June Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

It is officially July and I've got another wrap-up for the internet. I read twelve books in the month of June all with a some kind of a LGBTQ+ bend for Pride month. I enjoyed everything I read in June, some more so than others and it was a highly successful reading month. So without further ado here's the books I read in the month of June. 

• Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow #2): I read this from May 31st to June 1st and this was a reread before I read the last book in the trilogy. This is all about what happens to Simon and Baz after the dust settles on their final battle and the trauma that comes after. I still love it and it's still a 5 star read.  I will never ever not love Simon and Baz. 
  
  
  
• Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow #3): I was very reluctant to read this since it is the final book in the Simon/Baz trilogy and I hate it when things I love so much end. That being said I read it from June 1st through the 9th and it provided with an adequate amount of closure for the series and the characters. I gave this a 5 star rating just like the others. 
  
  
  
• Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life by Jonathan Van Ness: this is a memoir written in the form of essays by JVN, my personal favorite member of the fab 5 from Queer Eye. Along with reading this I was also watching an obscene amount of Queer Eye on Netflix. I laughed, I cried, and now I'm following JVN on Instagram. I highly recommend the book, the show and the Instagram (they all give you the warm fuzzies). I read this from June 9th to the 14th and gave it a 4.5 star rating. 
  
  
  
• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado: this was my second memoir of the month and this one is...interesting. Carmen Maria Machado is a bisexual woman and this details the relationship she had with her abusive ex-girlfriend. This book was amazing but it also made me very uncomfortable. This book is written in the second person so it addresses the reader directly in a way that puts you in the position of the author who is the victim of the abuse. As someone who has been the victim of abuse, and furthermore of verbal/psychological abuse, this book was a very uncomfortable experience but also a book I find is very important. I read it from June 14th to 19th and gave it an uncomfy 4 stars. 
  
  
  
• Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman: after reading In the Dream House I needed something light and fluffy so I plowed through volumes 2 and 3 on June 19th. These are following the ongoing budding relationship between Charlie and Nick and I adore them. These graphic novels are sweet and adorable and even though they face adversity their relationship gives me hope. I gave these 5 stars.  
  
  
  
• Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman: see Volume 2 but with boyfriends in Paris! Also read on June 19th and given a 5 star rating. 
  
  
  
• The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E Pitman: this is a middle grade nonfiction about the Stonewall Riots and the origins of pride and pride parades. This book tells the story using objects that were important to the lead up and the continuation of the pride movement that caught fire at Stonewall. I read this book on June 19th and gave it a 4.25 star rating. 
  
  
  
• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta: this is a novel written in prose about a young black gay man who struggles with his identity and then finds himself in university within a drag group. This book was very sweet and very hopefully and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a big fan of books written in prose (such as Elizabeth Acevedo's books) and I highly recommend you give it a try. I read htis from June 19-20th and gave it a 4.5 star rating.  
  
  
  
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power: this is a young adult dystopian horror about a girls school on an island that's been quarantined after an outbreak of a mysterious plague. This plague seems to kill adults more readily than the preteen/teenaged girls and does not affect the girls prior to the onset of puberty. The disease leaves their bodies changed and merged with nature in some cases. It was...interesting. To be honest I was a little disappointed by it because it is very slow in places and the plot is a little thin when it comes to the disease and everything but I still enjoyed well enough. I read it from June 20-24th and gave it 3.5 stars. The book was enjoyable and fine but nothing too special although I will be holding on to my copy because it is just one of my favorite covers of all time. 
  
  
  
• Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman: this is the fourth volume of Heartstopper (and the last of the ones that are out now) and this one was a little heavier in the subject matter than the previous volumes. This one delves into mental health and body image issues and it was handled so beautifully and so respectfully. I love these graphic novels and cannot recommend them enough. I read this on June 27th and gave it 5 stars. 
  
  
  
• One Last Stop by Case McQuiston: this is the second book from Casey McQuiston I've read. This is a female/female Sapphic romance between August, a young woman who is attending college and waiting tables while she's trying to figure out what to do next with her life, and Jane, a young woman caught in a time loop on the Q train in New York from the 1970s. The girls forge a friendship and then a relationship as they work to regain Jane's memories and figure out a way to get her unstuck. I love this book. It was a little slow in some places but I love the relationship between the girls and all the side characters are amazing: straight, gay, trans, bi, drag queens...it's awash in diversity and I adore it. I read this from June 24-29th and gave it a 4.25 stars. 
  
  
  
• Nothing is Okay by Rachel Wiley: this is a tiny volume of feminist  body positive poetry. This is spoken word poetry which I really like and with the recent court decisions I needed some good feminist angry poetry. I read this from June 29th-30th and gave it 4 stars. 
  
  
  

So that is everything I read in the month of June. My least favorite was Wilder Girls by Rory Power which was mostly disappointing rather than actually bad. My favorites were the volumes of Heartstopper (we'll just count that as one) by Alice Oseman. I recommend any of these books and they were all a good time, I would just recommend being in the right headspace for In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado though, it's a fairly tough read. Now we're on to July which is my birthday month so look forward to a TBR post, my second quarter book haul, and probably a birthday specific book haul. I'm still hoping to do better blogging but here we are. 

That being said with these books I have officially read 53 books in 2022! That puts me over my 52 book goal so we'll see how the second half of the year goes!

Happy Reading! 

Richelle