I started off June reading voraciously. I filled up the pages of my reading journal, devoured beachy titles during an island weekend, and joyfully bounced from historical mystery to contemporary romance to social comedy. Then I moved and my reading life disappeared underneath a pile of boxes, packing paper, and the omnipresent question of where I last saw the scissors. (My bookshelves are still in a state of extreme disarray.) I read nineteen books in June but fifteen of those were in the first nineteen days of the month.
However, the last box finally exited my apartment with a great deal of pomp and circumstance and I’m feeling revitalized, especially after finishing a book that sucked me in completely. I’m choosing to have high hopes for July and days of long, leisurely summer reading.
Favorites of the month
Darling by India Knight
This was such a treat. A witty contemporary retelling of The Pursuit of Love, Darling follows the eccentric, sprawling Radlett family and their daughter Linda, who embarks on a series of love affairs that range from disastrous to transcendent. This is very niche but exactly my kind of niche. I thought this was very successful at translating Nancy Mitford to the modern-day while still keeping the madcap, wistful spirit of the original. Uncle Matthew, here transformed to a grouchy former rock star, especially shines here and there's a scene where he discovers Instagram that had me cackling. Each detail is charming and carefully chosen and I felt so comfortably ensconced in the world of this book, cozily curled up with the book equivalent of a perfectly fluffy piece of cake.
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
Romance novelist Fizzy agrees to be on a Bachelor-style dating show reluctantly produced by documentarian Connor, where she’ll be courted by an assortment of men representing different romance novel archetypes, only to realize that the guy she’s really falling for is the one behind the scenes. This was an absolute joy. It’s a love letter to the romance genre and to romance readers and it might be my new favorite in Christina Lauren’s extensive catalog. This book feels as vibrant as Fizzy herself and the way that Connor truly sees and falls for her had me starry-eyed. It’s not the most articulate way of describing a book but this just made me so, so happy. When I was in the midst of a stressful and chaotic time, I reached for this and it was exactly what I needed. (Open door, high steam.)
Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas
The Lady Sherlock series remains my gold standard in historical mystery. This is another marvelously clever, intricate installment and features a deepening of the relationship between Charlotte and Ash that's so satisfying to read after the delicious slow burn of the first few books in the series. The Cornwall setting is particularly well described and gives it a tinge of the Gothic. I continue to love Charlotte, who's possibly my favorite version of Sherlock Holmes, and the elegant puzzle-box feel of the series. An absolute pleasure to read.
Really liked
Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler
A deeply adorable, sincere queer romance about a cheerleader and the new female quarterback of their school’s football team that feels like a sapphic version of a classic teen rom-com. Netflix should snap up the rights to this immediately. I flew through it and was so charmed by Amber and Jack separately and together. They're absolutely gone for each other from the jump and it’s too cute for words. There’s some secondary relationships and characters that I really enjoyed too, especially Amber's friendship with her bff Miguel and loving relationship with her mom. A big-hearted, big-spirited book with a central couple to cheer for.
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
Former child star Millie is on a mission to reunite the ashes of her deceased best friend with the woman Mrs. Nash fell in love with decades ago. But she’ll need help to do it, in the form of Hollis Hollenbeck, a grumpy writer who may be concealing a heart of gold underneath his cynical exterior. I laughed a lot at the mishaps Millie and Hollis encountered on their road trip but also found myself deeply moved by Elsie and Rose's star-crossed love story and by Millie's fight to trust herself again and reckon with her grief. Millie and Hollis fall fast for each other but we spend enough time with them, and get to see so many sides of their relationship, that I could totally buy into their happy ending. I don’t want to get too far into spoiler-y territory but there is an epic speech and a big romantic moment that had me doing a little dance of happiness on my couch. (Open door, high steam. Note that this is a bit spicier than the cover and jacket copy led me to expect but once I actually started reading, the tone matched the steam level perfectly.)
Beginners’ Luck by Kate Clayborn
After scientist Kit Averin and her two best friends win the lottery, Kit finally has the ability to buy her first real home and the stability she craves. When corporate recruiter Ben shows up in her lab, he’s surprised to find not only that Kit has zero interest in his offer but that he might want something entirely different from the life he’s carved out for himself too. The best word I have for Kate Clayborn's writing is lovely. Her work brims over with tenderness and compassion and I love the depth of feeling she conjures up with her perfectly chosen details. I especially enjoyed the portrayals of female friendship and familial relationships in this one. There's so much love in this story and not just in the central romantic relationship. These pages feel wonderfully lived in and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. (Open door, moderate steam.)
Telephone by Percival Everett
A devastating exploration of losing a child, an occasional dark comedy, and a book that pushes at the ideas of what a novel can and should be, this book convinced me that Percival Everett's brain is operating on levels I can't even begin to understand. It really rings true as a portrait of grief, as the feelings are visceral in a way that feels very authentic. This book is asking questions and playing games and experimenting in a way that both feels essential to the novel's themes and part of a larger canon. I still feel like there are elements I didn't understand but I also have a feeling this is brilliant.
The Daydreams by Laura Hankin
A dishy beach read about the cast of a hit Disney Channel-esque TV show, their rise to fame, and the fallout fifteen years later when they reunite. This is spot on when it comes to capturing the hypocrisies and failings of 2000's celebrity culture, especially in its treatment of young women, and handles serious topics sensitively while still feeling juicy and fun. I really enjoyed the dynamics between both the teenage Daydreams and their adult selves fifteen years later, as well as seeing them rebuild the connections that got smashed to bits on their disastrous live finale. It's smart but not too serious and felt like the perfect summer book for me.
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
A gorgeous, sad story about a doomed love affair between two young men in Communist Poland and a story that swept me up completely. The writing is lovely and lyrical. I especially liked the way that Jedrowski parallels the beginning and end of the two men's relationship with the vividly described passing of the seasons. This is a short book that packs a punch. By the time I finished, I felt like I truly knew these characters, fears, hopes, desperate loves and all.
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel
A messy tangle of family, friends, and lovers that conducts itself with the elegance of a symphony. I was deeply fond of Bridget and Will and enjoyed the whole sprawling cast of characters. There's something lively and quick about Poeppel's writing that really works for me, as does the affection--with a dash of sympathetic exasperation--she has for her characters. She excels at smart little moments that do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to establishing characters and relationships, with the platonic friendship between Bridget and Will really shining. There's also a fantastic sense of place and of the city versus country dichotomy. An ideal summer read for someone who doesn't want total fluff but still wants to have fun.
Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
A sharply observed comedy of manners and wonderfully clever portrait of two women, foibles, fancies, and all. Pym is very, very funny and has an eye for the exact right details to capture character and setting. I enjoy a social comedy so much and think she writes some of the best. Not a lot happens in this novel—you get the sense that Jane and Prudence will continue on as they have been—yet it’s such a perfectly done portrait of very specific people and very specific social norms that I didn’t need anything else to happen.
Liked, with minor quibbles
At Freddie’s by Penelope Fitzgerald
A sharply rendered portrait of the London theater world in the early 1960's and the formidable woman who runs a stage school for children. As a former theater kid, so many of the theater parts felt familiar and I have a lot of admiration for Fitzgerald's talent for description and sense of detail. She's an elegant, subtle writer with a keen eye for human frailties and although I didn't like this one quite as much as The Gate of Angels, partly because of the ending, I'm still eager to read more of her work.
Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik
The second installment in Mihalik’s Starlight’s Shadow series finds bubbly hacker Kee and taciturn weapons specialist Varro teaming up to thwart a shadowy plan to tip the galaxy back into war. I felt that this suffered a bit from only being from Kee's perspective, especially with all the back and forth between Kee and Varro. Their relationship has a one step forward, three steps back dynamic throughout the book, which made the happy ending and big declarations feel rushed. However, I quite enjoyed all the space intrigue and the continuation of the found family elements from book one. I also thought this did a good job of introducing interesting new characters and further building on the world and stakes that the first book established. Although this wasn't perfectly executed, Jessie Mihalik's books fulfill a very particular niche of fun, plotty sci-fi adventure romance that I really like and want to see more of. The third and final installment came out earlier this month and I have a feeling I’ll be picking it up soon.
The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead
A romp with a lot of heart about a school librarian and a gubernatorial candidate who end up fake dating after they’re caught in a compromising position. As a librarian, some of the details about Alexis' job may have been implausible but this was so much fun otherwise that I was willing to forgive it. The sexual tension between Alexis and Logan is through the roof and there are some really sweet scenes of them connecting on a deeper level as well. Plus it's genuinely funny and Alexis' journey towards embracing what she wants and being comfortable with herself is really lovely to read. (Open door, moderate steam, albeit on the higher end.)
Not quite my thing but very good at doing its thing
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
A sharp, compulsively written literary thriller that's very online but also very entertaining. I was impressed by Kuang's ability to craft such a spectacularly unlikable narrator while still keeping the reader firmly hooked, a mix of horrified and unsurprised by the publishing dirt, and fascinated by the twisted push and pull of the friendship between June and Athena. (The most interesting part of the book, in my opinion, and I couldn’t help wanting more of that and less of the Twitter drama.) I did think the pacing sagged a little in the middle, when the action got repetitive, and as a character-driven reader who wants someone to root for, struggled with a book where the narrator is so unrelentingly terrible.
Liked, with more significant quibbles
Ana Maria and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa
A historical romance between a Mexican heiress fleeing the French invasion of Mexico in the 1860’s and an ambitious MP, which I found more successful as historical fiction and as a sister story than as a romance. The love story between Ana Maria and Gideon doesn't really get going until around 70% and feels underdeveloped as a result, complete with a last minute heroine in peril plot twist leading to a confession of love that doesn't have nearly the emotional payoff it should. Just once, can't the hero be the one in peril? In addition, although this is marketed as a marriage of convenience story, the marriage of convenience happens so late that we don't get any of the delicious moments of tension or yearning. What did appeal to me were the pieces of Mexican history interspersed throughout and Ana Maria's growing relationship with her sisters. I really liked seeing the sisters grow closer, learn to discard some of the false ideas they'd always had about each other, and support each other. Isabel and Gabby popped a lot more on the page and were more engaging characters than Ana Maria, so I think I might pick up the next book in the series and hope that the romance is stronger.
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
A romance novel where I enjoyed everything that wasn't the romance. Fortune is undeniably a talented writer. She's really good with setting, deep and intense emotions, and sweeping the reader up into the flow of the story. The Dirty Dancing style-resort setting and palpable sense of summer shone throughout the story. I also really liked the relationship between Fern and her mom, which was beautifully written and just got to me, and the little glimpses we got of Peter and Maggie's relationship. (The love story I wanted to read, honestly.) But Fern and Will's 24 hours together weren't written in a way that sold me on the magical, epic nature of their connection and Will in the present is just tall, handsome, mysterious, and lacking in character development. I was rooting for Fern to get back together with her ex instead, who was a much more interesting character to me. I do really appreciate Fortune's sentence-level writing and I continue to hope that one day she'll write a book that I can be 100% on.
Weyward by Emilia Hart
A novel about three women in three different time periods coming into their power and suffering at the hands of men that was well executed but ultimately felt very of a type to me. (Perhaps because I've read similar books from Alice Hoffman that I think were better done.) I thought all three timelines were compelling, which can be tricky to do in multi-timeline novels. There was also a nice sense of place, especially in the nature descriptions, and a growing sense of dread that kept me turning the pages. I liked all three main characters but don't know if any of them particularly stood out to me? I wouldn’t say that they were underdeveloped but they just felt a little standard issue for this type of historical fiction.
I think I’m not Midwestern enough for this one
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
A family story set around a Midwestern supper club and the women who wrestle with its legacy. The strong sense of place and way that Stradal portrays how the restaurant changes over the years worked for me but I still never quite clicked with this book. Part of it was the non-chronological timeline, which seemed unnecessary and robbed some of the big reveals of their impact. I don’t mind a non-chronological timeline but I didn’t think I was getting the right moments in these characters’ lives to understand and get attached to them. A lot of traumatic things happen in this book, in contrast to its bafflingly cheery packaging, and the characters just breeze on without taking the time to process. I wanted to sit with those moments instead of being thrown backwards and forwards in time some more. This was a hit for plenty of other readers I know but just wasn’t for me.
Currently reading: Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly, about two men who fall in love while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. So far, I’m enjoying the care with which Kelly writes about their characters and convinced that I am far too much of a wimp to ever hike the PCT.
What’s bringing me joy lately:
My weekend trip to Block Island! The views were beautiful, the seafood delicious, and the atmosphere classic New England.
Getting to explore a new corner of the neighborhood, complete with top-notch Thai place and dreamy French bakery.
Seeing the live show of one of my favorite Bachelor recap podcasts, Love to See It, and the gales of hysterical laughter the crowd went into upon witnessing men’s fashion circa-2012. (So many jewel-toned scarves. So many strange pants choices.)
I read Meet Me at the Lake last week and I think it would have worked better if the premise had just been “We got a snapshot of each other’s lives at 22 but you can’t be 22 forever, I’m interested to see who you are now.” Instead they leaned heavily on the betrayal of not following up with someone you met once a year later. Did we expect two random 23 year olds to be that reliable? I’m looking forward to seeing what else she writes because there’s some great things here but the main plot didn’t do it for me.
I'm shook by your Meet Me at the Lake review. SHOOKETH, I tell you.