Hello Readers! If you take a look back at My June TBR, you’ll see I read 5 of the 7 books I had planned. My TBR changed mostly because of books on my Libby waitlist becoming available. I did read a total of 6 books and 1 short story, with a total of 2,051 pages. Those books I didn’t get to are still at the top of my TBR. I’ll be combining my wrap-up and haul for this month, since both were not too lengthy.

I’m working hard to get caught up on posts and get some scheduled for the next few weeks. I’m planning on taking a short hiatus. Probably just for a few weeks. It will be my first in the almost-four years I’ve been blogging. 😅 But know that I will be back soon!

Let’s see what I read and what I added to my TBR!

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

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

June Wrap-Up

I started the month finishing up Jennifer Weiner’s short story Golden Hills. This one didn’t wow me too much. I thought it was well-written but not very memorable.

➤My Rating: ★★★

As soon as my copy of Happy Place by Emily Henry arrived, I started reading. I knew instantly it would be one I loved, and it’s currently one of my favorite reads of the year so far!

➤My Rating: ★★★★★
➤Popsugar Challenge prompt: A book about a vactaion
➤My Review

I’d decided to reread Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume when I saw there was a new adaption. I was pretty sure I’d read this as a child, but I had no memory of it. I jumped on a waitlist on Libby and once it became available, I started reading. While I still have no memory of reading it as a child, all of it was familiar, so I’m calling it a reread. 🙂 I still need to watch the adaptation.

➤My Rating: ★★★★

Next I picked up my ARC of Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery. I became a fan of this author when I read her debut, and I’m happy to say I enjoyed this one just as much. An atmospheric beach setting, yummy descriptions of food, and a wonderful three-generational historical fiction story!

➤My Rating: ★★★★¼
➤My Review
➤Published on June 13, 2023

I’d been on the waitlist for Loathe to Love You, a collection of novellas by Ali Hazelwood, through Libby, but the individual stories actually became available first. I read each one in the order intended and then was able to read the bonus story in the collection when I finished. I was nervous about the mixed reviews, but I adored all three of these! Below Zero—the last one—was my favorite!

➤My Rating: ★★★★

Camilla Isley, an indie author I enjoy reading, recently signed with Boldwood Books and some of her backlist is being republished with edits, new titles, and new covers. The Love Theorem is one I hadn’t read yet, so I was happy to be approved for an advance copy. It had a super sweet meet-cute, but it also had two of my least favorite tropes: celebrity and miscommunication. But I could tell it had more polish than some of her other books, so I’m excited to read her new releases with the new publisher.

➤My Rating: ★★★½
➤My Review
➤Published on June 13, 2023

And finally, another book I read when it became available through Libby, I’d seen a few fellow Goodreads ‘friends’ reading Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski, and as someone who’s been deconstructing their faith, relearning how to view sexuality without shame, I thought this might be helpful. I learned a lot, and it’s definitely just the beginning, but it’s a gentle way to begin a healing process, to retrain my brain. Sexuality should be something we all talk about, and I was shocked by the falsehoods we’ve been taught about the female body, which sadly includes the romance genre, as well.

➤My Rating: ★★★★

June Book Haul

I added a few new books to my physical and digital shelves this month, including a few eARCs, a few used books, and two books from my Book Hook-Up Subscription Box. I did forget to include Happy Place in this photo since it arrived at the very beginning of the month.

My eARCs

Another backlist book being rereleased through Camilla Isley’s new publisher is The Love Proposal, so I was happy to be approved for the ARC since it’s one I haven’t read yet!

Synopsis:

The moment you stop looking, that’s when Prince Charming will come knocking on your door!

Summer Knowles does not want a boyfriend. Relationships have caused enough problems in her life. As bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding, she’s going to avoid all things romantic – especially the brawny, hipster best-man who has commitment-phobe written all over him!

When Archie Hill meets Summer, he immediately thinks bridesmaid-and-best-man-with-benefits! They have one week together and may as well make the most of it. But what if one week just isn’t enough…

As wedding fever takes hold, can a sworn-off-men bridesmaid and a die-hard bachelor learn a thing or two about happy-ever-after?

A friends-with-benefits, wedding date rom-com, perfect for fans of Sarah Adams!

Please note that this title was originally published as You May Kiss the Bridesmaid.

Expected July 22, 2023

---

Josie Silver’s previous novel One Night on the Island was one of my favorite reads of last year, so I’m super happy to get approved for her next romance, A Winter in New York!

Synopsis:

A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.

When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

Expected October 3, 2023

---

I was also happy to be approved for the next book by Sophie Cousens, The Good Part, which sounds like a holiday romance but doesn’t look like one. 😉

Synopsis:

By the New York Times bestselling author of Just Haven’t Met You Yet, a downtrodden twenty-six-year-old wakes up to the life she’s always wanted, but is it really a dream come true?

At twenty-six, Lucy Young is tired. Tired of fetching coffees for senior TV producers, tired of going on disastrous dates, and definitely tired of living in a damp flat share with flatmates who never buy toilet roll. She could quit her job for a better living, but she’s not ready to give up on her dreams. Not just yet. After another diabolical date lands her in a sudden storm and no money for bus fare, Lucy finds herself seeking shelter in a tiny shop, where she stumbles upon a curious wishing machine. Pushing her last coin into the slot, Lucy closes her eyes and wishes with everything she’s got: Please, let me skip to the good part of my life.

When she wakes the next morning to a handsome man, a ring on her finger, a high-powered job, and storybook perfect little boy and baby girl, Lucy can’t believe this is real—especially when she looks in the mirror, and staring back is her own forty-something face. Has she really skipped ahead to the future she’s always wanted, or has she simply forgotten a huge chunk of her life? And as Lucy begins to embrace this new life and new relationships, she’ll have to ask herself: Can she go back, and if so, does she want to?

Expected November 7, 2023

---

The Book Hook-Up

One fun thing about a quarterly subscription book box? Sometimes you forget it’s coming. My summer Book Hook-Up box from The Strand had a thriller/summer camp theme, which was so fun! It included a signed copy of You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron and an ARC of Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones.

Paperbackswap Books

• The Simple Wild (Wild, #1) by K.A. Tucker – I own this one on kindle, but I’ve always wanted a copy to add my shelf. I’ve been on the waitlist through paperbackswap and it finally became available!
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain – Another book that has been on my waitlist for years!

Free Book

Camilla Isley had one of her oldest backlist books available for free so I added it. My Best Friend’s Boyfriend is the third in the Just Friends series. I haven’t read any of this series, but I do have the first book already on my kindle.

Amazon First Reads

My Amazon First Reads choice for the month was actually hard for the first time in a long time. There were three books I was interested in so I went with the romance selection since that’s my comfort zone. I chose Role Playing by Cathy Yardley. It has some mixed reviews, but it sounds super cute. And I do adore the cover!

Published on July 1, 2023

How was your reading month? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!