Love Your Library June (May 17-June 30) Hosted by Bookish Beck

 

The month of June was a long one. I did a lot of reading for the summer reading program. We also have an additional reading challenge at work. I don't read enough to be a real contender individual category, but I am on the second-place work team. Altogether, we are having a fun time with the challenge. This month I read seven library books. Of those seven, I listened to three as audiobooks and the other four were eBooks. Two of the books I read were comic book compilations. 

READ

• Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo - Our favorite fake family faces a new challenge. Anya's school bus is hijacked on the way to a field trip. This was one of favorite sagas thus far. There was so much action, danger, and humorous drama. ★★★★★ Read on Libby
• Fairest by Marissa Meyer - Lavana wasn't always the evil queen in this futuristic sci-fi retelling. In this story she goes from a scarred and ignored second princess to the evil queen we meet in Cinder. Overall, this series is very good, but the prequel was slow, and I found the main character too unlikable to by sympathetic. Second half of the story was more interesting. ★★★☆☆ Read on Libby
• The Temporary Roomie by Sarah Adams - I love Sarah Adams' sweet rom-coms, and this may just be her funniest. Jessie is eight months pregnant when a pipe bursts and causes her house to flood. She has to stay with her best friend's brother, who happens to be an OBGYN, and the one person Jessie cannot stand. This is a hilarious, outrageous arrangement, but these characters are well-developed, and Adama creates deep emotional connections. Also, a prank war, full of ridiculous and clever pranks is always a great time. ★★★★☆ Listened to on Hoopla
• Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter - Liz can't stand her annoying next-door neighbor, Wes, but when her first crush moves back to town, she need his help to remake her image and get a second chance with her first love. I read this as part of the 12 Recs From 12 Friends that I have been working on all year. Better Than the Movies has become very popular on social media, but I found it average. I have read several other books similar to this one. The character's main struggle feels like something that would have made more sense if she was a younger character or if her trauma was more recent. ★★★★☆ Listened to on Libby IG Reel
• Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, Vol.1 by Stan Lee, Bill Evertt, and Joe Orlando - Everyone knows Daredevil, but how did the visually impaired hero/lawyer get his start. This compilation is the original first eleven stories. It was very cool to read Matt, Foggy and Karen's origin. However, Karen Paige is my favorite character in the tv show, but in this comic book she served as little more than a love interest. Pining for her boss yet constantly blaming his inability to love her on his disability. I can't help but wonder if this is because of the historical stigmas regarding disability or male writers only seeing a woman in terms of what she can be to a man, either way it was distasteful. ★★★☆☆ Read on Hoopla
• Going Wild by Lisa McMann - Charlie's family moves from Chicago to Navaro Junction, Arizona. As she's adjusting and making new friends, she opens a package addressed to her and finds a bracelet that gives her supernatural abilities. This middle grade novel has a lot more depth and clever worldbuilding than many children's books. If I had read this one as a pre-teen, I would have wanted to be Chalie. Her character was struggling with her new world and then she suddenly has the strength to destroy a bathroom. This a must read for preteens who love superheroes. Read for Reb Recs ★★★★★ Listened to on Hoopla
• Ms. Marvel, The New Mutant, Vol. 1 by Iman Valleni, Sabir Pirzada, Carlos Gómez, Adam Gorham, Erick Arciniega, and Joe Caramagna - Ms. Marvel's actress, Iman Valleni takes on the role of lead writer in this comic book saga. Kamla has been raised from the dead and learns she is also a mutant. She joins the X-Men in the fight for survival by going undercover for a summer college prep program. Best part of this book is that it is every superfan's dream to write a real story for a favorite character. Reading this one felt like living vicariously through her. Also, it had a fun superhero adventure, and I have a crush on her loyal best friend, Bruno. ★★★★★ 

Currently Reading

• Spider-Man: The Secret of the Sinister Six by Adam-Troy Castro
• The Never Game (Colter Shaw book 1) by Jeffery Deaver
• Kill the Villainess, Vol. 1 by Haegi and Your April IG Reel
• Climbing Rejection Mountain: An Actor's Path to Success, Stability, and Self-Esteem by Nick Wyman, Michael X. Martin
• The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
• Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
• The Grim Reader: A Pharmacist’s Guide to Putting Your Characters in Peril by Miffie Seideman
• Under the Surface by Diana Urban

Checked Out, To Be Read

• Powers of a Girl: 65 Marvel Women Who Punched the Spy & and Changed the Universe by Lorraine Clink
• Marvel's Rising: Heroes of the Round Table by Nilah Magruder
• Allergy Friendly Family Cookbook by Murdoch Children's Research Institute 
• How to Draw Manga Stroke by Stroke
• Real Simple: May 2025
• Purple Hearts: a novel by Tess Wakefield
• Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (Blu-Ray)

In The Reservation Queue

• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• Ready Player Two by Erenest Cline
• Meet Me at Wonderland by Julia DeVillers
• The Wishing Game: a novel by Meg Shaffer
• The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold by Ally Carter IG Post of Book 1
• Power Rangers: Force of Chaos by Diana Ma

On Hold, To Be Picked Up

• Batman: Soul of the Dragon (Blu-Ray)

Returned Unread

• What If Love Is the Point by Alexa and Carlos PenaVega - Alexa Vega from Spy Kids and Carlos Pena from Big Time Rush got married and wrote a book. I wanted to read this, but didn't get to it.
• The Perfectionist's Delima: Learn the Art of Self-Compassion and Become a Happy Achiever by Tara Cousineau - I read some in this non-fiction title. It was like reading a dry research paper.
• Your One and Only by Adrianne Finley - I used this one in my Spell the Month February stack. I didn't get around to reading it. 
• My Life Uploaded by Rae Earl - I also picked this one up when I was working on the Spell the Month February stack, but it was just to read. I have already read the sequel.
• Artifice by Sharon Cameron - I also used this one in my Spell the Month February stack. I didn't get around to reading it.  IG Reel

The first half of summer reading went relatively well. Seven books is pretty good. It was enough for me to hit the 1,000 words goal for the summer reading final prize. The final prize is a free book that you pick from a selection, but I have yet to decide. This month, I had a wide variety of reads, but I didn't finish many physical books, and no physical books from the library. I think I have a few that are close to being done. I think I can finish two physical books this month, so wish me luck.

Over on Instagram in June, I shared my current reads as a part of a Summer Reading Reflections series. I also posted two reviews; my latest review is for a young adult novel featuring an iconic X-Men character. Usually, I share a piece of fiction from my blog, but today I'll share a fanfiction I posted on fanfiction.net. It is a crossover story between the characters in the 2010s tv show, Hawaii Five-0 and Richard Paul Evans' character, Michael Vey.

#LoveYourLibrary

Thank you, Rebecca for coming up with this blog challenge and I hope to do it again. Check out her blog Bookish Beck

I love making Bookish Friends! Follow me on Instagram Skai_BooksAndBracelets