Wrap-up | June 2023

Click to listen! Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hello Hello! How are you?

Today I’m bringing you the first wrap-up post I’ve written in about 5 months! I just started reading again in June after spending months working on my thesis at the speed of light to get it done on time, so I was in a bit of a slumpy reading mood. I’ve slowly started to get my reading mojo back though, and I don’t think I did too badly in June.

In June, I managed to read a total of 8 books and DNFed 2 books, so keep on reading to find out how my reading month went!

FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE MONTH

99% Mine by Sally Thorne — 5 stars

I’ve been trying to read more romances this year to hopefully get more into the genre and also because I know it’s an easy genre for me to read during my reading slumps. In June, I picked 99% Mine by Sally Thorne which I should have read a few months ago with some buddies but didn’t get to on time. Let me tell you, if I didn’t have to adult and didn’t have work to go to, I would have binged this book in one single sitting. It was THAT good! I fell in love with these characters from the first pages and felt all of their feelings and emotions deeply. I hadn’t read anything by Sally Thorne before but definitely will again because it was such an enjoyable story and I was rooting for the MCs the whole way. I gave this 5 stars and will get a review up for it in July!

A Second Chance (#3 The Chronicles of St. Mary’s) by Jodi Taylor — 5 stars

And my second favourite book of the month absolutely has to be my latest read from The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series that I’ve been reading for a few months. This one is mainly set in Ancient Greece during the battle of Troy and a few other different important places and I was so glad to be back in this series and with my favourite characters. I love anything linked the Ancient Greece and loved the parts based in Troy because it was so well-written and so immersive. I had the best time reading this book and can’t wait to continue this series soon. I gave it 5 stars and will get a review up in a few weeks!

 

MY JUNE READS

Le coeur en braille by Joris Chamblain — 5 stars

This was a YA French graphic novel about a young girl going blind but who wants to get into music school and falls in love with a boy in her class while her life is completely being changed by her condition. I loved reading this graphic novel and love that it had really great disability rep with the young girl’s condition. The art style was beautiful and the story was really heartwarming since Marie-José needs Victor to help her get into the school and pretend that she is fine until she is accepted into the programme and can prove that she doesn’t need her eyes to play the violin. I’m probably not doing it justice but it really was a lovely book with beautiful artwork and really good disability rep. I hope it’ll get translated into English and shared more throughout the community! I gave it 5 stars.

Les facétieuses by Clémentine Beauvais — 4.5 stars

 

I apparently read quite a lot of French books in June and also really enjoyed them because this next book was also amazing and totally took me by surprise! This story is sort of written to feel completely normal but is obviously completely fantastical but let me tell you, I found myself checking facts on Google because I believed it all. Clementine Beauvais writes herself into her book as the main character who wonders who Prince Louis XVII’s fairy godmother was and why she let him die an atrocious and solitary death after the French Revolution. This was such a funny and great book the whole way through and I would have given it 5 stars had it not been for the ending being quite rushed in my opinion. It was a unique and enjoyable story and I gave it 4.5 stars.

Radium Girls by Cy — 5 stars

I read a second French graphic novel in June and this time it was an adult one about the uranium used in paints during the 1920s and 1930s especially in the United States and the damage it did to the workers’ health. I didn’t realise the extent of the use of this dangerous product in everyday items such as watches and other jewellery and how dangerous it was. It was a really interesting and well-executed graphic novel with a stunning art style and colours. I hadn’t read anything by this artist before but I’ll have to pick up more of her graphic novels in the future. I gave it 5 stars!

Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran bu Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt — 4 stars

And my last French book of June was only 85 pages long but wow did it pack a punch! One of my colleagues from work recommended it to me and I didn’t really know what to expect but I was tearful and surprised by the end of it. This short book is kind of a love letter to people who are lost and struggling to find their place in life. It is about a young Jewish boy living in Paris, whose father basically ignores him all the time. He slowly becomes friends with a Muslim who owns a small corner shop close to his flat and who teaches him things about life to help him through. This is also a quest to find oneself and I was honestly surprised that the author managed to put so much meaning and so many adventures in this tiny book. I really enjoyed it and I’m glad I discovered this author, I’ll have to read more from him soon. I gave this book 4 stars.

Nine Liars (#5 Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson — 4 stars

I buddy read this book with Candyce from The Book Dutchesses in June since we started this series a few months ago and I was glad to be back in this world and with these characters. I loved the first books of the Truly Devious series more than the 4th and 5th instalments, but it was still an enjoyable book. This one takes place in London while Stevie and her friends are having a study abroad and along the way she finds out about a murder that happened twenty years ago in a friends group in a big old English country manor. I loved everything about this book until basically the last chapters because something (and I won’t spoil you) happened between Stevie and David which I really disliked and didn’t understand AT ALL in the grand scheme of the whole book series. I think a 6th book will come next (at least I hope so), so hopefully that weirdness will be resolved soon. Otherwise, Stevie’s technique to figure out the murders was really good and I enjoyed the rest of the book as much as the previous ones. I gave this sequel 4 stars.

Roman Holiday (#3.5 The Chronicles of St. Mary’s) by Jodi Taylor — 5 stars

And the last book I read in June was a novella/short story in The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor which was such an enjoyable little short read! This one is set in Ancient Rome and Max and the team travel back in time to figure out if Cleopatra really did roll out of a carpet to seduce Cesar or not. I loved this one and always enjoy the short stories a lot as I feel that I get to know the characters more and get some insight into specific events or information. Reading this short story made me want to pick up the fourth instalment soon, so I might have to hurry up with my current read and jump back into this world as soon as I can! I gave this final book 5 stars! I’ll get a mini review of it up at the same time as my review of A Second Chance, sometime in July!

 

JUNE READING STATS

Number of books: 8

Number of pages: 1,852 pages

Star ratings:

4 stars: 2 books

4.5 stars: 1 book

5 stars: 5 books

Average rating: 4.68⭐

Genres: 1 French YA disability/diverse graphic novel, 1 French YA historical fiction fantasy, 1 French adult historical fiction graphic novel, 1 French adult historical literary fiction, 1 YA mystery, 1 adult contemporary romance, 2 adult fantasy time travel (1 novella). 

READING CHALLENGE WRAP-UP

In June I also made a bit of progress in my reading challenges. I don’t think I listed last week’s challenges so I’ll just let them drop and see next week if I managed any or not and update the list in next month’s wrap-up. But according to my WWW Wednesday posts, I managed to tackle a total of 4 challenges in June.

Here is a breakdown of all the prompts I ticked off my challenge list in June:

• Popsugar Reading Challenge, prompt 23: A book with a map — Nine Liars (#5 Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson
• Popsugar Reading Challenge, prompt 48: A book that features two languages — Les facétieuses by Clementine Beauvais
• Disney Reading Challenge, SNOW WHITE: A book with a number in the title or a number in a series — Nine Liars (#5 Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson
• Disney Reading Challenge, ALADDIN: A book with a blue spine — Les facétieuses by Clementine Beauvais

I’m also currently going back through my physical TBR and unhauling a load of books, so I don’t have a total number at present, but will update it in next month’s wrap up post!

---

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx