August 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up

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:

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.