Sunday Book Club: June 2018 Reading List

danaerinw@gmail.com

6 years ago

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We’ve hit the summer reading months! Which means I can finally start lounging by the pool (in the shade) reading all of the books. I’m so excited. It’s also the beginning of the month, so it’s time to share my June 2018 reading list. It was a busy month, so let’s get started.

June 2018 Reading List

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu

I actually reviewed it over on my instagram. Check out my review over here!

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon

Guys, I was so on with posting my reviews on instagram this month! You can check out the mini review here and then you need to go read the book. I loved this one just as much as When Dimple Met Rishi. This book focused on Dimple, a aspiring film maker in high school who is trying to handle the fact that her best friend is quickly leaving her for the popular girl, while also trying to make a film for the student film festival. On top of all that, a mysterious “N” has started sending emails confessing his crush on Twinkle. She’s not sure who he is, but she thinks it may be her crush, Neil. This book is incredibly cute, but Menon also does an amazing job of creating strong female leads that her readers can aspire to be. Her Dimple is smart, ambitious, and unstoppable. I think I may have just convinced myself that I need to go reread this book again.

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Did you read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or maybe you saw Love, Simon? Either way, guess what? Albertalli, the author wrote a sequel! This time the story is told from Hannah’s, Simon’s best friend, point of view, while they’re in their senior year of high school. It’s been a while since I read Simon, but I had recently seen Love, Simon, so everything was fresh in my mind. In some ways everything felt like they just picked up exactly where the last book left off and everything made sense. There were other places though where like the main characters, I felt like I also had a “huh? okay.” moment. Overall, do I think it’s worth a read? Yes. Definitely.

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Say hello to the book that’s about to become your next creepy indie flick. Honestly, this has movie written all over it. That shouldn’t stop you from reading it though. It’s about this girl who comes back to visit her hometown after her best friend passes away. Except everyone seems different and everything just seems off now. Also, nothing about her friend’s death seems to make sense. The more she finds out about the death, the less it makes sense to her. I picked up this book to read on a 90 minute plane right and I finished it before my plane had even landed. I just got sucked into it and wanted to know what had happened. It was just too creepy.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks

This was a reread for me. I had read it a few years ago when the novel first came out, but decided to read it again because of the upcoming wedding. Let me tell you, it still holds up 3 years later. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor and go read it asap.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

I’ve liked the other novels I’ve read by Lisa Jewell, but this one just fell flat. There wasn’t really a twist and the ending just felt meh. I can’t even really recommend it (which I just feel bad about).

Our Lady of the Prairie by Thisbe Nissen

I was drawn into this book because of the description that the main character gets mixed up in trying to figure out if her mother-in-law was a Nazi sympathizer. That was about 10% of the book. Maybe 15%. The rest of it was about a women dealing with a midlife crisis that I wasn’t that interested in. Maybe good for someone else but not that much for me? I honestly spent most of my time reading it wondering if I really cared. Maybe I will when I’m older, but not right now.

The Royals Series by Erin Watts (Paper Princess, Broken Prince, and Twisted Palace)

By the beginning of May, my brain had been fried by prepping for my conference. I wanted to read, but I needed something I could enjoy without thinking too hard. Enter the Royals series. I’m just going to put this out there, it’s smutty YA romance. I loved it. It was so bad it was good. You may feel like you need to shower after reading it, but whatever. I binged listened to all three book thanks to audible and it was great. I haven’t read 4 and 5 yet, but I can’t wait for them to come out.

The Good House by Ann Leary

I was looking at a list of great books to listen to on audio and this one came up on the list. Since I’ve been really into audio lately, I figured that I would give this one a try. It’s about an older woman who’s a bit of a busybody and an alcoholic (though she’s in denial about that part). It follows her as a new family moves into town and how she gets tied up in the drama that comes with those relationships. It was a fun fiction book, and definitely a good book to listen to on audio.

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

I’m typically not a short stories person. I try, I really do, but I’d rather read a novel and be able to go deeper into each character. However, Sittenfeld manages to present fully developed stories, with realized, whole characters. I never felt like I was missing something or a story felt complete. While there were some characters I would have wanted to spend more time with, I never felt like there was a story that was in complete or a characters who was underdeveloped. It’s an impressive feat that only Sittenfeld could pull off. So all this to say, if you aren’t a short stories person, I’d say give this one a chance. And if you are a short stories person, definitely pick this one up.

The Very Worst Missionary by Jamie Wright

Is it weird that I love reading books about people critiquing their own religions? Or rather, people who used to be super religious, but have taken a step back to realize some of the hypocrisies that appear in every religion and then want to openly discuss it? That’s probably a more diplomatic way of saying that. Well, Wright does that, but she manages to do it in a hilarious way. Wright fell hard into becoming a missionary, starting blogging to share her mission with others, and then started to realize faults in what she was doing. This book shares that journey and how Wright shifted her attitude about her thoughts and beliefs. I found it fascinating, though, I honestly felt like it was a little too short? I felt like she was holding back something, but I couldn’t tell what.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

A friend told me to read this book because while they didn’t like it as much, they thought (for that reason), I would. I think that right there unintentionally set me up to not like it as much. I went into it expecting to like it, but it was a solid meh for me. The premise of the book is that four siblings meet a fortune teller who tells them all the exact day they’re going to die. You then follow each of them leading up to their death. It has an interesting premise, but again, a solid meh for me.

So that’s my June 2018 reading list. What have you read or are planning to read? Let me know if you have any recommendations!