Books Read in June 2022!

Posted On July 1, 2022

Hi Readers! June has been amazing because of so many reasons. My brother is here for a month on his study break. Stranger Things is blowing up the normal & the upside down world with its sheer awesomeness. Work from office has started with full swing, which I don’t prefer but is going well. And lastly, I read ELEVEN BOOKS across 3721 PAGES which brings me to FOURTY NINE BOOKS in the FIRST HALF of the YEAR! I love how Eleven books sort of gives an ode to Eleven from Stranger Things! Anyway, check out the books I loved & the ones I hated!

~~BOOKS I LOVED~~

~~Heartstopper: Volume 1 to 4 by Alice Oseman~~

I watched Heartstopper the day it was released on Netflix and binge watched it. I was so sad when it ended. I literally wanted more Heartstopper content ASAP. And soon I found it in the original graphic novels on which the show was based. And then when I was through all four volumes, I still wanted more! What was it about Heartstopper that had me so senselessly wanting for more? Well, the answer is simple. This series is just entire so WHOLESOME! It’s so cute & adorable in its entirety. Usually, I hate simple stories but this one, I just gobbled it up! For Heartstopper, its simplicity is what wins you over.

If you haven’t yet read the graphic novels, I suggest you do. If you are not a person who has ever read graphic novels, I suggest you start right away with this one. Apart from the cute parts of the story, this book has amazing LGBTQ+ representation and themes of teenagers managing mental illnesses. Because of all these factors, the books are simply astounding. I have rated Volume 1 & Volume 2 at 4/5 stars. And, Volume 3 & Volume 4 at 5/5 stars!

~~The Huntress by Kate Quinn~~

I have always loved Kate Quinn’s writing style. Female war heroines, parallel stories with a few years in between, World War II. It is all so amazing. I loved The Alice Network, I loved The Rose Code & now I loved The Huntress. The difference in this novel was that the villain was a woman, which was again amazing to read. And, aside from this, all other characters are simply amazing!

Because I am now used to Kate Quinn’s writing style, I feel at home in her books. I don’t really care if the story is predictable or if it is missing something or if it is too much. The sheer research which she does makes up for any little flaw, if it even exists. I will always read her books and I have a feeling that I will love them every time. If you are yet to read her novels, I strongly recommend you to read them. I have rated The Huntress by Kate Quinn at 5/5 stars!

You can read the full review here!

~~BOOKS I DID NOT LOVE~~

~~Heartstopper: The Mini Comics by Alice Oseman~~

The mini comics were just that a compilation of a few pages of a mini story. Because of the bits & pieces making this comic, it felt a bit unstructured. I found a few of them quite adorable, but overall I would prefer a big comic book rather than short story version of a comic book. I have rated Heartstopper: The Mini Comics by Alice Oseman at 3/5 stars!

~~Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover~~

All Colleen Hoover books I have read are lukewarm, in my opinion. Aside from ‘It Ends With Us’, I haven’t liked any book. Be it Verity or Ugly Love or now, Reminders of Him. The story was compelling at first. A young woman just out of jail going to seek her daughter who live with her dead father’s parents & our young woman apparently had something to do with his death. If you read it like this, then yes, it sounds interesting. But, once I started reading, it became so predictable than I lost interest & was entirely unimpressed by it. I have rated Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover at 3/5 stars!

~~On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong~~

Talk about lyrical writing gone astoundingly wrong. If you see any reviews of this book on Goodreads or Instagram, you will see nothing below 4 stars. And here I come to disagree. Initially, I was quite taken with the writing. It was different & I enjoyed reading it. But soon, I was at a loss while also being lost in place. The entirety of the book is unstructured. You might love what is written from word to word, but at the end of it, you will wonder where was the original story? This book, though remarkable in some ways, leaves you disoriented questioning yourself about what you just read. I hated the reading experience for this book & so I hated the book as well. I have rated On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong at 2/5 stars!

You can read the review here!

~~The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery~~

When I read the first half of the title: The Soul of an Octopus, I was immediately intrigued. And then when I read the next half of the title: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, I was sold! I knew I had to read it. But, soon I realised that the book title was too ambitious to ever match up with the content and writing style. I had a lot of problems with this book. When someone writes a science nonfiction book, it has to be in a way which will help the common human to understand complex facts by making them interesting, like many authors have achieved to do. But, in this one, I did not find that factor. I have rated The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery at 3/5 stars!

You can read the review here!

~~Swimming Lessons by Lili Reinhart~~

It had been a long time since I had read a poetry book, so I read this one. And, to be honest, I really need to be picky even about the poetry books that I decide to read. I did not enjoy this book much. A few poems were beautiful & felt real. But, most of them felt uninspired. It wasn’t anything that I hadn’t read before. I have rated Swimming Lessons by Lili Reinhart at 2/5 stars!

~~Book Lovers by Emily Henry~~

This was naturally my third Emily Henry book & also the third Emily Henry disappointment. The overusage of tropes only to make it an obvious trope, the absence of romance or heat, the sheer dull conversations between the main characters was all typical Emily Henry. I read this on audiobook which made my suffering slightly less. I have rated Book Lovers by Emily Henry at 2/5 stars!

You can read my unamused reviews on Beach Read & People We Meet on Vacation here!

~~READING STATS~~

So, that is all folks! In the first half of the year, I read 49 books of which I am super proud of. This is a new record for me. I will do a mid-year review post on here soon too! Happy Reading and more importantly for today, Happy Stranger Things Day!

Until next time,