July Reading Recap
July Reading Recap: 7 Books I Read this Month
By: Brittany Shields
7 books seems to be the normal amount I can read in a month, though this month I upped my page count again. It helped that I had some long flights and layovers to read on.
This month I read six different genres and:
4 qualified for prompts on the Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge.
1 was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025.
and I even read one from my Most Anticipated Books of 2024!
I think the highlight of this month’s books was the last one I read: The Language of Rivers and Stars by Seth Lewis. I thought it was poignant and compelling and I love books that stir up awe! It’s definitely a book I would recommend.
How is your summer reading coming along? Feel free to comment what your favorite reads of the summer have been!
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1. The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
Genre: Dystopian/ Mystery
[Fulfilled ‘Book where the title takes up the entire cover’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2024]
“The secrets on this island have teeth, and they don’t like being dragged into the light. Humanity can’t change itself. History has shown that. We need an intervention.”
“Sometimes the only way to win the game is to let the pieces think they’re the ones playing it.”
This was a pretty unique read. Part sci-fi/dystopian, part murder mystery. With themes about human nature and technology, good and evil, pain and suffering, and survival.
What I loved most about this book was the idea that the characters had to solve the mystery not knowing if they were the actual murderer or not (because of the memory wipes)!
They had to rely on observation and deduction and piecing things together, trying to gauge when people might be lying and having to come to terms with what they will do if they are the killer.
Get more info on the setting and context of this murder mystery, the characters, and the thing I didn’t like about the book, as well as some other related book recommendations by reading my full review.
2. The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon #1) by Daniel Silva
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
[Fulfilled ‘Book published 25 years ago’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“As always he was struck by the similarities between the craft of restoration and the craft of killing. The methodology was precisely the same: study the target, become like him, do the job, slip away without a trace.”
Daniel Silva books had been recommended to me by a literal FBI agent I met on vacation. I read The Unlikely Spy in 2023 and as I look back on my review for that one, I remember virtually none of it. These books feel a little forgettable to me— The Kill Artist was definitely better than The Unlikely Spy and is good for espionage and action, but doesn’t have a lot that’s going to stick with you.
We get part of Allon’s backstory in this book: his wife and son were killed in a car bombing the night he was planning to get out of the assassination business. Fast forward several years and while continuing to use his skills in art restoration he is called upon again by the organization to go after a terrorist who killed an Israeli ambassador in an effort to disrupt peace operations between Palestine and Israel. The only reason he takes the job is because the terrorist is the one believed to have killed his family.
Read my full review to see what might make me continue reading this series, see my ultimate recommendation, and get the content advisory.
3. First Love, Second Draft by Becca Kinzer
Genre: Rom-Com
[Fulfilled ‘Book that includes baseball’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“There were only two ways this forced reunion of theirs could end— a passionate reconciliation that led to the renewal of their vows… or a double homicide.”
This is a rom-com about second-chance love. I don’t know how often second-chance love stories involve previously married people, but I love that about this book.
First Love, Second Draft has humor, redemption, and subtle Chicago Cubs references— what more could you ask for?
Other than a couple characters and a shotgun wedding, this book is a solid double, possibly a triple depending how accurate of a throw it is.
Gracie Parker, a rom-com writer, has been divorced from Noah Parker, a professional baseball player, for five years when their paths cross again in less than ideal circumstances— for Gracie, anyway. Noah would like to rekindle their love and figures out a way to force a work partnership; Gracie tries to play the Ice Queen and would rather not risk another go.
What will happen in the bottom of the ninth of this relationship?
To see which two characters I didn’t like and read my two main critiques of the book, check out my full book review. (Don’t worry, it’s not entirely full of baseball puns and references…)
4. Art + Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura
Genre: Art/ Nonfiction
[Fulfilled ‘Book written during the pandemic’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“Modernist assumptions that verifiable knowledge is the ultimate path to truth have overlooked the fact that mystery and beauty are at the core of knowing. This book is an effort to affirm such journeys into the unknown, and to provide language and a map.”
I was introduced to this book at a Christian conference for financial advisors, because nothing speaks to finance like art, right? As a person holding an art degree rather than finance or economics, when one of the seminar speakers started talking about art, I was very intrigued.
To be honest, I don’t remember how he connected it to financial advising, I’d have to ask my husband, but I bought the book, nonetheless, to see what this theology of making was.
His book talks some about his art and some about the terms ‘culture care’ and ‘theology of making’ that he coined. I feel like the writing style of this book is philosophical in nature. You can tell he’s a true artist because the way he communicates ideas flows from a different thought process.
Some of the themes discussed are about how we are co-creators with God, how value shouldn’t be wrapped up in its usefulness, and how art should be incorporated more in the church as another way to connect people to God.
I’m still processing a lot of what I read so check out my full review to see some of the quotes I’m pondering, hear about a cool process called kintsugi and some of my suggestions on how to read this book.
5. Photograph by Brian Freeman
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
“That’s why my mother is dead. It started with a photograph.”
This is a biography of Nickelback.
Just kidding. Their song isn’t even referenced. Just Charlie Robison’s song.
Anyway, it’s my 14th Brian Freeman book so I guess you could say I enjoy his books.
I liked this book too but there is an element to this book that wasn’t my favorite. You’ll have to read my full review to get more about that.
The main premise of this book is: thirty-year-old Shannon Wells lives in Florida offering her own private investigator services. One day the daughter of a previous client, Kate, shows up asking about her mom, Faith. Her mom had asked Shannon to ‘find who she [Faith] was.’ Shannon says she discovered Faith most likely changed her identity around the time Kate was born but could never find anything prior to that.
Turns out Faith was just murdered. So whatever previous life she had, it caught up to her in the worst way.
Shannon feels like she owes it to both Faith and Kate to find out who Faith was and what happened to her. The investigation revolves around a photograph that Faith took of a rainy motel in Michigan many years ago.
If you haven’t read anything by Brian Freeman, you need to, even if it isn’t this specific book. Check out the ones I’ve reviewed HERE.
6. Gone Dark (Matthew Redd #4) by Ryan Steck
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
“This wasn’t a rescue mission anymore. It was a crime scene.”
Even though this is only my second Matthew Redd book, I feel like I’m pretty invested in his hero persona. In the previous book, Out for Blood, he single-handedly takes out a team up in the mountains, his home terrain, and then leads a showdown at the town courthouse.
There are no less shootouts in this book and he has the same ferocious sidekick, Rubble (he’s a dog…).
Gone Dark is non-stop action just like Out for Blood and I’m here for it! I could not put this book down. It was always one more chapter, one more chapter, and I definitely stayed up too late multiple nights.
It’s a smokejumper crime scene. Then it’s a double homicide crime scene. Then it’s surviving the wildfire. Then it’s a home attack. Then a motel attack. Then a car chase. Then a fight scene in the woods, etc. You get the idea.
It reads like a movie and one you’d definitely want to watch. Matthew Redd is the classic former-military-turned-protective-family-man-who-still-does-side-ops guy that everyone loves to root for.
Read my full review for more plot details, things I liked, character information, and a spoiler that will tell you if the dog dies or not— in case you need to know about that before reading.
7. The Language of Rivers and Stars: How Nature Speaks of the Glories of God by Seth Lewis
Genre: Nonfiction/ Christian Living
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“Nature gave the word ‘glory’ a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one.” —C.S. Lewis
If you are not already a nature lover, this book just might turn you into one. And if you already feel the wonder when you sit in nature, this book is going to strike all the right chords!
I knew the Bible talked about a variety of nature-related things, but I feel like this book illuminated a lot of those passages (and more) for me in a new way.
In this wonderful little book, Seth takes the seven days of Creation (including the day of rest) and looks at how each thing God created communicates something to us about who God is and who we are.
Seth Lewis articulates so well things we probably sense every day but don’t know what to do with. He reveals our Rosetta Stone (Jesus/ God’s Word) and connects us to the source to interpret what God has made plain. It will make you feel awe, and thankfulness, and stability, and hope.
Even the storms and droughts tell us truths we need to know.
This is a must-read. Check out my full review for more quotes and see a few things that stuck out to me while reading!
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