IMWAYR and Reviews

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. It offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other. Make sure to visit these blogs (and those linked in their posts) to find new books and new friends.

(The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.)

You can view all of my July reads here, but below is a list of the books I read this past week and my thoughts. Comment below if you’ve read some of these or want to know more.

Books I Finished between July 11-July 17

This week I finished 3 books- 1 adult read, 2 middle grade and 1 young adult. Here are my reviews of each.

Middle Grade

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a book for all those who love virtual reality, gaming, and fantasy. I loved Xiran’s first book, Iron Widow, and am so glad that middle grade readers can read her books too. She writes with such detail and her plots are well-developed. The action was non-stop and the whole time I was unsure who the real villain was, which I love not knowing! Plot twists, some humor, and tension made this book a great read. Thank you Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for sharing an early copy with me in exchange for a review.

View all my reviews In the Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mariama has a way of writing that is simply beautiful and makes you forget you are reading. I really liked the dual perspectives, the character arcs, the setting in a band summer camp, and the depiction of anxiety.

View all my reviews

Young Adult

It Looks Like Us by Alison Ames
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was quite the monster horror book! It was nonstop suspense and I liked the scenes that cut to the present day and then the flashbacks.

View all my reviews

Adult

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Simply beautiful!

View all my reviews

Option Pile-Books I May Pick Up This Week

Challenges

30 books in 3 months

I am participating in Jessica Brody’s 30 books in 3 months challenge. I have decided to adapt it to 30 ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) to help me stay focused on the books I NEED to read. I have so many ARCs, I need to be making a bigger dent than I have been. (I am a very distracted and moody reader!)

30 Arcs in 3 months by Alexis Ennis

Summer Book-A-Day

Each summer, I challenge myself to a book a day-inspired by Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer). This year, it is 74 days/74 books! I will update as often as I can! 🙂

2022 Summer Book-A-Day by Alexis Ennis

Library Summer Reading Challenge

I am also participating in our local library’s summer book challenge. They have awesome prizes and I love being able to log my minutes that I read!

12 Books in 12 Months

These books were all recommended to me by other reading friends.

Add a little bit of body text by Alexis Ennis

Are you doing any challenges?

Legit KidLit

I also have a YouTube Channel and check out our latest episodes!

I hope you are having a great summer of reading!

Take care.