This was a fun month of reading for me! I had a thriller, three five-star reads, and the third time was the charm for a book I did not finish two different times in 2022. Most of these novels fell into a could not put down category and I listened to the DNF book using my Libby account. Keep scrolling to see the 5 books I read in June 2023 and which ones I gave five stars.
See my favorite reads from 2022 here and check out all of what I’ve read here.
5 Books I Read in June 2023
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
Synopsis
Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.
One day, she reads a poorly written–but gruesome–horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?
As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?
Meghan’s Thoughts & Ratings
- A fast-paced thriller I couldn’t put down! I thought it was really well written and the twists were spot on! It’s been a little bit since I stayed up to finish a book and this one was one of those!
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Synopsis
Nearly thirty years ago, in the wake of a personal tragedy, June Moore bought Camp Holly Springs and turned it into a thriving summer haven for girls. But now, June is in danger of losing the place she has sacrificed everything for and begins to realize how much she has used the camp to avoid facing difficulties in her life.
June’s niece, Daphne, met her two best friends, Lanier and Mary Stuart, during a fateful summer at camp. They’ve all helped each other through hard things, from heartbreak and loss to substance abuse and unplanned pregnancy, and the three are inseparable even in their thirties. But when attorney Daphne is confronted with a relationship from her past–and a confidential issue at work becomes personal–she is faced with an impossible choice.
Lanier, meanwhile, is struggling with tough decisions of her own. After a run-in with an old flame, she is torn between the commitment she made to her fiancé and the one she made to her first love. And when a big secret comes to light, she finds herself at odds with her best friend…and risks losing the person she loves most.
But in spite of their personal problems, nothing is more important to these songbirds than Camp Holly Springs. When the women learn their childhood oasis is in danger of closing, they band together to save it, sending them on a journey that promises to open the next chapters in their lives.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Ratings
- I will always love a KWH novel! This story of friendship, love, small towns, and the lessons of summer camps and experiences is just perfect. Add it to your beach bag immediately!
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Spectacular by Fiona Davis
Synopsis
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes–the glamorous precision-dancing troupe–she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer.
Meanwhile, the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to Peter Griggs, a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling.
As both Marion and Peter find themselves unexpectedly pulled into the police search for the bomber, Marion realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in–performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes–if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. In doing so, she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Ratings
- I really loved this book! I love the historical fiction based in NYC and was enthralled with Marion’s story!
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Synopsis
Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ‘n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.
Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Ratings
- I absolutely adored this book! As a Stevie Nicks fan, I appreciated the loose connection. I also loved reading this interwoven story through interviews. An incredible book!
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Synopsis
Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope, and a book.
In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.
In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege.
And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father.
Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Ratings
- This was my only DNF from 2022. After some coaxing from reader friends, I decided to give it another try as an audiobook. I wanted to love this book because of how much I loved “All the Light We Cannot See.” So, I kept coming back to it. I find Doerr to be a wonderful writer. Once I got to the end of this book, it finally clicked for me. While it is beautifully written and the story comes together at the end, I found it hard to follow at times and it was just so long. All that to say, I am glad I finished it!
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️
