!
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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