My 5 Favorite Five Star Reads in July 2025!

Man, hasn't the summer just flown by? I feel like the more kids I have (and the older they get), the faster time flies. I don't know if I have ever had a summer go by so quickly as this one has. It was a lot of fun though and I had some great reads!

In July, I read 18 books and 5,627 pages, for an average of 312 pages per book. It wasn't my highest reading month, but it was close to the highest month for pages read. I read 16 books by female authors and 2 by male authors. I borrowed 9 books and owned 9 of the books I read. I read 6 middle grade, 2 YA, and 10 adult books. I read 8 eBooks, 7 audiobooks, and 2 physical books. I had 5 rereads and 13 new reads. I read 1 new release and shared 5 read aloud books with my kids. I read 5 stand alone books and 5 books from a series, starting 3 and finishing 0. I had 11 five star reads, 4 four star reads, 2 three star reads, and 0 two and one star reads. I DNF'd 1 book.

Today I am sharing my five favorite 5 star reads from July! What books did you read in July? What is a favorite book you've read recently?

The One with the Kiss Cam by Cindy Steel

I love Cindy Steel--she writes sweet rom coms that I always binge read. This one has a super fun premise and fantastic characters!

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

I was surprised by how much I loved this one. It's a middle grade/YA book about friendships and some heavier topics, all wrapped up in a mystery of what happened. I loved the mystery aspect of it and the way the heavier themes were handled.

Corsair's Curse by Shari L. Tapscott

This underrated YA fantasy book was fantastic! It has dragons, a love triangle, and interesting magic. I really loved reading about the characters and their adventures.

Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

This nonfiction book looks at abusive relationships, exploring why abusive men act the way they do and what you can do if you find yourself in a relationship in one, as well as red flags to look out for before getting into a relationship. He dispels different myths and lays out behavior you can expect to see, with lots of real-life examples. I found it fascinating. My husband also read it and it's going to be required reading for our daughters when they reach dating age.

A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon always writes such emotionally deep books. This was one of her earlier works, but I really loved it. There were aspects that I had to get over (the love interest starts off as her teacher, and nothing happens while he is teaching her, but it still felt a little weird), but there were other aspects of motherhood and childbearing that I just loved and bawled through. I could hardly put this one down.

Bonus: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I know I've already shared five, but I couldn't not talk about this reread--I read Anne of Green Gables aloud to my girls for the first time and it was a delight. They loved it and were laughing at Anne, my middle child related with Anne's character, and I remembered why I love this book so much. Then we were able to watch the movie together, which they loved as well (and I havne't seen it for so long, it was so fun to rewatch it and fall in love with Gilbert all over again). Sharing these things with my kids is such a fun part of parenting older kids!

Those were my favorite 5 star reads in July! What were some of your favorite books from last month? What is a book you've recently read that you just loved? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear from you and chat about books!