My June reading list has lots of great books to keep you entertained poolside this summer!
Oh, you guys.
Summer. How are we doing? I feel like we all need to check in with each other and have a therapy session. With wine and brownies.
I am slowly adjusting. My husband and I try and take a trip together at the beginning of every summer to celebrate our anniversary (and prepare for the summer months). Between that and adjusting to life with kids home all day every day….while we work from home…well. It’s a work in progress. Not to mention that it’s SO HARD TO WORK INSIDE RIGHT NOW. The weather has been beautiful, the pool smells all chlorine-ey, and I just want to LAY OUTSIDE WITH A BOOK ALL DAY.
Why can’t that be a job? It should be a job. I’d be darn good at it.
On a good note, I did a ton of really great reading on my trip! Don’t you love a trip where you do a ton of reading?! Seriously the best.
Here are the books I’ve chosen for this month, mostly based on my latest vacation reads:
On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
This book first caught my eye because hello — this is the first time I’ve seen anyone have my first name! That aside, this is honestly one of the most perfect summer books I’ve read in a VERY long time. It’s humorous, fluffy, but also has enough substance to keep me from feeling like I was wasting my time. Also? It was pretty hard to put down. I highly recommend this book as a summer read. It won’t change your life, but you’ll have a lot of fun reading it.
Via Amazon:
Ainsley O’Leary is so ready to get married—she’s even found the engagement ring her boyfriend has stashed away. What she doesn’t anticipate is being blindsided by a breakup he chronicles in a blog…which (of course) goes viral. Devastated and humiliated, Ainsley turns to her older half sister, Kate, who’s struggling with a sudden loss of her own.
Kate’s always been the poised, self-assured sister, but becoming a newlywed—and a widow—in the space of four months overwhelms her. Though the sisters were never close, she starts to confide in Ainsley, especially when she learns her late husband was keeping a secret from her.
Despite the murky blended-family dynamic that’s always separated them, Ainsley’s and Kate’s heartaches bind their summer together when they come to terms with the inevitable imperfection of relationships and family—and the possibility of one day finding love again.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Abertalli
If you loved The Fault in Our Stars or Eleanor and Park, I definitely recommend this fun and quirky YA romance! It’s full of personality and heart, but is a short and easy enough read that it’s great for vacation.
Via Amazon:
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
This is the only book on the list that I haven’t read yet…but I AM in the process of reading it and I really like it so far. Six Stories is different in that it’s told like it’s a true crime podcast…meaning, if you were a Serial fan, this is probably a good choice for you! It’s well-written and suspenseful — I look forward to seeing where it goes.
Via Amazon:
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an Outward Bound center. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who embarked on that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby. 2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivaled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth.
The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn
This book reminds me a lot of What Alice Forgot (which I also loved), not because of the plot, but because it’s so unlikely a story, but so fun and easy to dive into all the same. I really loved this book — it was dishy and silly and messy but also emotional and real at times. A perfect lazy day read that will keep you up way too late at night.
Via Amazon:
Lucy and Owen, ambitious, thoroughly-therapized New Yorkers, have taken the plunge, trading in their crazy life in a cramped apartment for Beekman, a bucolic Hudson Valley exurb. They’ve got a two hundred year-old house, an autistic son obsessed with the Titanic, and 17 chickens, at last count. It’s the kind of paradise where stay-at-home moms team up to cook the school’s “hot lunch,” dads grill grass-fed burgers, and, as Lucy observes, “chopping kale has become a certain kind of American housewife’s version of chopping wood.”
When friends at a wine-soaked dinner party reveal they’ve made their marriage open, sensible Lucy balks. There’s a part of her, though-the part that worries she’s become too comfortable being invisible-that’s intrigued. Why not try a short marital experiment? Six months, clear ground rules, zero questions asked. When an affair with a man in the city begins to seem more enticing than the happily-ever-after she’s known for the past nine years, Lucy must decide what truly makes her happy-“real life,” or the “experiment?”
Tha’t’s it for June! I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading lately!
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