June was so busy. I had just one wedding but a ton of couples sessions, which meant many weekday evenings were spent shooting, and weekends were jam-packed with (fun!) plans. So that only left only little moments here and there for reading.
I missed reading all month, just squeezing a few pages in on my Kindle before falling asleep at night or listening to an audiobook while doing chores around the house. This is fine; I'm grateful I can still read in these ways during busy times. But by the end of the month, I found myself craving uninterrupted reading time with just a physical book. I foresee more of that in the future as July slows down a bit, and I intentionally carve out reading time.
I enjoyed what I read this month. The word I use to describe most of my reading this month is entertaining. Which is good when your brain is in a million places at once, and you need something comforting, joyful, or entertaining. But I also wanted reading experiences that made me feel deeply and books that blew me away. I had a few of those moments this month, but I'll be focused on picking up more of those types of books in the coming weeks. It's funny how our reading moods, priorities, and pace change throughout the year! I love witnessing it.
Here are the six books I read this month and some brief thoughts on them.
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Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan | Romance | Loved it
Oh, what a delight! I loved Monaghan's debut, Nora Goes Off Script, and this one lived up to my expectations. It's a fun, summery romance that ticked all the boxes for me. Ali and Ethan's dynamic was so sweet, and I liked that they were slightly older main characters. It's refreshing to read characters who can openly share their emotions, and the tension doesn't hinge on poor communication. I also loved the setting of coastal New England and, overall, just found it enjoyable to spend time with these characters.
Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter | Thriller | Really liked it
I'm not a thriller reader, but I had to pick this up since I'm such a fan of Olivia's Substack and the Bad on Paper podcast. I ended up listening to most of this one on audio, and it was so good! It was suspenseful and had twists that kept me guessing. What I appreciated most, though, was Olivia's reflections and commentary on social media and influencer culture and the blurry lines of sharing your life online. If you are looking for something that will grip you and is smart and insightful, I can't recommend this enough.
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin | Literary fiction | Loved it
Okay, this was hands down my favorite read this month and will likely make it into my favorite reads of the year. It's a novel about four siblings, set over decades from the 1980s and into the 2070s. It was everything I want in my reading experiences. It was immersive, beautifully written, and full of insights into what it means to be human, love, and grow and change in a close-knit family. I can't remember who recently recommended it, which caused me to finally pick it up, but I was shocked it hadn't fallen onto my radar sooner (it was published in 2019).
One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin | Romance | It was okay
This was a solid romance that I enjoyed but didn't love as much as I wanted to. It's funny, and the premise is promising, but it lacked the fizzy excitement I feel when I read a romance I love. This is a personal writing preference, but the author used a lot of parentheses in the writing that I found distracting while reading. I found it hard to get past them once I started noticing them. I switched to audio and that helped a bit.
One Last Summer by Kate Spencer | Romance | Liked it
I already gushed about this one earlier this week. If you're looking for more summer camp vibes in your reading life, this is the one for you.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton | Literary fiction | Really liked it
I read this with my local book club this month, and I found it hard to settle into at first since I've been reading a lot of romance, and this squarely falls into the literary fiction genre. But once I settled in, I found it incredibly readable, and I was impressed with Catton’s ability to create such realistic characters. At times it felt slow because of all the detail, but I especially loved the third part and the twists that come. The parts that focused on Mira and Shelley’s friendship reminded me so much of Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You. And the eccentric billionaire, Lemoine, vying for exclusive land reminded me C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk and Honey. This one is really going to stick with me and I’m glad I finally read it!
Have you read any of these? What was your favorite read this month? I’d love to hear in the comments!
really looking forward to finally reading Birnam Wood now that I have a paperback copy !
Early in the month, I read A Talent for Murder. This isn’t a genre I typically read, but I was captivated by the story and read it quickly.