July was a rough reading month. I don’t know if I was in a mood or just not finding books I liked, but I dropped a lot of books and gave lower ratings than usual. I also ended up reading 13 books in July, which is less than normal.
My Favorite Books of July 2025
Of the 13 books I read, I gave two fiction books perfect grades. Here are my reviews.
Lie Lie Truth
Ali can’t believe how incredible her new adoptive family is. She feels so lucky to have escaped her abusive parents.
Dennis, Connie, and her new brother, Dan, are such a typical family that it regularly brings tears to her eyes.
But Connie does have one little quirk. She freaks out when the kids play too close to the woods. Ali soon understands that it’s because some kids have gone missing, just a red ribbon hanging where they disappeared.
Dennis tells Ali that she doesn’t need to be afraid. But soon, other people in the small town start saying Dennis is the killer.
The town’s men enact vigilante justice on Dennis. Then, years later, another child disappears, and the same trademark red ribbon appears.
I read Lie Lie Truth by James Caine on Kindle Unlimited. There were a few plot holes in the book, and I unraveled the plot pretty early, but I still couldn’t stop reading.
Saving Emma
I love Allen Eskens’s writing. I read his book, The Life We Bury, in 2017, and I still think about how amazing it was. I don’t think Saving Emma was as good, but it was still fantastic.
The book is about Boady Sanden, a law professor and former Innocence Project attorney. He’s asked to help prove the innocence of Elijah Matthews, a mentally ill man institutionalized after being acquitted of murdering a megachurch pastor.
At the same time, Boady is fighting to maintain custody of his adopted teenage daughter, whose estranged aunt wants her.
It’s a race against time and seemingly impossible circumstances to do the right thing in his personal and professional life.
I don’t know that I’ll read other books in the Boady Sanden series, but I loved this one.
Happy Reading!
There they are, my favorite books of July. There’s not a ton to pick from, but you won’t regret reading either of these.
As always, Happy Reading!
