June turned out to be a good reading month! Also very much an audiobook month, ha. When I added it up, I listened to over 34 hours of books! {I actually left a 4th stranded to carry-over into July, about 50% of the way through that one, but it’s fun!} That’s impressive, if I do say so … Morning walks and evening garden watering definitely benefit from listening to a book. So what did I read and how did I rate it? Keep scrolling to find out.
Titles & Star-Ratings (with format!):
🎧 Meet Me at the Lake (Carley Fortune) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 The Paradise Problem (Christina Lauren) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📱 One Perfect Couple (Ruth Ware) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 The Summer Book Club (Susan Mallery) ⭐⭐
📖 Swan Song (Elin Hilderbrand) ⭐⭐⭐1/2
🎧 The Underground Library (Jennifer Ryan)
📖 The Hedgewitch of Foxhall (Anna Bright) ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
📖 Emma of 83rd Street (Audrey Bellezza & Emily Harding) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
You’ll notice that I did not rate The Underground Library – I couldn’t figure out how to give it a rating that was both fair to my reading experience and the book itself. I didn’t particularly like the book – perhaps in part because I was constantly comparing it to The Little Wartime Library that came out last year {you can read my thoughts on that one here}. But also it was just so … dark. Yes, it’s a WWII Blitz story, but horrible thing after horrible thing after horrible thing kept happening. The Author’s Note at the end explains that she took aspects of Blitz life from across the board and years to make this story more Blitz-y. {Again: I’d suggest The Little Wartime Library for a truer picture of the Library itself, with actual Library historical research taking place instead of merely Blitz tragedies}. It was well-written however, and it definitely packed an emotional wallop.
In happier reading, I knocked out a couple BOTM picks, broke my fantasy slump, and checked off my first Summer of Jane read! I’m working my way through my library loans, and only have 2 holds still waiting {at the moment, haha}, so I’m hoping to really dive in to some Austenesque books this month. Especially if it stays as hot as it has been {I’m desperate for a break in the heat, and rain – we had less than an inch total in June!}. All in all, I call June’s reading a resounding success.
How did your month’s reading go? Discover a new favorite? What’s on your reading agenda for July?
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Yay for getting out of a reading slump!! ❤ The Hedgewitch of Foxhall has been intriguing me for a while now, so I’m glad to see that you enjoyed it. 🙂
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I went into it not knowing what to expect and it was such a good read. I loved the world of the book. 🙂
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The book you’ve read that I’m most intrigued by is The Hedgewitch Of Foxhall but it looks like you read an interesting mix of books. If I get into audiobooks (which I do want to try and do sometime) I’ll have to remember to listen to them whilst watering plants too. Definitely seems like a good idea.
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It never seems like such a ^mix^ until I stop and look back at the month as a whole, haha 🙃 Audiobooks have been an interesting experiment/experience for me, but as gardening chores have increase they have really been nice. 👍 The narrator will make or break it though, 1000%
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I always think about listening to music when doing the garden but very rarely seem to. Thinking about it audio books could also be an option for when I make puzzles or cross stitch, instead of sticking Friends & Charmed on for the 100% time. And I’ve seen a few audio only books that intrigued me so I definitely need to try the format out 😂 I can imagine about the narrator though.
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Yeah, I’ll also listen to my audiobook when crocheting (if I haven’t put Big Bang Theory or a cooking competition on the tv 😂)
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That’s something I’m hoping to get into too. There are so many wonderful designs out there. And Big Bang is another of my background shows 😂
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