This was another great reading month for me! I had no DNFs and I didn’t rate anything lower than 3 stars. Big win in my book! I discovered two thrillers that I really enjoyed and I had three, 5-star reads (and they deserved every one of those stars). Here’s how everything stacked up.

5 Star:

• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
• The Names by Florence Knapp
• Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle

4 – 4.75 Star:

• One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
• The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
• The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison
• When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
• My Friends by Fredrik Backman
• Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang
• Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin
• Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
• Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox

3 – 3.75 Star:

• Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
• So Happy Together by Olivia Worley
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
• Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
• Flirty Dancing by Jenniffer Moffatt

It’s Pride month! And while I’ve already started reading picks by LGBTQIA2S+ authors, I have a few more on deck (as well as a couple LGBTQIA focused written by women). One of these is “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara. This book intimidates me (because it’s so long), but I need to read it, so read it I will. Here’s what’s on my “hopefuls” list for the month.

In addition to the books pictured above, I also hope to read the following:

• We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon (ARC)
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Will satisfy one of my 2025 reading prompts)
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (One of my 25 from your TBR in 2025 challenge picks)
• Dad Camp by Evan S. Porter (to satisfy one of my June reading prompts)
• Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino (ARC)
• The Boy in the Rain by Stephanie Cowell
• The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram (in my BOTM box)
• What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (in my BOTM box)