Hello Readers! I hope you’re well and safe. It’s getting scary out there, but we’re just gonna talk about books today, okay? That’s about all my brain can handle at the moment. If you look back at My June TBR, you’ll see I kept my plan light to allow for some mood reading off my #20BooksOfSummer challenge. I wasn’t sure how that would go (I’m a planner), but it actually worked okay for me. I ended up reading 5 out of the 6 books on my TBR plus some, and I’m reading the 6th book I didn’t get to now. Many of these overlap because I found myself reading physical books while I was also reading books on my kindle, picking up whichever I was in the mood for.

I ended up reading 9 books, for a total of 3,292 pages. 2 were ARCs, 6 were backlist books (Yay!!), and 1 was a novella. All of them were technically in the Romance genre, but one of them I would consider more Contemporary Fiction than Romance. 6 of them were on my #20BooksOfSummerChallenge and 2 of them fulfilled prompts on My Popsugar Reading Challenge.

Let’s see what I read!

Be sure to check out The Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction!

June Wrap-Up

(Link to synopsis on Goodreads through the book title.)

I started off the month finally picking up the first book in the Bergman Brothers series, Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese. I’ve seen so many of my fellow bloggers raving about this series, and they weren’t wrong. Off-the charts heat, angsty slow-burn, with great representation, too. I can’t wait to pick up the next book in the series.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

Next I picked up an ARC that I was just recently invited to read, Meant to Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein. I was intrigued with the idea of someone knowing the date they would meet their soulmate, and while I did enjoy this one, I mostly just enjoyed the New York setting.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐.50
My Review
Published on June 7, 2022

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is my fourth Mariana Zapata book since discovering how much I enjoy her books this year. (Thank you Deanna for introducing me to her!) I can’t get enough of Zapata’s slow-burn romances. I read this one through Kindle Unlimited.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐.50

Another ARC I was invited to read, I fully expected The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley to be heart-wrenching, but I couldn’t connect with the characters. I wouldn’t really label this one a Romance. It was written well, but I ended up skimming through the last 40% because I just didn’t care what happened. This one has many positive reviews, though, so it could just be a case of wrong book at the wrong time for me.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐
My Review
Published on June 14, 2022

While I was out of town for a few days, I read The No-Show by Beth O’Leary. I can always count on O’Leary to bring something new to the table. I wasn’t sure how she was going to make the male lead likable, but she made it happen. In unexpected ways. I didn’t like this one as much as her previous books, but I think I’m in the minority.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I technically started The Reunion by Meghan Quinn here, but I was about 20% in when I realized a novella existed about two of the main characters that took place before The Reunion. So I paused my reading and picked up The One Night. I’m so glad I did because it made me appreciate and understand all the characters better. And it was funny and steamy! I read both of Quinn’s books through Kindle Unlimited.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

While still out of town, I started Katherine Center’s Happiness for Beginners, sitting outside enjoying the woods of Arkansas. I’ve had this one waiting on my shelf for a few months and I’m so happy I finally picked it up. It was one of those books I finished and wondered why I hadn’t read it sooner. All the hype is real. If you’re a camper, take this one on your next camping trip! 😉

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’ve also had Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid on my shelf for a long time. I have mixed experiences with TJR, but I enjoyed One True Loves, so I was hoping I’d have success with another one of her older novels. But this was just okay for me. I didn’t really connect with the characters, but I love the idea of the parallel universes. This one did fulfill a prompt on My Popsugar Reading Challenge, though.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐.50

Once I finished The One Night, I resumed The Reunion by Meghan Quinn. This book was HILARIOUS! I laughed out loud so much, drawing looks from my spouse. I was worried about a book with six different POVs, but it worked! My only complaint, some of the plot points were weak, but the humor made up for it.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In case you missed it…

• My Review of West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras
• TTT: Books With a Unit of Time in the Title
• TTT: Epilogues, Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em
• TTT: Books That Exude Summer
• My Popsugar Reading Challenge 2022 Mid-Year Update
• TTT: My Summer 2022 TBR
• The Mid-Year Freak Out Tag of 2022

Highlights from elsewhere…

• Beginners Guide to Kate Bush for Stranger Things fans – Who else has been singing “Running Up That Hill” all month? 🙋‍♀️ Oddly, I know this song from the band Placebo. I didn’t even know it was a cover. Ha! I enjoyed this article by Paste on Kate Bush.
• LOVE, INDEPENDENCE, PUNISHMENT, MURDER: SUMMER CAMP IN YA FICTION – If you’re a fan of books set at summer camp—past and present—this is a fun read by Book Riot.
• THE TROPIFICATION OF MARKETING ROMANCE NOVELS – I enjoyed this discussion post by Amber @ Du Livre.
• Why Do Reviewers Include Disclaimers About ARCs? – I was intrigued by this article on Book Riot. I’m not sure I agree with everything it said, but it’s food for thought.
• A Gen Z’s Love Hate Relationship With Social Media – Clo @ Cuppa Clo shared some great thoughts and reminders about our relationship with Social Media.
• THINGS I LEARNED IN GRAD SCHOOL (LIBRARIAN EDITION) – What a fascinating post by Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den.

What I’ve been watching…

• I binged The Summer I Turned Pretty adaptation on Amazon Prime over a few nights and I really enjoyed it. I just finally read the series last summer, so it was relatively fresh in my mind. The adaptation definitely made some much-needed updates to the book published in 2009. I’m still not sure I care too much about this triangle, but it was beautiful and summery. One thing I definitely approved of is the soundtrack! I’ve been listening to playlists created by the fans since I watched it.
• I also watched the Love & Gelato adaptation on Netflix. It was cute, but I don’t think it lived up to the book. The Italian setting was gorgeous, though.
• We finished Under the Banner of Heaven on Hulu based on the Jon Krakauer true crime book, and we gave it two thumbs up!
• We braved Midsommar (a film we’ve heard is terrifying) to celebrate Midsummer. We weren’t really terrified, just disturbed. But I can appreciate what the film is trying to say. I’m just happy I can now understand all the memes and jokes. 😉
• We finally saw Top Gun: Maverick in the theater. (Boy, was it nice to be back in a theater!) The original Top Gun was one of my favorite movies when I was a young teen, even though it was already a few years old. I even had a poster of fighter jets hanging over my bed. Odd for someone scared of heights! 😃 The new film is very nostalgic, but it’s the (very real) flying that makes this one great!

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How was your reading month? Have you read any of these books? Did you add any of them to your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!