Hi everybody, welcome to my June wrap up!

June has been a good month readingwise. I finished five books and enjoyed them all overall. I do have to say I’ve been feeling a slump coming on which I think has impacted my reading mood already, as well as my blogging, so I hope this will get better soon. But overall, five books is still pretty great! Let’s get into it:

Mage Assassins & Other Misfits (The Guild Codex: Warped #5) by Annette Marie & Rob Jacobsen

I didn’t know just how much I had actually missed Kit and the world of the Guild Codex since my last read. But then I dived into this book and (to put it in “beloved” bookish phrases) I could finally release the breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. Not only was it just so amazing to be back inside of this wonderful world, but it also felt really natural to dive back in. I wasn’t lost, my goldfish brain didn’t need to do a re-read or refresh my memories. I just slipped right back in and felt as if I never left. That’s when you know you’re reading something exceptional. 

Rating: 5 stars | Read full review

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

I didn’t love this as much as Every Summer After, but I loved it a lot more than Meet Me At The Lake. I loved the chemistry between Lucy and Felix, the dual timelines and the friendship between Lucy and Bridget. I sped through this book because I wanted to keep reading. The only downside to me was that Lucy and Felix had an insta-attraction/insta-lust but hardly even really talked until about 50-60% of the book so when we got to that part of the story I had some trouble believing these people who hardly knew each other were madly in love.

Rating: 4 stars

The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen

What, Lindsey picked up a thriller? Yes I did and I have to be honest, I mostly picked it up because it was written by romance queen Sarina Bowen so I expected I’d still get my romance fix in this thriller and I did! I adored this read. The plot was intriguing and addictive, I never wanted to stop reading because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen, I got super invested in the characters and I felt like the ending was satisfying.

Rating: 4,5 stars

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

This was, objectively, a great book. Solid 4 stars. I loved the dark and gothic vibes, the historical setting of the Spanish Golden Age, the fantasy elements woven in, the touch of romance, and Leigh Bardugo’s ever vibrant writing style. But for some reason I could not connect to the story. I struggled and it took me a whole month to finish it. I also was never itching to pick it back up in between reading sessions. I think many people will love this one, but for me it’s probably not one I will re-read.

Rating: 4 stars

This Spells Love by Kate Robb

I have a thing for alternate timeline / sliding doors-type storylines so I knew I had to pick this up eventually and am I happy I did! This was an adorable read about a recently dumped woman who drunkenly does a spell one evening to make it so she never met her now former boyfriend. The next day she wakes up and indeed, she never met her ex. But the catch is that because of that switch, her male best friend also doesn’t remember her! This was a fun plot with a nice friends-to-lovers romance and quirky family members.

Rating: 4 stars

Top Ten Tuesday

Books I Had Such Strong Emotions About I May Have Sobbed A Little
Bookish Wishes: Books I’d Love To Add To My Physical Shelves
Ten Summer 2024 Releases On My TBR
Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024

Can’t Wait Wednesday

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison {Can’t Wait Wednesday}

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday: 12 June 2024
WWW Wednesday: 26 June 2024

Though Taylor Swift was still quite present on my playlist this month, I finally branched out again too with a few new favorites!

Voilà ft Chrissy Costanza & Against The Current

It’s no secret I’m a huge Against The Current fan, and thanks to this collab I’m now also a Voilà fan 🙂

Sabrina Carpenter – Please Please Please

How fun and catchy is this song? 🙂

Bridgerton (Season 3 pt 2)

Hmm, while I loved part one, I’m not exactly sure how I feel about part two. I enjoyed it, but I also expected more? I wish we had more Colin and Penelope scenes and a little less secondary characters. After humanizing Cressida so much and making me like her in part 1, they completely turned it around here and I felt like that was such a pity of what could have been an amazing character arc. I did absolutely adore everything to do with the Featheringtons. And while I have not yet read When He Was Wicked, I am loving the twist with Francesca and am excited to see her season.

Other

I watched a few episodes of the following shows:

• The Acolyte, the new Star Wars series which made it so that I will now always fancast Manny Jacinto whenever I read a certain type of character which I’m not going to describe because spoilers in case you haven’t seen it yet.
• Maxton Hall, which is a very cheesy but highly addictive teen romance series
• Lovely Runner, a kdrama about a fangirl who travels back in time to save her idol
• Resident Alien, a sci-fi comedy about an alien who crash-lands in a small town and decides to pose as the town doctor until he can fix his ship

Well, after months and months of rain and gloom, we finally had some summer weather, which was nice. I still can’t go outside much because the lack of rain means the mosquitos have taken over, but oh well I like the idea of summer at least 🙂

Also, work has been very busy with prepping for the holiday period and traffic has been crazy (I lose about two hours every day just being stuck in traffic, which is just too much for me, no matter if people try to sell it to me as “me-time”) so I feel like I haven’t had a whole lot of free time, which has led to some very slumpy symptoms. So my goal for the summer period is to go back to a slower way of living for a bit, try to take it easy, live in the moment and reconnect with my love of reading, maybe do some re-reads.

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS MONTH:

• Summer weather!
• I had a fun day with my BFF where we talked and had lunch and talked and had dinner together too.
• We planted a lot of flowers in our garden earlier this year, and though it took some more time than expected, they all started to bloom this month so it’s been very colorful and pretty.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

• I have tickets for a music festival, all 4 days and I’m excited about that. Plus, Against The Current is performing and they’re a favorite of mine <3
• Quite a few bookish releases I’m excited about!
• Both of my favorite kpop bands, Stray Kids and Dreamcatcher, are having a comeback this month!

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?