what i read in june
quick thoughts and ratings for all 19 books i read during the month.
we’re already a week into july, but i couldn’t let my june reads slip away before it gets too late. i was also on vacation for 10 days and even though i brought my laptop with me, i was often too pooped to try and put a post together while i was away.
so let’s get into what i read last month, including quick thoughts and ratings for each. each book is listed in order read from earliest to the last of the month.
these posts are always free, but if you become a paid subscriber, you will gain access to: weekly author interview segments (most recent here), deep dive literary articles (including this one), and extensive book recommendation posts (like this one).
title: flesh by david szalay
genre: literary/contemporary
pages: 368
published: march 11, 2025
there was something so deeply complex yet easily digestable about this book that i devoured it in only a few sittings. complex, unlikeable characters that rope you in from the start. you’re not necessarily rooting for anyone in this book, but you want to see how it plays out.
rating: ★★★★★
title: the burgess boys by elizabeth strout
genre: literary/contemporary
pages: 322
published: march 26 2013
this was my fourth elizabeth strout (i only started reading her this year, though i did try to read olive kitteridge back in 2021, but wasn’t in the right mindset to appreciate her yet), so it’s safe to say she’s become a favourite. like her other novels, the burgess boys is strout doing what she does best, which is writing about the ordinary and the everyday in a way that feels deeply true. it’s subtle, piercing, and makes you rethink the texture of your own life.
rating: ★★★★★
title: when the tides held the moon by venessa vida kelley
genre: fantasy/historical/romance/lgbtqia+
pages: 464
published: april 29, 2025
when the tides held the moon has the perfect backdrop: new york city in the early 1910s with coney island as its focal setting. add in a queer love story between an orphaned blacksmith and a merman and we’re golden.
i liked this for the most part, but it did feel a little corny at times. i loved the imagery, and there were illustrations throughout the novel that definitely brought it to life. at the end of the day it was fine and a solid debut novel even if it wasn’t entirely for me.
rating: ★★★.5
title: my name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout
genre: literary/contemporary
pages: 193
published: jan. 13, 2016
another elizabeth strout hit for me in which she continues to effortlessly write about relationships of any kind and the ways they evolve. what’s particularly impressive about this one is that lucy barton is under 200 pages and strout still manages to craft an impressive character study that left me a little teary at the end.
rating: ★★★★★
title: tell me everything by elizabeth strout
genre: literary/contemporary
pages: 326
published: sept. 10, 2025
i admittedly started diving into elizabeth strout this year so i could get to tell me everything before the women’s prize in fiction was announced, and this was shortlisted for it. finally getting to strout and appreciating her work was obviously something i had wanted to do, and tell me everything was worth the journey (i still have the three middle books of the amgash series to get to, however).
tell me everything was such a lovely reward to see olive from olive kitteridge again, lucy barton from my name is lucy barton, and the boys from the bugress boys. you in theory can read tell me everything on its own, but reading the others makes it so much more rewarding and you’ll love seeing these characters again and how she brings them together.
rating: ★★★★★
title: a girl like us by anna sophia mcloughlin
genre: mystery/thriller
pages: 432
published: feb. 11, 2025
raise your hand if you’ve ever been catfished by a pretty book cover.
in theory i should have loved this: early 2000s setting with succession/saltburn vibes, but the problem with marketing books to fans of, you’re often left disappointed. and this was the case in spades.
it started out interesting as we get to know our main character maya miller, a former reality tv star that marries collin sterling from the notable sterling family. we soon learn that his cousin is murdered and the entire family is swept off into lockdown at the family estate home in england for their own safety.
for one thing, this was much longer than it needed to be. most mystery/thrillers do not need to be this long and drawn out. secondly it felt like it was trying too hard to insert references to remind us that we were in 2004.
long story short: wanted to love, ultimately didn’t. don’t judge a book by its cover.
rating: ★★
title: girls girls girls by shoshanna von blanckensee
genre: literary/lgbtqia+
pages: 384
published: june 17, 2025
(gifted from the publisher)
this is a coming of age novel set in the 1990s, which i love, about two queer girls who have been in a secret relationship, leaving their life behind in the state of new york to drive across the country to san fransisco and essentially find themselves.
there was a lot i loved about this novel: it felt authentic to the time, it was messy and chaotic as life is at that age, but it often felt like it was doing too much with several different plot points, and it felt a little too YA (young adult) in writing style for me. still, it was a really solid debut and i’d absolutely read whatever the author has coming next.
rating: ★★★.75
title: the names by florence knapp
genre: literary
pages: 336
published: may 6, 2025
this was a DNF (did not finish) for me, which is super disappointing because again it’s one i thought i’d love. it felt because i didn’t finish it i can’t tell you how it ends, but it felt more about the volatile relationship between the mother and father (which is not discussed about enough, with domestic violence as a significant theme in this novel) and less about the actual son. it wasn’t badly written, the writing itself was fine, but i felt no pull to the characters and didn’t ultimately care.
a better alternative in my opinion is 4321 by paul auster.
rating: ★
title: the pretender by jo harkin
genre: literary/historical
pages: 496
published: april 22, 2025
i don’t typically gravitate towards something that’s heavy on historical fiction (usually literary historical fiction is my preference), but this drew me in immediately and it was so much more funny than i expected.
i also appreciated that this was a historical novel set in the 16th century based on, i think, true events, and it didn’t seem to take itself too seriously. i think that’s often the problem with the genre itself. it’s okay to have fun with historical fiction, and this did just that.
rating: ★★★★
title: counting backwards by binnie kirshenbaum
genre: literary
pages: 400
published: march 25, 2025
you’ll need tissues for this one, or at least some strength while reading this. counting backwards is a devastating yet beautiful novel about the impact lewy body dementia has as our protagonist’s husband slowly declines as a result of the disease.
this one took a lot out of me, quietly and subtly, for days after i finished it. it’s an important novel, but one that should be read with care and also with care for yourself. do i recommend it? yes, but only if its contents are something you are prepared to read about.
rating: ★★★★
title: disappoint me by nicola dinan
genre: literary/lgbtqia+
pages: 320
published: may 27, 2025
nicola dinan is back! i absolutely loved her debut novel, bellies, from 2023 and this became a highly anticipated novel for me in 2025.
dual timelines can often be hit or miss for me, but i loved the way dinan built it up in this one until it kind of came to a head, and it felt necessary to understand the thoughts of both our key characters.
like bellies, disappoint me tackles some important subjects that will make you feel uncomfortable, because they’re supposed to, and that epilogue was chef’s kiss.
rating: ★★★★
title: what you make of me by sophie madeline dess
genre: literary
pages: 288
published: feb 25, 2025
i’m a sucker for family dynamics, especially sibling dynamics, and what you make of me was no different.
at the heart of the novel is the tangled bond between ava, a sharp-edged painter with something to prove, and demetri, her older brother and a quietly intense documentarian. their relationship—equal parts muse, mirror, and emotional crutch—teeters between intimacy and implosion.
i loved it for its quietness and the way it’s continued to stay with me long after i read it.
rating: ★★★★
title: immaculate conception by ling ling huang
genre: literary/horror/science fiction
pages: 304
published: may 13, 2025
the thing about ling ling huang’s writing is that i want to immediately reread what i’ve read by her afterwards. case in point, i have a hankering to now reread her debut natural beauty now that i’ve read her latest, immaculate conception.
this was such a juicy novel that blurs the lines between friendship and obsession (another fav trope of mine, who’s surprised) and of course jealousy.
what’s most impressive is how huang can juggle multiple genres within one novel that makes it so distinctly her.
rating: ★★★★
title: the river is waiting by wally lamb
genre: literary/contemporary
pages: 446
published: june 10, 2025
it pains me that i didn’t love this, because i know this much is true by wally lamb was the first real ‘adult’ novel that i loved. i haven’t read it since high school (i’m almost scared to reread it because what if it doesn’t live up to my memory), but it’s always stuck with me. i’ve loved at least two others of his, but his other work has been hit or miss for me.
it’s also been at least a decade since wally lamb released a novel, so this was also a highly anticipated novel. what bugged me about this was the stereotypes lamb used, especially when our main character went to prison, and the dialogue, which was super cringey. the ending felt like a copout and i was completely over it by that point. it also didn’t need to be almost 500 pages with repetitive themes throughout that made it start to feel stale.
rating: ★★★
title: model home by rivers solomon
genre: horror/lgbtqia+
pages: 286
published: october 1, 2024
this was my first read by rivers solomon and i’m so glad i’ve read something by them now. what i’ve started to appreciate about the horror genre is how diverse it is and how it tackles more than just your stereoptical themes (gore, etc.). it’s a genre i’ve found myself gravitating a lot towards this year, and model home fit the bill.
model home explores trauma through a haunted house following the death of two sisters and their sibling’s parents. smart, sharp and compelling, i’m excited to read more by rivers solomon.
rating: ★★★★
title: some strange music draws me in by griffin hansbury
genre: literary/lgbtqia+
pages: 320
published: march 12, 2024
i will always be the biggest fan of coming of age novels, especially when they tackle themes about self identity, fitting in and finding yourself.
some strange music draws me in is a dual timeline novel that follows a middle aged transgender man in 2019 as he recounts the summer of 1984 nagivating life as a 13 year old girl confused about who she is. during that summer, mel befriends a transgender woman that ignites fury across the small town mel lives in and creates conflict between mel’s mom and mel’s best friend.
an absolutely stunning novel, and even though i rated it four stars i might eventually bump it up. the ending just wrapped up too quickly for me, which was honestly my only real complaint.
rating: ★★★★
title: bury our bones in the midnight soil by ve schwab
genre: fantasy/lgbtqia+
pages: 535
published: june 10, 2025
ve schwab’s the invisible life of addie larue was one of my favourite reads of 2020 when it came out, and i still love it to this day. the problem is, i feel like nothing ve schwab writes will ever compare to how that book made me feel, which is probably a me problem.
that being said, i still really liked bury our bones in the midnight soil. i loved the three different timelines and how they were each connected. that part gave me a little bit of to paradise by hanya yanagihara vibes (a fav).
i think bury our bones was fun but a bit cheesy. i’m not sure i’m entirely into the whole vampires trope so maybe this is a me problem. i still enjoyed it tho.
rating: ★★★.75
title: a family matter by claire lynch
genre: literary/lgbtqia+
pages: 240
published: june 3, 2025
ve schwab’s the invisible life of addie larue was one of my favourite reads of 2020 when it came out, and i still love it to this day. the problem is, i feel like nothing ve schwab writes will ever compare to how that book made me feel, which is probably a me problem.
that being said, i still really liked bury our bones in the midnight soil. i loved the three different timelines and how they were each connected. that part gave me a little bit of to paradise by hanya yanagihara vibes (a fav).
i think bury our bones was fun but a bit cheesy. i’m not sure i’m entirely into the whole vampires trope so maybe this is a me problem. i still enjoyed it tho.
rating: ★★★★
title: ordinary love by marine rutkowski
genre: literary/lgbtqia+
pages: 368
published: june 10, 2025
i can’t believe this book wasn’t on my radar until i was browsing in one of my local bookstores and was immediately drawn in by the cover, and then i fell in love with the story.
i packed this book on my trip to boston and new york, not also realising the book took place in the two cities i was visiting (which kind of enhanced the reading experience tbh).
this is another dual timeline novel that chronicles emily in the mid 2010s with the seemingly perfect married with two kids life. what people don’t see, however, is how controlling and emotionally manipulative her husband is. emily eventually has enough and decides to leave, reconnecting with her high school best friend and first love, gen.
what i appreciate so much about this novel is the bisexual representation. i feel like this often gets erased in fiction or isn’t as prominent, and as a bisexual girlie myself seeing it represented so beautifully is so validating.
rating: ★★★★★
have you read any of these? what was your favourite read of june?