Welcome one, welcome all, to my June Wrap Up! June was a bit of a mixed bag month. Reading wise, I ended up deciding to take part in two readathons – A Game of Booksathon and Simsathon – despite the fact that I knew full well that I had a couple of holidays booked over half of the weekends in the month. You would think I would have realised that, for all I aspire to read on holidays such as these, I never do. And I was true to form and didn’t. That put me a little behind where I originally hoped to be with the two readathons but I won’t beat myself up about it too much because I made up for it a little bit in the second half of the month when I read, read, read to try to get some more challenges done for both of the readathons and I really did have such fun on both my holidays.
Firstly, me and Liz (and our other friend Cathy) visited our university friend Sarah in the town she now lives – Cardiff. Despite the fact I now live in Liverpool (and am therefore not far at all from the Welsh border), I’d never been to Wales until then. I know, I know, it’s crazy to think but I hadn’t ever had the reason or opportunity to do so. It was a lovely long weekend, we mostly just chilled out and hung out and we went for a walk in the Gower Peninsula which is just… stunning. Then, for my second little holiday, I went to the Scottish Highlands with my group of friends from school and it was just lovely. Our Air BnB was wonderful and so huge and my friends Kate and Tom brought along their gorgeous dog Daisy so many a petting of Daisy was had – and it made me feel a lot better. (Guys, I need a dog.) We went on a couple of walks, visited a castle (it was the place they filmed that Highlands episode of Downton Abbey for any Downton fans in the house), and generally just hung out and played a lot of boardgames (Obama Llama, Chameleon, and Scrawl now firm favourites). It’s also made me realise that I really do actually like going on longer walks and I should make an effort to get out more and do it more often, especially considering I don’t live far from arguably one of the most stunning National Parks – the Lake District.
But enough about me realising I hope to someday genuinely fulfil my aesthetic of walking boots, a dog, and the Lake District, let’s see how my reading went in June!
In June, I read a total of 8 books – 8 fiction and 0 non-fiction – and 2 were re-reads (marked by *). This amounted to 3272 pages in total.
In terms of format: 2 were hardback, 1 was paperback, and 5 were audiobooks.
As for genre, 2 were fantasy, 1 was middle-grade/children’s, 1 was romance, 1 was YA contemporary, 1 was YA fantasy/mystery, 1 was YA fantasy/paranormal, and 1 was historical fantasy.
Onto the books themselves…
Furyborn by Claire Legrand *
Rating: 4/5
Genre: fantasy
Format: hardback
Pages: 501
Read: 1st – 5th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 6: A book with a dual timeline)
Review: “A story chock full of court intrigue and politics, elemental magic and tournaments, assassinations and infiltrations, and angelic and monstrous creatures, Furyborn explores the idea of the ‘strong female character’ in all its guises and, through beginning with a prologue which shows the eventual and inevitable ‘fall’ to ‘evil’ of a once-beloved character, it challenges the simplistic notion of ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ figures and the legends or histories which come to surround them.” (Full Review)
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Rating: 5/5
Genre: middle-grade/children’s
Format: paperback
Pages: 374
Read: 5th – 11th June
Review: “An absolutely enchanting and adventurous middle-grade story full of whimsy and Wunder. Like Neil Gaiman‘s books, I reckon this works for adults and children in different ways and I loved that about it.” (Full Review to Come)
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater *
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: YA fantasy/paranormal
Format: audiobook
Pages: 419
Read: 16th – 19th June
Review: “I love this book so much and every re-read I do just confirms that fact even more. What more can I say? I love these idiot children.” (Full Review to Come)
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA contemporary
Format: audiobook
Pages: 304
Read: 20th – 24th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 37: A book set in a school or university
Review: “This was SUCH fun! I think I enjoyed the plot slightly less than Royals but loved the characters more so it balanced out. Flora is a horrific delight and Millie was wonderful and I kinda want to attend the school to be honest.” (Full Review to Come)
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: romance
Format: audiobook
Pages: 360
Read: 9th – 24th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 43: A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction])
Review: “The main characters Naledi and Prince Thabiso were great and hilarious together and it was LOVELY to see a WoC in a STEM career and bossing it. Likotsi, the prince’s PA, was a real MVP of A Princess in Theory; I could have read an entire book about her alone. As for the romance aka the smut? It was a bit much for me at times, but I suppose it comes with the territory.” (Full Review to Come)
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Rating: 4/5
Genre: historical fantasy
Format: audiobook
Pages: 368
Read: 24th – 26th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 10: A book featuring an historical figure)
Review: “It is always such fun to spend time with dragon Temeraire and his captain Will Laurence. In this instalment of the series, they travel over land from China to Istanbul to collect three dragon eggs and they accidentally end up being caught up in a battle between Prussia and Napoleon, as you do.” (Full Review to Come)
Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA fantasy/mystery
Format: audiobook
Pages: 352
Read: 26th – 27th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 52: A book with a weird or intriguing title)
Review: “After mentioning a lot in my reviews of the previous books Jackaby and Beastly Bones that I wanted to learn more about Jackaby’s past, William Ritter finally delivered in this third book. Along with learning a lot about the life (and death) of the house’s resident ghost Jenny Cavanaugh whilst she tries to assert her place (and materiality) in the world, we also learn a lot more about the detective’s backstory, particularly his coming into his Seer powers.” (Full Review)
Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: fantasy
Format: hardback
Pages: 594
Read: 23rd – 30th June
Challenge: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 32: A book with more than 500 pages)
Review: “In Furyborn, Claire Legrand created an intriguing elemental magic system, sumptuous world-building, and complex and compelling characters, in this second book she tests it all to breaking point, putting her characters through almost literal hell and it was a LOT of fun (and tragedy) to read.” (Full Review to Come)
How did your June reading go?
What was your favourite book you read this month?
Please do share in the comments below and let’s chat books!
The Terror of Knowing 