Hi everybody, and welcome to my June wrap up!

June is one of those months that felt both super busy and super chill at the same time. I mean, I had a lot of work and felt stressed out a lot, but when I look back at all the TV I watched and books I read, I’m thinking maybe I had more free time than I seem to recall. Huh…

So anyway, I was indeed quite lucky this month as it was blessed with a lot of great books, awesome music and addictive TV! Here we go:

Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirection (The Guild Codex: Warped #2) by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen

The eagerly awaited second Warped book is here and man, it did not disappoint! Full of vivid, non-stop action, intricate worldbuilding, great character development and sizzling slow burn romance. And of course, Kit, who may be my most favorite movie-quoting, wise-cracking warp master extraordinaire. Overall, this was another hit. I know I’m repeating myself here over and over again, but really I can’t recommend this series enough. Give them a try and I’m sure you also won’t be able to deny Kit’s utter charm.

Rating: 5 stars | Full review

Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake by Alexis Hall

Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake is a book that came onto my radar because it was by the same writer of Boyfriend Material, another one of my favorite 2020 reads. So of course I picked it up as soon as I could and I’m happy to say I really enjoyed it as well! I loved the reality baking show setting, the great bisexual rep, the shy yet cinnamon roll hero, the personal growth and the great cast of secondary characters. Could have used less Alain though, because he was just ugh.

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

Last year, I read Beach Read by Emily Henry and it became one of my favorite reads of the year. So of course I had super high expectations for Emily Henry’s new novel, especially once I read the synopsis and discovered it had so many elements I love. Though overall, I didn’t love it as much as Beach Read, it was still an amazing read. I loved the friends-to-lovers aspect, the intense chemistry and great banter, the dual timeline and also all the travels!

Rating: 4 stars| Full review

Up From The Grave (Night Huntress #7) by Jeaniene Frost

I read the final Cat and Bones book and I’m still not over them. I miss them already! Luckily I still have some Vlad and all of Ian’s books to ease the pain 🙂 Overall, I loved this one just as much as every other book in the series and thought it was a nice send-off of my beloved characters.

Rating: 4,5 stars

Heartbreakers and Fakers by Cameron Lund

This is a YA contemporary novel about a girl who wakes up one day and discovers she drunkenly kissed her best friend’s boyfriend last night (who she hates). So in one sweep, she loses her own boyfriend, her best friend and her popularity. When her best friend and her (ex) boyfriend then end up together, she decides to fake-date Kai (the guy she kissed and hates and used to date her best friend). This way they hope to get their exes back. So this has fake dating, enemies-to-lovers, toxic friendship and a whole lot of highschool drama, which is sometimes just what I’m craving. I read this in one day and I have no regrets.

Rating: 3,5 stars

Gild (The Plated Prisoner #1) by Raven Kennedy

Auren is King Midas’s favorite. So much so that he turned her skin golden and is keeping her in a golden cage. But a golden cage is still a cage and while she wants to be kept safe, Auren is starting to lose trust in her King.

This is a super dark and twisted adult retelling of the King Midas myth. Be warned that this book comes with a bunch of trigger warnings, including rape, attempted rape and violence. But wow. I loved this so much. I rated it a bit lower because this first installment is a lot of set-up and the story really only gets going near the end, but I AM SO PUMPED TO READ MORE!

Rating: 3,5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday

14 Recent & Upcoming 2021 LGBTQIA+ Book Releases I’m Super Excited About
The 3 Authors That Started My Recent Adult Fantasy Romance Book Obsession & 10 More I Want To Read Because Of Them
Books On My Summer 2021 TBR
My Bookish Wishes
Most Anticipated Books of the Second Half of 2021

Quote It Wednesday

Can’t Wait Wednesday

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
The One and Only Crystal Druid by Annette Marie
Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper

June was blessed with SO MANY AMAZING SONGS! I only selected my top faves, because otherwise this list would go on FOR A VERY LONG TIME.

MY FAVORITE: Ed Sheeran – Bad Habits

I missed Ed Sheeran and I love that this song feels so different from his other songs but still so catchy and I can’t say no to a good vampire music video concept <3

Against The Current (Ft Guardin) – Again&Again

Hi, have I mentioned how much I love Against The Current and how pumped I am for their upcoming new album if all songs will be this good?

ONEWE – Rain To Be

I can’t stop listening to this song. Krock at it’s best!

Seventeen – Ready To Love

Such a catchy, feel-good, happy, cute poppy love song <3

I feel like I watched so much this month! I was a little book slumpy this month and often chose TV over books. No regrets, because my book slump is pretty much over and I have a renewed excitement for TV so win-win!

True Beauty

After months, I finally got back into kdrama’s! I tried True Beauty because it sounded fun and had high praise around the web and I’m happy say it lived up to the hype for me! True Beauty is about an 18-year old high-school student, Im Ju-Kyung, who is severely bullied at school because of her looks. Her bullies call her ugly and they have given her a huge inferiority complex. When she moves to a new school, she binges makeup tutorial videos on the internet and masters the art of makeup so well, she becomes instantly popular at her new school. Yet, she’s still terrified anyone will discover her ‘real face’. Yet, one of her new classmates discovers her secret pretty early on. I loved this show as it was such a feel-good movie about what makes a person beautiful, kindness, friendship and a heartwarming romance. Highly recommend!

Never Have I Ever season 1

I love Mindy Kaling’s humor, so I’m not sure why I never started her show Never Have I Ever before, but I gave it a shot this month and became addicted pretty quickly. It’s hilarious and yet focuses on so many important issues too. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. So ready for season 2 in July!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer season 3 (re-watch)

I’m still doing my Buffy Re-Watch Marathon! In June, I watched most of season 3, together with my husband. Season 3 has always been one of my favorite seasons, because it has a lot of Oz and a lot of great episodes, like The Wish, Döppelgangland, Earshot and so many more.

Crash Landing On You (re-watch)

After rewatching Romance is a Bonus Book, I was in the mood to rewatch that other favorite kdrama of mine and so I just did. I’ve been rewatching Crash Landing On You together with my husband (who’s started watching with me just out of curiosity and is now quite hooked himself, which I LOVE) and while we’re only on episode 7-ish, I still absolutely ADORE this show. Check out my post reviewing this show for more of my raves 🙂

Like I said, June was a month that felt both super busy and stressful, yet also chill with lots of time for reading and TV. But lots of things happened as well:

Things that made me happy this month:

• My niece/godchild was born! Her name is Olivia, she’s healthy and adorable and her parents are doing great. Did I mention she’s adorable?
• I got my first COVID vaccine! Weird how much I looked forward to getting this shot, but I did. Other than a few hours of dizziness and tiredness, I had no side-effects so that’s good. One step closer to freedom, friends and family!
• My renewed love of kdramas and the binge-watching that followed.
• Pixel turned two years old! Happy birthday, my little ball of energy!

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

• I’m seeing my friends again for the first time in 11 months!
• Weirdly, my second vaccine…
• A local festival is organising these special, COVID-proof music performances where you go in bubbles, and I got a ticket so I’m looking forward to that little slice of festival-summer-feeling.

How was your June? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in July?

Follow me on: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads