June was a busy month for me, and it was still pretty stressful. I’m so grateful for my friends and good books, because they’ve kept me from completely falling apart. In other news, America officially sucks and I’m so embarrassed to live here. Reading has become an escape from reality now more than ever, and so many of the books I read this month were really great. Here’s how that’s going for me:

• I went from 589 blog followers to 607! It’s a huge jump and I’m so excited about it! Thanks to all of you for sticking with me.
• I read 3 books that I own, but all of those were physical ARCs. Although I had tried to plan a buddy read for one of my backlist books, it just didn’t quite work out for this month.
• I read 4 nonfiction books this month, one of which was absolutely incredible (The Book of Pride). 
• As far as diversity went, I devoted a lot of energy towards getting through my ARCs, but I read some relatively diverse books, including those written by LGBTQ, Black, Asian, Latinx, Indigenous, and Jewish authors, so I’m still doing fairly well with this goal.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for June:

June Totals:

• Books read: 45
• Books DNF’d: 1
• Pages read: 8,190
• Hours listened: 7 days, 11 hours, 0 minutes
• Average pages: 341.3
• Average hours listened: 8 hours, 31 minutes

Cumulative Averages:

• Days per book: 2.52
• Pages read per day: 88.07
• Books read per month: 42.83
• DNF’d books per month: 0.33

Genres Read in June:

• Fantasy: 8
• Folklore/Fairytale: 1
• General Fiction: 7
• General Nonfiction: 1
• Historical Fiction: 5
• History/War: 1
• Horror: 1
• Mystery/Suspense: 11
• Romance/Erotica: 6
• Sci-Fi: 2
• Science/Nature: 1
• Travel/Food: 1

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 15
• 2022 releases: 30

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 41
• Nonfiction: 4

Format Read:

• Print: 6
• Digital: 18
• Audio: 21

Age Range:

• Adult: 37
• YA: 8

My favorite books of the month were Nothing But the Truth by Holly James, The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, and The Change by Kirsten Miller.

Here’s what I read in June:

• Upgrade by Blake Crouch (ARC)
• The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain (ALC)
• Nothing But the Truth by Holly James (ARC)
• The Dark King by Gina L. Maxwell (ARC)
• Smorgasbowl by Caryn Carruthers (ARC)
• Murder at the Blueberry Festival by Darci Hannah (Beacon Bakeshop #3) (ARC)
• Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake (Bright Falls #1)
• The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World by Mason Funk
• Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastard #2)
• The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (Burning Kingdoms #1)
• The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
• Keya Das’s Second Act by Sopan Deb (ARC)
• The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne (ARC)
• What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (ARC)
• Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody (The Shadow Game #3)
• The Change by Kirsten Miller

• Emperor’s Lion by Alex Gough (Imperial Assassin #5) (ARC)
• Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen (ALC)
• Just by Looking at Him by Ryan O’Connell (ALC)
• Flying Solo by Linda Holmes (ALC)
• No Parm No Foul by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #2) (ARC)
• On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
• Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee (A Sweet Mess #3) (ARC)
• What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix by Tasha Suri (ARC)
• The Complete Language of Herbs: A Definitive and Illustrated History by S. Theresa Dietz (ARC)
• Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin (ARC)

• Nuclear Family by Joseph Han (ARC)
• Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (ALC)
• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (ARC)
• The Sea Witch by Katee Robert (Wicked Villains #5)
• Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen (Violet Made of Thorns #1) (ARC)

• Mint Chocolate Murder by Meri Allen (Ice Cream Shop Mystery #2) (ARC)
• Seaside Secrets by Cindy Bell (Dune House Cozy Mystery Series #1)
• Boats and Bad Guys by Cindy Bell (Dune House Mystery #2)
• The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner (The Helheim Prophecy #1) (ARC)
• Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
• The Children of Camelot by Amy Bartelloni (The Children of Camelot #1)

• Shmutz by Felicia Berliner (ARC)
• Twisted Love by Ana Huang (Twisted #1) (ALC)

DNF

• August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White (The Starmetal Symphony #1) (ALC)

Not Rated

• Emperor’s Sword by Alex Gough (Imperial Assassin #1) — reread
• Masking the Love by Cait Marie (Bennu Firebirds #1.5) — proofread
• Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop by Darci Hannah (Beacon Bakeshop #1) — reread
• Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off by Darci Hannah (Beacon Bakeshop #2) — reread
• Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #1) — reread
• The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen (Ice Cream Shop Mystery #1) — reread

How did your June reading go? Drop a link to your monthly wrap up in the comments!