June Reading Wrap Up (And Why 10 Didn't Make It)

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There’s a version of me from two weeks ago who still doesn’t know what’s coming for her.

I finished a duet in June that I haven’t been able to talk about without my throat doing something embarrassing.

Not the good kind of undone.

The kind where you’re sitting at your desk at work, a random detail from somewhere in the back half of the book surfaces out of nowhere, and ruins the rest of your afternoon because now all you can think about is rereading that book.

I’ve read a lot of books this year. I can count on one hand the ones that actually rewired something in me. This was one of them.

That’s what June was, really. Two weeks that rewrote my brain chemistry, and sixteen other books besides. Some that surprised me, one that genuinely let me down, and ten I put back on the shelf before the end. Here’s all of it!

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June reading wrap-up stats by the Numbers (If you care about that sort of thing)

8 books read 📚
2,214 pages 📖
10 DNFs ✖️
Fantasy > historical fantasy
More DNFs than any other month
Most books landed at a 4.5-5 star ⭐
Longest book: The Rule of Three
Shortest book: Portal 2 Pleasure
Favorite book: Crown Me Yours by Liv Zander
Least favorite: The Demon and the Princess

Eighteen books were touched this month, and ten of them didn’t make it to the end.

Nearly half. That sounds rough until you look at what actually crossed the finish line: most of the books I didn’t finish landed at 5 stars, and one of them (hi, Crown Me Yours) is still living in my chest two weeks later.

This wasn’t a mediocre month wearing a bad month’s clothes. It was genuinely strong reading month with an unusually high number of books that just didn’t earn the rest of my time.

Both things were true at once.

The Books that rewired me (Five Stars, No Notes)

Crown Me Dead and Crown Me Yours by Liv Zander

It’s been two weeks, and I still haven’t recovered. These two didn’t just work; they got in, rearranged something, and left. I don’t say I’ll never be the same” often, because it’s usually not true. It’s true here. Check out my full review

The Rule of Three by Sara Cate

Julian is the character I least expected to feel seen by, and that’s exactly why it worked. This is the kind of book where the feeling outlasts the plot. I finished, put it down, and immediately felt the need to write about it somewhere longer than a caption. (That post is live on my Substack. Full review already on the blog.) You have to read my full review.

The Ones that Surprised Me

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming: 4.5 stars

I came into this one purely for the chaos, and it delivered exactly that. The romance burns slower than the premise promises. No insta love, more restraint than I expected from the cover energy, but Toto alone is worth the read. This isn’t Lemming’s strongest work (Mead Mishaps still holds that crown for me), but it’s warm and funny and genuinely fun, which is sometimes exactly what a reading month needs.

Lights Out by Navessa Allen: 4.5 stars

I did an immersive read on this one and could not put it down. Not as dark as I expected, but I was laughing out loud the entire time, and Jost and I go together real bad. Full review coming soon.

Solid, Not Devastating

King of Pride by Ana Huang: 3.5 stars

Kai and Isabella were the couple I’d been counting down to since book one, and the chemistry absolutely lands—controlled, intense, exactly what you’d want from the buttoned-up hero finally unraveling. But I wanted tsunami-level devastation and got a slow, steady warmth instead. Sometimes the anticipation you build for a couple outpaces what the actual book can deliver. Still worth reading. I just wanted more from these two.

Portal 2 Pleasure by Viano Oniomoh: 3 stars

Fine. Solid, even. It just didn’t wow me the way book one did.

The One that Let Me Down

The Demon and the Princess by Laura Greenwood: 3 stars

I loved book one and walked into this expecting the same, if not more. Instead, I felt like I wasted my $1.06 😬. Sometimes a series’ first installment sets a bar the sequel just doesn’t clear.

The Ten that didn’t make it

June was a heavy DNF month—ten books started, ten set back down before the end. I wrote a full post breaking down three of them in detail (Labyrinthine, The Drowned Queen and Wild Mate) if you want the full argument for each.

The other seven quickly:

Knights Wyrd by Debra Doyle: DNF at page 39. The premise had real tension built in. I just never felt it land. (Thank you to Tor Essentials for providing me a copy)

Our Little Monster by Lashell Rain: DNF at 17%. The bones were there—grief, vampire hunters, a girl with nothing left to lose—but the pacing stalled right when it should have been building.

Before the Reckoning by Tori Whitebirch: DNF at 15%. Couldn’t connect to the character or find the point. (Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC)

Witch Season by Julia Bianco: DNF at 20%. A genuinely interesting premise buried under exposition before I ever had a reason to care. (Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the eARC).

Crimson Obsession by Rina Larsen: DNF at 15 pages. The grammatical errors kept pulling me out of the story before it ever had the chance to pull me in.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer Brown: DNF at 40%. A dual timeline in which the present half did all the work and the past half kept asking me to wait for it.

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino: DNF at 15%. I could not spend one more page with Margo.

What June Actually Taught Me About My TBR

Ten DNFs in one month used to feel like a verdict on me, not the books. It doesn’t anymore. I’d rather hand a book three honest paragraphs about exactly where it lost me than force my way to the end just to have something to say. My TBR is too long to spend it anywhere I’m not wanted, and honestly so is yours.

I’ve been logging every read this year in my tracker, DNFs included, and watching the pattern shift in real time has been its own kind of interest. If you want the same one, sign up for my newsletter, and you will get it for FREE.