I’m back again with another monthly book recap! I have been obsessed with reading, it’s my favorite thing right now. I usually get into book slumps, and I kinda felt like I was this past month. I was a bit surprised I was still able to finish reading 10 books. Here are all the books I read in June, and how I rated them. (Side note my rating is out of 5 ⭐️ , and for spice levels, 5 🌶️ . )
For all the books I read, Check them out here.
Top 3 book picks
My top 3 goes to Carley Fortune this month. I read her books for the very first time ever. They are so nostalgic, and will always make you cry. Every single one of her books, the characters have so many relatable layers as well as growth. They are perfect for the summer, because they always have a vacation, and escape type of vibe. All of her books are open door, but they’re tasteful, and not excessive.
1. One Golden Summer – 5 ⭐️ / 3.5 🌶️
Out of the three I read, this one has to be my favorite. Charlie get’s his redemption story. This is technically is a standalone book, but it’s connected to Every Summer After. I read that one first before reading this. I actually didn’t want to read this one, but after seeing so many positive reviews I did. And happily so! Its nostalgic feel good, I love Alice, she is so relatable to me. It’s bringing us back to Barry’s Bay, the lake, and a time where we can be ourselves, but also have fun. It’s a great reminder to live.
2. Our Perfect Storm – 5 ⭐️ / 3🌶️
It’s the perfect slow burn childhood friends to lovers book. Frankie and George have to rediscover their friendship first, because they’ve grown apart, they’ve been friends since they were 8 years old. It’s funny because Frankie is just a hot mess express. But that’s neither here nor there. It takes place also on a vacation spot, near the pacific ocean. These are all places I would never think of going to, so its nice to escape via books. It also highlights her (Frankie’s) relationship with her mom, and it definitely made me cry so hard. omg.
3. Every Summer After – 4 ⭐️ / 2.5 🌶️
I read this one first. I loved the childhood friends to lovers trope, its just so heartwarming. But I am not a fan of the reason why she she never talked to Sam ever again. For me, I usually can recognize the pattern, and it shocked me, even though there were signs. They were both at fault for their falling out to be honest. But it’s also something unforgivable to me. It has flashback chapters, and its all happening at the lake by Barry’s Bay. It’s such a charming location for a summer fun book.
The rest of the stack
I’m not going to be putting this in a particular order. I enjoyed them, but it’s not something that I will probably reread, or maybe I will. But it’s more like I needed something easy, enjoyable, and not really a masterpiece.
Twisted series by Ana Huang – 3.9 ⭐️ / 5 🌶️
I love Ana Huang, if you’re looking for some fun, and easy to get into these are perfect, and spicy open door. You don’t really need to turn your brain on to read these, definitely popcorn books. She’s a great writer, and the books are in dual POV. But also because my frontal lobe has dropped some of the characters ahem Alex Volkov, and Christian Harper, some of what they do is borderline insane, and I’m not too into characters like that anymore, that are broody, moody and will kill for you. If they were not billionaires.. they would be called murderers and psychos. But I digress, don’t think too deeply on this lol. Ok but also there is always a crazy plot twist in the midst of it that is not the romance specifically. So they are always intriguing.
The reading order starts with Twisted Love (Brother’s Best friend, Grumpy x sunshine trope) , Twisted Games (Princess x bodyguard trope), Twisted Hate (The most “normal” couple Brother’s Best Friend trope), and ending in Twisted Lies (fake dating). My favorites in order, starting with: Twisted Hate, Twisted Lies, Twisted Love, and Twisted Games.
Alchemised by Sen Lin Yiu – 3.5 ⭐️ / 3 🌶️
First off major Content Warning: This book is a dark, high-angst psychological fantasy that contains intense, graphic depictions of non-consensual sexual acts, extreme physical torture, severe psychological trauma, and themes of systemic violence and captivity. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
I did not know it was so dark. I just kept seeing it all over tiktok and it was on my TBR list for a while. People really gotta be honest with what this book is. And please be in a good head space if you choose to read this. It’s a dark fantasy book with romance in it. It follows Kaine and Helena through an ongoing war, where they’re on opposite sides and have to basically play spies. I found out afterwards that it was based off a Draco and Hermione fanfic called Manacled (Which I can see it working out better, and already had the Harry Potter world to build off of). It’s an interesting concept but there are so many gaps with the characters motivations that kind of made it not as deep, and makes me go like.. that’s not enough of a reason to do that. And the thing is its 1000 pages, with a lot of info dumping that makes your eyes glaze over. The magic system can be hard to follow as well. They did get their happy-ish ending, but its two very traumatized people who find each other in a dark time, and its questionable to me. I know so many people love this book, but it was an okay read for me.
The Honest Skips
Kiss of the Basilisk, and Between Two Kings by Lindsay Straube 3⭐️ / 5 🌶️
(The second book only gets 1 ⭐️ )
I’m honestly embarrassed to admit I read these books from the split or swallow duology. Because what was the reason, because the ending of book two defeated the entire purpose of having an entire second book. lol. I like reading books that are different unique, like with basilisks which is the case here. But it turns out there can be too much spice in books, because it was to the point where I had to skip parts, and would laugh out loud, because of how ridiculous some of this was. I liked the premise of the first book and I was into it at first, until it got too repetitive. Genuinely, also hate when stories have the fmc regress so completely from the entire thing having not learned a single thing, and remain in the same place, more or less.
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