I feel like it should still be August? What happened to the time?! I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer. I know Summerween is trending everywhere, but I am not a fellow Summerweener. I almost forgot that the end of the month means it’s time for my August 2026 book blog wrap-up. August was a more “successful” reading month for me in that I finished 9 books. And a lot of those books were ones I’d had on my TBR for a while. Viewership still sucked (more on that below), though. Anyway, these posts are always longer, so just bop around to whatever sections interest you!
Book Reviews
I posted three book reviews in August. From earliest to latest they are:
- The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry
- Daughter of the Otherworld by Shauna Lawless
- We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views are (as of the evening of August 30):
- STEMinist Romance Books: 358 views
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 253 views
- Dungeons and Dragons Romance Books: 217 views
- August 2026 Book Releases: 93 views
- Book Review: To Bleed A Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker: 74 views
As I’ve mentioned in my last two monthly wrap-ups, my blog views are down a lot. I have consistent engagement from longtime fellow bloggers (thank you so much), but the web traffic is way down. I’m sitting at ~4,500 views a the time of writing this post, which is down by ~40%.
While this is a hobby not a job, I am frustrated at this nosedive in views because I’ve put 5 years of consistent effort into my blog. I’m not sure how to combat it because I think it’s due to AI searches stealing traffic from sites like mine. A post about monthly book releases would usually garner me close to 1,000 views in a month. But as you can see, I didn’t even break 100. And I think somehow AI-generated websites are being favored in search results, too. I notice this when I do searches unrelated to bookish things.
If anyone has any tips on how to boost my standings in search results or keep my website out of the mouth of AI, please let me know in the comments.
Because of my dip in blog views, I’m leaning toward not making a September 2026 Book Releases post. It takes a lot of time to assemble that type of post and I don’t think it’s worth it to spend that much time for <100 views. I also have other more important things going on in September that I need to focus on.
#BeattheBacklog
I finished four books I had on my TBR prior to 2026. Those books are THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE by Matt Cain, DAUGHTER OF THE OTHERWORLD by Shauna Lawless, SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel, and A MARVELLOUS LIGHT by Freya Marske.
Other Bookish Items
I finished nine books in August:
- THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE by Matt Cain (audiobook)
- DAUGHTER OF THE OTHERWORLD by Shauna Lawless (ARC)
- SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel
- A MARVELLOUS LIGHT by Freya Marske
- WE BURNED SO BRIGHT by T.J. Klune
- THE GIVER by Lois Lowry (audiobook)
- OTHER WORDS FOR HOME by Jasmine Warga (audiobook)
- ON THE HORIZON by Lois Lowry (audiobook, poetry)
- YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke
Other Media Wrap-Up
BRIDGERTON (Season 4): I finally watched the latest season of Bridgerton. It wasn’t a new favorite. I think the first two seasons are the best. The power dynamic between Benedict and Sophie gave me the ick. He also has a history of rakish behavior, so all I could think about was hopefully he didn’t pick up an STD during his many dalliances. I also thought the wrap-up of their storyline was just too convenient. I did, however, like the secondary storylines a lot more than the main romance. Francesca’s story made me cry. I was proud of Violet for thinking of herself, and similarly for Lady Danbury.
Non-Bookish Items
The garden is in several different phases. We’ve had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, although some of the plants burnt themselves out already, so I’ve cut those ones out. The black cherry tomato is the real MVP this year. The pepper plants are setting lots of peppers, finally. They were slow to start this year…normally I would’ve been picking things already. And this has been my best year for eggplants in that the actual plants look amazing. They’re also setting fruit. Most of my squash plants are dead because of the bugs. But I planted a new zucchini seedling, so maybe we can get more zucchinis before it gets too cold? We’ll see…
Lastly, I also seeded a bunch of leafy greens and root vegetables. I transplanted all my iceberg seedlings as well as turnips, daikon radish, frisee (a type of endive), kale, and collard greens. I have other seedlings growing, too, but I don’t have a lot of free space to move them to! Waiting in the wings are beets, cauliflower, broccoli, romaine lettuce, and sorrel.
August really went fast! It’s worrisome because I known the rest of the year will speed by and I’m not ready for that. Sorry to hear about your stats. Mine are weird and took a nosedive last week for some reason. It’s got to be something search related, since my home page views are the main thing that went down.
I’m so curious to hear your thoughts on Yesteryear! Or did I miss it?
Nope, you haven’t missed it! I haven’t written my review for Yesteryear yet.
And sorry to see you’re starting to see some weird effect on your stats too. So aggravating!
I am definitely not a fann of Summerween. I guess that I can see the appeal in places that have scorching hot weather for a long while but Autumn for me always means shorter days and less light and I hate it when it begins to get dark.
Sorry about your lack of views. My stats are fairly consistent but I don’t get the level of views that you do so maybe I’m affected less by AI if that’s what’s causing the dip.
I definitely agree that the first two seasons of Bridgerton were by far the best and I wasn’t keen on the latest one at all.
Finally, it’s nice to “meet” someone else who cares little about Summerween, lol!! It’s hot here, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for Fall yet!
I hadn’t even realised that Summerween was a thing! It’s definitely not something I understand 😃
Dang. That’s a big drop in views. The last two months have been my best for views in a long time, but so much of it is really wonky. There are huge spikes and then huge dips. So, I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m sure AI is to blame somehow. lol. For example, I had almost 1000 views on my July anticipated releases post but only 70 on the one for August. Usually, it’s been somewhere between the two, but I’m not sure what’s going on. I still plan to do the posts because I refer back to them all the time when I’m out book shopping, but they are a lot of work. So, I understand why a low return on that investment would make you want to stop making them.
I know! It’s a huge drop in views! You’re not the only one to mention huge spikes, but I personally haven’t seen that. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a weird spike in views, so I don’t think I’m getting a ton of bot traffic or whatever.
And wow, yea, it seems like we both had similar experiences for our August anticipated releases post. 🙁 Yea, I thought about just doing the September book releases post for myself, but idk…we’ll see if I can find some time for it. I agree that it’s a nice way to keep track of all the new releases for yourself.
A lot of recent views have been AI traffic as well, scraping, etc, I figure that that type of stuff slowed down and I’m totally okay with it 🙌🏻
So you think the decrease in views is the opposite, that it might be because AI & bots & scraping are down? That could be possible—I think one of Google’s recent updates was for spam.
I can’t speak for everyone but a lot of blogs were talking about b*t spikes and scraping activity 🤷🏻♀️ mine def were, and I stopped caring about visits and views knowing it wasn’t organic 🤷🏻♀️ now I haven’t seen those spikes in at least 8 weeks!
Yea, I remember a few folks a few months ago venting about bot spikes. I personally haven’t experienced that in a long time, which is why, at least for me, I don’t think my drop in views can mostly be attributed to a drop in bot visits. But I also don’t know that for a fact because I don’t really know how to use Google Analytics all that much (nor do I care to learn, haha).
I’ve been trying to figure out my own relationship with my blog. It started as a project just for me. Its now sort of morphing into something else, and I’m having to fight really hard to not put emotional attachment on whether or not it goes anywhere. Looking at data like you do would send me into a spiral, I think!
It is hard to find a balance sometimes between the hobby and making sure you set enough time aside for yourself to read to continue the community part of said hobby! I look at stats because I like numbers and I get bored/curious. It’s kind of gratifying to feel like I’m not completely shouting into the void, but chatting with regular visitors such as yourself is the most gratifying because of quality interaction. 🙂
August definitely passed by too quickly. I don’t know how we’re in September already 🤯 it looks like a great reading month. What did you think of The Giver and Yeateryear? I definitely need to hurry up and get to Shauna Lawless books too.
Sorry to hear about your views. Mine have dipped now too. I don’t really know what to suggest. Is your blog linked to your Instagram? I think that can help. But I dont know what else to suggest as you’re more together with SEO stuff than me anyway.
Sounds like the garden has been very busy. Im amazed by how much you have in the mix.
I hope you have a wonderful September 🥰
I do have a link to my blog on my Instagram. Every now and then I’ll share a link on my instastories to a blog review, but it doesn’t generate a lot of clicks.
The Giver was good! As an adult I think we easily pick up on the “something’s not quite right here” vibes. I’m glad I read it again. Yesteryear was better than I thought it would be. I wasn’t expecting the ending. I still need to sit down and write my thoughts down, just haven’t had time yet!
I’ll let you know if I find anything that helps.
I’m glad you enjoyed both of those. I’ll have to try and get to them sometime. Although im currently in a massive library queue for the latter. I’m glad to hear it worked for you as I’ve seen such mixed responses to it. It really seems to be a bit of a marmite book. I’ll keep an eye out for your review
Lol at your thoughts on Benedict and STI, honestly same 😂 Sorry about the dip in your blogging views, especially the monthly releases. You always put such an effort into it, it sucks now AI is truly just stealing everything.