My June Reading Wrap-Up
June was SUCH a good month for reading! (Although, less successful on the readathon front. Dear me.) But honestly, I read multiple books this month that I think will be eternal faves, and I’m so happy whenever I come across books like that - and to read multiple like that in one month was such a treat!
That said, I set myself quite the challenge for June, including the Make Your Myth Taker readathon, and some of that… went less well. Oops. Over-ambition combined with being a mood reader is really a challenge!
The Month In Reading
First up, I finished my re-listen on Carry On, which I do at least once a year. The audio narration is my fave, and I actually re-listen rather than re-read with this book!
Then I read five of the picture books on the shortlist for the Indie Bookshop Awards. They were all so cute!
I also finally read Deeplight, as I meant to for ages and as it was also shortlisted for the Indie Bookshop Awards, it felt like a good time to read it. Frances Hardinge is a genius and this book was just as wonderful!
Then I went on a bit of a binge-read, which came largely from reading back-to-back verse novels in the form of Toffee and Clap When You Land, both of which helped reinforce how much of a fan I am of verse novels! Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my must-read authors. I followed this with Juno Dawson’s latest, Wonderland, which was just as bonkers and trippy as I expected. And with a trans main character! Go support this book if you haven’t already!
Then I tried to tackle my Make Your Myth Taker readathon titles. I’m still listening to The Two Towers, and I also read Dark Blade, which was an enjoyable fantasy novel that really fit the bill for that transition kind of title in fantasy for readers beyond MG but not quite at YA. I talk more about this in my blog post here!
I then DNF’d Talon, which was my next MythTaker book. I love dragons, but it was set in California and I wasn’t sold, so I put it down. Dragons need to be in traditional medieval-style settings, for me (obv without all the medieval patriarchal nonsense, ‘kay?)
I followed this with a re-read of The Boy At The Back Of The Class, as I hopefully will be teaching this next year! I can’t wait to share this book with my students - it’s so joyous and happy and with such an important message.
After this, my reading just sped up and up! I finished Six of Crows as part of Layla’s #ReadOfCrows and I loved it so much. I yelled. I laughed. I cried. And then I yelled some more. I am trash for the Dregs now. I cannot believe that I’ve only just read this book. And yes, I ploughed on with Crooked Kingdom (still in progress. Emotions already a mess.)
Following that I read four books that I really adored for various reasons: Running With Lions, a cute queer romance set at a football training camp (teamwork! Inclusive sports groups! heartwarming romance!), Pet, which came highly recommended from basically everyone - a black trans main character and her friend go monster-hunting in their town, which has always seemed like a utopia to them, but hides dark secrets; and A Kind of Spark, a sweet MG novel with an autistic main character that shows how much we need far more neuro-diverse stories in publishing.
THEN. Then we got on to one of my favourite books of the whole entire year (which you may have already seen me flail about in my Mid Year Book Freak Out post…)
It is, of course, NIMONA by Noelle Stevenson. I love a graphic novel. I love hero/villain steretypes being played with. I love sass and friendship. I love knights and jousting. It was ALL OF THESE THINGS. This was literally everything I love in a story. it’s perfect. I adore it. I am already re-reading it.
And finally, I finished the month with The Henna Wars, a sweet f/f romance against the backdrop of a school competition. It was really cute and dealt with homophobia and racism really sensitively alongside the adorableness and the romance!
