Monthly Wrap Up | June 2020

WHAT HAPPENED IN JUNE

• Two and a half months of working from home ended in June. I returned to the office on June 1st and it was a ghost town those first two weeks. Most people returned on the 15th. It was a new normal with no in-person meetings, masks being worn in the office, and frequent rounds by the cleaning crew, but it also made the transition back to the office easier.
• I got an Apple Watch at the beginning of the month and now it harangues me about standing up from my desk all the time. So that's entertaining - especially when I'm busy and tell it to quit being so bossy. 
• The COVID cases in Florida took a dramatic upturn in June and we saw day after day of record-high positive cases. And people were still walking around without a care in the world, not wearing masks, going to restaurants, shopping. It's mind-boggling.
• A family health issue kept our minds occupied throughout the month. The results were mostly very positive and the relief was almost overwhelming.
• And now the year is half over and what a strange year it has been. Scary and troubling and disturbing, but with bright spots in between. Despite what is going on the world, I am filled with such gratitude. I'm employed, I have a roof over my head, I have food on my table, The Husband is (as always) my rock and my touchstone, and my mother and my sisters remain healthy. I am so thankful.

WHAT I READ IN JUNE

I read ten books in June which is slightly more than my norm. So yay me. No five star reads, and a couple that were just okay, but it was still a good reading month overall.

That Forever Girl - Meghan Quinn | 4 stars

Dirty Charmer - Emma Chase | 4 stars

What You Left Behind - Jessica Verdi | 4 stars

The Clover Chapel - Devney Perry | 4 stars

Fight For Me - Corinne Michaels | 4 stars

That Secret Crush - Meghan Quinn | 3.5 stars

The Kingmaker - Kennedy Ryan | 4.25 stars

Losing the Field - Abbi Glines | 2.5 stars

Perfect Love Story - Natasha Madison | 3.25 stars

Inked - Sarah Darlington | 3.25 stars

FORMATS

Total Read: 10

4 physical books

3 audiobooks

3 Kindle/e-books

(1 ARC: Inked)

TOP OF THE HEAP

The Kingmaker

While I didn't have a five star read in June, The Kingmaker did stand out above the rest. Kennedy Ryan has a way of writing about serious, timely issues without being heavy-handed (and never preachy). And at the same time she weaves in characters and relationships that pack an emotional punch. Lennix and Maxim were such fully realized characters and their story unfolded in such a unique way. And that ending was the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers!  

THE ONE THAT WAS A BUDDY READ

What You Left Behind

What You Left Behind had been sitting on my shelf for almost five years. So it was kinda past time to read it. Sam and I decided to do a buddy read and I'm so glad we did. (Both our reviews can be found here at her blog.) It was easy to feel for main character Ryden. A single father at seventeen, this kid was dealing with way more than most of his peers. There were times I wanted to steer him in another direction, when I wanted to step in give him a reality check, but he figured it out in his own time. 

THE ONE THAT MADE ME RAGEY

Losing the Field

This book. Oh my goodness, it made me crazy. I came to dislike both main characters so hard. Nash was hypocritical and self-absorbed. Tallulah only lost weight for "revenge" (nice message to send there) and was also unbelievably clueless (are we actually supposed to believe that a teenager in 2018 doesn't know what a vlog is? Seriously?). Like most of Abbi's "heroes", Nash treated the girl he supposedly cared about like crap, assumed the worst of her (as did everyone else), and when he wised up at the very end she instantly forgave him. There was so much more but I'll leave it at that. (Until I read the next book in the series because I swear I just can't stay away. It's a sickness. Someone send help.)

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BLOG

I had 18 blog posts in June and shared six reviews: 

• The Coppersmith Farmhouse - Devney Perry
• Cake - J. Bengtsson
• Until the End - Abbi Glines
• That Second Chance - Meghan Quinn
• That Forever Girl - Meghan Quinn
• That Secret Crush - Meghan Quinn

WHAT I'M CURRENTLY READING

     

King - T.M. Frazier
The Player - Claire Contreras

I'm totally into King - the book and the character. :) How Frazier manages to make these guys so likable is beyond me. I mean, she writes these guys that I would cross the street to avoid in real life. Total badass, on the wrong side of the law, and who generally just aren't good men. But Frazier shows a softer side (that's pretty well-hidden) and I find myself actually pulling for the guy. 

The Player still has me feeling kind of meh. I still don't feel I know much of anything about the main characters. Camila is super judgey about anyone with money and Warren's sole focus seems to be getting Camila into his bed so he can hit that before he leaves town in two weeks. So yeah... not a lot to make me care about either of these people or their outcome.   

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE READ IN JUNE?