At the end of each month, I have a look back and see which articles did the best throughout those four weeks. This is an interesting insight into which articles people found useful, which articles my social media platforms promoted the best, also, which articles maybe need another push to get them into people’s eyes.
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July was a quieter month for my blog. I posted 11 articles this month which contained only four book reviews. The rest were author interviews, “best of” lists and even an article on what I’ve learned during my time as a blogger.
Throughout July I had over 8,300 page views across my blog with over 7,000 users. This is interesting as it shows that 1,300 of the views were the same people viewing more than once. This is something I hope to continue – I want people to see my blog as the place to go for concise, honest book reviews. One day I want people to Google “****** book review” and then type in “Luke Harkness” in hopes they’ll get my review instead of others.
It’s worth noting that these are all articles that I posted in July too. I have a lot of other articles that are receiving a lot higher monthly views but this would be a fairly boring list as these are often the same few articles each month as they’re either the most popular books or the same articles that Google are putting on people’s feeds.
So here they are:
5. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid book review
The fifth most article that you lot read this month was my review of Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This was my first TJR book and after seeing a lot of hype around a few of her others and seeing it come up on offer in my local Asda, I decided to pick it up and give it a read.
I basically thought it had a strong first half, an odd third quarter and then a slightly stronger ending. It had some great moments, some good ideas and the overarching theme was clear to understand. TJR has a very approachable writing style that gives you an understanding of the characters.
You can read my full review here or pick up a copy straight from Amazon here.
4. 10 Mystery Thrillers You Must Read – Have You Read These Gipping Page-Turners?
Who doesn’t love a mystery thriller? What is a mystery thriller I hear you say. Well, it’s a thriller that includes a mystery. You can have thrillers where there’s nothing to work out and then you have thrillers where there’s a murder or a missing person – these are mystery thrillers.
I’ve started to read more and more thrillers over the past couple of years – essentially since joining the book communities on social media – and so have read some great mystery books that I think are definitely worth your time. Essentially in this article, without sounding too obvious, I narrow it down to ten I think you definitely should consider if you like putting on your Sherlock hat whilst being spooked.
3. 7 Lessons I’ve Learned After 14 Months of Blogging as a Hobby
I’ve been blogging for over fourteen months now, so I thought I’d think about some of the things I’ve learned over the last year and a bit. This article is more about how I blog best as a hobby and how I have managed to make it work best for me.
This list isn’t a “download this app” or “don’t forget to SEO” sort of post, it covers the things that when you first start out you may not realise – IE, how much time it can actually take to just do one article (it’s just write and hit ‘publish’ you know?)
2. My Favourite Books of the Year So Far – Halfway Through 2022
Sometime in July, it was exactly halfway through the year and so I thought I’d have a look at the books I’ve read and pick out the creme de la creme so far.
I went back, had a look at the books I’d rated 5* (not as many as I thought) obviously included those and then included some of the better 4* reads from the year too. If you’re looking for your next book, you can’t go wrong with heading over and giving this article a read as there’s quite an eclectic selection including classics, fantasy, mystery, thriller and more!
1. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson book review
Gardens of the Moon was a book I’d seen a lot about. It’s the start of a book series – The Malazan Book of the Fallen series – that if you’re a fantasy fan apparently you have to sample. It’s also a series that is very much considered marmite – you either love it and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread or you think it’s far too difficult.
I had mixed emotions whilst reading Gardens of the Moon to be fair. Did I find it challenging at times, have to go back and reread and have to search stuff on a Wiki? Yes. But did it make me feel more immersed and involved with the story? Yes.
There were sections I missed and I’m not 100% sure I got the whole story but considering the number of people, cultures, lands and events thrown at you with very little context or explanation, I really quite enjoyed it all. If you’re a fantasy fan and love multiple POVs, a large sprawling real-feeling world and some fantastic writing, Gardens of the Moon is right up your street.
Pick up a copy of Gardens of the Moon from Amazon.
A quick round-up
There are my top five most read articles from the month of July then. It’s always fascinating to see how these turn out and what articles are going to do the best. I use these articles to decide and help steer what future content I’ll start writing.
It’s actually really interesting to see Gardens of the Moon as my most-read article from the month. Fantasy isn’t the most mainstream genre and so
it’s worth no
- June’s Most-Read Articles
- April’s Most-Read Articles
- March’s Most-Read Articles
- February Most-Read Articles
- January’s Most-Read Articles
- All previous round-ups
