I know this is a bit (…okay, a lot!) late, but better late than never. Last month was full of so many good books! There’s just something about summer reading for me – maybe it’s nostalgia for summers of my childhood with nothing to do but read, I don’t know! But I always get the mos reading done in the summer, and June did not disappoint. Here’s everything I read.

Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood is hit or miss for me, but this one was a big hit. I will warn you that it’s an age gap romance, but I think it’s treated with care and tact. Maya is in the absolutely gorgeous Taormina, Italy for her older brother’s wedding… and her brother’s best friend, Connor, just happens to be the man she’s had a crush on – and undeniable chemistry with – for years. With both together in such close quarters, it’s hard for sparks not to fly. Honestly, I loved the beautiful depictions of Taormina almost as much as the romance itself. It made me want to book a visit ASAP, and I now want to have granita for breakfast so, so badly. This is a perfect summer read.

The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan

This is beautiful, intergenerational story – equal parts moving and sad, and really stuck with me after I was done reading it. It’s about the war in the Middle East, about family, about home and legacy. The Nasr family has had a home in Beirut for years, but when the family patriarch dies, the decision to sell the house is made. Each member of the Nasr family has a different reaction to the news, but it does bring everyone together back in Beirut one final time. The story jumps back and forth between present day, with the sale, and the past – how the family members became the people that they are now. An important story to read at any time, but even moreso now!

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel

(Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for my ARC!) This is an interesting take on historical fiction – it’s told from the point-of-view of an alternate history of India, one in which India was never liberated from British rule. It’s also told as ten different “moments” of life that mirror the Dashavatara, which is a really interesting way of framing the story. Kalki is the daughter of a rebel, who has lived for years never knowing what happened to her father. When something happens near her, though, she can no longer avoid the call to join the rebellion like her father. She builds a small network of spies, who all work for the government but also are revolutionaries. Her network grows, but so do the stakes, getting higher and higher until she needs to make some big, life-altering decisions as she decides what priorities are most important to her.

Audition by Katie Kitamura

This book is incredibly confusing, but also fascinating – a great option for a book club, because it’s definitely something that you’ll want to discuss when you’re done with it. The story starts with a lunch, where a woman shares a meal with a man who believes he might be her son. He isn’t, but the two go on to work on the same play, where she’s the starring actress and he’s an assistant. But then you get to part two of the story, and everything is the same, and yet different. I don’t want to give away the conceit, but it had me so confused and yet wanting to read more and more and more.

Silver Elite by Dani Francis

I kept seeing this all over my social media, so I picked it up, but it was very much not for me. It’s a dystopian romance – Wren is “modified,” and has psychic abilities, which means death if she’s ever found out. A mistake nearly does get her caught, but instead, she’s handed an opportunity – she’s put in Silver Block for training, with the chance to be placed into the super-secretive “Silver Elite.” Her commanding officer, Cross, is infuriating… and yet, she can’t seem to stay away. Then she finds out she and Cross are linked in a way she never would have imaged, and she decides to start working for the revolution from the inside, all while trying not to be caught as “modified” by her fellow trainees. I found it super predictable, and did not think the writing was good, either. I don’t mind a bland storyline if I’m having fun while reading, but I just didn’t enjoy this one.

Oathbound by Tracy Deonn

This is the third book in a series, so it’s hard to say too much about it without spoiling the previous two books. But the series itself is an Arthurian retelling, but with a “Black Girl Magic” twist, where there’s always been a racial divide between the Scions of Arthur, Lancelot, etc. and those who are “Rootcrafters” and do magic with root, from the earth and their ancestors. This one picks up right where the second ended, with Bree turning to a new teacher to try to learn her powers and right some wrongs in her past. The first half of this one was a bit slow for me, with too many points-of-view, but the second half picked up and I’m very much excited for the next book.

Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin

(Thanks to Netgalley and Summit Books for my ARC.) At the beginning of this story, Smith, a queer Black man, has just been arrested after a wild night out that ended with the death of his socialite friend and roommate Elle. Smith is wealthy but Black, and his warring amounts of privilege mean that he’s given court-mandated treatment when he goes to court. He spends his ensuing time half-heartedly going through the motions of treatment, while also trying to untie the threads of that night and figure out what really happened to Elle. This takes him in and out of the NYC nightlife scene, and makes him learn how much he ever really knew about Elle. I mostly enjoyed this, but was really thrown out of the story when Smith’s court-mandated treatment is run by a man in a wheelchair… who inexplicably has no chairs in his home, which he runs treatment out of. I don’t really understand why this detail was included… but people in wheelchairs typically do have family in friends, and thus, chairs!

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

Thanks to Netgalley, St.Martin’s Press, and Libro.fm for my ARCs.) It’s hard to talk about this one without spoiling something major that happens very near the beginning of the book, which I very much don’t want to do. But it’s such a unique framing of a book that I really recommend it (though CWs for infertility and child death). Honor and Tom have a seemingly perfect life, on vacation in Paris with their daughter Chloe. But in reality, Honor wants another baby very badly, and it’s putting a lot of pressure on their marriage. Then something explosive happens, and it changes their lives in unimaginable ways. Years later, Tom makes another decision that has life-altering consequences. I felt a lot of secondhand anxiety reading this, and the ending wasn’t my favorite, but it’s so unique and very good.

Square Waves by Alexandra Romanoff

(Thanks to Netgalley and 831 Stories for my ARC!) I continue to really enjoy the smart romance novellas that 831 Stories is putting out, and this one was no different. It takes place in the same universe as Big Fan, Romanoff’s first book in this series, but follows Cassidy, the “other woman.” It picks up a few years later, when Cassidy is kindly but forcibly told to take some time off and goes home to recover from her burnout. She has what she thinks will be a one night stand with her high school nemesis… except it turns out he’s helping their mutual friend get her ceramics business off the ground, and Cassidy has agreed to use her time off to do the same. As always with stories like these, it’s about the journey, not the destination, and this journey was very cute.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

I really recommend listening to this as an audiobook, because the production is so, so beautiful. This is kind of a novella, kind of a song-like story, about two sisters who are devoted to each other and won’t be separated. One of the sisters rejects a suitor vying for her hand in favor of someone from the land of Faerie, and ends up putting both sisters at risk. The story is fable-like, and good if not a bit short, but honestly the real star of this is the audio production for me! The author and her sister both sing the songs in the story, and the music in the background is so soothing and peaceful. It was really just a beautiful thing to listen to!

Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino

I liked, but didn’t love, this romance about a woman trying to find herself again after a divorce. Sunny is in her 30s, just broken up with her ex-husband after finding out he was cheating, and facing going to her brother’s wedding alone. When she tries to go swimsuit shopping for an upcoming girls trip and realizes that store carries nothing cute that can fit her plus-sized body, it feels like the end of her rope – and the chance for a new beginning, too. Sunny decides to revitalize her old lifestyle blog/newsletter, chronicle her dating attempts, and start a new business creating swimsuits that she’d actually wear. The story was cute, if not a bit predictable, but the stakes never quite felt high enough to me. I did really enjoy the overarching plot of self-acceptance.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

When I saw that V.E. Schwab was coming out with a queer vampire story, I knew I had to read it. Overall, I enjoyed it, though stories with dual timelines and POVs are tricky, and as often happens, I ended up liking the historical POV a lot more than the present-day one. This is definitely more of a vibes over plot story, but it does follow three women over the course of the story – María, in the 1500s, Charlotte, in the 1800s, and Alice, in the present-day. It’s about vampires, but also about hunger – for power, for love, for belonging. I found the pacing of it to be a little uneven at times, and the ending way too neat, but I really enjoyed the writing and how moody and atmospheric it all was! I did enjoy it and would recommend it, too.