
📚 June Reading Wrap-Up
It was an amazing reading month for me! Lots of solid, five star reads, a couple favorites (some which will end up on my favorites of the year), and nothing terrible at all! It'll be hard to top this month, that's for sure. Let's get into it.
📊 Reading Stats
Books Read: 9
Genres: Fiction (8), Nonfiction (1)
Formats: Print (9)
Sources: Library (9)
Average Rating: 3.9★
Average Time to Finish: 4 days
🏅 Favorite Book of the Month
The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
✨"You have shown me that love is worth the losing of it."
📖 Mini Reviews

📚 Title: Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Author: Sophie Cousens
Genre: Fiction ● Romance
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★★★
The absolute sweetest enemies-to-lovers workplace romance about two rival journalists with a little matchmaking twist.
Anna is a divorced mom of two who agrees to write a dating column wherein her children choose her dates, and they can't be found online. She is writing alongside Will, her office enemy, who is writing from a different angle, meeting all of his dates online.
It's easy to see where this is going, but the journey there is a lot of fun and super endearing. The story manages to be lighthearted and humorous, while also going a little deeper than your typical romance. Anna begins the story in a bit of a flailing, struggling manner, having just gone through a divorce. She's lost her footing and lacks any sort of confidence. Along the way, she starts to find herself. Her awkward dates are really funny, and the characters are wonderful. They're the kind of characters you miss when the story ends.
All in all, this was a heartwarming story of love and rediscovery. I loved it and look forward to reading much more from this author.
⚡ Quick Take: Heartwarming second-chance romance with a newsroom twist and lovable, layered characters.

📚 Title: The Mother Next Door
Author: Andrea Dunlop and Mike Weber
Genre: Nonfiction ● True Crime
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
All in all, this was an interesting read. It was meticulously researched and featured three different cases of Munchausen by Proxy which has always been a topic of fascination for me.
I enjoyed it, but felt it was lacking just a bit. It didn't move as quickly as I expected in some places, and because it featured multiple cases, I didn't get as much detail as I would have liked. It was interesting though, and I enjoyed it.
⚡ Quick Take: Fascinating subject, solid research — just wished for more depth and momentum.

📚 Title: The Bright Years
Author: Sarah Damoff
Genre: Fiction ● Literary Fiction
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★★★
This book SHATTERED ME! 5/5 for the feels alone, and 5/5 for the incredible, beautiful, exquisite writing.
The Bright Years follows a family - the Brights - over decades of their lives, from beginning to end. Though it’s a fairly short book, it encompasses SO MUCH. Addiction. Abandonment. Love. Family, and what we make of it. Gosh, I feel like I’ve been put through the wringer but I’d do it all again. I was devastated to see this book end but it will now permanently hold a place on my “favorite books of all time” list.
An astonishing debut. I can’t wait to see what else this author has in store in the future. If I could read this book again for the first time, I most definitely would. I’d recommend this one to everyone I know.
⚡ Quick Take: A breathtaking and emotional family epic filled with pain, beauty, and unforgettable writing.

📚 Title: Dead Med
Author: Freida McFadden
Genre: Fiction ● Thriller
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
I'm a big Freida fan but this was not her best work (though I understand it's one of her earlier books). This story follows a group of med students and a slew of mysterious deaths. It kept me interested enough and had a decent mystery aspect.
In all though, it was a little too long and convoluted, plus a little strange. I didn't feel as though things were wrapped up satisfactorily, but I did enjoy seeing the story from multiple points of view. I'd say read this one if you're a Freida fan, but otherwise, maybe give it a pass. I'm glad I read it but she's gotten much better as an author since this one was written.
⚡ Quick Take: Early Freida: twisty and mysterious, but ultimately uneven and overly complex.

📚 Title: First-Time Caller
Author: B.K. Borison
Genre: Fiction ● Romance
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Follows a radio show host who runs a romance hotline but no longer believes in love, and a single mother who goes viral after her daughter calls into the show about her.
Cute romance with really likeable characters and an interesting premise. A little bit slow and longer than necessary, but really touching, funny, and sweet. I loved the unique family that Lucie had created, and the strong friendships and different kinds of love throughout the story. All in all, a good romance with some good depth to it.
There was a lot of buzz around this book, and while I enjoyed it, it didn’t fully live up to the hype for me.
⚡ Quick Take: A sweet and charming small-town romance that doesn’t quite match the buzz.

📚 Title: Run on Red
Author: Noelle W. Ihli
Genre: Fiction ● Thriller
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★★☆
This story follows two girls who discover they are being followed on a rural road with no cell signal and no one around for miles.
This was a really fun read that basically felt like I was reading a horror movie. It was fast paced and exciting, and I flew through it in a day. Characters were a bit one dimensional and underdeveloped, but again, it was essentially a horror movie in book format. Great for what it was and kept me on the edge of my seat, but nothing super special or memorable.
⚡ Quick Take: A fast-paced horror-thriller that reads like a movie—fun, tense, but light on character depth.

📚 Title: The Hollow
Author: Kiersten Modglin
Genre: Fiction ● Mystery
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★★★
After experiencing a personal tragedy, Carmen McKenna finds Hunter’s Hollow—a campground in North Carolina—to be her new home and worst nightmare. Eleven years later, she returns to face the past and unravel the mystery of a murder that still haunts the place.
Really great book! This was my first time reading Kiersten Modglin, and it exceeded my expectations. Based on what I've heard about her, I thought this would be a thriller / suspense novel, but it wasn't quite that. There was definitely a mystery element that kept me guessing, but more than that, it was a character driven, coming of age story. It goes back and forth between past and present, and because of that, we really get the history and backstory of the characters. Though the book was somewhat short, the characters managed to be incredibly three dimensional and well developed. I enjoyed the setting and dark feeling throughout the novel as well. I can't wait to read more of Modglin's books now, and highly recommend this one.
⚡ Quick Take: A moody, emotional, character-driven mystery with a great setting and strong writing.

📚 Title: Barbarian’s Mate
Author: Ruby Dixon
Genre: Fiction ● Sci-Fi ● Romance
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is book 6 of the Ice Planet Barbarians series, which follows a group of girls who crash on a frozen alien planet and slowly fall in love with big blue aliens.
I enjoyed this one, as I have the rest of the series. But what I've started to learn about this series is that basically, if you've read one, you've read them all. They're all the same basic storyline with just the main couple in each book changing. For the most part, the characters are all the same, especially the women who are essentially caricatures. They all talk the same and think the same with just a few different features or traits. That said, it's hard to keep track of who is who from book to book. I enjoy seeing previous characters but I can never really remember each individual's story.
Despite all of this, I always know I'm going to have fun reading one of these books. They're formulaic, yes, but the world building is great, and it's easy to get lost in the story. This particular entry in the series featured Josie and Haeden and had an enemies to lovers storyline. The tension was fun, if a little over dramatic, and since it took most of the story for them to finally warm up to each other, it wasn't quite as "dirty" as some of the other books, which was just fine with me!
All in all, this was another fun Ice Planet book, and I will continue to slowly work my way through the series. I tend to need a break in between books since they're all so similar, and find them to be good palate cleansers when I need something light to read.
⚡ Quick Take: Formulaic but fun and comforting alien romance with familiar tropes and worldbuilding.

📚 Title: Heartwood
Author: Amity Gaige
Genre: Fiction ● Literary Fiction
Format & Source: Print ● Library
Rating: ★★★★★
Heartwood is the story of a woman who has gone missing on the Appalachian Trail and the search and rescue team who are looking for her.
This book was SO good!
I'm always intrigued by missing persons stories. I've also always been interested in the Appalachian Trail, ever since seeing a presentation from a thru hiker and his dog MANY years ago. Both of those things combined meant that I would pretty much love this book, and I did.
I will say that though this one SOUNDS like it will be a thriller or adventure story, it ultimately is not. It's more literary, more slow paced. It's the story of three women - the hiker who goes missing, the game warden in charge of the search, and an elderly woman living states away with an interesting tie to the mystery. It delves into their backgrounds, their motivations, their families... lots of depth for all three characters. The story shifts between these three points of views, interviews, and even tip line messages. These shifts and varying points of view made for an interesting read since you're coming at this disappearance from quite a few angles. It was interesting trying to piece it all together and see where things overlapped and intersected.
All in all, this was an easy 5 stars for me. The writing was surprisingly beautiful, the story was well researched, and the characters were all very three dimensional. I liked Bev, the game warden, in particular. I'm looking forward to checking out more of this author's work.
⚡ Quick Take: A haunting literary mystery with multiple POVs, deep character work, and exquisite writing.
🧨 Most Disappointing
Dead Med by Freida McFadden
⚠️ Interesting premise but too convoluted and didn’t quite stick the landing.
⏱️ Quickest Read
Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli
🚗 Read in one day—like a horror movie in book form!
🎯 Yearly Reading Goal
Goal: 100 books
So far: 36 / 100
🔜 Upcoming TBR
- The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
- The Amendment Kiersten Modglin
Thanks for reading — see you next time with more recent reads!