The first half of 2023 has come and gone, and I have no idea how many books I’ve read so far. I have a list of books on the Notes app of my phone, but it’s not at all perfect. I don’t think it’s a comprehensive list in any way. I know that I haven’t been keeping up as to how many books I’ve read. But that’s okay. This is a new start.
A big part of why I haven’t been keeping up with tracking the number of books I’ve been reading is because I’ve been in an on and off reading slump. It’s been three years since the start of the pandemic, and so it has been three years since my reading slump has plagued me throughout long periods these past few years.
But my reading slump is a topic for another day. Today I want to focus on the future. I want to focus on the seven books I’m adding to my TBR this month–and you should too.
The first three books are books that have already been published. These are books with summer vibes that are great for kicking off the summer.
The last four are all new June 2023 releases that also have those exciting summer vibes.
Without much further ado, here are the seven books you should add to your TBR.
- Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.
For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.
When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.
Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.
I’m not sure how I came across this book. I could have seen it on social media or just browsing through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. But I’m sure glad I came across it. I’m so excited to read this book. I think it would be a perfect book to read over the summer.
- The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
From Penguin Random House website:
Macy’s summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She will spend her days sitting at the library information desk. She will spend her evenings studying for the SATs. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development.
But Macy’s plans don’t anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or . . . Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn’t fit Macy’s life at all-so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So . . . happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses her father, who died before her eyes the year before?
Sarah Dessen delivers a page-turning novel that carries readers on a roller coaster of denial, grief, comfort, and love as we watch a broken but resilient girl pick up the pieces of her life and fit them back together.
This is a book I came across the library under the Staff Picks section. I’ve never read a Sarah Dessen novel in my life. Not sure why, really. I suppose it’s because when I was a teen, I was interested in reading fantasy. Now as an adult, I read Sarah Dessen-like books (or at least books I think are like Sarah Dessen books). But I haven’t read a YA novel in such a long time (a conversation for another time). But when I saw The Truth About Forever at the library, there was something about it pulled me in.
- Paris is Always a Good Idea by Jenn McKinlay
From Goodreads:
It’s been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong post-college European adventure. Since then, she’s lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea’s thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most talented fundraiser is unquestioned.
When her introverted mathematician father announces he’s getting remarried, Chelsea is forced to acknowledge that her life stopped after her mother died, and that the last time she can remember being happy, in love, or enjoying her life was on her gap year. Inspired to retrace her steps–to find Colin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy–Chelsea hopes that one of these three men who stole her heart so many years ago, can help her find it again.
From the start of her journey nothing goes as planned, but as Chelsea reconnects with her old self, she also finds love in the very last place she expected.
I’ve been reading a lot of literary fiction or literary fiction adjacent lately. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not tired of it. I absolutely love literary fiction, but sometimes it’s nice to read a fun book. A book that makes me giggle and feel like I have a crush. I’m hoping that Paris is Always a Good Idea gives me all the giggles.
- A Perfect Vintage by Chelsea Fagan (Out June 6, 2023)
From Goodreads:
Old money. Younger men. One intoxicating summer.
Lea Mortimer has everything under control. As a highly sought-after consultant specializing in transforming dilapidated French country estates into boutique hotels, she relishes her freedom as a single, childfree woman. And her life is full, occupied as much by her impeccable historic renovations as by the aristocratic — and often exhausting — French families she works for.
But after the heated divorce of her closest friend and cousin Stephanie Bryce, Lea finds herself taking Stephanie and her college-aged daughter to the Loire Valley in France for the summer. As they tag along for Lea’s latest work assignment, despite their best intentions, they threaten to complicate the tightrope act of launching the hotel on time. And when Lea unexpectedly falls for the much-younger son of her boss, she quickly learns the beauty and danger of losing control.
As affairs bloom in the idyllic chateau, wars of inheritance play out between the family, and betrayals threaten even the most solid relationships. Lea realizes that it’s not just a broken heart she’s risking, but her entire, meticulously-constructed life blowing up in her face.
I trust Chelsea Fagan. I don’t believe in her blindly, but I’m a fan. I follow her on YouTube and I watch her videos about personal finance. She brings in people from all walks of life and has meaningful conversations with all of them.
So when she said she had written a book, I was quick to add it to my TBR and to count down the days until it releases. Well, June is now here and I’m so excited to read this book. And the cover is just gorgeous. Ah, I’m so excited!
- You Were Always Mine by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (Out June 13, 2023)
From Simon and Schuster website:
Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible—a good man by her side, a steady job as a career counselor at a local community college, and a cozy house in a quaint little beach town. It may not look like much, but it’s more than she ever dreamed of or what her difficult childhood promised. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet, grateful. Until something shifts and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying question: “Is this all there is?”
Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her nineteen years on earth—she also has her own big dreams for a life that’s barely begun. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. Desperate, broke, and alone, she hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences.
Daisy isn’t the only one with something to hide. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she’s gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone…even herself.
As Cinnamon struggles to contain old demons, navigate the fault lines that erupt in her marriage, and deal with the shocking judgments from friends and strangers alike about why a woman like her has a baby like this, her one goal is to do right by the child she grows more attached to with each passing day. It’s the exact same conviction that drives Daisy as she tries to outrun her heartache and reckon with her choices.
These two women, unlikely friends and kindred spirits must face down their secrets and trauma and unite for the sake of the baby they both love in their own unique way when Daisy’s grandparents, who would rather die than see one of their own raised by a Black woman, threaten to take custody.
Once again, these authors bring their “empathetic, riveting, and authentic” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to an unforgettable novel that revolves around provocative and timely questions about race, class, and motherhood. Is being a mother a right, an obligation, or a privilege? Who gets to be a mother? And to whom? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of marriage, friendship, and our dreams?
I don’t know much about this book other than the synopsis above—but that’s enough for me. It sounds like one of those books that will entrap me and it won’t let me go until I’m crying and questioning what it means to be human, what it means to be a woman. And I’m here for it.
- Talking at Night by Claire Daverley (Out June 20, 2023)
From Goodreads:
Secret walks and late-night phone calls. An undeniable chemistry. A tragedy that haunts them both. A powerful yet tender love story between two people who can’t help but be pulled back to one another, time and again
This is the story of Will and Rosie. Bad boy meets good girl, opposites in every way. They fall for each other as teenagers; nineties music, sideways glances, sunsets and bonfires and talking late into the night. It’s palpable, inevitable: they’re on the precipice of starting something wonderful. Until one day, tragedy strikes, and any possibility of being together seems to shatter.
And yet, time and again, Rosie and Will find their way back to each other. Though the years pass, they cannot quite let go of what might have been.
Talking at Night tells a story of sudden connections, missed opportunities, the many loves we have over a lifetime–and the one that keeps us coming back, again and again, for more.
The cover is gorgeous. I love everything about the cover—the colors, the art, and the feeling of melancholia it stirs in me. And the synopsis makes me want to read the book NOW. I have a very soft-spot for books about two people forming a connection so strong and yet not being able to figure it out.
But I’m also kind of scared of reading this book because it sounds so much like the book I’ve been wanting to write for years. I’m afraid someone has beat me to it. I worry that it would be too similar to the story in my head, but I suppose there’s only one way to find out. Besides, I might be able to use it as a comp title if I ever do finish writing that novel. Right?
- Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective by Katie Siegel (Out June 27, 2023)
From Goodreads:
The downside of being a famous child detective is that sooner or later, you have to grow up . . .
As a kid, Charlotte Illes’ uncanny sleuthing abilities made her a minor celebrity. But in high school, she hung up her detective’s hat and stashed away the signature blue landline in her “office”—aka garage—convinced that finding her adult purpose would be as easy as tracking down missing pudding cups or locating stolen diamonds.
Now twenty-five, Charlotte has a nagging fear that she hit her peak in middle school. She’s living with her mom, scrolling through job listings, and her love life consists mostly of first dates. When it comes to knowing what to do next, Charlotte hasn’t got a clue.
And then, her old blue phone rings . . .
Reluctantly, Charlotte is pulled back into the mystery-solving world she knew—just one more time. But that world is a whole lot more complicated for an adult. As a kid, she was able to crack the case and still get her homework done on time. Now she’s dealing with dead bodies, missing persons, and villains who actually see her as a viable threat. And the detective skills she was once so eager to never use again are the only things that can stop a killer ready to make sure her next retirement is permanent . . .
I had no idea that the premise of this book premiered on TikTok. I was just browsing online looking for upcoming releases when I came across this book. The cover was interesting, but the synopsis really captured me. It sounds smart, witty, almost whimsical, but best of all, mysterious.
I looked up the author on TikTok and found her video about Charlotte Illes from her pinned videos. And the video was great. It’s great quality and I can tell she’s a talented storyteller. The voice of this character cannot be contained, not even through the synopsis or the TikTok. This character is bursting into the world, whether we like it or not. I cannot wait to read this book.
These were the seven books that I’m super excited to read in June 2023!
What are some of the books that you’ve added to your June TBR?
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