The year is halfway done! Can you believe it? This year has flown by once again. Our reading has been great some months and not so great other months. How was it for the month of June? Let’s jump in and find out!

Candyce

June ended up being a really good month for me. I read a total of 23 books (8 paperbacks, 4 ARCs, 3 audiobooks, 3 graphic novels, 3 ebooks and 2 hardcovers). I read a total of 8,202 pages and have an average rating of 4,1. It did help a lot that I barely worked in June. Sitting at home with hand issues really doesn’t leave you with much to do. I’m not complaining though.

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire – Jennifer L. Armentrout

I kept forgetting to add that I read A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. I’ve been wanting to get to it for awhile, but you know me, I get distracted. There isn’t much happening throughout most of the book. It’s a lot of talking and banter. Not a bad thing, but it’s not action-packed. I love Poppy and Casteel, haha.

King of Scars – Leigh Bardugo

After re-reading Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom with Isabelle it was time to start King of Scars. I had read over half last year, but ended up reading other things and needed to start over. I’m so glad I did, because this book was amazing. The characters, world and plot were all so good. I just started Rule of Wolves.

Undercover Bromance – Lyssa Kay Adams

The Bromance Book Club is one of my favorite romances and part of me was really scared to start Undercover Bromance. My expectations were so high, but I really should’ve read this sooner. Once again the author gave us a lot of humor, amazing characters and a more serious plot line as well. I’ll be reading the next book really soon.

A Reaper at the Gates – Sabaa Tahir

A few years ago I read the second book in this series, but never continued when the third and fourth book released. A friend of mine started this series with another friend and I was able to join them for the third and fourth book. I’m so glad I did. It took me a few chapters to understand the story again, but so much happens! We’re almost done with the fourth book now and I’m scared for all of these characters.

Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians is a book I received in a book swap a couple of years ago right around the time the book was about to release. I’m someone who likes to read the book first, so put it on my wishlist. I finally got around to reading it!! It was so good. There was so much drama, but also a lot of funny moments. I’ll be reading the sequel in July.

Again Again – E. Lockhart

Again Again was a book that sounded really interesting and I have to say that ended up being the case, but I’m still really not sure what I read. Besides the time the character is in, we also get other possibilities from other universes. Part of me wishes there was less romance and more family, but it was a fast read.

Shipped – Angie Hockman

Shipped was a fun romance and it didn’t take me long to be done with this book. I read it in two sittings. Our main characters are competing for the same promotion and must go on one of the company’s cruises. There was a lot of laugh out loud moments, but not really much of the romance. It needed more of that.

Honey Girl – Morgan Rogers

Honey Girl is a book I’ve seen around a lot since it released and read it this month for a book discussion. This book was everything I needed. It’s not just a romance, but also about self care and mental health. Add an amazing cast of characters and this was one amazing book.

The Bone Thief – Breeana Shields

Last year I read and loved The Bone Charmer right before The Bone Thief released. Of course, I got distracted and just about a year later I sat down with this one. I loved this story and it’s a fast read. I do think it would’ve worked better as a trilogy. There was so much more to explore.

The Space Between Worlds – Micaiah Johnson

Sci-fi isn’t a genre I read a lot of, but The Space Between Worlds was in my Illumicrate last year. There was a group read of it, so it was time to pick this up. I love the concept of everyone existing on multiple worlds and not being able to travel to other worlds unless you’re not alive there. Again, this is a book I think would’ve done better being more than just a standalone. There were so many things going on that we didn’t get to explore all of the events going on.

Heartstopper Vol. 3 – Alice Oseman

When I got Heartstopper Vol. 4 it put my right in the mood to finally pick this one up. Alice Oseman has created some amazing characters and their story makes me happy. It also deals with some difficult subjects, but does so in an amazing way.

Just Pretend – Tori Sharp

A middle grade graphic novel memoir isn’t something I’ve really heard about, so I was curious. The author explores her childhood and parents’ divorce and her using writing to deal with everything. The artwork was amazing and the story quite interesting.

Shark Summer – Ira Marcks

Another middle grade graphic novel. Shark Summer has amazing artwork and I loved all of the details. The story was a lot of fun. Our main character is in a new town and trying to deal with many events happening. There’s a crew making a movie and she and her friends decide to as well about a local legend. This was a fast and fun read.

Dare to Live, Dare to Love – Nicole C. Moon

I’m always up for discovering new authors and this cover spoke to me. This is a sweet friends to lovers romance. It was a cute story, but definitely lacked for me in certain aspects.

Instructions for Dancing  – Nicola Yoon

I’ve previously read Nicola Yoon’s two other books and thought they were good, so I didn’t have to think twice about signing up for the book tour for her newest book. Instructions for Dancing is a cute contemporary with a dash of magical realism. The story is amazing and I loved the characters and it definitely hit me in all the feels. I won’t be forgetting this book.

Mirrorland – Carole Johnstone

Lately I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone and reading more mysteries and thrillers and Mirrorland sounded like a good one to try. Unfortunately, in the end this one just wasn’t for me. It took me too long to really get hooked and the ending just felt like it went too far.

A Circle of Crows – Kelsey Kingsley

Kelsey really has become one of my favorite authors and has decided to do something completely different. This is a murder mystery with romance of course. I was sucked into this book from the start and just couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait for more of these characters.

Six Stories – Matt Wesolowski

A group of friends and I have a group now where we’re going to read series together. Six Stories is the first series and it’s basically a podcast that talks about a case that has happened. I think this would’ve been a great one to listen to the audiobook to, but the e-book was good as well. I loved trying to figure things out and the podcast format added an amazing element.

Cirque Beserk – Jessica Guess

This month I also decided to step outside of my comfort zone withe a couple horror novellas. Cirque Beserk took place at an amusement park where so many people were tragically killed years ago. The group of teenagers in this book goes to visit and you know they’re not walking out alive. I enjoyed this more than I expected to.

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King – Hailey Piper

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King was the other novella I read this month and the atmosphere was definitely spooky. Out of the two this one was my least favorite, but I still enjoyed it more than expected.

Dumplin’ – Julie Murphy

Dumplin’ is a book I’ve been wanting to read for awhile. Even more so since the movie came on Netflix. I’m glad I finally got to pick it up. I enjoyed the characters and the story and hope to read the next book soon.

Jay’s Gay Agenda – Jason June

Ever since I saw this cover I’ve been wanting to read Jay’s Gay Agenda. So I was really excited about seeing the audiobook on Storytel. The story was really good and I loved seeing a whole new world opening up for the main character and seeing him deal with that. There were a couple of aspects that took away from my enjoyment, but all in all a fun contemporary!

A Guy Walks Into My Bar – Lauren Blakely

I actually started the e-book for A Guy Walks Into My Bar a couple of months ago when a friend recommended the audiobook. It has a full cast and was so much fun. This romance was just what I needed and I loved the characters. A romance without much drama, but it just fit perfectly. I definitely see myself rereading this one.

 

Summary

Favorite Book: Honey Girl/A Guy Walks Into My Bar
Least Favorite: Mirroland
Most Surprising: Instructions for Dancing

Isabelle

I finally had a good reading month again! A really good one actually. I managed to read 10 books with some big ones in there. It’s a combination of rereads, manga, graphic novels, poetry, newer releases, backlist books and even a fanfiction (that I’m totally counting).

Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson

I can finally cross another Brandon Sanderson off the list! And a pretty big one at that! I enjoyed this a lot and I it got me super excited to read more of Brandons books soon. He writes such great worlds and I can’t wait to see how it all connects.

Love Her Wild – Atticus

Everyone now and then I like to go on a little poetry binge and this one was part of that. I liked this one a lot! Some come with art or interesting ways of writing something but I listened to the audiobook for this one so I can’t speak to that. It was really nice to listen to the audiobook, I feel like I heard the poems as they were meant to be.

Siege: Loki #1 – Kieron Gillen

I was expecting this to be longer haha. But it turned out to only be one issue. So I was done in no time and felt like the story wasn’t done yet. The story does continue in an issue of another series but I have to be honest, that is a lot of work to find and read the story that way. So I might leave this one with just this issue read.

Skeptic in Salem: An Episode of Murder – Fiona Grace

This was a fun audiobook for in between some bigger books. The story wasn’t anything surprising or great, but it was fun. It’s a cosy murder mystery and I really like reading those. They come with different expectations for me and that is totally fine.

A Closed and Common Orbit – Becky Chambers

After reading about this one in multiple TBR posts I finally picked it back up! And I’m happy I did so. While this wasn’t my favorite, I did enjoy it a lot. And I do plan on picking up the next book soonish haha.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride 2 – Kore Yamazaki

I enjoyed the first volume in this series and I now read the second one as well. It is a very interesting series and I wish I could just binge read the whole thing in one go. This series is not super ‘easy’ so I need to refresh myself a bit before diving back in.

King of Scars & Rule of Wolves – Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars was a reread so I could finally read Rule of Wolves and they did not disappoint! I loved rereading King of Scars and was really happy I did so. Apparently I had forgotten quite some details and it made my read of Rule of Wolves so much better. I loved Rule of Wolves so much <3.

The Apothecary Diaries 1 – Natsu Hyuuga

This is the latest manga series I started and I enjoyed it a lot. Beforehand I thought it was a fantasy series for some reason but this is more historical fiction than anything else. I would love to read the rest of the series!

All The Young Dudes – MsKingBean89

I’m not really a big fanfiction reader but pretty recently I started to get into it. And this is one of the most recommended and beloved Marauders fics out there. It’s pretty damn long; with over 520k words I felt like I could definitely add this as a book and it was already on Goodreads so I wasn’t the only one haha. This is so good and I would highly recommend! But maybe stop after year 7 if you don’t want to get into the war chapters, we all know how it ends ;).

Summary

Favorite Book: Rule of Wolves
Least Favorite: Siege: Loki
Most Surprising: All The Young Dudes

These are all the books we read in the month of June. Have you read any of ours? And what did you read? Let us know down below!