June Wrap-Up

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Hello Hello! How are you?

I can’t believe it’s already July, I’ve said that in my past couple of posts on my blog lately, but it’s true, this year is going by so fast! June went by quite fast but also quite slowly, which is weird, but it sort of makes sense.

I’m so close to my Goodreads Reading Goal for 2020, I’m so proud of myself and I’ve decided that I’m not going to push it up, I’m going to leave it at 100 books and see how many I can read over my goal, and with still 6 months left, I’m sure I can read a fair few more books!

I was able to read all the blog tour books and author requests that I had planned for June, if you didn’t see my June TBR, you can read it here. After some really busy months back in April and May, I had a little break in June and didn’t put as much pressure on myself, but I still managed to read a total of 16 books, which isn’t my best, but I’m quite happy about it!

BOOKS READ

My Favourite Book of the Month

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson – 5 stars

I don’t think I’ve had that *great* of a reading month in June, but I definitely think that this one was the best. I heard so much about this book from various bloggers over the last little while and I eventually got my hands on a copy and absolutely devoured it. I loved it so freaking much, it was so amazing, the characters were so great, the plot blew my mind and if you have some motivation left after reading my wrap-up, I urge you to go read my gushing review of this fantastic YA mystery here.

June Books

Rainy Days for the Harper Girls (#3 Welcome to Harpers Emporium) by Rosie Clarke – 4 stars

This was my first blog tour of the month and a really interesting and different one. Set in London just before WWI, this is the third instalment in this series. I didn’t read the other books first but I don’t think you need to because I enjoyed it and didn’t find myself wondering what came before. If you like historical fiction with an emphasis on female friendship, you will enjoy this one. You can read my full review of it here!

Call Me Joe by Martin Van Es and Andrew Crofts – 3 stars

This book was really not what I was expecting, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either. I had a bit of a problem with this one honestly because of the obvious religious (especially Christian) stance that this book used to “explain” how and why we needed to save the world. I think the message was a really important one and the book was definitely interesting and quite a good reading experience but I was left feeling a bit weird by this whole stance that God tells us what to do and how to do it, does that make sense? I went on a long tangent about this book in my review for it here.

Tangled in Ivy by Ashley Farley – 4.5 stars

This is another one that surprised me, but positively. I’ve been trying to read more mysteries lately and I’m really glad I got to this one because it was such a good book! Lilian’s father dies and in his last minutes, he tells her about Hemingway, she goes on a mission to find out what he meant and what that has to do with the fact that she can’t remember what happened the day her mother tragically died. This was a really original plot and at times I was really annoyed at Lilian’s mother and sister, but some other characters were delightful and it was definitely entertaining. You can read all my thoughts on this book here.

Crossing in Time by D.L. Orton – 4.5 stars

I love time travel, and I was really happy to pick this book up for the blog tour organised by Dave from @The_WriteReads. There were some questions left unanswered at the end of this book, some things that didn’t make much sense to me and some things that completely went over my head (science – I don’t have a scientific brain), but I did really enjoy this book and it completely swept me up in the story until it dropped me out at the end. This made me want to really pick up Outlander soon, so I need to keep myself accountable. You can read my blog tour review for this book here.

Daughters of Cornwall by Fern Britton – 4 stars

When I initially signed up for this tour, I hadn’t yet put two and two together about the author, and then when I did I was rather sceptical. Everyone, listen up. Don’t be like me and assume that because the author is famous for another reason (whatever reason that is) that their book might not be good, because this writing style and execution was seriously one of the best I’ve read this year! I enjoyed this book a lot, it’s everything I wish for in a historical fiction and you can find out more about it if you read my review for it here.

The Beauty of Broken Things by Victoria Connelly – 4 stars

This was another unique and different one, that I fairly enjoyed. This book focuses on things that are broken, and the beauty you can find within them, be it actual objects, or the human spirit. I thought this topic was really interesting. This one hasn’t really stayed with me, but if you are curious about my thoughts, you can read them here.

The Waiting Rooms by Eve Smith – 4.5 stars

This book has been one of the ones that have surprised me the most this year. I can remember it vividly, it was so great! It’s really hard to explain in a small paragraph, but this book is set in the aftermath of a worldwide antibiotic crisis, antibiotics are no longer effective and people over 70 automatically get cut off from them and are basically waiting to die. This book wasn’t just this, there were a lot of other things going on, but I’m going to be gushing about it for a while if I don’t stop myself now, but you should definitely go read my review here because it was great and I highly recommend.

Power Divided (#1 The Evolutionaries) by S. Behr – 4.5 stars

A great first book in a new YA fantasy/science fiction series and I have to tell you, it was great. This was another REALLY unique story, it’s quite a long book but I remember reading it so fast, there was so much going on, with special abilities and family secrets and running away, getting lost, finding shelter, discovering the truth, trying to mend your life, getting caught up in a war, a futuristic setting and basically, just please go read it, because I loved it and you can read more about it here.

City of Bones (#1 The Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare – 3.5 stars

Although not one of the best books this month, it was definitely fun and what Fiona and I have started calling a “cheeseburger book”. I struggled through the first half of this one and then it suddenly got so binge-worthy and I was shocked, multiple times by the plot twists and some yucky revelations. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it and I’m looking forward to the next instalment Fiona and I will be reading for our Shadowhunter mission! You can read my post about this book here, and Fiona’s post about it here.

Searching for Home: The Impact of WWII on a Hidden Child by Joseph Gosler – 4 stars

I read this for Amsterdam Publishing and it was such an impactful and enlightening experience. I am trying to read more nonfiction this year, and I’ve been trying out more and more memoirs. I jumped on the chance to read this one because I really love reading books about WWII and it didn’t let me down. It was such a heartfelt and emotional account of a hidden child’s life and the consequences of WWII on him, I learned so much and really enjoyed it! You can read my full review here.

In The Role of Brie Hutchens by Nicole Melleby – 4 stars

I read this for the blog tour organised by Algonquin Young Readers – my first time taking part with them – and it was lovely. This is a middle grade with LGBT rep and a lot of complicated and important topics and I personally think this book was really well-executed. Brie was such an awesome character, so strong-willed and independent and I loved every minute of it! You can read all my thoughts on it here.

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (#1 Nevermoor) by Jessica Townsend – 5 stars

One of my favourite books of the month!! I read this book with the Middle Grade Marvels Book Club and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that this was the BOTM for June. We all adored it, it started off fairly dark and gloomy, but it erupted in hope and colour, along with a lot of questions and plot twists that I couldn’t believe. This is an amazing middle grade and amazing first book in a series, and I am really looking forward to reading the next instalment and finding out what will happen to Morrigan and the Hotel Deucalion family next. My review will be up on my blog in a few weeks, but you can read my Goodreads review here in the meantime.

Tilly and the Lost Fairy Tales (#2 Pages and Co) by Anna James – 4.5 stars

Noly and I picked this book up straight after we finished Tilly and the Bookwanderers and we just whizzed through this second instalment. We both adored the first book, it brought us so much happiness when we were feeling down and I can only highly recommend this book, I can’t scream about it loud enough, but please go read this series. Book 2 has just as many plot twists and surprises, amazing adventures, enormous smile moments, and I LOVED IT! I’m going to be writing a mini-review for both books in a few weeks, so keep an eye out! (I need time to get my thoughts in order).

Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds – 3 stars

I read this one right at the end of the month, and even though I enjoyed it and could see its potential, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I am quite picky over the mysteries I do enjoy, I need a lot of investigation with police, detectives, coroners, etc for me to really like a mystery, or something like Agatha Christie is always a win, so even though I enjoyed this book, because of the different stance, I didn’t love it. It was really interesting though and I really liked the writing style, you can find my full review for it here.

Killian’s Dead (#0.5 Seekers) by Josie Jaffrey – 3.5 stars

This was the last book I read in June, it’s a novella for her new series called Seekers, I was lucky enough to get both this novella and her next book May Day as physical ARCS! This was really short but I definitely enjoyed it, the writing style was great, I really fell for Jack, she is strong and she won’t take any crap. I can’t say too much, but I had no idea what was going on until the last sentence, and that just made me want to pick up the first book in the series straight away! I’m going to have a review of both Killian’s Dead and May Day on my blog in the next week, so keep your eyes peeled!

I didn’t have the *best* reading month in terms of ratings and only had a couple of 5 stars. I, unfortunately, didn’t finish any Hype-A-Thon books either (again, oops), but I am working on it and hopefully should be up to date this time next month. I’m quite happy with my month but would have preferred more of my type of books, so I’m going to prioritise my physical TBR in the coming months.

June Reading Stats

Number of books: 16

Number of pages: 5,587 pages

Star ratings:

3 stars: 2 books

3.5 stars: 2 book

4 stars: 5 books

4.5 stars: 5 books

5 stars: 2 books

Average rating: 4.09⭐

Genres: 2 historical fictions, 1 YA mystery, 2 contemporary fictions, 2 mysteries (1 Noir), 1 science fiction time travel, 1 science-fiction dystopia, 1 YA fantasy/science fiction, 1 YA paranormal fantasy, 1 nonfiction memoir, 1 MG LGBT contemporary, 1 science-fiction/fantasy novella and 2 MG fantasies.

That’s all for now, I think I had quite a good month, even though some books were a bit of a let-down. I’m really looking forward to my July TBR and hopefully doing some more mood reading! Tell me all about the books you read in June! See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx