2024 Reading Challenge: June

Hi!! Happy Summertime my lovely friends! How is life? How’s it going in your world??

I am absolutely having the most amazing summer! I’m currently sitting in a beautiful bedroom in Florida, preparing to board a cruise ship tomorrow. The fan is blowing ocean air, my husband is snoozing beside me, and I don’t have to wake up early to walk dogs, empty litter boxes or clean/organize my house. I am so full.

June is the first full month of summer vacation so along with cleaning out my garage, unpacking boxes, organizing books in the 4th bedroom/study, decorating the living room, going to Florida TWICE, and going on a bazillion solo dates I also read 17 books! Chile, my reading goal for 2024 was 45 books (I think…honestly, I can’t remember if the goal was 45 or 50 and I already changed my goal on Goodreads so there’s nothing to reference*slaps forehead*). Anyways, I am currently finishing my 53rd book this year! In January, I thought reading 45 books was an ambitious ask but clearly, I should’ve set the bar higher. Does making 90 books my new reading goal sound insane?? Don’t answer that, *clears throat* ahem, ahem, attention everyone! My new reading goal for 2024 is 90 books!

I’ve read sooo many amazing books this year but June is definitely my favorite reading month thus far. in June I had 2 six-star reads!! A six-star rating is reserved for books that make me FEEEEEELLLLL all the feels (I know, I know, that was super redundant). A six-star book is a book that shakes my entire world, it usually makes me weep and want to compulsively tell everyone I come in contact with about it.

Since I read so many books this month, I will begin this post by just giving an overview of all the books I read then I’ll get into sharing more information about specific books that stood out to me.

In June I read and rated the following books:

• The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn 5 stars
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 3.5 stars
• Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns 2.75 stars
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng 6 stars
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes 2.5 stars
• The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams 3 stars
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 6 stars
• A Torch in the Night by Sabaa Tahir 4.25 stars
• The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake 4.5 stars
• A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir 4 stars
• The Maidens by Alex Michaelides 2.5 stars
• All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir 5 stars
• The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo 3.5 stars
• You, with a View by Jessica Joyce 4 stars
• Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage 3.75 stars
• What Happened to You by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey no rating
• Icebreaker by Hannah Grace 4 stars

My favorite book this month was “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng which I rated 6 stars. It was an absolutely beautiful book that made my heart full. I read it very quickly because it was such a captivating read. Ng begins with the end of the story then goes back to the beginning (or I suppose technically the middle) to wind many threads together to create a truly gorgeous and fascinating experience throughout. We follow the story of a mother, Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl as we take a deeper dive into their nomadic lifestyle in a way that feels intrusive yet informative. I found myself rooting for Mia and Pearl and only wanting the best for them, no matter what. Ng covers difficult topics in an approachable and intentional way. Reading “Little Fires Everywhere” felt like a breath of fresh air.

My least favorite book I read in June is “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes which I rated 2.5 stars. I know this may be a controversial rating since this book has an average rating of 4.26 on Goodreads. Many, many, many people love this book turned movie. Moyes wrote the story beautifully, my rating is mostly due to the overall concept. “Me Before You” follows Louisa Clark, a bubbly unambitious twenty-something who loses her job and goes to work as a caregiver for a young formerly enthusiastic man who became a quadriplegic after being involved in a traffic accident. When we first meet Will he is sad and overwhelmed by his present predicament to the point where he has already attempted to end his life. For the next 300 or so pages we watch him grow, evolve and fall in love with Louisa.

Moyes shows us the despair that Will Traynor is experiencing during the length of the book due to his unfortunate accident and the way his despair evolves into grieving, enjoying life again, growing and falling in love gave me the hope that at the end of it all, Will would choose to live. However, in the end, Will chooses to end his life and that decision left me feeling disappointed beyond repair. His decision to die is the sole reason my overall rating of the book is so low. Though at the end of the book, I feel grateful for the growth his caregiver turned partner, Louisa Clark experienced, I also feel overwhelmed with sadness for having to witness the loss of his life and the desperation he felt before choosing to end his time on Earth.

As someone who has a close relationship with suicide, depression and loss, this book was simply not for me. I need a happy ending, especially since I read books to escape from all the sadness of the world. This book wasn’t a great experience for me, but it may be for you.

On a more positive note, when I started writing this post it was June 28th and I was in the guest bedroom of my mom’s Florida home before embarking on my first cruise with my husband (tomorrow we will be celebrating 10 months of marriage, yay!). But right now, it is currently the 3rd of July and I’m listening to “The Hotel Nantucket” by Elin Hilderbrand while typing this blog post in my local library. The cruise was amazing! The drive to Florida and back home wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and I got to read 2 more amazing books since I started writing this post less than a week ago!

I know this post is going live a little late since I typically post on the 1st of the month but I figured I deserved a little grace.

Happy Summer! Thank you for reading my blog post! Have a wonderful day/week/year! I’ll see you next month! Buh-bye!