Everything I read in June

and my most anticipated July releases.

Arguably my best reading month of the year thus far, May was a tough act to follow - but I think June rose to the occasion. From some of this year’s lit fic internet darlings to an unexpected sci-fi favorite, here are my many thoughts on everything that I read last month.

This month’s breakdown:

GENRE: 2 thrillers / 3 lit fic / 1 science fiction

FORMAT: 3 physical books from my personal collection / 3 digital copies from the library

AVERAGE STAR RATING: 4.08 (including one perfect 5 star read!) I find star ratings a flawed way to gauge books but haven’t come up with anything better, so stars it is!

PAGES READ: 2076

PS: If you, like me, are meticulous about tracking the books you’ve read, I highly recommend the reading log templates sold by this seller on Etsy. Simple to use, easy to read, and just a good time for anyone who is interested in their reading stats.

A couple notes:

There are affiliate links in this post. All books are linked out to bookshop.org, which supports local and indie bookstores when you purchase through them. If you purchase through these links, I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Please be sure to always check trigger warnings on books I share - truthfully almost every book I read would check a trauma box for someone, so I highly encourage you to research them before reading. Storygraph has a great crowdsourced TW feature, and if you don’t use Storygraph, get on it!! You’ll thank yourself later - Goodreads who?

SUCH A BAD INFLUENCE | OLIVIA MUENTER | Would recommend

“For fans of Ashley Winstead, a razor-sharp debut about what happens when one of the first child stars of the social media age grows up . . . and goes missing”

I’m a huge fan of Olivia Muenter the person (from what I know of her on the internet and the Bad on Paper podcast), so I have been impatiently anticipating her debut as Olivia Muenter the author. Olivia, if this ever comes across your desk, I think we would be great friends. In this book, she captures so many of the feelings that have been rolling over in my brain lately about the ethics of the internet, the questions I have about how it’s impacting my health and happiness, and the generally inextricable relationship we have with our phones. The book is written mainly from the POV of Hazel, the oldest daughter of parents who started posting family vlogs of their life on YouTube back in the early days of the platform. While Hazel never had a desire to participate, her younger sister Evie shifts seamlessly from the star of the family channel to social media celebrity, unbearably famous at the age of 18. When Evie goes missing during a livestream, Hazel has to confront their family’s dark secrets, her complicity in the twisted empire they’ve built, and her own failure to launch. Packed with plot twists and upsettingly relatable sentiments, SABI is a thriller that will force you to reexamine your parasocial relationships with those you follow, painting influence in a new light.

NIGHTWATCHING | TRACY SIERRA | Might recommend

“A razor-sharp thriller about a mother forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder”

I was warned not to read this at home alone, that it was a terrifying ride that would result in sleeping with the lights on. Happy to report I have been sleeping with the lights off - while I did appreciate some elements of the story overall, this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I have heard from others that they felt the opposite- we love the subjectivity of the reader experience! The gist: our main character is a mom alone in her old house with her children one night when she hears an intruder down the hall from her bedroom. She has to think quick to save herself and her kids, barricading them into a hidden space and putting her life on the line to protect theirs. This reads like a frenetic train car close to veering off the tracks at any moment, with an unreliable female narrator sitting at the helm. For anyone who has read this - such a silly thing, but my main gripe with this book was how much it annoyed me that she referred to the intruder as “The Corner”. If you’re a love of thrillers and the unreliable woman trope, I say give it a go.

PIGLET | LOTTIE HAZELL | Would recommend

“A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about one modern woman’s appetites and ambitions—and the courage it takes to start again”

My very first Substack post was dedicated to Piglet, so it’s safe to say I’m a fan. If you’re interested in this one, I give a full rundown in that post, but here’s the long story short: Piglet (who goes by her childhood nickname) comes from a working class family and is anxiously trying to worm her way up the social ladder to distance herself from them. She has a successful job in cookbook publishing and she’s set to marry a wealthy, pedigreed man named Kit. Everything seems to be on track until Kit, two weeks before the wedding, reveals some heinous betrayal. The nature of the betrayal is never divulged to the reader, which I thought I would hate but actually found to be quite compelling (if you’ve read it… what do you think he did!?). The rest of the novel depicts Piglet’s devolution and increasingly voracious appetite leading up to the disastrous, perfectly planned wedding day. Hazell pairs decadent food descriptions and depictions of luxury with scenes that will make your skin crawl with secondhand embarrassment, concocting a perfectly uncomfortable and delicious read.

WORRY | ALEXANDRA TANNER | Might recommend

“Frances Ha meets No One Is Talking About This in a debut that follows two twenty-something siblings-turned-roommates navigating an absurd world about to suffer great change--a Seinfeldian novel of existentialism and sisterhood”

Worry was a quirky and weird little novel. I bought this book on a 75 degree Sunday in June on the Upper West Side, hit Zabar’s for a lox bagel and iced coffee, and sat in Central Park in an anomalously secluded and peaceful spot to read it. I love to curate a reading experience, and this was some of my best work. While my day was picturesque and serene, the scenes you’ll encounter in this book are, uh.. not. This is a tense, disquieting, and sometimes gruesome story about two sisters, Jules and Poppy, thrown together in a roommate situation in New York City in 2019. Each are dealing with their own personal and professional battles as well as their shared family trauma, namely their mentally unwell mother. Tanner also explores the influence of the internet and our phones on our lives through Jules’ obsession with right-wing momfluencers and her inability to extricate herself from her devices and be present in her own life. There’s a lot of despair and desperation in this book - tenuous family relationships, career failures, health anxiety and afflictions, general inability to function as a human adult in society. I’m not sure where I net out with this one, honestly, but I think it’s well suited for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

A perfect UWS Sunday

PROJECT HAIL MARY | ANDY WEIR | A must read

“Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it”

This is my “hear me out” book - HEAR ME OUT!! Another shout out to Olivia Muenter who proselytizes this book on the internet: Thank you Olivia, for bringing this into my life. I do enjoy sci-fi, but this is a book written by a man about a man in space which isn’t the kind of sci-fi I’d typically reach for. However, this book has HEART. It has SOUL. I never wanted it to end. You have to be okay with reading some science and calculations, but it’s very digestible and completely secondary to the wonderful plot and the joy that is Ryland’s story. The gist: an organism in space is absorbing the sun’s energy and causing it to get dimmer as time goes on. This is obviously a problem, so a task force is assembled to go to space and devise a solution. Ryland is now the only one who can complete the mission and literally save the world. I don’t want to spoil anything, but just know there are characters in this book that will enchant you and stick with you. Also, it’s being made into a movie set to release in 2026, starring Ryan Gosling (not who I would’ve picked but... that’s fine I guess). I can’t wait to see how some certain rocky elements of this book come to life (IYKYK). You’ll learn about space, be bewildered by the concept of the relativity of time, and root so hard for Ryland & co. Please read this one and report back - I need someone to chat about this with.

DEVIL IS FINE | JOHN VERCHER | Might recommend

“From acclaimed novelist John Vercher, a profoundly moving novel of what it means to be a father, a son, a writer, and a biracial American fighting to reconcile the past”

I haven’t ever read anything quite like this one, and I mean that in a positive way. I think the author cleverly wove magical realism with a very strong sense of place to create an enveloping read. Our main character is a biracial man whose son has recently passed away. In the wake of this tragedy, he inherits a plot of land intended for his son. During a routine inspection of the property while preparing it for a sale, human remains are found buried. They eventually discover this land is a former plantation, once owned by the white side of his family on his mother’s side. He is now grappling with this legacy and related legal battles, the death of his son, his complicated relationship with his son’s mother, and a devastating career blow. As you can imagine, all of that combined stress and emotional turmoil leads to some unpleasant results. I enjoyed this and read it quickly - it genuinely was a unique and insightful read. While it wasn’t one of my favorites, I would recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you.

Upcoming Releases I’ll Be Reading ASAP:

I’ve seen many fellow BookStackers saying that July doesn’t feel like an exciting month for new releases, but it’s looking like quality over quantity to me as a couple of my most anticipated reads are coming out this month. I’m looking forward to several July pub dates, the most exciting of which are:

THE GOD OF THE WOODS | LIZ MOORE | OUT 7/2 | MOST ANTICIPATED!

Liz Moore only came onto my radar very recently, but I already know I am going to absolutely adore her works. I’m planning on picking up a physical copy of The God of the Woods so I can fully savor it. Also, I think the cover is wicked cool. This is a mystery set at a 70s summer camp (fun!) about a camper named Barbara who goes missing. Her brother previously disappeared similarly 14 years ago - their family owns the camp and employs basically the whole town, so the stakes are high in this search to find Barbara. I can’t wait to report back on this one.

THE CLIFFS | J COURTNEY SULLIVAN | OUT 7/2 | MOST ANTICIPATED!

I talked about this in my New England beach reads post, but I’m a big J Courtney Sullivan fan. I loved Maine and Saints for All Occasions, both of which I read on the Massachusetts coast last summer. I was lucky to receive an ARC of this one, but I am waiting to savor it at the beach. Some books just can’t be read at home - they need atmosphere, you know? Anyway, the premise of this sounds intriguing, about a woman named Jane who returns to a Victorian seaside home to find it completely gutted and renovated into a charmless shell of its previous self. The new owner is convinced it’s haunted, and hires Jane to investigate. The story covers “psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism” - I’m so ready.

MORE PLEASE | EMMA SPECTER | OUT 7/9 | MOST ANTICIPATED!

If you know me and you read the description of this book, you’d know I’ll be reading it. This is a memoir from Vogue writer Emma Specter about diet culture, compulsion and pressure to be thin, eating disorders, and overall the intersection of weight, acceptance, happiness, and “wellness”. Any memoir from a fat author and/or dissecting diet culture is always going to be top of my list, and I am chomping at the bit to get into this one.

EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS | OISIN MCKENNA | OUT 7/2

“Summer in London stops for no one. Not the half-naked drunks and stoners, the bachelorette parties glugging from bejewelled bottles, the drag queens puffing on hurried cigarettes. It's June 2019, and everyone has converged on the city's parks, beer gardens, and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive.”

This one is described as a fever dream taking place during a heatwave in London and promises to appeal to fans of Sally Rooney and Torrey Peters. I felt ambivalently about books by both of those authors, so we’ll see how this one does for me. Even so, I’m looking forward to it and have only heard great things from those who have read it.

LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE | TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER | OUT 7/9

I may be one of the few NYC book girlies who never read Fleishman is in Trouble by the same author, but this one seems like a fun alternative. In 1980, the patriarch of a wealthy family is kidnapped from his driveway (enough said, I’m in) and returns one week later. 40 years later, he hasn’t quite recovered and neither has his family - and their fortune is dwindling. By now you should know I love a multigenerational family drama AND I’m drawn to reading books with class commentary, so I’m strapped in and ready for this one.

STATE OF PARADISE | LAURA VAN DEN BERG | OUT 7/9

This book seems to echo some of our lived experiences during quarantine, citing a mysterious illness and returning to normalcy in a small Florida town. Take that and add in an ominous tech company called ELECTRA handing out virtual reality devices, a “burgeoning cult in the living room”, and a ghostwriter whose sister goes missing and mysteriously turns up on the lawn claiming she experienced an alternate dimension in her absence. This sounds like a funky and wild ride that I am excited to embark on.

And that’s everything!

If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Talking about books with other book people is the reason I’m here.

I’d also love if you could help me out with a little research - I’d love to eventually do some reading together, so let me know what book(s) you’re really looking forward to reading soon. This helps me get an understanding of your taste, informs my choice of books we read together in the future! Thank you <3