I’m glad that May was an easier month for me, because it gave me some power to get through the stressful month of June. I spent a lot of time preparing for and having procedures, getting bloodwork, and visiting treatment providers. In between, I prioritized rest and relaxation over pushing myself to create blog content, so I wasn’t around the internet as much. I’m hoping to get back on track with a regular posting schedule and hopping around to everyone else’s blogs very soon. 

Since I described what was going on in my life last month in my State of the ARC post (find it here), I don’t want to go over it again 2 days later, but let’s just say medical issues have been ruling the roost at my house, and I’m hoping for some improvement sooner rather than later. I did some fun stuff in June that I didn’t mention yet, so you’re the lucky reader to hear about the cool things that happened in June: 

• I went to see the debut performance of my college roommate’s new 90s/2000s alternative/rock cover band. They’re called Anthurium, and they are amazing! I’m not even just saying that because she’s one of my besties. You can check out their social media here and see for yourself (Instagram | TikTok). My friend is the bassist with a platinum blond pixie cut, but really, everyone else in the band are cool people as well. 🤘🎸
• Throughout the month, I reconnected with my three local BFFs from various points in my life who have met each other before. All of them have kids, but I have to say, I like all of their kids and they seem to like me, which is great, because babies always cry when I hold them. 🤷🏻‍♀️
• Hazel, my rescue pup, is feeling a lot more secure and sleeps on the bed with me and the two chihuahuas every night, even though the older dogs don’t love it because she wants to play with them and gives them a little kiss that covers half their head in a swipe. 👅
• Mom and I have been working on brainstorming solutions to make life easier for her and consequently for me. I think I found a good solution, so hopefully she’ll get used to it with daily use — I found a good calendar that began in July (which I hadn’t seen before) for her to track her appointments and mine, so I don’t have to leave my planner at home for her. Even more cool, I found this clear acrylic dry erase board that has neon bright dry erase markers. It lights up via a USB cord, and each night, I write down the day/date for the morning and note whether she or I have any appointments, then place it on the tripod, and turn the light on. After seeing it in the morning, she was turning it off, but we’ve found that it gets her attention more if we leave the light on. It’s such a cool device that can be used by basically anyone. I’m going to include my Amazon affiliate link here, and if you make a purchase through my link, I might receive a small commission at no cost to you.

• Father’s Day has been challenging since we’ve lost my father, but I know he’s watching over us all and is proud of each of us. I’m the baby of the family, and the one that everyone doted on, but I was a daddy’s girl through and through. While this may sound weird and I’d probably be skeptical if I hadn’t experienced it for myself, but my father has sent me messages: he spoke loud and clear about his wishes for Father’s Day when I found a huge bin of his favorite candy bar for $1 … and it was in the dairy/frozen food aisle. I had to get it in his honor, and on Sunday, my brother and his son picked us up, and we visited the graves of my dad and all the other loved ones we have in the same cemetery. We haven’t been thrilled about how the site maintains the shrubs on the graves since it blocks the inscription on the stones. So here we all are, sharing my father’s favorite candy and and reminiscing about him, and then my brother goes to his car and comes back with a weed-whacker and evened up all the shrubs for quite a few family members. 🤣 They did look way better after he was done though, and then he had us all over for a barbecue. It was the best Father’s Day I can recall since my father’s passing.

• I was strongly encouraged to consider writing my father’s story of survival by hiding out across Poland during the Holocaust, surviving by their wits, faith, determination, and what can only be explained as divine intervention—there’s no way they could have escaped as many near-death situations as they did and survived, let alone as an intact family unit when about 90% of Polish Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. It’s a story unlike any other, and it deserves to be told. Encouragement, tips, and resources on where to even start and how to undertake this task would be greatly appreciated.
• Finally, my other brother has taken up the hobby of carpentry, and made some really nice stuff for our home. I asked if he’d be willing to build me a Little Free Library to put on our relatively busy street if I compensated him for the time and materials. He asked me to keep an eye out for something that he could upcycle into an LFL, and we had a deal.

Okay, so while my personal update on my State of the ARC post was a little bit (read: very) on the negative-focused side of my health issues, I was feeling pretty frustrated and haven’t been getting any kind of response despite some symptoms that suck and are bad, but not bad enough to warrant a hospital visit. I’m really glad that I challenged myself to list some of the positives to the month, because when I looked, the positives outweigh the negatives. I’m grateful for what I do have and the people who have been so supportive, especially since it could *always* be worse. 

Here’s some highlights for me from June:

• My follower count continues to grow a little bit at a time, and I’m now close to 1,100 followers! It’s really exciting because I still remember how happy I was to get to those first milestones: 1 follower, 10, 50, 100, and I’m just as happy with each new follower. Welcome to my blog and seeing my quirky posts and rants.
• My reading for the month took me to Boston, Massachusetts; Shanghai, China; Poland; Russia; Santa Catalina Island, California; and New York City, and I still snuck in a nonfiction book.
• I didn’t DNF any books this month.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly totals for June: 

June Totals:

• Books read: 11
• Books DNF’d: 0
• Pages read: 1,709
• Hours listened: 85.65 hours
• Average pages: 56.97
• Average hours listened: 2.86 hours

Genres Read in June:

• Cozy Mystery: 1
• Fantasy: 4
• Historical Fiction: 2
• Mystery: 2
• Politics: 1
• Romance: 1

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 3
• 2025 releases: 8

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 10
• Nonfiction: 1

Format Read:

• Print: 1
• Digital: 2
• Audio: 8

Age Range:

• Adult: 11
• YA: 0
• MG: 0

My favorite book of the month was: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler.

Here’s what I read in June:

1. Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler (Dark Lord Davi #2) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade | Goodreads | Amazon

1. A Charming Touch of Tarot by Melissa Holtz (The Gin & Tarot Club #2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Wife’s Silence by Amanda McKinney (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice by Adam Kirsch | Goodreads | Amazon
4. No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack (The Vacation Mysteries #2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Roommating by Meredith Schorr (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean #3) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (Vita Nostra #1) — reread
2. Assassin of Reality by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (Vita Nostra #2) — reread

How was your June?