Books Read
- Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly (★★★★★ – print, owned, Book of the Month) – A really sweet, heartwarming sapphic romance set on a cooking reality show
- Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett (★★★★☆ – e-book, owned, Amazon) – A book of essays about the NFL, racial justice, and Black liberty written by a former NFL player
- The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane (★★★★☆ – print, owned, Thriftbooks) – I loved this YA book set at a summer camp for troubled youths. Lots of trigger warnings!
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (★★★☆☆ – e-book, library) – With every new Bridgerton book I read, I wonder why Shonda Rhimes chose this series for the show. There are just so many better historical romance series to choose from! It was fine, but not outstanding like I wanted it.
- The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (★★☆☆☆ – e-book, library) – A book I most certainly should have abandoned, involving a MFA professor whose literary career is off track until he finds a great story plot from one of his students.
- Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier (★★★☆☆ – print, library) – A thriller that wasn’t as page-turning as I wanted it to be, although the author did a great job crafting a satisfying, realistic ending.
- Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis (★★★★☆ – e-book, library) – A contemporary romance that hit the spot when I needed it.
- Pony by RJ Palacio (★★★★☆ – audiobook, library) – A beautifully written middle-grade fiction book involving a young boy who goes on an adventure to find his father who was taken in the middle of the night.
- The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite (★★★☆☆ – e-book, library) – Another sapphic romance! Two in one month. 🙂 This was a slow-burn romance, which typically aren’t my favorite but I loved that one of the female characters was a beekeeper!
- Outlawed by Anna North (★★★☆☆ – print, owned, Book of the Month) – A Western book that was fairly gripping but in the end, left a bad taste in my mouth.
- Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon (★★★★★ – audiobook, library) – A heartfelt YA romance about a girl who is going through the turmoil of her parents’ divorce, her father’s new relationship, and her own new relationship.
- The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland (★★★★☆ – e-book, library) – I loved this contemporary novel set in a bookstore, mostly because I think the way the author slowly revealed the main character’s past and her present motivations was completely genius.
Book Challenges
- Book Club: Our June book pick was Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier, and it was surprising to a lot of us that my friend Mikaela (who has three kids, including a baby!) suggested it since it was about a child being kidnapped. But she said that after watching her daughter go through cancer, not much can faze her these days. Touche! Most everyone liked or loved the book. I was the one who was the most “meh” about it, ha.
- Unread Shelf Project: The June challenge for the Unread Shelf Project was “a book about a journey.” I had a hard time choosing a book for this category because I don’t have too many books that are about journeys. I guess I could have interpreted in many different ways, like an internal personal journey rather than an external one. I chose Outlawed, which was definitely about both an external journey of joining an outlaw gang and the internal journey of the main character coming to terms with her barrenness.
- Goodreads Challenge: I read one book for my goal of reading all the books added to my Goodreads TBR before 2018 and that was The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland. I am so glad I finally plucked this one off my shelf!
Book Stats
- # of books read: 12
- # of pages read: 3,886 pages
- Genre breakdown: Romance (33%), Fiction (25%), YA (25%), Nonfiction (8%), and Mystery/Thriller (8%)
- Format breakdown: e-book (49%), print (33%), and audiobook (18%)
- Fastest read: The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland (3 days)
- Slowest read: The Plot and Romancing Mister Bridgerton (10 days)
- Star average: 3.6
- % of books by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community: 33%
- Abandoned books: 1 (The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams—I really want to try this book again. I just wasn’t in the mood for something sad.)
- Goodreads goal check-in: I set a goal of 135 books this year and currently, I am 4 books behind schedule.
Superlatives of June
- Favorite book of the month: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
- Favorite romance of the month: Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
- Least favorite book of the month: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
- The book that surprised me the most: The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
- The most problematic book I read this month: Outlawed by Anna North
What was the best book you read in June?