Monthly Wrap-Up

June 2022 Monthly Wrap-Up

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…

Highlights from elsewhere…

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!

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!

16 thoughts on “June 2022 Monthly Wrap-Up”

  1. I’m a camper, and Happiness is for Beginners is my favorite Katherine Center book. I really enjoyed The No-Show, but agree it’s not her best… but “not her best” is really, really good! LOL

  2. What a great month Dedra. That is one Katherine Center book I haven’t read, but will see if my library has it. It sounds like you had a relaxing time away. I am still trying to get to The No-Show, soon I hope.

    1. I think you’d love Happiness for Beginners, as well! The No-Show was solid, and probably better written, but I still liked The Flatshare and The Road Trip better.

  3. Thank you for sharing my post 💜 The Reunion looks super interesting, I’m mostly eyeing it for the pretty cover, the colours are pleasing to my eyes haha. Not seen the adaptation to the summer I turned pretty but I did watch the trailer and the soundtrack made me feel so nostalgic for some reason. It just feels like such a good summer show, maybe I’ll watch somehow who knows. Hope you have a lovely July!

    1. You’re so welcome! Such a great post! The cover of The Reunion is definitely eye-catching. It’s a great read when you want something light. Same for The Summer I Turned Pretty. It’s pure entertainment. 🙂 Happy reading to you, too!

  4. I love your cute kitty in your wrap up picture!! I remember when that Kate Bush song came out (I was a fan back when; my favorite song is This Woman’s Work). It’s crazy how a show can catapult such an old song to the top. So glad to see the Center book was a hit. I am getting all emotional just thinking about it.

    1. “This Woman’s Work” is maybe the only Kate Bush song I knew before this one. I so wish I would have discovered her in my teen years. She was just a little outside of my listening genre and a little ahead of my time. But I love her voice! It’s been so cool to see “Running Up That Hill” climbing the charts again. I think I have four more of Center’s backlist books waiting on my shelf. Now I really want to get to them!

  5. I also love the kitty in your wrap-up picture! 😀 It sounds like you had a great reading month. I haven’t been back to a movie theatre yet post-COVID, but then I hadn’t been going out to movies much in the years leading up to that, either. There are some movies that are just best on the big screen, though!

    1. That’s Gansey. She refused to move so I just left her in. Haha! We really don’t get to the theater often either. My husband isn’t as big of a fan as I am, but I have been known to go alone. Ha! Top Gun is definitely one that needed to be seen on the big screen. What’s nice about most theaters now is the ability to choose your seats online and see how full the theater will be. We had it mostly to ourselves. 😃

      1. She’s such a cutie! I do like that theatres are letting you choose your seats online now. Our local cinema has had that option in person for a while, so I’ve seen it at their kiosks. I hadn’t checked to see if I could pick seats before even leaving the house, though. 😉

  6. Great wrap up, Dedra! Looks like you had an amazing month of reading 😍 I’m so glad that you enjoyed Chloe Liese’s books. Now I can’t wait for you to discover the rest of her series because it’s truly amazing and one of my favourite romances ever. I haven’t read The Reunion yet but I really enjoyed The One Night and it really had me cracking up! 😂

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