Hello! This was a great month of books, with all the travel, I did a lot of airplane and beach reading and managed nine books. My favorite books this month were (not surprisingly) the darkest ones. Helpless and The Truth About Ruby Cooper both held my attention in a way that felt nearly paralyzing. There was also the new Lisa Jewell book, It Could Have Been Her. All three of those were “read-it-in-a-day” thrillers, the highest praise.
A little bit of housekeeping: I will no longer be posting negative reviews or “grading” the books I read. For the time being, I’ve removed the grades from the library page. In the meantime, here on the blog I will be noting: Loved It, Really Liked It, and Liked It.
I’ve have a call in with my developer to see if we can rework the books page to include these notations or call out my favorites in a different way. These things take time to design and recode.
My mission has always been to spotlight my favorite books, and grading has felt increasingly weird to me. There are plenty of great works of literature I just didn’t personally enjoy, and slapping a C+ on them doesn’t really serve anyone. As I write my own book and see how hard it is, I have found myself thinking, “who am I to write something not so nice about something some person spent years working on!?” It feels icky. I know that some of you will miss the grades, but I think this actually makes my recommendations more meaningful. If it makes it onto the blog, I think it’s worth reading. I’ll be even more selective about what gets featured here, and I’ll probably be DNF-ing even more liberally than before. And if you’re ever curious whether I DNF’d something, you can feel free to message me! We can chat privately—I just don’t think it needs to be public.
You can still sort the library from best to worst. I’ll keep my ratings in the backend so the filter still works; I just won’t display the actual grades publicly.
Everything i read in June 2026
I would really love to hear what you’re reading in the comments! And if you are new here, check out The Library. I have kept this page meticulously updated for the past twelve+ years. It has every book I’ve read, and you can search, filter by genre, and rank from favorite to least favorite.
PS – Last month’s list!
Thrillers
Saltwater, by Katy Hays
I am embarrassed to tell you that I almost gave up on this one. I’m so glad I did not. It’s a massive slow-burning psychological thriller. It starts out very literary — languid, like Capri, where it is set — and quickly intensifies, becoming very, very plotty. I initially struggled with all of the different characters . . . and didn’t particularly care for any of them. I am really happy I kept going, because I ultimately loved it. The premise is that thirty years earlier, Sarah Lingate is found dead, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Her death was ruled an accident, and every summer the family returns to the island. Except this time, a surprise awaits them: the necklace that Sarah wore when she died. Add to that, the disappearance of the family assistant. We meet the priviliged Lingate family (quite the cast of characters), their housekeeper and her son . . . everyone is a suspect in Sarah’s murder and not everyone will make it out of Capri alive. I will say no more but I absolutely loved this. It’s the perfect summer read. Liked it! Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Helpless, by Jessica Knoll (out July 7th)
It has been a minute since a book had me in a chokehold the way this one did. Maybe since Verity. At times, I felt paralyzed, like I physically could not put the book down. I will warn you that it’s dark and messed up, but I like dark and messed up. There is a content warning for abuse. The protagonist is deeply unlikeable and hard to relate to. She makes horrible decisions! Still, I loved it. These things were all intentional on Knoll’s part, and her writing (specifically Faye, the main character’s, observations) is incredible. Faye Heron is a successful Hollywood actress and part of a powerhouse producing duo with her husband. When her very beloved former professor suddenly passes away, she returns to her college campus, where she will speak at the memorial. There, she runs into her ex-boyfriend from college, Henry. Henry is the one who got away, the person she never stopped thinking about, her first great love. Old feelings come spiraling back, and things get very dark when Henry drugs and kidnaps her. Is she being punished? Protected? I will say no more, just this: clear your afternoon, you won’t be able to step away. Loved It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
The Truth About Ruby Cooper, by Liz Nugent (Out 9/1)
Oh my goodness. I don’t think I quite knew what I was getting myself into here. I just knew it was by the author of Strange Sally Diamond (loved!) and that Freida McFadden and Lisa Jewell (my twist queens) raved about it. Instant YES for me! It grabbed me from the first line and held my attention for 24 hours and now I’m still thinking about it. I will say that there are pretty big triggers for substance abuse and sexual assault, but this is the sort of book that willkeep you up all night. Ruby and her older sister Erin are teenagers growing up in Boston during the nineties. Their life is idyllic: a comfortable life, a tight-knit family, until Ruby is involved in an incident with Erin’s boyfriend Milo. I am purposely keeping this vague so not to give you any spoilers. This incident fractures the family. Ruby and her mother flee to Ireland, Erin stays in Boston with her father. The book follows Ruby and Erin into their mid-forties as the women take very different paths. I couldn’t put it down. I still can’t stop thinking about it! Loved It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Wonderland, by Jennifer Hillier
This one is a little bit scary! Jennifer Hillier is one of those authors I auto-preorder. Her thrillers are just so good! This one scared me a lot, probably because I find amusement parks (and clowns!) to be scary. It’s set at Wonderland, an aging (but charming, in a retro sort of way) amusement park in the Pacific Northwest. The park has dark secrets. Its CEO has a penchant for younger boys, a dead body has just turned up below the ferris wheel, and several workers have gone missing over the past few years. Vanessa Castro is the new deputy police chief of the town, and her first day is a banger (when they find the dead body and a teenage boy goes missing). She’s moved to Seaside with her children to escape her own scandalous past, but quickly realizes this town has secrets: lots of them. Can she figure out what has happened before it’s too late and more employees go missing? I couldn’t put it down! Really Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
It Could Have Been Her, by Lisa Jewell
Lisa Jewell is probably my favorite author. I will read anything and everything she writes and think she is the absolute queen of the thriller. This one was not my favorite of her books, but it was still very good! I hold Jewell to a higher standard than other authors. I pre-order every one of her books and drop everything to read them when they arrive. If I were still grading books, I’d give it an A-! It held my attention well enough that I finished it up in a single day. Jane Trevally has been married twice, has an army of stepchildren she loves, many dogs, and a country house that is falling apart. Her days are pretty empty until she spots a small white terrier while out walking, no sign of the teenage girl he’d been staying with. The dog is lost, and when she tracks down his owner, he doesn’t seem to know anything about the teenage girl, who has now been reported missing. Furthermore, the owner lives at a house where Jane experienced a traumatic incident years ago. What are the odds? Jane, an aspiring PI, becomes determined to figure out what has happened to the girl. In an alternate timeline, we meet Stuart. Stuart is a recovering alcoholic who has become obsessed with a mother he sees at the bar each day, drinking herself into a stupor before picking up her daughter. It’s dark and twisty, definitely a wild ride. It is sleepy at times, but then hits you over the head with a very dark banger of an ending. Really Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Historical Fiction
The Foursome, by Christina Baker Kline
Multiple friends had told me to read this. Truthfully, I don’t read a ton of historical fiction (I tend to enjoy it more when it’s a dual timeline), but the premise for this piqued my curiosity immediately. The true story of the conjoined twins from Siam, Eng and Chang Bunker, and the Yates sisters who married them. It was fascinating. The book spans five decades of their family’s life on a plantation in nineteenth-century North Carolina, from the 1830s through the Civil War and the years afterward. We meet Sarah (Sallie) and Adelaide (Addie) as headstrong teenage girls, intrigued by these wealthy, well-traveled, sophisticated twins. Addie sees an opportunity, while Sallie is more uncertain. The book carries us through fifty years, through love, loss, and war. It’s heartbreakingly sad at times, infuriating at others, but ultimately unputdownable. The book is clearly very well researched. I cannot even imagine how much work went into that, and giving this family’s story proper justice. The storytelling is beautiful: you really feel like you are back in the nineteenth century. I still can’t believe it’s all true. Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Contemporary Fiction
The Cheesemaker’s Daughter, by Kristin Vuković
I am doing that thing I do where I get home from somewhere wonderful (Croatia) and read books to help me relive it. This is such a beautiful story about family, belonging, and identity — I loved it. Marina returns home to Sirana (her family’s cheese factory on the island of Pag, Croatia) to regroup and figure out her next steps after separating from her husband. There, she finds the family business is struggling. Meanwhile, an old rivalry (and romance) comes to light, as do old, lingering family tensions. Marina realizes she has to do everything she can to save Sirana! She finds herself increasingly immersed in the world of cheese: learning to make it, hiring a new cheesemaker, and figuring out workarounds for old equipment they can’t afford to replace. The writing is beautifully transportive, and as a foodie, I loved learning so much about the cheesemaking process. I also thought the parts about Croatia joining the EU were really interesting, as the book was set in the year leading up to that. Really Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Romance
Major Gift, by Tiffany Ezuma
This is another fun 831 stories book; I absolutely loved it. This one felt warm and cozy, like a cup of chicken soup. I don’t read a lot of romance, which is not to say I don’t enjoy the genre. I just need the characters to be capable, fully formed adults (nothing infuriates me more than a messy twenty-something who needs saving by some wealthy/successful hero). This one delivered. Ndidi Davis is the wife of a billionaire tech mogul who has died in a tragic accident. A year later, she is determined to give away her wealth and has created a foundation with plans to give it all away over the next ten years. When Geoffrey Campbell, an ambitious (handsome) journalist, is assigned to cover her philanthropic foundation, sparks fly. Ndidi wants to remain professional and not be the woman who moved on so quickly after her husband’s death, but she finds herself falling for Geoffrey. Add to that: Ndidi is keeping a secret about the real way her husband’s company was started. I love these books. Under 200 pages, easy to gobble up, satisfying ending! Really Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
Non-Fiction
The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack
This is an older one, read for research for my book. Stephanie is Mark Madoff’s widow (you might remember that Mark died by suicide two years after his father Bernie was arrested). I wanted to listen to it for research on rich people and financial crimes, but it was a hard listen because it’s so sad. It sounds like Mark was an amazing person and dad, and my heart really goes out to her and her kids. I cannot imagine enduring what their family went through. It had a lot of salacious, gossipy bits, too, but mostly I just felt really sad for them. Liked It! // Order on Bookshop or Amazon
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