I feel like I did a pretty good job with my June TBR considering my attention span recently. I read two ARCs and started a third. Next I might take a small breather from ARCs with a mood read before jumping back into the fray. I’m not sure what yet, though, so my July 2025 TBR consists mostly of ARCs at the moment.
Priority Reads
TUSK LOVE by Thea Guanzon: By the time this post goes live I will have hopefully started this ARC. It’s at the top of my priority list since I want a little break from more “serious”/intense fantasy. “A merchant’s daughter who yearns for adventure gets more than she bargained for when she falls for a broodingly handsome stranger in this saucy romantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hurricane Wars.“
SIX WILD CROWNS by Holly Race: This is another ARC I didn’t get to last month. It’s a bit of a shame since it sounds like it would’ve been perfect for a June Pride read. It’s “a breathtaking epic fantasy of dragons, courtly intrigue, sapphic yearning, and the wives of Henry VIII as you’ve never seen them before.“
MAILMAN by Stephen Grant: There’s a part of me that’s curious about the behind the scenes of various things in life, including mail delivery. So I’m keen to read this ARC and learn about one postal worker’s experiences on the job. “An exuberant, hilarious, and profound memoir by a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who found that working for the post office saved his life, taught him who he was, gave him purpose, and educated him deeply about a country he loves but had lost touch with.“
ASCENSION by S.T. Gibson: I’m sad I wasn’t selected to get an advanced physical copy of the second installment of this series (because now nothing will match!). I kind of wonder if it’s because I’d abandoned my Twitter account by the time they probably made selections. But that’s just speculation on my part. Regardless, I’m glad to have a digital ARC so I can keep reading about the trio’s adventures. “From the international bestselling author of Evocation comes it’s hotly anticipated and spellbinding sequel, where Rhys steps into his new role as High Priest. A magical read for lovers of traditional urban fantasy.“
Hopeful Reads
One mood reads I’m considering is either HEIR OF FIRE or THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE by Sarah J. Maas. I haven’t touched this series in a couple of months and I want to make more progress on it. I’ve been told to read the novella either after CROWN OF MIDNIGHT (which I’ve read) or after HEIR OF FIRE (which I haven’t read). It seems the internet has mixed opinions, too.
I also just checked out from Libby the audiobook of A WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING by T. Kingfisher. So I’ll definitely get to that this month; I try my best to fully read every audiobook I check out because it costs the library more for digital media than physical media.
Are any of these books on your July 2025 TBR?
I realised that I like all the covers posted here, but none of the synopsis are grabbing me – will have to see what your review says before I make up my mind, I think!
No worries! Reviews can be helpful if you’re on the fence about something. 🙂
I didn’t get an ARC of Ascension either, which is weird since I was a big supporter of the first book. Oh well, I’m not hurting for things to read!
Mailman sounds fascinating, I’d love to hear more about it.
Oh wow, I’m surprised! I did email them 1.5 months ago or something asking about if the ARC announcements had been made because I hadn’t even seen anything on social media about it. I was told they had much less ARCs for book 2 than book 1, so that played into their decision, too.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is a lot of fun. Enjoy!
thanks!
I read The Assassin’s Blade after Heir of Fire. I think it works fine either way, but I’m glad I chose what I did. The prequel characters factor more heavily into the story of Queen of Shadows. So, reading The Assassin’s Blade at that point worked really well for going into QoS next.
I think I’m leaning toward reading Heir of Fire first just to get one more full-length novel “out of the way,” so to speak.
Good luck getting to all of your arcs, it sounds like an interesting mix of titles. I’ll definitely be watching out for your thoughts on Six Wild Crowns and I’ll be curious to see what you think of Tusk Love too. I hope you enjoy the sequel as well and whatever TOG you pick up next. I can’t really help order wise as I went for The Assassin’s Blades before any of the other books 😅