July is already a few days old, but at the start of this month I was on holidays, so I had no opportunity to write and post my monthly wrap up. June however, was a bit of a two0-faced month. It started of pretty cold for the time of year, only to end with scorging heat. We had a heatwave on nearly the entire European continent, so that was agonizing. This influenced my reading quite a bit, but not in the way you would expect. I started pretty slow in the first half of the month, when it was still quite chilly, only to speed up when temperatures started rising. Other people slow down at that point, but not my reading. So, I ended up reading a total of 11 books this past month, more than ever before in 2026. To be fair, I opted for the easier books when summer really showed up, but this doesn’t mean I enjoyed them less. Want to know what books I’ve read? Keep reading to find out.
My read books
1. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
One of my 2024 reading plans was to reread the entire “ Throne of Glass’ series by Sarah J. Maas. I already read those books in Dutch, but now I wanted to reread them in English and as audiobook. However, this plan failed miserably as I quit my reread after the fifth book. However, I finally felt the desire to continue my rereading, so I picked up where I left off. Although I truly enjoyed this reading experience, it took me longer than expected to finish this book. Okay, it’s a brick, which makes for a longer audiobook, but it slowed down my reading nonetheless. Despite this, I hope to be able to pick up the final book as well for a reread this year, but that one is even longer. So, we shall see!
- Set in: A fantasy realm
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Audiobook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/02 to 06/08
- Rating: 5/5
2. Ik mis je by Gillian King
One of the reasons that my reading progressed quite slowly in the first half of the month is that I hardly picked up any book. But when I did, I chose books from my backlist. This Dutch romance has been on my TBR for a very long while and the time was finally there to pick it up. I had high expectations, but unfortunately they aren’t fully met. This book isn’t bad at all, but it was less emotional than I thought it would have been. It just lacked some depth for me which made it hard to feel connected to the characters. Truth be told, this author has written more books after this one.
- Set in: Wassenaar, the Netherlands
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: Dutch
- Read from: 06/10 to 06/10
- Rating: 3/5
3. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
June is pride month and whereas I want to read pride books all year long, I always want to put an extra bright spotlight on those LGBTQIA+ books in June. I have plenty of them on my TBR and this novel is just one of them. However, it hasn’t been on my TBR constantly, as I lost interest at some point. Recently I found the ebook for a fairly discounted and reasonable price, so I had no excuse anymore to put off reading it. I planned to read this book in English, but I opted for the Dutch version instead. I’m glad I did so, because I already struggled with this story in my native language. Not due to the language per se, but due to the structure of this novel. It took me a while to get the hang of this, but whenever I understood how this book was built up, I still struggled too much with the characters and story itself. It addresses trans culture, which is very unfamiliar to me. I believe this book needs the right audience and I’m positive it found its audience within the trans community. I can’t judge on the experiences of these characters as I’m not the right person to do so, so I won’t be doing that. But this is my personal reading experience and although the themes interested me, I struggled too much with this book to understand its true value. It therefore failed to fully captivate me.
- Set in: USA
- Backlist or newly acquired: Newly acquired
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: Dutch
- Read from: 06/12 to 06/16
- Rating: 2/5
4. Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
I have to admit that this is a bit of cheating that I’m doing here, because even though I finished this book, I need to reread it soon. Why? I already had the English edition lying around for a while, but I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t know a Dutch translation was to be published, but this is out in the world now. During my time with this book I fell asleep countless times, because I was really tired and needed my summer leave to start. Furthermore, the story failed to captivate me, probably because I never gotten into it really. So, although I managed to finish this book, it will be reread in a short while.
- Set in: New York
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/10 to 06/20
- Rating: 3/5
5. Fifteen Hundred Miles From the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa
This year I’m doing pretty well clearing out my TBR, and this queer story is part of it. It’s young adult, a genre I don’t read all that often anymore. Still, stories with diversity continue to interest me, even if it’s YA. This book about a Mexican-American boy who experiences his coming out in an awkward way but still gains something beautiful from it, certainly falls into that category. It is absolutely not all rainbows and sunshine, as protagonist Julián has quite a few hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, the book also radiates something positive, mainly due to the close-knit group of friends surrounding this mean character. Despite the many triggers this book can contain, it is still a story that offers hope for queer youth.
- Set in: USA
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/18 to 06/21
- Rating: 4/5
6. Rosie Loves Jack by Mel Darbon
And we happily continue cleaning up, because this book has been on my TBR for years as well. This is also a diverse young adult book, but not queer. The main character Rosie has Down syndrome and decides to leave home on her own in search of the boy she is in love with after he suddenly disappears from her life. What follows is an adventure through London with people who do not always have her best interests at heart. What is particularly striking is Rosie’s determination and will to do everything independently, but also that people still have a certain image of people with disabilities. For example, that they are dependent and that assistance is always needed. With this story, Darbon shows that not every disability is the same and that no two people with the same disability experience their disability the same way. Moreover, this book is a quick read, perfect for a sweltering summer day.
- Set in: England
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: Dutch
- Read from: 06/21 to 06/21
- Rating: 4/5
7. Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews
After several contemporary novels, it was now time for a fantasy again. The beloved author duo Ilona Andrews have many books to their name, but are not yet well known in the Netherlands. It took more than ten years for this first installment in the “Hidden Legacy” series to be translated. And almost another a year before I picked it up. I had high expectations, but I noticed that they were not fully met. It’s an urban fantasy and while I don’t really mind that, I couldn’t really lose myself in it. I noticed that it all went a bit too quickly and that the characters did not develop enough for my taste. I was not really stimulated to continue reading, although the writing style is smooth. The ending neither makes me curious enough to want to pick up the sequel, so I don’t know if I ever will.
- Set in: Houston, Texas
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: Dutch
- Read from: 06/21 to 06/24
- Rating: 3/5
8. Stilte na de storm by Wendy Brokers
It has been a while since I read a book by Dutch author Wendy Brokers, but when I saw this one I immediately became curious. It’s on Kobo Plus, so time to give it a listen. This is the first book in the “O’Brien” series, a series about three Irish brothers who have been living in the Netherlands for years. This story again contains intense themes, something that characterizes this author’s books. In any case, this made me want to continue listening, even though it was way too hot for depth at that moment. I didn’t have much else to do either. The end of Robin and Ilona’s story makes me curious about the second book, even though we follow another O’Brien brother. We continue to follow these characters from the sidelines and their story seems anything but finished to me.
- Set in: Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands
- Backlist or newly acquired: Kobo Plus
- Read format: Audiobook
- Language read in: Dutch
- Read from: 06/24 to 06/26
- Rating: 4/5
9. Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
This book has also been on my TBR for forever and is once again a queer YA. I didn’t really know what to expect from this, it had just been too long. Boarding schools are fun in a fantasy world, but it is still high school and I am twice the age of these main characters. Still, I enjoyed reading this contemporary story and that is once again due to the themes that the author addresses. Main character Rafe is completely out and proud, but he notices that people see him as that gay boy and not as who he really is without a label. When he goes to a prestigious boarding school, he decides to pretend to be straight and not tell anyone that he is gay. That goes well for a while, until he meets Ben. This story is not so much about falling in love and coming out, but mainly about what a label does to someone once that label has been attached. Do people still look at the person behind that label? This question is hardly asked in a book and that makes this story unexpectedly refreshing.
- Set in: USA
- Backlist or newly acquired: Backlist
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/27 to 06/28
- Rating: 4/5
10. Honestly Ben by Bill Konigsberg
This is the sequel to the previous book, but with Ben as our lead. The story picks up where Openly Straight ends, but now we read from Ben’s POV. This is a completely different character than Rafe and this is especially reflected in how the family interacts with each other. Ben has doubts about his identity and is afraid of what will happen if he comes out. Yet finding your identity does not only play a role, this book is mainly about the performance pressure imposed by the environment in which you grew up. Although this is not an original theme, I did enjoy reading the story.
- Set in: USA
- Backlist or newly acquired: Other legal source
- Read format: Ebook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/28 to 06/28
- Rating: 4/5
11. Falling For Korea by Piper Jean
The last book I managed to finish this month is an accidental find. I was recommended this book on Audible, had one credit left and decided to give it a try. Books set in Korea are often about KPop, but that is not the case for this novel. It tells the story of American teen Sydney who one day is put on a plane to Seoul by her mother to support her godmother for a while. However, this turns out to be a lie, because Sydney has to go to school in Seoul and there is a lot of secrecy about her return to America. Her mother also suddenly seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. What’s going on here? Much in this book is quite unbelievable and quite dramatic, but the author was clearly inspired by Korean dramas. And those are quite over the top. Although this book is unbelievable and wonderfully dramatic at times, the themes that Jean discusses provide deeper layers to the story. In any case, it offers a few hours of entertainment.
- Set in: Seoul
- Backlist or newly acquired: Newly acquired
- Read format: Audiobook
- Language read in: English
- Read from: 06/28 to 06/30
- Rating: 3.5/5
Bookhaul
- Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
- Focus op mij by Bo Talisa
- Ride the Wave by Katherine Reilly
- Liefs van je Leen by Hilde Veeren
- Voordat we slapen by Siep Hendriks
- Grumpy Darling by Alexandra Moody
- Vind me aan de andere kant by Marlies Allewijn
- The Ocean Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh
- On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn
- Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
- The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez
- Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (Dutch edition)
- Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
- Falling For Korea by Piper Jean
Even though June knew a slow stjart, I can be very satisifed with the month in general. I read more books than ever before this year, and the average rating for June was 3.59 stars. This is significantly higher than the previous months as well. Let’s hope I can continue this trend in July!
How was June for you? Where you able to read many awesome books despite theheat?