June Wrap Up

Hi! June was an absolute disaster of a month and I’m glad it’s over. I have barely blogged, read very little compared to the last couple of months and I even neglected Instagram on which I usually post every day. My anxiety got the better of me this month and I’m hoping it will settle soon and I’ll find it in me to be more productive.

I’m kind of afraid of this portion of the post, because… I might’ve bought a good few books. But here are the stats anyway.

• Number of books read: 7
• Number of pages read: 2325
• Average star rating: 3.5
• DNFs: 0
• TBR at the start of June: 52
• Books added: 7
• Books read: 2
• Current TBR: 57

The Ghosts of Sherwood is a novella about Robin Hood’s kids. I got an e-arc of it and it was a fast read, but I found it lacking. I wanted more depth and development, but because of the short format, I didn’t really get it.

This one is marketed as a thriller, but I don’t think it fits in that genre. I’m not sure what I would actually shelve it as, because “weird” is not a genre, but that’s what I found it – in the best way possible. It is a one of a kind book, told in vignettes, about an older sister who finds herself helping her younger sibling bury her now ex-boyfriends. It explores the sisterly bond really well and it’s an overall great read, though definitely not for everyone.

Recently I’ve been more and more disappointed with Levithan’s books. I used to love him as a teen, but either the magic wore off or he’s lost his touch. 19 Love Songs is a collection of short stories about different kinds of love, and although I didn’t dislike it, not a single story (maybe apart from the last poem) stood out to me. I found them all pretty samey and so quite disappointing.

An absolute gem of a book! I loved everything about it, from the characters, to the setting and the raps included in it. It’s a story about 3 Black teens in Brooklyn whose friend (and brother) was murdered. Said friend was a rapper, but he was killed before he made it, so they decide to make him famous posthumously. It has grief and friendship and 90s Brooklyn and oldschool hip hop and talks about important subjects.

I have a review for this one, so I won’t be blabbing about it much. It was enjoyable, sweet and a fast, entertaining read. Loved the queer rep, talks of mental health and the social media aspect. Very promising, own-voices debut!

I’m starting to feel I have some subconscious gripe with short stories. Although I did not dislike it by any means, nothing really stuck with me. There were a few stories that I did not care about, and a lot of cute but not very memorable ones. I liked the theme of this anthology – it’s about interracial couples, so that’s a plus. Maybe the format just really isn’t for me.

Kingdom of Souls honestly deserves its own full review and I’ll write one soon. I was very impressed with this YA fantasy, found it unique and so so so rich! But I’ll gush about it in a separate post.

And that is it!

What is your favourite read of this month?

Thank you for reading. I will talk to you all soon.