June Reading Wrap Up
19 books. 7,060 pages. Read on to see what I've been up to!
What a great month for reading! I am really excited to share some of the books I read this month and can’t wait to hear what you read!
Here’s what to look forward to in this wrap up:
Short reviews of each read.
Reading statistics
Before we start, a fun poll!
Just look at that collage of covers!
I won’t talk about the books too much to save some time, but leave a comment if you want to know more about these books. I will break them up by reading age and genre to help you out.
Adult Reads
Romance
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez: Hooked from the start. Text messages. Mental Health. Family (and found family). And of course, romance.
Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton: Love this series so much. They are just a good time-lots of banter, literature references, piracy and witchcraft.
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren: I will definitely read more by this author. There was a lot of depth to the characters. A lot of heart. It was really sad though!
Funny Story by Emily Henry: LOVED THIS FAKE DATING! Fake dating might be my favorite trope right now because this had me giggling and swooning. It was a good time.
Literary Fiction
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: Meryl Streep narrates the audiobook, so obviously I chose to listen to this book. It was really cool to hear a mother telling her daughters about her past as they were all back home during the pandemic. It was a nice reminder of the good parts of the pandemic where we slowed down and just enjoyed each other and life around us. There’s also a romance in this book that is interesting.
Fantasy/Science Fiction
The Change by Kirsten Miller: Multiple POV. Powerful and vengeful women. Missing girls. I really liked how this book all came together-but I will admit I was confused at first because the chapters bounce around in the timeline a bit, but you get the hang of it quickly.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman: This was not a typical read for me. It’s a Role-Playing-Game (RPG) book and is a style new to me. My partner actually recommended it to me and I am glad I went out of my comfort zone with it. The audiobook was great-the narrator’s voice was really good.
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City 3) by Sarah J Maas: I can’t believe Crescent City is over-I wasn’t really prepared for it to be over. This book took my forever to read and I don’t really know why. I enjoyed it, but 1) it was a huge book and holding it was ridiculous, 2) sooo many points of view and jumping story lines, it drove me crazy, and 3) it’s a long book. However, by the end I was happy I read it.
Thriller
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose: This wasn’t my fav by the author, but was enjoyable. Twists were good and the multiple POVs kept me reading.
Mystery
A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales: I chose this book because I have learned I really like the historical romances like Secret Service of Tea and Treason. This wasn’t a romance though, it was a mystery but I still really enjoyed it. I liked the banter between the detective and the main character. You can never go wrong with good banter.
Young Adult
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron: One of my few MUST READ authors. I was so excited to read this Snow White retelling and it did not disappoint. The way she wove the classic story into this retelling was amazing, it’s not a straight retelling, so it definitely keeps you guessing. Quick chapters. Fast paced.
Dead Things Are Closer than They Appear by Robin Wasley: Zombie apocalpyse with magic. AND the magic system is based on your personality, which is pretty cool. This is one of my favorite reads this summer.
This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings: A vampire story set during the Jazz Age. It was dual POV and fast-paced. It’s also a series and ended on a cliffhanger.
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland: This is mostly a horror, but has magic and paranormal aspects. I loved this book. Loved the feminist vibes and LGBTQ representation. It was gory, I think it’s called body gore, and very dark, but soooo good.
Romance
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter: THIS BOOK HAD ME IN IT’S CLUTCHES. I devoured this book and loved it so much. Fake dating. Rom-com movie references. Music references (playlist too!). I just can’t wait to read more by Lynn Painter.
Middle Grade
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Moonrise: Warriors: New Prophecy Book 2 by Erin Hunter: I am reading the Warrior Cats series with my daughter. These books pack an emotional punch that I was not prepared for! They have a lot of depth and are pretty intense. I can see why these are popular.
A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga: This was a reread for the Read to Write Kidlit Podcast where we interviewed Jasmine Warga about writing this STEM read. I highly recommend this book and the audiobook was done well too!
The Haunting of Lake Lucy by Sandy Deutscher Green: This was a unique story as it is a ghost story told in verse. It was fast-paced and a great mystery.
Anthology
On All Other Nights: A Passover Celebration in 14 Stories: I am not a huge fan of anthologies-I struggle bouncing between stories. However, the set up and organization of this book was really cool. It had pictures, questions, and descriptions of the part of Passover that you were going to read about. As someone who is not Jewish and doesn’t have a whole lot of knowledge on the religion and culture, this book was very valuable. I highly recommend this book for everyone-not just middle schoolers.
Reading Statistics
I use Storygraph for my statistics and definitely recommend you trying it out. The creator is a black woman and it’s a great alternative to Goodreads.
