June 2022 Book Review

I'm coming off a 5-day weekend my company gave us for 4th of July - the weekend was incredible, but it's back to life, so let's start the month with my June reads!

I'm going to be very honest {not that you wouldn't figure this out very quickly}, but this was not my most high-brow month of reading. I started the month with Covid and wanted comfort reads, so there are lots of light and fun rom coms this month. I read 12 books and more than half fall into that category. Only 2 diverse books and only 1 nonfiction. But hey, as I tell my kids, reading is reading!

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter - A trope-y filled romance that I loved! Brother's best friend, mistaken identity, enemies to lovers...this book was full of tropes, but it worked, and I highly enjoyed it. Rated R.

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey - This was the follow-up to last month's It Happened One Summer. I thought this was cute but really liked the first one a lot more. Rated R.

You Had Me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane - A 'the one that got away' love story - this was cute but VERY British - as in I didn't understand half of the jokes. That made it hard to totally love it, and honestly, the main character bugged me somewhat, but I still thought it was cute. Rated PG13.

Confess by Colleen Hoover - This was a medium Colleen Hoover novel. She's had some that I thought were fantastic and some were just meh. This was meh. I felt like maybe I had read it before but couldn't remember how it ended {and still can't figure out if I had read it or not}, but I enjoyed it enough to finish it, so that's saying something I guess?

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin - This was our Blog Friend Book Club pick for the month, and it was about a man named Baba Segi and his 3 wives in modern-day Nigeria. There were several twists and turns and surprises, but I honestly didn't really care about any of the characters. The other girls in book club gave it 3.5 or 4 stars, but I gave it 2. It was just okay to me.

Stuck with You by Ali Hazelwood - The 2nd of 3 of this STEM novela trio, and it was cute, cute, cute. I would have loved for this to be a full novel! Rated R.

All Fired Up by Dylan Newton - This follows a 1-night stand and what happens after when they are forced back together and try to be friends. I really enjoyed the characters and really felt like their journey and growth felt natural. It got a smidge predictable, but I don't have a problem with that. 1 R-rated scene.

Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting - I will read everything Helena Hunting writes. I enjoy her characters and stories so much. This is the 2nd book in a trilogy about 3 sisters who run a bed-and-breakfast together. Thought it was adorable and can't wait for the 3rd. Rated PG13.

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai - I'm on the fence about this book - the second I've read by Sara Desai. They are cute and fun and I've enjoyed the characters, but they get a little TOO zany. Does it take away from my overall enjoyment of the books? A little. Enough to stop reading them? Not yet. This one follows Layla who has returned home after hitting rock bottom {cheater boyfriend and loses her job} and plans to open her own company in the office about her family's Indian restaurant, but her dad has rented the office out to another man...and you can guess what happens next. {grin} Rated R.

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon - Groundhog's Day story set on a college campus and only 2 people {Barrett and Miles} who are in the same Physics class and keep repeating their first day. YA Fantasy? Yes please! At the end of the book I felt it had gotten a little long, but I flew through it because I wanted to see how it would all come together. Very, very enjoyable!

The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff [audiobook] - This was incredible and my favorite of the month. The title is pretty self-explanatory, but it is a pretty thorough view into 9/11 through the oral accounts of hundreds of survivors - people in the buildings, firemen, police officers, military personnel, Laura Bush, Katie Couric {and other reporters}, widows of people on the planes, and the list goes on and on. This was so comprehensive, incredibly well-researched and put together. I cried every time I listened to it and just couldn't get over how much work went into this. Everyone should read/listen to this one!

In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer - On the day Franny loses her job, her dress gets stuck in the subway and basically ripped off her body. Hayes saves the day with his suit jacket, and their moment gets captured on video and becomes a viral sensation. Life keeps throwing them together and at first they seem like they couldn't be more wrong for each other...but maybe not? So so so so cute! Got a smidge predictable at the end, but a highly enjoyable rom com!

This brings my reads of the year up to 63, so I'm on track to have about as many books as last year {124}! July is looking up to be a little more varied than 92 romances, so hopefully if this post was boring to you, next month's won't ha.