This has been a great way to track summer reading, explore new books and revisit favourite ones. The activities are achievable and although I started late I managed to do some catching up and I’d love to take part again next year!

Additional review of a book I love!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-KmVXOgwfk/?igsh=MWpkeWh4bmtmNGRqcQ==

This was a really fun way to explore NetGalley and learn more about the website. And I love to collect badges!! The workbook is cute and creative. Thank you!

🫀Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang

Maybe the strangest book I’ve ever read? All in such a short length
Thank you @oneworldbooks for the gifted copy

Organ Meats is a story of two young girls, who one summer decide to be dogs. But really it is about the type of friendship you can only have when you are young together, about codependency and girlhood and queerness, about losing that bond and growing up. It is strange, it is surreal, and it is gross at times, not shying away from bodily fluids or the stickiness and grime of being a child who is maybe also a little bit of a wild animal.

This is a book that will take some time to digest (excuse the pun), and I’m still not sure  what was real and what was the remnants of a child’s imagination, but here is my attempt at telling you what this book is about.

Anita and Rainie are two young girls who perhaps through proximity or a shared strangeness, are best friends. One summer they decide that through observing the stray dogs in a lot by their apartment building, they themselves will become dogs, and return to their canine heritage. They wear a red string around their necks that over the years becomes more than a leash but a string of fate that bonds them together. A string of fate that tugs at Rainie’s throat and will eventually return her to Anita a decade after she had moved away. Rainie and Anita are bound by something deeper than blood, and when Anita falls into a coma without Rainie at her side and begins to rot away, Rainie must build her a new body. It is a story of Frankenstein as a love story between girls.

I saw someone on Goodreads describe it as My Brilliant Friend for people who like cannibalism metaphors, which honestly just about sums it up. Of all the books I've reviewed and recommended, this one is by far the one that is not for everyone, to be honest it's probably not for most. It's extremely surreal and strange, reading it was often a task of untangling a messy string of dreamlike stories, metaphors, metaphors that are actually not metaphors, and fragments of memories and dreams. I enjoy strange, weird books, and I really appreciate something that's
experimental in its storytelling, and still I did struggle to fully grasp this story. It's a book that challenged me as a reader and required my full attention and focus, and despite being so short, it took me a month to read. But I am grateful I did.
Organ Meats contained some of the best writing think I've ever read, and in its own weird, gory, gross way, it told a story of girlhood that I could relate to. With everything said, if it still sounds like something you might like, I would definitely recommend this strange little book.

The Camp Net Galley packet was a really fun idea. I had a great time exploring it. However, it would be even better if there was more info and instructions included. It was pretty confusing when it first came out and it was hard to know when to review. Adding a social sharing platform would make it more fun by allowing us to chat with other Net Galley readers, and stay motivated and inspired to do the activities. It would be cool to see what others are doing and share our own progress.

I hope they create more seasonal reading games and activities in the future. It would be exciting to have new challenges and fun things to do all year round.

Sharing a link to a Goodreads review below for a recent 4 star read: Leather & Lark

I thought this was a cute idea to keep ARC readers engaged and motivated to read during the summer. I liked the design and color scheme of the book. The badge was something fun to look forward to.

3.75 stars

Participating in Camp NetGalley was fun this year, and I liked having a bingo sheet and stickers for the camp. One thing I found to be inconvenient is that everything is in PDF format, which works great if you’re on a computer, but not so great if you’re on a mobile device.

Another thing I would have liked to see is a more concrete way to interact with other participants. I started off with a lot of enthusiasm, but found that sharing my progress fell to the wayside a bit because it felt kind of like an isolated experience. I think it there was a way to make this more mobile friendly, I’d be all in.

This is such a brilliant and interesting way to spend July with Netgalley enjoying a sort of reading summer camp with some fun bookish activities! I loved the bingo especially although I came to this almost at the end so feel quite gutted I didn't have mroe time to really enjoy it. I definitely look forward to this happening again next year, and hope it's extended for a longer period of time too as I really want to have more time enjoying this experience throughout the whole summer! :)

A cute & fun way to engage in summer reading as an adult! This time of year is often when summer reading slumps are hitting the most, so having some mini-challenges and community spirit on Bookstagram around this challenge has been fun!

The Camp NetGalley was a neat idea but I do wish it was easier to access. . Wasn't quite sure how to do some of the activists so I either skipped it or found my own way to do it. Never quite sure how to access the downloads. I'm still rating it a 4 because the concept was good.

This was so fun! It got me reading outside and knocked off a few books from my NetGalley TBR. Linking my favorite arc review of July below.

I really enjoyed taking part in Camp! It was a fun way to spend my summer. I didn't read as many books as I wanted, but there's always next year!

Already marking up my bingo board—it’s great to see how much I’ve already read this year as I check off the boxes! It was hard to pick a review, but I had a lot of fun revisiting the reviews I've written again :)

This was so fun and was a great way to share my NG reads on my bookstagram. I really hope that this goes on next Summer as well!

What a fun way to get a reading challenge going for the summer!
This was a comprehensive, handy welcome pack with lots of opportunities to engage with others on social to share what we're reading as well.

This was such a fun idea. I hope to see more events like this, maybe during holiday season. I do wish it had been more integrated into the app though, as I did forget about it a few times.

Love this idea! The media packet with bingo board, social media templates, etc looks fun. I look forward to participating!

Editing to add— Thank you for the fun interactive parts to meet new book friends on bookstagram and play Netgalley bingo! Look forward to coming to Netgalley camp next summer!

What a fun experience. The welcome pack was laid out very easy so you knew what to expect each week and gave you your boards for games. I'll keep an eye out for next year in

This was a fun activity, it encouraged me to read more new to me authors. I hope this can done every season; similar to the Kindle challenges.

The welcome packet itself was very easy to use, with lots of activities to complete.

The good:
-The concept
-I love me a bingo card

The bad:
-For people who don't do digital journaling, the packet itself is EXCEEDINGLY unhelpful on the how-to of some of its events. It says to "download and play Camp NetGalley Bingo," but since the packet's available in the NetGalley app, it feels like a mixed message, especially for people who use the app exclusively.

The ugly:
-The art. Half of it looks realistic and the other half does not, which drives me up a wall. The color palette is just as bland as the Reading Journal. Maybe they're meant to be together? Which brings me to...

My suggestions:
-Make the Camp pages part of the reading journal (which is what I'm doing)
-31 days of mini-events laid out so we can plan
-A more sensible bingo–either make everything attainable in 31 days OR open "camp" (bingo) through the full summer OR explicitly say you can double up on squares since it's only one month
-Make the camp less social media-based, or more social media-based, either one; either we should be treated like we are solo readers, or make the cabins have a real online presence so campers can interact, not this in-between that suits no one. Bookstagram is a concept, not a reality; treating it like a reality without making it more concrete and accessible is not helpful.

Want more suggestions? Hire me 😁

Smallhope and Pennywise, the mysterious time travelling bounty hunters of the St Mary's and Time Police series, are back with an origin story. I loved learning about how the pair met and came to be partners in crime, and also seeing a lot of the infamous escapades of past adventures from their perspective. The storyline is fast paced and unrelenting, making this an easy and enjoyable read that grabs the reader from the start, enticing them with stalking peacocks and complicated families, and not letting go.

If there's one thing that Jodi Taylor excels in, it's making loveable and villainous characters and this story is no different. Amelia and Pennyroyal are a great dynamic pair, similar in many ways in their loneliness when first they meet, yet coming to mutually respect each other and grow together. They're a bit morally grey, taking no prisoners, but they're good at their core. Pennyroyal remains as enigmatic as ever though. The same cannot be said for the villain of the story, who I eagerly waited in anticipation for their downfall. And when it came, it did not disappoint.

I wouldn't really recommend reading this if you're unfamiliar with the St Mary's and Time Police series as this is filled with spoilers for those stories. However, if you're wanting to jump in feet first and aren't bothered about the previous books, this might be a good introduction to these characters.

I always know I'm in good hands with Jodi Taylor, who never lets me down in providing a rollicking good time