Another month is over and June was not a great reading month for me. First of all...I did not read any of the three books I wanted to read for sure. I only read 5 books for the month of June and only two of the 5 books were on the June TBR at all. I tried reading the serious fiction I had on my for sure TBR but in the end I was just not feeling anything I had to concentrate or think too hard about. We'll start with the 5 books I did read and go from there.
1. Beach Read by Emily Henry. This is the first book I finished in June and I loved it. This is about a girl named January Andrews who is a best selling romance author whose father has just died. With her father's death she finds out secrets about him and his relationship with her mother which shakes her belief in love and happy endings. Along with these revelations about her father and her own relationship ending she suffers from writer's block. So with her own money running out and a book deadline looming she goes to a beach house to try and get everything back on track. Then she realizes that Augustus Everett is living next door to her. Augustus is an acclaimed literary fiction author and happened to be January's biggest rival back in college. He also happens to be suffering from writer's block as well. So they make a deal to switch genres so he'll write a chick lit happy ending book and she'll write a super serious literary fiction. During their research trips together it becomes a hate to love romance, which is one of my favorite tropes and I adored both January and Gus and this was just one of the best books I've read this year. I gave this a solid 5/5 stars on Goodreads.
2. And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander. This is the first book in a historical mystery series. I received the latest book in this series, In the Shadow of Vesuvius, which is the 14th book in the series last month in a mystery box from my local bookstore. I got this book as an eBook from my library and I enjoyed it. It takes place in Victorian era London and follows the main character Lady Emily Ashton who is still in mourning for her husband who died shortly after their marriage. As she gets to know her late husband through his friends and his journals, she finds out about his love for antiquities, especially Greek ones and then realizes that several of the antiquities that her late husband had donated to the British Museum are forgeries and she has the real ones in her country home. This book was highly enjoyable mystery fluff. I've already read the second book as well and I intend on continuing with the series. This is a solid 3.5/5. 
3. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton. This is a young adult contemporary romance that follows a girl named Kit Sweetly who works at one of those Medieval dinner and a show restaurants that is owned by her uncle. She's a wench and her brother is a knight but Kit dreams about upsetting the patriarchal standards of the company and riding in the tournament as a knight. Then her brother can't perform so she takes his place as a knight in the night's tournament and she ends up an internet celebrity dubbed the "girl knight". She bands together with her friends to change things for everyone at the company. It was cute fluffy fluff and I really enjoyed it. I gave it a nice 4/5 stars. 
4. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. This is a classic murder mystery novel. It's about the famed detective Hercule Poirot who is travelling across Europe aboard the famed Orient Express when one of the first class passengers is murdered and no one seems to have a motive for the crime. In the end it turns out everyone has a motive and nothing is as it seems. The ending is different than the ending in the recent movie (which I find sort of annoying) but I definitely like the book ending better. I listened to this as an audio book from the library which was read by Dan Stevens, the actor who was in Downton Abbey and the live action Beauty and the Beast remake. It was soooo good and I highly recommend the audio version. I gave it a 4.5/5 stars. 
5. A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander. This is the second book in the Lady Emily series. I borrowed this one from the library as well and I enjoyed it a little more than the first book. This book catches up with Lady Emily Ashton in her first London season out of mourning. Three's a man who is claiming to be the heir to the French throne and someone is stealing items that belonged to Marie Antoinette. Then shortly after Emily convinces a man to report the theft of a pink diamond that belonged to the doomed French queen is poisoned, Lady Emily finds herself in the middle of a murder case and with the help of her late husband's best friend Colin, she must discover who killed this man and why as well as who the thief is, who is Emily's secret admirer and who this man really is and whether or not he really is the missing heir to the throne. It was entertaining mystery fluff and I enjoyed it a lot. I gave this a 3.75/5 stars. 
So there's the five books I read. They were all really entertaining and light fluff that didn't require much in the way of thought or concentration which is just what I needed for June and might carry on into July.
With that being said I bought a lot of books in June. I bought 24 books and most were actually not on-sale Kindle books so I don't even have an excuse.
- A Burning by Megha Majumdar.
- My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
- The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen, book one in The Merciful Crow series.
- The Lost Girl in Paris by Diney Costeloe.
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley.
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
- The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson.
- All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban.
- The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne.
- The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee; book 1.5 in the Montague Siblings series.
- The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta.
- Stonewall by Martin Duberman.
- I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown.
- Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian.
- Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera.
- These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling; book 1 in the These Witches Don't Burn series.
- Becoming by Michelle Obama.
- Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner.
- All For One by Melissa de la Cruz; book 3 in the Alex & Eliza trilogy.
- Anne Frank's Family by Mirjam Pressler.
- Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink
- The Bridal Strain: Emily and Colin's Wedding by Tasha Alexander; Book 3.5 of the Lady Emily series.
- Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander; Book 4 of the Lady Emily series.
So that's the month of June in the bag. Coming soon will be my July TBR and plans as well as my mid-year wrap up since June is the halfway point for the year.
Happy Reading!
Richelle
No comments:
Post a Comment