June Reading Recap & Recommendations

 I say every month how excited I am to chat books with y'all but this month.... I really mean it! Dare I say I have read this month possibly three of my top books of 2022??!! This month was that good friends.

I say we just cut the chit chat and get to the nitty gritty. 

The Paris Apartment by: Lucy Foley

Jess needs a fresh start, so she decides to spontaneously travel to visit her brother who lives in what appears to be a swanky Paris apartment. When she shows up to find that her brother is missing, she soon learns that every resident has something to hide. Did her brother get into something he shouldn't have? Did he know who he was living with? Does Jess have what it takes to find him without getting herself into the same trouble?

This book was pretty wild y'all. It had everything I love in a thriller. A lot of twists, unreliable characters, a creepy setting... all the things! I highly recommend this one if you need a good thriller to get you out of a funk.

Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Deal by: Elle Kennedy

When the campus hockey star finds himself in danger of being benched because of an exam grade, he is desperate to find a tutor.. even if his tutor is a drama student who finds him intolerable. She is trying to help him ace a test, and he is trying to help her score a hot date. What he doesn't expect is the jealousy he feels when she finally connects with her campus crush.

I mean if the cover doesn't clue you in let me be the one to tell you that this book is absolute trash.. but in the best way, ha! I would say this book teeters toward an R rating but is overall just predictable and enjoyable. I wanted a quick read and I finished this one in a day. 

Rate: 3 out of 5 Stars

Four Aunties and a Wedding by: Jesse Q. Sutanto

This is the sequel to Dial A for Aunties and the Aunties are back and better than ever!! This time, instead of being the vendors of the wedding, they are the family of the bride and need to find vendors she can trust. Meddy is happy with the asian american family they found to be the vendors for her wedding but soon finds out they're the mafia. What ensues is the most chaotic and dangerous wedding full of hilarious drama.

I loved the first book in this series so I was stoked to read this one. It didn't disappoint. I still stand by my opinion that these aunties would make for a phenomenal and hilarious movie! If you want a good laugh, read this one.

Rate: 4 out of 5 stars 

Say You Still Love Me by: K.A. Tucker

Piper Calloway is twenty nine years old and already the Vice President of her dads multi-billion dollar real estate development firm. She works in a male dominated field and has to see her ex-fiance at work daily. Her life is calculated and perfectly ordinary until her first love shows up at her work and pretends not to recognize her. Is this handsome man still the boy from the wrong side of the tracks that she fell in love with as a camp counselor all those years ago? 

This was such a fun read for me and was really cute. I loved the alternating time lines of this book and the corporate storyline as well. Overall, this was a quick and cute read for me and I think it is good if you're in a reading slump and need a good book. 

Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

His & Hers by: Alice Feeney

When Anna Andrews is asked to cover a murder in a quintessentially British villiage for her news station, she doesn't expect to find someone from her past as the detective on the case. There are two sides to every story and something isn't adding up.

I was intrigued by this book and was shocked by some of the twists, but I didn't love how it all wrapped up. The ending and solution was rather far fetched and not believable at all. Not the biggest fan of this one.

Rate: 2 out of 5 Stars

The Unhoneymooners by: Christina Lauren

When her twin sister's entire wedding party and guests get food poisoning from the buffet, Olive has a chance to go on the honeymoon in her place. The only downside is that she is going with the one other person who didn't eat from the buffet, her least favorite person on the planet, Ethan. They have to put their differences aside in an effort to enjoy the free tropical vacation.

I LOVED this storyline. It was a bit cheesy but I thought it was cute and the characters were charming. This is a quick cute read and I highly recommend.

Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Rose Code by: Kate Quinn

This historical fiction book tells the story of three women working at Bletchley Park to decode the encrypted messages from the German during WWII. 

This book has rich history, romance, and mystery. I am just going to say it. THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF 2022!!! I absolutely LOVED this book. It is not a quick read. It is slower at first but by the end I was just in tears. I learned a lot, was genuinely attached to each of these characters, and invested in the mystery. READ THIS ONE!!!!!!

Rate: 500000 STARS!!!

Nora Goes Off Script by: Annabel Monaghan

Nora is a romance channel screenwriter but when her no good husband walks out on her and her two kids she decides to write something a little less fluffy than what she is used to. Her agent decides that her new screenplay is worthy of the big screen and before long there are move stars filming in her house. What Nora doesn't expect, is to fall for one of the actors. Is she one of his many flings or is he genuine in his pursuit of her heart and the heart of her kids?

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I picked this up because it was short at only 200(ish) pages and needed something light. I was NOT expecting to fall in love with this story and read it in one sitting. I even bought a copy of this to own because I have a feeling I will be shoving it into my friends hands. 

Rate: 5 out of 5 Stars!!!

The House Across the Lake by: Riley Sager

Casey Fletcher has lost her husband, her career, and is believed to have lost her sanity at times. Armed with a pair of binoculars and a lot of liquor, she camps out at the house across the lake her husband drowned in and decides to watch her neighbors. When she starts to see suspicious activity across the lake and her neighbor goes missing, she decides it is her responsibility to find her.

I HATED THIS BOOK. Riley Sager has not been blowing me away with his last two books and the paranormal twist in this book felt like a cop out for actually writing a good plot twist. Two thumbs down for this one.

Rate: 1 out of 5 Stars

The Love of my Life by: Rosie Walsh

We have a child together. A dog, a house. Who are you?

I think it's best to go into this story completely blind so I will just say this: READ IT. This reads like a contemporary fiction book but is partially a thriller and part romance as well. I was completely blindsided by every turn of events and couldn't put it down. I stayed up all night reading this one and I think it will easily be on my favorites list this year.

Rate: 5 out of 5 Stars!!

Those are the TEN books I read this month. What books have you read and loved recently? I look forward to talking about books with you again soon.

xoxo