July is over and with it my first month on the blog! I didn’t read quite as much as I had hoped this month, but since I had a few weeks at the beginning before I made my TBR where I didn’t read much at all, I’ll give myself a pass for this month. I did read some things though, so let’s take a look!

TBR Check In

I said when I made this TBR that it was a bit ambitious (it shouldn’t have been, except I very much neglected reading for the first half of the month) and maybe that was a self-fulfilling prophecy… oops?

• 세이렌: 악당과 계약 가족이 되었다 [Siren: I Became Family to the Villain] #4 by Seol Isoo and Poya
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
• Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
• Lauter Leben [Live Louder] by Helga Schubert DNF
• Station Eleven by Emily John St Mandel remains paused, didn’t pick up
• The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
• Lights, Planets, People! by Molly Naylor and Lizzy Stewart
• 2 stories from 이상한 나라의 스물셋 [The Strange World of 23] – 1 story
• prologue of 異人茶跡：淡水1865 [Formosa Oolong Tea] by Kiya
• 2-3 essays from An Apology for Idlers by Robert Louis Stevenson – 1 and a bit essays

Books Read

세이렌 4 (Siren Book 4) by 설이수 & 포야 ⭐⭐⭐

Siren is a 2020 Korean web novel by Seol Isoo, which was then made into a webtoon by Poya in 2021. The first season of said webtoon has since been published in book form, and this is the final of the four books making up the first season.

A siren whose has been kept captive by her father and done unspecified bad things (and is thus hated and killed) is reincarnated in her ten-year-old body and is determined to save the man who had helped her in her first life by becoming part of his family.

I found the relationships and characters in the book really compelling and interesting, but the fantasy plot brewing in the background less so.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Magic school for adults – not because it’s a university or special academy, but because this one is about the teachers. It’s also a great insight into the British education system, if that sort of thing interests you, because it’s written as if magic lessons were just another class you could take in our contemporary education system.

Tesh also makes some good comments on classism and professional ethics. I really enjoyed this one, definitely one of the best books and best fantasies I’ve read so far this year.

I haven’t reviewed this book yet, but I’m planning on doing so in August, so keep your eyes peeled.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree ⭐⭐ . 5

I read this as a buddy read with some friends from uni – it’s actually a really fun way to stay in touch now that we’re all living in different places.

A retired orc sets up a coffee shop and grows her found family alongside her business. It was… readable but a bit lacklustre, saved somewhat by Thimble, who is great.

You can find my full review here.

Books Progressed or DNF’d

I read a little bit of Lauter Leben (Live Louder) this month, continuing on from previous months, but I’ve been liking the short stories in this collection less and less – they’re too short for my taste, and more and more of the topics aren’t appealing to me either – so I’ve decided to DNF this one and move on to better things.

I didn’t read quite as much of An Apology for Idlers or 이상한 나라의 스물셋 (The Strange World of 23) as I had wanted, but I did read one essay/story from each and enjoyed what I read. I also started one of the books that I bought whilst visiting my dad in Switzerland – The Legend of Lady Byeoksa: Die Perlen des Todes (The Pearls of the Dead), which is a Korean historical fantasy that I’m enjoying so far, although I’m only about 70 pages in.

Language Studies

I didn’t do as much language studying this month as I had planned either, because of travelling mostly, but I did do a little bit of reading and a little bit of textbook work for German and Japanese. You can check out my latest studygram post for a more detailed language study wrap up!

On the Blog

I wasn’t quite as consistent with posting as I had hoped this month because I was travelling for a bit of it, but I didn’t do too awfully.

• Who Am I? Self-introduction and reflecting on my 2025 reading Goals
• Learning Five Languages: My summer language learning plan
• July TBR (A Little Bit Late)
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Honourifics
• [Review] Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
• July Book Haul: First Month Back in the UK

I also posted quite a few times on my studygram, which I’m quite happy with.

Question Time

What was your favourite book of the month?

If you did a wrap up post of your feel free to link it in the comments and I’ll check it out!

Keira x