It’s already August? This summer has gone by so quickly. I had two road trips in July, which led to some audio book choices. July is full of 4H and fair. The days were so full, I often fell asleep at night after just reading a few pages. Here’s what I read in July:
Sustaining Faith and Unfailing Love by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan
I finished reading the When Hope Calls series. Sustaining Faith carries on the story of Grace and Lillian taking care of orphaned children that there isn’t room for at the nearby children’s home. A court case takes the children away from them for a while and they have to discern who is on the children’s side and who is in it for their own advantage.
In Unfailing Love, Lillian’s family has returned from his trip to Europe with a new wife. The same day, three children have run away. Lillian finds herself having to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for love.
The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson
The Book Woman’s Daughter is the sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Honey is the daughter of the original Book Woman in the hills of Kentucky. However, her family is also “blue people,” a group of people with a genetic condition that makes their skin blue. Her parents are arrested for violating laws against “blue people” marrying and Honey heads back to her mother’s old stomping ground to hide and also ends up distributing books like her mother did. However, trouble seems to follow her family wherever they go and Honey has to fight to keep her freedom.
What If It’s Wonderful? by Nicole Zasowski
For people who have almost always seemed to face hard times, it can be hard to live with any bit of hope. The author shares her own life stories to show people how to journey from a place of little hope to a place where life can be full of hope and joy in What If It’s Wonderful?. She suffered many miscarriages and couldn’t even be happy about a pregnancy until the baby was born. It was hard to let herself believe she could be happy in case something wrong was right around the corner. To live each day to the full requires hope. Because, what if it’s wonderful?
The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
I needed an audiobook to listen to while driving to Mississippi and back to pick up my daughter from a dance intensive. I had put off reading The Hunger Games since I didn’t want to read about teenagers killing each other. However, I finally gave in and enjoyed the message behind the storyline. In these dystopian novels, Panem has emerged after the U.S. has been destroyed and is a country with a capitol and 13 districts. However, the districts rebelled against the capitol and the treaty after the war required each district to sacrifice two teenagers each year, a boy and girl, to participate in the Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death, with only one winner. Katniss takes her sister’s place from district 12 in the 74th year, and without intending to, she helps spark a new rebellion. The overall message is what is worth sacrificing for future generations’ freedom?
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
Ransom reappears in the third book of C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy as an “older” man waiting for a message of when to wage war in That Hideous Strength. Not a war of humans, but a war between good and evil. The NICE organization has moved into a small, English town and has taken over the local college’s grounds. NICE has nefarious plans to take control of the local population by resurrecting Merlin. However, the organization did not take into account the good side fighting back. The book is a good reminder, as with the other two in the series, that there is more in this world than what we see – there is a spiritual realm.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
A struggling author is asked to help write the end of a series of another author who was in a car accident. When Lowen visits the author’s house to go over her notes, she finds odd things happening with the family. She tries to stop herself, but she finds herself attracted to the author’s husband, even though there is a 5-year-old son there, too. Lowen wonders if the author is really in a vegetative state or if she’s faking. Verity had an interesting plot but it left me unsatisfied. It’s also very graphic in the romance area.
The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah
My husband and I listened to The Monogram Murders on a road trip. We thought it was an Agatha Christie book, but it’s actually a newer author who has permission to write books with Hercule Poirot as the main character. After meeting a distraught woman, Poirot is pulled out of his vacation to solve the murder of three guests at a hotel. Their rooms are on different floors, but they are all in the same positions and they each have a monogrammed cuff link in their mouths. While we couldn’t guess the ending, the book was fun to listen to and kept in the spirit of Agatha Christie all the way through.
Share in the comments your favorite reads from July!
