Hey Bookish People!
I know, I know, I skipped a month. Sorry! May ended up being my break month and man did I need it. But I’m caught up and ready to jump into the rest of the year. It’s funny to think that 2025 is nearly halfway done. I feel like I was just getting settled into March. Then BAM June is waving at me in the passenger seat and telling me about the stuff that about to happen for the month. … Like What?! I can’t be too upset I guess. A lot of the notifications are for books that are either releasing any day now or their release dates are in the next couple of months! I don’t want to wish the year away, but gosh darn it, I would really like those stories. Please?
I hope everyone has a spectacular June!
Reading Theme: Travel & Adventure
Summer is here and the time for travel is Now! But since I can’t necessarily travel places in real life, I will just have to travel in my books this month. Doesn’t matter if it is in a made realm or into the state next to where you live, let’s find some stories that take us a way!
Happy Reading Everyone!
My Reading List for June 2025:
Magic’s Pawn By Mercedes Lackey
Though Vanyel has been born with near-legendary abilities to work both Herald and Mage magic, he wants no part of such things. Nor does he seek a warrior’s path, wishing instead to become a Bard. Yet such talent as his if left untrained may prove a menace not only to Vanyel but to others as well. So he is sent to be fostered with his aunt, Savil, one of the famed Herald-Mages of Valdemar.
But, strong-willed and self-centered, Vanyel is a challenge which even Savil can not master alone. For soon he will become the focus of frightening forces, lending his raw magic to a spell that unleashes terrifying wyr-hunters on the land. And by the time Savil seeks the assistance of a Shin’a’in Adept, Vanyel’s wild talent may have already grown beyond anyone’s ability to contain, placing Vanyel, Savil, and Valdemar itself in desperate peril…
Honeymoon with My Brother By Franz Wisner
This is the true story of Franz Wisner, a man who thought he had it all- a high profile career and the fiancée of his dreams- when suddenly, his life turned upside down. Just days before they were to be married, his fiancée called off the wedding. Luckily, his large support network of family and friends wouldn’t let him succumb to his misery. They decided Franz should have a wedding and a honeymoon anyway- there just wouldn’t be a bride at the ceremony, and Franz’ travel companion would be his brother, Kurt.
During the “honeymoon,” Franz reconnected with his brother and began to look at his life with newfound perspective. The brothers decided to leave their old lives behind them. They quit their jobs, sold all their possessions, and traveled around the world, visiting fifty-three countries for the next two years. In Honeymoon With My Brother, Franz recounts this remarkable journey, during which he turned his heartbreak into an opportunity to learn about himself, the world, and the brother he hardly knew.
Seven Deadly Wonders By Matthew Reilly
AN ANCIENT SECRET . . .
A TEAM OF HEROES . . .
THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
A legend of the ancient world decrees that every 4,500 years, a terrible solar event will wreak worldwide destruction . . .
But whoever sets the Golden Capstone atop the Great Pyramid at Giza will avert disaster and gain the ultimate prize: a millennium of world dominance.
Now the Sun is turning once again and nation will battle nation to retrieve the missing Capstone . . .
But a group of small nations, led by super-soldier Jack West Jr., bands together to prevent any one country from attaining this frightening power.
Thus the greatest treasure hunt of all time begins — an adrenaline fueled race on a global battlefield.
Sandstorm By James Rollins
An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum, setting off alarms in clandestine organizations around the world.
And now the search for answers is leading Lady Kara Kensington; her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery’s brilliant and beautiful curator; and their guide, the international adventurer Omaha Dunn, into a world they never dreamed existed: a lost city buried beneath the Arabian desert.
But others are being drawn there as well, some with dark and sinister purposes. And the many perils of a death-defying trek deep into the savage heart of the Arabian Peninsula pale before the nightmare waiting to be unearthed at journey’s end: an ageless and awesome power that could create a utopia… or destroy everything humankind has built over countless millennia.
The Burnout By Sophie Kinsella
Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” (but obviously not at all urgent) email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall.
Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).
When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?
