June wrap-up part one

As the end of the month draws nearer it’s time to look back over the month and wrap-up what I’ve read. I finished 25 things in the month of June and I’m currently in the middle of another book. With this in mind, I’m not going to review everything because this would then become the longest blog of all time. Instead, I’m going to pick out the best and worst of the month and encourage you to take a look at my Goodreads to see the big picture. (FYI: these are my favorites.) 

FIX HER UP BY TESSA BAILEY ☆☆☆☆☆

I will start by saying, don’t let the cute ass cover fool you, this book includes many explicit sex scenes. In Fix Her Up we follow Georgette Castle (an actual clown who runs children’s birthday parties) and Travis Ford (newly retired baseball player) as they enter into a mutually beneficial fake relationship.

Despite this being full of tropes and clichés, I loved this romance. The dirty talk was 11/10, the sex scenes were perfect, and I loved the setup. This was also my first ever Tessa Bailey novel so I’m excited to explore some of her backlists.

RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE BY CASEY MCQUISTON ☆☆☆☆☆

To be honest, I can’t quite put into words how much I loved this. Red White and Royal Blue features a perfect m/m romance that defies the odds and includes diversity and royalty and above all else – hope. I laughed out loud whilst reading this and also cried my eyes out. It will probably be my favourite book of the year and definitely my favourite romance of all time.

LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA BY SCOTT LYNCH ☆☆☆☆.5

I pulled this one for my 500+ page book for the month of June and was super intimidated, to say the least. Long adult fantasies tend to scare me because they can read incredibly slowly and can put me in a slump. However, I’m happy to report that yes, despite this being slower paced than I would usually prefer, I really loved it.

We follow deceptively clever Locke Lamora as he leads his gang of Gentleman Bastards (great name alert) through the city of Camorr as a new enemy known as the Gray King begins to slowly kill gang leaders and stir up tremendous amounts of trouble.

Locke is brilliantly cunning and a true swindler at heart and I loved him. (If you love Kaz Brekker you’ll love Locke.)

GIANT DAYS BY JOHN ALLISON ☆☆☆☆☆

Out of all of the graphic novels and manga that I’ve read this month, Giant Days was my favourite new-to-me series. We follow Susan, Esther, and Daisy in the first year of University as they attempt to reinvent themselves and acclimatise to university life. One of the main characters is bi-curious and there is quite a bit of rep in here so would definitely recommend. I read the first three volumes and cannot wait to continue – it just made me feel so nostalgic for university life.

LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL ☆☆☆☆☆

One of the last things I’ve read this month was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This isn’t a genre I usually go for but it was free on Kindle so I thought I’d just give it a go. I think I benefited from going in blind as it were because everything was super surprising to me. Because of this, I won’t go into the plot too much, although I’m sure you’ve all seen the movie (I still haven’t). I will just say that it’s more than what you’re thinking it is. Martel explores religion, survival against all odds, personal culture, animal rights and the work of zoos, among much else. I found this story intoxicating and couldn’t put it down for two whole days – would highly recommend.

So, these are some of my favourite books in the month of June. I’ll follow this up with my least favourite too as I definitely read some duds this month and life is all about balance. Again, if you want to see the full picture take a look at my Goodreads here.