A new month, which means a new TBR! This past month I managed to read my entire monthly TBR which is unique, as this never happened before. I can start June with a clean slaid, which feels fresh and good. As it’s pride month, I will definitely be reading some pride books. Although I don’t think we should limit ourselves only to this month to do so, but spreading extra awareness is always a good thing. I will use my “Up Next” queue on The Storygraph to create this post as per usual, as well as picking some more possibilities for when I run out on books.

In the queue

The first book on this list is Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg. This author is well-known within the young adult contemporary genre. However, it has been years since I first heard of this book. I neglected it for the longest time, but it keeps coming back in my recommendations till this day. I started to stray away from YA at some point, which means I ignored this book even longer. Now it is finally time to give it a fair chance.

Another book that fell victim to me outgrowing the YA genre is Rosie Loves Jack by Mel Darbon. Originally published in 2018, it truly is a backlist title. However, I got the Dutch edition that got published in 2020. It has been on my TBR ever since, but got pushed back quite often. Main character Rosie has Down Syndrome, so if you’re looking to add more diversity to your reading habits, this book will definitely be a good fit. In the past months I have been decluttering my TBR a lot which worked out pretty well so far, so I’d like to continue this trend in June.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is a bit of the odd one out there. I’ve heard of this book an eternity ago, and it of course has been on my TBR. However, I never picked it up, so I removed it. Only to regret it and to ad it back later. However, it still took me a long while before picking it up. In fact, I did never, which resulted in a place on this monthly TBR. It meets two goals at once, reading a pride book and decluttering my TBR.

In the heights of the Covid-19 pandemic, so many YA novels that immediately piqued my interest crossed my path. Simultaneously, I noticed a shift in my reading preferences, which results in so many of these titles left untouched on the TBR, deprived of a fair chance. One of the books falling victim to this behavior is Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Johnny Garza Villa. So many readers loved it back in the day, although it hardly gets attention anymore. Unfortunately this fits the current trend. However, my gut feeling says that this will be a forgotten and hidden gem, so time to find out. It’s also a perfect fit for pride month.

Ilona Andrews already has a huge catalog of books, but I never read anything by this author yet. I actually never paid attention until Burn For Me was released in Dutch last year. It’s a slightly older series, that often proves to work well for me. But guess what? I put it on the TBR, only to leave it there. In comparison to the other books on this monthly TBR, the wait for this book hasn’t been that long, but I should pick it up anyways to avoid it getting longer. I will be reading this book in Dutch and the sequel is also available already.

The possibilities

Firstly, I really want to read Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone at some point. Yes, I already said this last month, but now it’s real. It’s romance with some serious depth, something I definitely enjoy. Romances always work great with this weather as they are easy to read.

Abby Jimenez will get a spot on this pile of possibilities as well. I finally picked up my first book by this author this past month, Part of Your World, and even though I’m not fully convinced yet, everyone keeps Saying that Say You’ll Remember Me gave them all the feels. And I like that forecast. It already is on my TBR as well as on my digital bookshelf, so I have no excuse to not read it. Moreover, the companion novel will be published this month in Dutch. I’ll be reading this book in Dutch too.

The final possibility is there for a very simple reason. Boy Queen by George Lester has been on my TBR for a shameful long time, and this is just not what I had planned. I expected to read it soon after hauling it in 2022.

What (pride) books do you hope to read in June?