Monthly Wrap-Up

Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2025

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

July is somehow already over and I already can’t seem to recall what I did this past month! 🤣 Honestly, I have zero social life and most of my days I’m at work, sometimes going to the gym, and then coming home to blog and read. That might sound sad or miserably boring to a lot of people, but I kind of love my quiet life. Or maybe in true panda fashion, I’m just too lazy to do much of anything (this is actually very true too)! 🤭 I struggled to get myself back into the gym this month with life getting in the way but I did at least manage to go about half the month, and I hope to continue the streak in August. Other than that, I think it was a pretty quiet and uneventful month!

I surprisingly read 13 books in July?! I didn’t think I read more this month than I did in June, so I’m quite surprised but pleased! In terms of quality, it was a pretty mixed bag, though. I only had one 5-star read, and while it’s one of my top picks this month, it’s a toss-up between the following three for favourite. I’m not feeling particularly inclined to choose between them right now, so we’re just going with it: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman, The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, and Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher.

It was also another fun month co-hosting the Let’s Talk Bookish weekly meme. You can learn more about it, read all the discussions, and see the upcoming month’s topics HERE.

*COVERS are linked to Goodreads and the TEXT is linked to my review, if available*
*books are arranged by READING ORDER with the last read first*

5 pandas

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

4.5 pandas

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher

Book Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

4 pandas

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver, The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (actual: 3.75 stars), The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers, The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

3.5 pandas

Bourbon & Lies by Victoria Wilder, Elvira Vance and the Monster Mystery by Kacy Ritter

(ARC) Elvira Vance and the Monster Mystery

3 pandas

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws

Book Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

less than 3 pandas (*or no rating for erotic romances)

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

I managed to do a bit better with my reading challenges this month, although I still haven’t fully caught up on the missed prompt for the Buzzword challenge. My mood reading is starting to show because I keep forgetting about my challenge prompts until the end of the month, and then I panic, lol. 🫣

✔ Goodreads Reading Challenge (Notion tracker): 88/150 books
✔ Beat the Backlist: 📚 6 backlist books // 📱 0 backlist ARCs ⇢ 2 Bingo Spaces
✔ 2025 Buzzword Reading Challenge: July (“punctuation”) ⇢ Bourbon & Lies
✔ 2025 Year in Aeldia: July (“read in the PM hours”) ⇢ The Two Lives of Lydia Bird
✔ 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge: 1 book ⇢ Prompts 33

This one’s a bit too wide to see properly… You can click the image to see the wider frame (and all the books)

And that’s it for July! How was your month and what was your favourite book? Did you read what you planned or did you go completely off script (or on mood)? I hope everyone is doing good and taking care. 💜

19 thoughts on “Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2025”

    • Haha, to be honest, if it weren’t for work, I probably wouldn’t get out of the house at all 😂 The quiet lifestyle suits my laziness too well sometimes, lol. I hope you’re having a great August so far, Annemieke!

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  4. Nothing wrong with a quiet life, Dini. Some weeks, I just want everyone to go home and leave me alone, but it might offend my grandkids if I say that. You are doing well with your challenges, keep it up. Good for you getting back to the gym. It is easy to throw in the towel when you miss a few days. I hope August is a good month for you in all areas.

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  7. LOL, I know what you mean about forgetting reading challenge prompts. I’ve decided to stop tracking a couple of the challenges that I’d been doing because I kept forgetting about them and didn’t have any personal connection to the creators. (The ones that are challenges made by my blog friends are the ones I seem to be better about remembering.)

    A quiet life—or quiet month or season—can be wonderful. For myself, I like doing things with friends and family, but I also need time to recharge on my own. So I think you’ve found a good normal routine, which is sometimes a hard balance to find!

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  9. I live a pretty quiet life most days, too, and I’m happy with that and my little books and little cat. ^_^ I won THE SEVEN YEAR SLEEP from Goodreads a while ago and still haven’t read it, haha. To be honest I was irritated it was an ARC and not a finished copy, particularly since I didn’t remember the description saying it was an ARC. Oh well! At this point I might try to borrow it on audiobook…sometimes it’s the only way I can clear up a little of my TBR.

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  11. i always remember the buzzword (and cover version) challenges on the last day of the month, have to go look through what i’ve read during the month to see if it fits, and if not scramble to finish a book that day hasfhshd. so far i’ve managed not to miss any though, surprisingly!

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    • Yep, this is pretty much what happens to me too! I’ll occasionally remember in passing that I’m meant to read a certain type of book for the month’s challenge but it’s really just a blip and then I quickly forget (again), lol. It’s awesome that you’ve still been able to keep up and not miss any prompts though. I hope the streak continues for you as the year continues! 😃

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  12. I’ve had a quiet month too. Well done on getting to the gym a fair bit. I hope you’re getting to carry on this month as you were hoping to.

    It’s wonderful that you’ve had such a good month numbers wise with reading, it’s just a shame that the actual books were such a mixed bag. At least you had four favourites to pick from though, it’s always lovely when you’re torn on what book to pick. I’m curious about a few of your reads too. It’ll be interesting to see how I find them whenever I get to them.

    If it helps you’re doing miles better challenge wise than me. I haven’t even checked in with mine yet this year 🙈

    I had a great reading month last month but it’s gone a bit wonky now. I’m determined to do better over the rest of August though.

    I hope you have a wonderful month 🥰🥰

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