I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump over the last month or two, but I think (fingers crossed!) the slump has been broken. It definitely helps that there are so many books coming out right now that I’m excited to read! Here’s everything I read last month.

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

At this point, Carley Fortune is an auto-buy author for me – I love everything she writes. One Golden Summer is a companion to her first book, Every Summer After, but centered around the older brother Charlie. Alice is taking a summer off to spend the summer at the lake at Barry’s Bay, staying there with her grandmother and helping her recover. Alice, who was shy as a teen, decides she wants to spend the summer doing all the things that 17-year-old her was too reserved to do. And Charlie, her neighbor across the lake, agrees to help her check items off her bucket list. I love the way Carley writes both settings and characters – so descriptive; I just want to live in the pages of her books! This is a perfect book to read this summer.

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

(Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC!) Annabel Monaghan has become another auto-buy author for me. I especially love that her characters are usually in their later 20s/early 30s and have some life experience behind them. It’s a Love Story was such a fun read – a great summer romp. Jane was a pre-teen TV star, and now works on the other side of the screen as a studio executive. In pitching her latest project, she accidentally went a little too far – she promised a song from her old co-star turned famous signer. Except… she hasn’t spoken to him in years. To try to make this happen, she has to begrudgingly work with an adversary at work. I’m sure you can imagine where this is going, but the journey to get there is so fun! I love a good “adversaries to lovers” trope, and this one is executed so, so well.

The Queen Bees of Tybee County by Kyle Casey Chu

My friend Sophia recommended this book to me, and when she tells me to read something, I listen! The Queen Bees of Tybee County a middle grade / YA book, but doesn’t condescend or read too young for adults to enjoy too. Derrick is a typical jock on the basketball team… except that he’s also wondering if he might have feelings for his best friend and teammate JJ. Derrick has to spend the summer with his grandma in Tybee County, where he meets some new friends and, in the safety of his new friendships, starts to talk openly about his sexuality for the first time. It’s a really sweet, heartwarming story, and such great representation for youth to be able to read and relate to. The author is one of the founders of Drag Story Hour!

Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein

(Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC!) Maine Characters is described as a version of Parent Trap but for adults, and that feels right. Vivian is a sommalier, who is taking time off work and spending time at her family’s cabin at the lake after her father unexpectedly passes away. Except when she gets there, she finds out someone is already there… Lucy, the half-sister she didn’t know existed. The two agree to spend a month together while they decide what to do with the house, and while they get off on the wrong foot, they slowly start warming to each other. This one wasn’t my favorite – the characters didn’t quite work for me – but I did love that the romance was secondary to the sisters, and how gorgeous the Maine setting was depicted as.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Careless People is QUITE the read (or listen, in my case). Sarah Wynn-Williams shares a no-holds-barred story of her time at Meta as an insider, where she came on very early to work on policy issues. The picture she paints is incredibly damning – of a company that knows they’re doing wrong and causing harm, but doesn’t care, and will stop at nothing to keep growing and becoming more powerful. It’s also full of incredibly odd stories of the other top people who work or worked there! I’m a little torn because she seems to portray herself as a helpless bystander in many cases rather than complicit, but it’s definitely worth a read.

My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

(Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC!) I really love Isabel Allende’s books, but My Name is Emilia del Valle wasn’t my favorite of hers. It follows Emilia, who breaks gender norms first by publishing dime romance novels under a pen name, and then by getting hired as a journalist and going to the front lines of the civil war in Chile. She and another reporter, Eric, are sent to report on the war, but Emilia is there for another reason, too – to find the father she never knew. I’m not huge on stories about war, and this one moved a bit too slowly for me to ever feel fully engaged, although I did love the strong feminist bent to the story!

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

The Knight and the Moth was a really enjoyable romantasy that’s a bit heavier on the fantasy than the romance. It’s a really ethereal, dream-like story – I loved that it felt confusing and that I wasn’t always quite sure what was going on, but in a good way. Sybil is a “Diviner” – she spends her days along with a small group of women being drowned and reading dream omens for people who come to seek her services. But when, one by one, the other Diviners go missing, she knows something is very wrong – and sets out on a quest to find out what it is… aided by the new King and a select few of his Knights. This ended on a MAJOR cliffhanger, and I’ll definitely be reading the follow up.

If You Love It, Let It Kill You by Hannah Pittard

(Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC – this will be out on July 15.) When I started If You Love It, Let It Kill You, I didn’t realize that it was auto-fiction – fiction loosely based on the author’s real life. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan. It had a super interesting premise – when a woman learns her ex-husband his written her into his new book, she has a mid-life crisis of sorts, and starts taking direction from a talking cat she finds in her garage. I love slightly weird, slightly magical things like this – but unfortunately, the cat was only in a very short part of the book. The rest of it felt somewhat unfinished, like it would’ve benefited from another year or two of hindsight. I do think we need more stories about women in middle age, though, so I appreciated that part of it.

Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi

(Thanks to Libro.fm for my copy!) I love the way Akwaeke Emezi writes – I just think they’re such a talented storyteller and have a way with words! I had never read a YA story from them before, but I really loved Somadina, a tale of magical twins set in Africa. Somadina and Jayaike are twins who are basically two parts of one whole. As they start to develop powers, Jayaike’s seem to bring only beauty, and Somadina’s only destruction. When Somadina’s powers cause her to do something terrible, and Jayaike is stolen from their house in the middle of the night, Somadina knows she has to go after him to set things right. I love the magic system in this, which was so unique, and just felt totally engrossed in their world.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Quite a few people I follow online recommended Greenlights recently, so I decided to pick it up. It’s an incredibly entertaining read (or listen!) – Matthew McConaughey is such a talented storyteller. I had no idea how fascinating of a life he has led – his time in Australia was certainly a standout – or how he got to the megastar he is today. I will say that there was one story he told about him and his brother faking the need for a seeing eye dog that didn’t go over well for me at all, but on the whole, I did enjoy this.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

(Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC!) I loved The Listeners so much – it’s one of my favorites so far this year. Theoretically, it’s historical fiction about a luxurious hotel that’s co-opted by the US government to house Nazi diplomats while the government arranges for their repatriation… and the hotel is set on the site of a magic spring that can sense the emotions of the guests, and needs to be appeased. But really, it’s a story about people and humanity, and about how far we’re willing to go for the things and people we love. It’s a beautiful story with incredible writing, and I absolutely loved it. Even if you’re not a historical fiction fan, I think you’ll still like this one.