The July Extra Squeeze from In the Loop!

An Extra Hello, Things to Read/Watch/Eat/Dance to from My World to Yours

A Far Out Production

Jul 14, 2025

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Summer reading is in full swing! I know many of us have been trying to escape into other worlds and imaginations even if for a few minutes each day–SO! This month you’re getting two bonus books, a sweet treat (because we all deserve a sweet treat), and some tunes to get you through all the things.

Keep going,

x, A

Bonus Books - Two books this month!

Extra titles for you to enjoy

Always support your local bookstores and utilize the amazing platform that is Bookshop.org. Be sure to download the app Libby & upload your library card so you can read or listen to books for free! Additionally if you’d like an alternative to Audible, Libro.Fm is a great option!

If you’d like to track your progress, connect with other readers, and/or create reading challenges for yourself and so much more, please check out the app StoryGraph. It’s a fantastic Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads and it was created by a woman!

Here are your bonus books:

Back After This, for me, was the perfect nice and easy Summer read. Quick escape, laughed out loud, great little rom-com and I know there are many of you out there who look for something just like this to balance out heavier reads. Here’s the synopsis:

“Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold.
When the boss who’s disappointed her again and again finally offers her the chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch—actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life.
Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realizes she has no choice.
To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s skeptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand . . . don’t they all?
As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?”

If you loved Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series as much as I did, you will equally enjoy his latest mystery, We Solve Murders. Perfect for a Summer day outside, inside, cozied up in front of a fire or directly in front of the AC. No spoilers! Here is the synopsis:

“Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him at home. His days of adventure are over. Adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s job now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. Working in private security, every day is dangerous. She’s currently on a remote island protecting mega-bestselling author Rosie D’Antonio, until a dead body and a bag of money mean trouble in paradise. So she sends an SOS to the only person she trusts . . .
As a thrilling race around the world begins, can Amy and Steve outrun and outsmart a killer?”

What I’m Watching

Remember how I wrote last month I want to share more films? Documentaries count too! I watched My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay as soon as it premiered and instantly knew it would be this month’s things to watch. What. A. Story. What a woman! What a life! It’s so well done and there’s so much I want to write but they’re all spoilers and you know I don’t do spoilers so here’s the synopsis:

“Explores the life and legacy of Mariska Hargitay's mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who died tragically in a car accident at age 34 when Mariska was only three years old.”

Snack Time

A snack I’ve been digging as of late, let me know if you’ve had it or any other delicious noms out there I should try!

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana with Sprinkles

This snack is brought to you by one of my favorite comfort accounts: _gloyoyo_ (same on TikTok and Insta). Gloria, who goes by Glo, shows up on my feed almost daily with iced coffee concoctions, delicious snacks, epic breakfast combos, and so much more. She’s sunshine on my screen. I adore her and I wish we were friends.

Just the other day she was craving a sweet treat (same, Glo), had some bananas (saaaame!), chocolate chips, and some sprinkles (same, and SAME, GLO!). With this she put together a little frozen sweet treat and I promptly went to the kitchen to do the same. You don’t have to freeze the banana but in this heat, it was nice to have a cold treat and I loved the crunch of the sprinkles with each bite. Here’s how to do it:

Ingredients:

1-2 bananas, whatever ripeness you prefer (personally I like yellow with a tinge of green still)
3/4 C chocolate chips of choice (I had semi-sweet)
Rainbow sprinkles
(optional) flaky sea salt - this was a last minute addition and it did not dissapoint!

Directions:

On a small dish or baking sheet, cover with parchment paper. Peel your bananas and place them on top of the parchment. Place your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt in 15-20 second intervals in the meecro-wa-vay. Keep a close eye and stir after each round until the chocolate has mostly melted and is shiny. For me it took 40 seconds. Don’t worry if some chips are still visible, they’ll melt once you give it a stir.

Spoon the chocolate over the banana and cover with as much or as little chocolate as you like. If you don’t want a lot, drizzle the chocolate over the bananas leaving some gaps. Shake some sprinkles on top, maybe a little flaky sea salt and place in the freezer for 10 minutes for the chocolate to set then slice and dig in OR if you’d like the bananas to be more frozen, place in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

Hope you enjoy!

Down Time

Music is my everything just as much as food. Here’s a song that’s been on repeat.
To listen either click the image below or the link in the description.

Anderson Paak is back with another banger “Everybody Gets Down”. It’s windows down, golden hour shifting into night, feel-good, fun. My only complaint is it should be longer! What happened to songs over 3 minutes? Where is the extended edit, Brandon?! Regardless, I know you’ll have this on repeat like I have since it dropped.
ALSO!
I’m going to go ahead and give you another song to check out because he recently co-produced the new song from Mariah Carey, “Type Dangerous” which I recommend adding to your rotation.

Thanks so much for following along and supporting this fun little slice of the internet! Please feel free to comment below with any books you’d like to recommend, movies or shows you’ve watched, or snacks and/or songs you’re into. Please share In the Loop with friends and encourage them to subscribe below.

Until next time!