FAVORITE READS OF THE MONTH: June

Happy end of June!! Hope you are all getting some summer reading time in!

We consume so many books in a month, that we don’t always get the chance to talk about all of our favorites. So, we’ve decide to set aside a monthly post specifically for talking about our favorite reads that would have otherwise flown under the radar.

Bree:

Ooof, June was a bad reading month. Honestly, the stars must have misaligned for me because Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner, is the only book I finished this month. Pathetic, right? I wish I could blame it on life being busy, but I really can’t. I just don’t know where all the time went. Even though I will probably end up writing a full review for this book, I figured I’d spout its praise here too. Something to Talk About is an excellent slowburn queer romance, set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles film industry. It was refreshing to see a professional interpretation of Hollywood, instead of the normal cheesy interpretation found in a lot of YA books. Other than that, Emma and Jo are ridiculously adorable and wholesome and every scene with the two of them is endearing. Also, Jo is like my favorite character ever, so I definitely could have used way more of her chapters [OR A LONGER EPILOGUE. If you know, you know.] Anyways, I really, really hope Meryl Wilsner decides to make this a “romance series” because I would love some Emma & Jo cameos, please.

Tree:

My favorite read this month was Take a Hint, Dani Brown, but she got her own review here. But, after that it was Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi. This is the “remixed” YA version of Kendi’s 2016 book Stamped from the Beginning, which I plan to read soon. I listened to this one on audio and was blown away. Jason Reynolds narrates and he was able to take serious and complex issues and turn them into easy to understand soundbites. I hesitate to call this book entertaining because it follows the history of the enslaved people in the United States and follows racist ideas to today which is obviously serious and horrific, but Reynolds makes the history engaging in a way that I wish more authors and teachers were able to. I want all teens to have to read this in school. I want to go back to high school US History and relearn everything knowing how what was omitted and sanitized in our history textbooks. I can’t wait to read Stamped from the Beginning to learn even more of the details. If you are able I highly recommend this audiobook, it is only four hours and you will learn a lot. I will say that I am a huge Jason Reynolds fan so that did not hurt.