It’s time for another monthly reading recap! This post contains affiliate links.
Guess who is finally killing the reading game?! I’m excited to have EIGHT books to share with you this month! I continued to make a lot of quarantine book purchases (sorry not sorry) and I’m sharing those with you at the bottom of this post. As always, if you’ve read anything noteworthy lately, please share it with me in the comments! Love talking books with you guys and I’m so glad you love hearing about what I’ve been reading.
Last month I shared that I’ve made an affiliate account with Bookshop.org! (I still also have my Amazon shop page, if that’s where you prefer to get your books). Bookshop is a great way to get books online while also supporting local bookstores. I HIGHLY encourage you to shop through Bookshop if you can. I have made two “shelves” on the site: my 2020 reads and some books that are on my TBR/books I’ve bought recently.
2020 Reading Goal Update.
As I’m writing this, I am officially ONE BOOK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! If you’ve been following along closely this year, you know I’ve been super behind with my reading challenge on Goodreads. I’m officially caught up! So far in June I’ve read five books which I’m super proud of! Really hoping to hit 52 books by the end of the year.
12. Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
3/5 stars.
This was the second book in the Bromance Book Club series! I enjoyed this one maybe a little more than the first book. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a new series to get into. The characters are so good. Book 3 comes out in October and I can’t wait to read it.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
13. The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
3.5/5 stars.
HOO boy this book was steamy imo! I liked it, but it wasn’t a fav. Read this one for the BBBC Romance Challenge. I liked the characters, and that the main character was a strong female protagonist with boss b*tch vibes. She ran her own company which was so cool to read about. Lots of female empowerment vibes as well as gender equality and #MeToo. As well as CTE which I thought was so interesting and was glad to see it touched on in this type of context.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
14. Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
5/5 stars.
LOVED. THIS. Also read this one for the BBBC Romance Challenge. I honestly didn’t think I’d be into a historical romance but boy was I wrong! I can’t believe I almost skipped this one for the challenge. This is another series I’m glad to have started, the next book comes out in a few months and I can’t wait! This had the perfect amount of steam, some forbidden romance, and was all about women’s suffrage which I loved learning about. Took me a little bit to get into the language used (it is England in the 1800s) but after that, it was smooth sailing all the way through! Easily my fav book read for the challenge.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
15. The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
3.5/5 stars.
After devouring The Friend Zone, I was excited to pick this up! However, I didn’t love it nearly as much as TFZ. This felt like a solid, rom-com type movie/story. It was perfectly fine. But I definitely didn’t connect with the characters as much as I did while reading TFZ.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
16. The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
5/5 stars.
Ok I lied, this one was also a fav from the romance challenge! Definitely a semi-controversial, steamy read. If you read this, you’ll have THOUGHTS. Gave me so many One Direction vibes (if you read the description you’ll know why). Highly recommend this one if you’re looking for something different! Robinne Lee is also Black and absolutely incredible/gorgeous/intelligent so we gotta support this queen! Getting to speak with her on the BBBC call was the highlight of the challenge, imo. She was everythingggg.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
17. Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
4/5 stars.
Really enjoyed this quick ~100 page short story from THE Taylor Jenkins Reid. If you haven’t read anything by her yet, wyd? Seriously. I read this in an hour before bed and it was perfect. Available for free on Kindle Unlimited!
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
18. Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren
2.5/5 stars.
WOW I have a lot of thoughts on this book. Really did not like it. First, it was really hard for me to get into. I honestly only read dialogue/skimmed the entire second half of the book. This was heavily focused on the workplace/agent lifestyle and I felt there was too much jargon for me to enjoy what was happening. There were lots of characters to remember that weren’t necessarily relevant. I felt like the MCs were super childish (playing pranks on each other? really?) The boss was insane and the sexism in the workplace bugged the sh*t out of me… especially how Carter handled it throughout. Not my fav CLo book but I forgive them. Would suggest you read ANYTHING ELSE on this list.
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
19. The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
4/5 stars.
BBBC book of the month for May! Loved this one, it was beautifully written. Gave me The Notebook vibes at times. Really liked learning more about Iran and the political upheaval of the 1950s. Definitely gave me lots of perspective. Perfect historical romance!
Find it on Goodreads. | Buy it here.
BAD B*TCH BOOK CLUB.
I joined an online book club at the beginning of 2020 and I’m loving it! This book club is mostly virtual (depending on your city, there are in-person meetups as well) and books are chosen through a virtual vote. The Facebook group has over 3,000 members now and the picks have been amazing so far. I’ve read all of the BBBC books so far this year.
June’s pick is Love Lives Here. In April/May they held a romance challenge which I loved participating in. It encouraged me to read something different each month and to stay on track. I was reading a book per week or more this month because of the challenge! This summer I’m participating in an Elin Hilderbrand challenge (never read a book by her before!) and a celebrity memoir challenge. So expect to see lots of those books come up throughout the summer!
BOTM JUNE PICK(S).
I always get a ton of questions about which book I picked for my BOTM box so I decided to add it into my monthly reading round-ups! In June, I picked: The Book of Longings, The Last Flight, and One to Watch.
I want to talk about some of the BOTM controversy that sprung up over the past few weeks, just to be completely transparent with you all. I know I talk about BOTM a lot and have encouraged many of you to join!
First of all, I am not happy about and do not condone the fact that the BOTM social media coordinator was deleting comments by Black readers on their Instagram who were asking questions and calling out BOTM to be transparent. I waited and watched to see how they would handle the situation. BOTM shared that the social media person was properly disciplined. I hope this person learned from their mistakes.
I am cautiously optimistic about their response and the actionable steps they shared they would be taking on their Instagram. I am planning to use my remaining credits carefully to support Black, LGBT+, POC authors. If they have not stepped up their game by the time my credits run out, I’ll be making the switch to another subscription. Feel free to hold me to this commitment! Also open to hearing other POVs and discussing it more in depth with anyone who wants to chat!
Books I Bought in May.
Lots of Kindle deals I took advantage of this month! Here’s what I bought: The Stationery Shop (BBBC BOTM); Dating You/Hating You (Kindle); Verity (Kindle); The Proposal (Kindle); Heart Bones (pre-order, Kindle); Sorry I Missed You (Kindle).
Currently Reading.
Right now I’m reading my first lesbian romance: Before You Say I Do! I’m also reading Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt and learning a lot. So far in June I’ve read 5 books so prepare for another jam packed post next month! Comment with what you’re reading down below!
