June Reading Wrap Up

Another month, another wrap up! This month has been really heavy in terms of audio books and while this post is not sponsored, I can't sing the praises of Audible enough. It's really made a difference when it comes to how much I've managed to read in a month. 

This month I've read / listened to a real mix of non-fiction, fiction, and comfort reads. Here's the final list!

First up in June I read The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh, the sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn. I LOVED the first book (see last month!) and was so excited to get my teeth in to the second one. It continues the retelling of A Thousand and One Nights, and the duology was finished really well. And I had my heart in my mouth at the end! *spoiler redacted*

I followed this up with some comfort reads. First up I re-read All American Girl by Meg Cabot. I find when I've read a cracking book, I need a pause before I choose my next read and a Meg Cabot always fills that gap for me. All American Girl is about Sam, who accidentally saves the President's life and has to deal with being plonked in the national limelight, despite wanting to hibernate in her room and ignore her socially perfect older sister, her genius younger sister - oh, and her sister's boyfriend who she has decided she's in love with.

And when it comes to comfort reads, nothing is more comforting, glorious, and appeals to all my fangirl needs than Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This is basically my perfect book, and after hearing the flail-inducing news about Wayward Son (how is 2020 so FAR AWAY??) I decided I needed Simon and Baz back in my life. Luckily, the audio book was super long and, as work has been really crazy this month, I listened to it on my commute every day to chill me out. And it worked a treat! It's been long enough that I can't remember every single minutiae of the story, but also familiar enough that I still squeal and flail and have FEELINGS every time Simon and Baz get up to anything. BRING ON 2020.

While I was reading and listening to all of these books, I was dipping in and out of The Multi Hyphen Method by Emma Gannon. I've listened to a fair few episodes of her podcast, Ctrl Alt Del, and when I heard she was writing a book about multiple streams of income and managing to live that self-employed life, I knew I had to give it a read. I much prefer listening to non-fiction rather than reading it, and Emma Gannon read it, meaning it was just like listening to an epically long podcast episode! This book is full of great advice and wisdom for anyone self-employed or looking to become it, how to manage multiple income streams, and make a success of it.

I also have a bedtime listen every night, and this month I finished off the Radio 4 dramatisation of Good Omens. Again. I feel like I've said enough about the dramatisation on this blog to last a lifetime, so 'nuff said on this one!

After this I read a book I have been hyped about ever since I heard it announced, and that is How Do You Like Me Now? by Holly Bourne. This book is all about turning thirty, the demands of society and social media, and challenging those intrinsic beliefs that somehow you have to have your entire life sorted by thirty. I loved it so much I wrote a whole separate blog post about it, so pop over and give that a read if you want to know more!

Then I returned to another Renee Ahdieh, who is fast becoming one of my author finds of 2018. I picked up a copy of Flame In The Mist, the first book in her story about Mariko who, at the age of seventeen, is sent to the Imperial Palace to marry her betrothed. But her convoy is ambushed by the Black Clan and, realising someone wants to kill her, she disguises herself as a boy and infiltrates the Black Clan to find out who exactly wants her dead.

I loved this book because it was such a great read in the same way that The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger were so good. They are all consistently well written books that engage you with the characters until you disappear in to their world completely. Flame In The Mist was a slightly slower burner than the previous two I'd read, but once Mariko infiltrates the Black Clan everything picked up for me. I'm only gutted that I have to wait until March next year for the sequel in paperback.

Finally this month I read a book that I picked up in my local library (libraries! hurrah!) Wishbones is the story of Feather, whose mum falls in to a diabetic coma. When her mum wakes up, Feather decides that she needs to pick her mum and dad up and get her mum well again - all while making it to the swimming nationals. This was a really heartfelt book about friendship, love, family, and the power of secrets on a whole community. I loved it and can highly suggest you find a copy of Wishbones next time you are in the library or bookshop.

So those are all the books I read in June! Have you read any of them, and what did you think? What books should I add to my TBR for July?

Katherine x