June 2025 Reading Recap

Who has time for books when you're an auntie??

June was a pretty wild month — lots of activities, sporting events, celebrations and, best of all, the birth of my first nephew, Ian Malcolm!

Suffice it to say, reading took a bit of a back seat amidst all this excitement. I read some good books, but definitely felt like most of the WOWs of the month were elsewhere. Here’s a recap:

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📘 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

I can’t think of how to summarize this novel about toxic lesbian vampires without spoiling it… so I just won’t? It’s a book about hunger, love, and rage, and how women are forced to move through the world grappling with all three. The main characters – Sabine, Charlotte, and Alice – are beautifully real and complex. And the plot is doled out in perfect increments, making the book almost impossible to put down. Except that it’s so good, it’s also a book you want to savor every word in. Truly, a masterpiece. I could not love this book more.

🎧 Book Lovers by Emily Henry

My revisit of Emily Henry continues! I think Book Lovers is my favorite of her books. I love mean and misunderstood female protagonists, and I love the way that Nora didn’t have to change herself or her ambitions to live the life she wanted. Her relationship with her sister is also really lovely. Oh! And Charlie is a wonderful male main character who helps Nora become the person she’s been too afraid to be, with some excellent banter along the way. I just love it.

📘Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

I grabbed this one because I liked The Other Side of Disappearing, and thought this one was equally good. Adrift from her job and her life, Georgie returns to the small town where she grew up to help her friend prepare for a baby and see if she can figure out what she wants from her life. Former troublemaker Levi Fanning and an old diary, change her life in ways she didn’t expect. I thought this one was really charming, just a nice, kind, low-drama romance to read on a summer day.

🎧 The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

In this first of a series, the Princess Guinevere who comes to Camelot to marry King Arthur has a secret – she’s not really Guinevere. Her real name, and her true identity, is a secret even to herself. She’s really a changeling, sent by Merlin to protect Arthur and Camelot from magic threatening the kingdom’s borders. I thought this one was really fun, and a creative take on a story we all know a lot about. I’m excited to listen to the rest of this series – I’m especially curious to see where the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot goes, given the changes made to that character.

📘 The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King

This book is really hard to sum up… it’s a family drama, historical exploration with magical realism, sapphic love story, and dual timeline saga told in letters and journal entries. But as you’re reading the story, it doesn’t feel like all of those things are going on… or at least, they’re so seamlessly blended that it works as a full package. I thought it was quite good.

📘 The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni

A reclusive, ingenious puzzle creator is invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the Dragon Box, a mysterious puzzle that’s remained unsolved for over 150 years. I bought this one not realizing it was the second in a series, but decided to read it anyway. That was a bit of a mistake, since it fully and deeply spoils the first book in the series The Puzzle Master. I also didn’t like it enough to go back and read the first one, so I think maybe this series just isn’t for me.

🎧 Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

I finished this book right at the beginning of the month, and I cannot remember a single thing about it. I know I picked it up because I wanted to read it ahead of the Problematic Summer Romance, which features characters from this book. But otherwise? It was pretty forgettable. Not bad, I finished it and enjoyed listening to it… but just not something that stuck in my brain in a meaningful way.

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Final Thoughts

I’ll wrap up this month with a quick check in on my two book-related goals for the year:

Reading — My goal is read every book that I purchase. At the end of the year, I want to have not added any titles to “Mount TBR.”

Right now I have 16 books on my 2025 “To Be Read” list in The Storygraph, which is a little bit up from where it was when I last looked at this in March. I’m not surprised though — in the interim we’ve celebrated Independent Bookstore Day, and completed two birthday shopping trips. It’s turning into a pile, but it’s not out of control yet.

Behavior — My goal is only to buy books at bookstores.

I’m doing pretty decent at this one. I think I’ve only bought two physical books from Amazon, and none from other sources, so I’m going to say that’s quite good for the year. The Amazon books both had extenuating circumstances, so I feel good about it.

Overall, I’d say I’m on track! Hopefully the Small Hill TBR is a little smaller the next time we check in!