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Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• The Assassin’s Blade: The Throne of Glass Prequel Novellas by Sarah J. Maas
• Think and Grow Rich for Women: Using Your Power to Create Success and Significance by Sharon L. Lechter

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• The Assassin’s Blade: The Throne of Glass Prequel Novellas by Sarah J. Maas

Ashley FIN

• Grim and Bear It  by Juliette Cross
• Weston by Samantha Whiskey
• The How Not To Die Cookbook by Michael Greger and Gene Stone
• The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern #3) by Anne McCaffrey
• Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
• The Tradition by Jericho Brown
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• 30-Day Stay: A Real Estate Investor’s Guide to Mastering the Medium-Term Rental by Zeona McIntyre and Sarah Weaver
• Dragonquest (Dragonriders of Pern #2) by Anne McCaffrey

Nikki FIN

• Maverick Mogul (Billionaire Bachelor Club #1) by Lila Monroe
• Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
• The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
• The Boy I Shouldn’t Want by Stephanie Rose
• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
• The Tradition by Jericho Brown
• The Highland Fling by Meghan Quinn
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio
• Cowboy in a Kilt (Kilted Hearts #1) by Kait Nolan
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction by Justin Whitmel Earley

It’s fair to say, Darling Readers, that Lemonade Summer has gotten started and is going like a wrecking ball – the back and forth pendulum where destruction can happen at each end and also in the middle. And that wrecking ball feeling has only a little to do with my Reading Life. Have you been struggling to balance life and reading this summer? Have you, like me, been struggling in your reading goals or in other goals for your summer? Are you an Enneagram One who always strives for the ideal and has been thwarted in your journey towards what you thought you wanted to have as your perfect summer? Have you been realizing that the year is halfway over and you’re not halfway to achieving goals you set at the beginning of the year. I’ve been thinking about my goals for the year and for the month of June, and coming up short to the ideal for myself. I have been working hard to hit 50 books by the end of the month (and it might happen by Friday night) to be on track to hit my 100 book goal by the end of the year, and also live a life that is fulfilling and successful… whew the depth of this questioning might be too much for a Reading Life Review post.

As of this writing, I have completed reading 48 books and, according to GoodReads, am 1 book behind schedule to reach my goal of 100 books by the end of the year. At the beginning of the month I was closer to 5 books behind schedule and have taken the time to read some titles. The books we have read this month for the blog have been joy-giving in different ways than: re-reading a title from my childhood that has stood up to time, reading the final book in a Romance series that I have been trying to figure out how to purchase the special editions for myself before the end of the month, and beginning the Maas Distraction re-read with The Assassin’s Blade. I finally got Rule of Wolves back from the library in time to finish up reading it- I was over 50% through it in May when it got returned to the library because, well, time management reasons. Of the two books I am in the middle of I don’t think I’ll finish up more than one, and I am just going to have to be OK with GoodReads telling me that I’m behind for a little longer. And, maybe it will be good for me to allow my reading life to take a backseat to other important things, like getting enough rest and perhaps one day creating a sustainable daily schedule that helps me reach my other life goals. (hahahahahahahaha)

Do you ever feel like nothing is real and goals are stupid because nothing matters? Yeah, me either.

~Ashley

June has been the best of times and the worst of times.  I read a book one of my young people asked me to buddy read, and a dog died in it, and this is not the first time he’s asked me to read a book in which a dog dies.  I mostly accidentally checked out Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston which was an amazing hang of a book (more thoroughly discussed here).  The Common Rule was mostly what I expected it to be – a study in good habits and firm boundaries.  

Then we have titles about belonging, overcoming hardships, persevering through and after trauma, and leaning into purpose.  Yes darling readers, I managed to fit in four fiction titles, technically all romance novels (although The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is better categorized as historical magical realism) that hit me in the feels. 

The three traditional romances I read were all exactly what I needed them to be (except for the miscommunication as the breakup issue in one of them, ugh).  Give me a modern arranged marriage trope set off when a cowboy (whose evil step-mother sold his family ranch to developers) is in Las Vegas and wins a Scottish barony, and an arranged wife, in a poker game!  Give me the enemies to fake dating millionaire where he helps her actualize her professional dreams and she helps him feel again, with bonus points for several one-bed scenes.  Two besties go to rural Scotland to run / rehab a coffee shop while one seeks to find herself, and they both stumble upon romance, yes please!  So maybe June was just the best of reading times (around a lot of life chaos), or at least some really solid reading times, with a couple of speed bumps along the way, and July is looking like a fantastic follow up!  Check back Monday to see the rest of what we have queued up for you, and for us!

How are you living your best reading life this summer?

~Nikki

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