June 2021
Iβve been reading so much, but I donβt always feel like writing a full review for everything. I was inspired by Modern Mrs. Darcyβs Quick Lit posts, as well as Hannah at So Obsessed Withβs monthly Quick Lit posts, and decided to do something similar as a way to briefly discuss the books I read in a month but donβt write full reviews for.
I feel pretty good about my June reading! I finished 14 books, bringing my total read so far this year to 94 books.
Here are the June reads I’ve already reviewed / will be reviewing on the blog:
Bringing Down the Duke, Evie Dunmore;
No One Is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood;
Front Desk, Kelly Yang;
XOXO, Axie Oh (review to come closer to release date);
The Bone Maker, Sarah Beth Durst; and
Survive the Night, Riley Sager.
(I’ve been reading a lot but am slow on review writing!) Here are my thoughts on the rest of what I read last month:
Shiver, Allie Reynolds (library) – 3β
This reminded me of One By One by Ruth Ware, in terms of the setting and premise, and this was a decent read. The jumps back and forth in time kept me reading and pushed the story forward, but I didn’t love this one. The snowboarding details added an extra something to this one for me.
Mina and the Undead, Amy McCaw (owned) – 3β
I loved the premise and the setting, but the execution/writing felt flat to me. The story was fun, but the writing itself felt sort of bare bones.
The Merciless IV: Last Rites, Danielle Vega (owned) – 3β
This was fine. I don’t think it was the weakest book in the series, but I’m also not sure it added anything to the series for me. But Danielle Vega does write some great gruesome scenes.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, Layla F. Saad (owned) – 5β
This was definitely not a book I could read quickly, but I did the journaling prompts as I read, and it was really difficult and challenging but important.
This Is Not the Jess Show, Anna Carey (owned) – 3β
This was a good View Spoiler » story, but the second half lagged for me compared to what was a really fun first half. The ending of the book was really abrupt, although View Spoiler » but the end still felt somewhat jarring.
The Ones We’re Meant To Find, Joan He (e-ARC) – 3β
I liked the ideas in this book and particularly Cee’s story, but a lot of it went over my head in terms of the tech. I also struggled to understand the world, and perhaps at a different time this would have been the book for me, but for all the parts I liked, there were as many parts that I couldn’t follow or that dragged for me. What was clear was Cee and Kay’s relationship, and how important they were to each other.
I feel so torn because I know so many people have enjoyed this one and I really wanted to, but it might just be the case of not the right book at the right time for me.
Bunny, Mona Awad (owned) – 3β
This was such a delightfully strange, WTF story at times, even if it didn’t make much sense to me.
Animal, Lisa Taddeo (e-ARC) – 2β
Oh boy did I want to love this. I was so excited about this book, and if it hadn’t been for my high hopes for it I likely would have DNFd. I pushed through, even though I didn’t really like anything about it, hoping I would have an ‘aha’ moment and suddenly get into it, but I never did. I know it’s getting some great reviews, but I didn’t like anything about this or enjoy reading it or get anything out of it, sadly.
I am very excited for my July reading! What have you been reading lately?
