Tim Reads June

 Off With My Head by Stassi Schroeder 
(288 pages)
One of my favorite people on my favorite guilty pleasure show (Vanderpump RULES!) this is the second book by reality star turned author Stassi. While this book delves a little too much into the “why me” of cancel culture it still is a hilarious look at life, marriage, and becoming a first time parent. So if you like the drama of Bravo’s reality shows this is just what you’re looking for 

Calamity Jane: The Life and Legend of Martha Jane Cannary by D.J. Herda
(225 pages)
A fascinating look at the life of one of the Wildest parts of the Wild West. Calamity Jane drinks, smokes, curses, and rambles all around the Rockies living a life that could fill 10 biographies. This book does a good job of searching for information to separate the real Martha from the fictional Jane

American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles by Thomas Keneally
(416 pages)
To steal a joke from SNL this book has everything: Civil War battles, sex scandals, and the murder of Francis Scott Key’s son?!? Daniel Sickles was a congressman, had an affair with the deposed Queen of Spain and led a Civil War charge that is still being debated to this day. A fascinating biography of someone who seemed to Forrest Gump their way into the major events in American History.

The Love Pirate and the Bandit’s Son by Laura James
(320 pages)
Dr. Zeo Zoe Wilkins and Jesse James Jr. came together in an explosion of sex, deceit, money, and finally murder. These two are the main characters of a true crime book that looks to answer the question of who stabbed Dr. Wilkins (spoiler the author thinks it’s James) but many wild stories happen to both before the final, violent event and keeps the reader coming back for more.

Crazy Fourth: How Jack Johnson Kept His Heavyweight Title and Put Las Vegas, New Mexico on the Map by Toby Smith
(233 pages)
This book tells (seemingly minute by minute) the story of how the legendary Jack Johnson vs. Jim Flynn heavyweight title fight came to the fight capital of the world Las Vegas,…New Mexico?? From the civic leaders of Vegas raising thousands to host the fight, to the event itself (which managed to knock the sinking of the Titanic off the front page) this book shows how a out of the way town managed to pull in the biggest event in the world.

Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times by Bill Boyarsky
(208 pages)
Follows the founders of the LA Times dynasty from creation to the present. The author is able to tie in the highs and lows of the newspaper (and its owners) to the city of LA itself. A fascinating look at one of the world’s most well known papers and the stories behind the headlines.

Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley
(368 pages)
The story of the murder of UMWA presidential candidate Joseph Yablonski by killers working under orders from current president Tony Boyle. A corrupt union leader who employed less than capable hitmen (seriously if you got the 3 Stooges drunk on moonshine they’d be a better crew than these guys) and thought he had put an end to anyone coming after his throne.

The Rehearsals by Annette Christie

Summary: "In this delightful and romantic debut novel―with a Groundhog Day twist―a couple calls off their wedding after a disastrous rehearsal dinner, only to wake up the next morning trapped in a time loop. Together.

Two people. One wedding. No end in sight.

Megan Givens and Tom Prescott are heading into what is supposed to be their magical wedding weekend on beautiful San Juan Island. But with two difficult families, ten years of history, and all too many secrets, things quickly go wrong. After a disastrous rehearsal dinner they vow to call the whole thing off—only to wake up the next morning stuck together in a time loop. Are they really destined to relive the worst day of their lives, over and over? And what happens if their wedding day does arrive?"

I liked this a lot, the writing was nice! Although, not nearly as "funny" as I expected. It was sort of sad honestly.

Who knew a move to MISSOURI could break a couple up??! I don't think I've read the word "Missouri" so often in any fiction book.

313 pages

goodreads | MOBIUS

Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough

I feel like there was too many different fairy-tales trying to fit into one story...Like....I see how it should only be one book....but also like... I've read so many books (cough Lunar Chronicles, Ravenspire) where they have multiple fairy-tales in the same world, and it's just more cohesive and clear... It felt kind of rushed, even from the beginning. 
377 Pages

TS Song: ...The Man...there's too many characters....

Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez

And the attacks on Missouri by contemporary romance authors continue.
Geriatric Chihuahuas give me so much life. I love them. I say that as someone who has a 10 year old rat terrier that might have some chihuahua in her...
I love the assistant. I love her.
It's fine....Vanessa's like...living out part of my dream and that's just..goals... It's the travelling part.
When characters talk about therapy and enabling behavior and like...going to therapy... love it. Here for it. 
384 Pages

TS Song: I Wish You Would, Never Grow Up, (and a bit of imaginary Champagne Problems for the angsty)

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

*looks at characters: Y'all gon need so much therapy.

My Catholic butt is just....I'm fine... There's an abbey and there's Benedictines and Franciscans... thinks about how I've slept through my perpetual adoration shifts before.....

Claire worrying about surviving the Jacobite revolt, and I'm just thinking about the awfulness that is all the second-half of the 1700s for literally any country in Europe.

Do I want to go into the culpability and morality of time travel and trying to change events, with the fear that it may actually make things worse....it's fine...this was written in the 90s...there wasn't a giant Reddit time-travel thread. 
672 Pages

TS Song: Evermore (like...it's got some of that energy) and because Claire compared it to Alice...yes I will also say Wonderland. 

An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X R Pan

Hey is that a reference to the Leo DiCaprio Romeo and Juliet
Hey look. West Side Story. 
I'm not crying, are you crying.
The Chinese mythology. The Romeo and Juliet. The commentary on fjkldadfjkla
400 Pages

TS Song: .. the two obvious choices are Love Story and the Archer

Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price

So I love Edward from Sense and Sensibility.... and I love Mr. Brandon except my entire image of him (I hate to say it, because it's Alan Rickman) is tainted by Alan Rickman and the fact that he was like....49 playing a 30 something...
Am I a Marianne....yes... I know that about myself.
I love the way that the characters were adapted into the murder mystery tropes. And we're talking about drugs and chemistry and crime. Which is just...my jam. 
432 Pages

TS Song: ....Edward said Enchanted... We all want to aggressively sing Mean at Fanny

the only mountain bigger than this mountain of books is the mountain I went to for my sister's wedding in Utah

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson
So it's like....Beauty and the Beast, but with vampires, and it's queer.. It wasn't mind-blowing, which is kind of upsetting
302 Pages

Fortuna Sworn by K. J. Sutton

I feel like if I hadn't just listened to Lord of Eternal Night (and it wasn't on a plane ride) I would have liked it better. Yes I'm reading the next book 
316 Pages

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
Was I super stressed about some of the time travel elements pulling a Back to the Future.....a little bit. 

There do be a train ride.
272 Pages
TS Song: Marjorie

Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

Having read Part of Your World, knowing things. 

So I'm here for the dog....Also for the ship... 

Is this Joe and Taylor...but gender-swapped....cough...

400 Pages
TS Song: Peace

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon
fkl;dsakfkldss;akdlasj
I just love the concept, and the like.... character chemistry. fj;dksa Love it. 
432 Pages
TS Song: there's some 22 vibes

Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

fjkdllsajkljafklsjkgl;djgklsda;hgkjd

My ships my ships my ships. My old ships. My new ships.

Also look at all my soft boys. 

560 Pages

For the Wolf (and it's a re-read) by Hannah Whitten 
My book boyfriend who smells like books and coffee and is self-sacrificing...I don't know what you're talking about.... I love him. 
480 Pages
TS Song: (makes an Out of the Woods joke)

For the Throne by Hannah Whitten 
The Snow White vibes
The more I think about this book, the more I love it... Like I just fjkldsa
kfd;sajklfsd
496 Pages

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman
So like...the characters had distinct voices, and the magic system was cool, but like...sigh.
Also I'm here for Kaleb
400 Pages

Darkest Minds

 Darkest Minds

By Alexandra Bracken

Pages: 488

"When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control."

I haven't read a sci-fi in a while and this one follows the dystopian hype that followed Hunger Games. I did enjoy the start to the series, but it did drag in pacing at the start. However, the twists and dialog made up for the pacing and the ending broke my heart. I fell in love with the characters that join Ruby and am intrigued to learn more about the political side plot that is starting.

Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King's Beloved Sister by Heather R. Darsie

Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King's Beloved Sister by Heather R. Darsie

Author Heather Darsie takes an in-depth look at the fourth wife of Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves. She examines Anne’s childhood and relationship with her family, life in the Cleves court, and the accomplishments of Anne’s siblings, particularly Wilhelm and Sibylle. Darsie delves into the political climate of the Continent and issues that would shape Cleves as well as Anne’s marriage, focusing especially on Anne’s brother-in-law, John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and his impact on Lutheranism.

304 pages.

Court of Frost and Starlight

 Court of Frost and Starlight

By Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 272

"Months after the explosive events in A Court of Wings and Ruin, Feyre, Rhys, and their companions are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming."

I enjoyed this little novella. It didn't have much plot impact but was a cute, wintery, Christmas-episode aesthetic story, and a nice way to wean off of the end of the series. It provided a bit of closure on the characters, while somewhat setting up the next trilogy, though it was not the best writing in comparison to the main books.

Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson

Me guessing what might happen to Michael. 
I'm not crying, you're crying. It's the allergies. It's the humidity on my face.
336 Pages

TS Song: August

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

 

In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Desperate for help, Beatriz clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.

Pages: 352

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

It's got like some Deadly Education and Hunger Games vibes.
Do I have a favorite character. Yes. Is it the one who thinks he's a monster and that he's the villain...Also yes.
And now I'm going to be stressed until August.  
400 Pages

TS Song: Bad Blood

A Million Junes by Emily Henry

Ok but all of the Eden and Genesis imagery. and the Adam and Eve and snakes and jfkdlsajjikl. I love it. 
Do I want to go through and find all of the references.yes.
It's the talking about writing for me.
They keep calling Jack "Junior" and my brain just jumps to Indiana Jones.
fjkdlsjjksgf;ajklfg
I'm not crying, you're crying.
400 Pages

TS Song: ...Love Story...but also Holy Ground, Fearless, and Clean. 
....a character said "Hey Stephen"....evil. 

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

Summary: "Savannah Cade is a low-level editor at Pennington Publishing, a prestigious publisher producing only the highest of highbrow titles. And while editing the latest edition of The Anthology of Medieval Didactic Poetry may be her day job, she has two secrets she’s hiding.

One: She’s writing a romance novel.

Two: She’s discovered the Book Nook—a secret room in the publishing house where she finds inspiration for her “lowbrow” hobby.

After leaving her manuscript behind one afternoon, she returns to the nook only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all."

Quite cute and sweet! 

309 pages

 goodreads | MOBIUS

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

It's the girl with the really colorful hair and all the bi vibes for me. 
I. don't. know. who. I'm. supposed. to. ship. 
Ok I know who to ship.
288 Pages

TS Song: I'm getting Cornelia Street vibes....False God but slightly less steamy

A Court of Wings and Ruin

 

A Court of Wings and Ruin

By Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 699

"Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places."

This series has now been added to the list of books I wish I could read again for the first time. It started a little slow but majorly improved to the point that the ending to this trilogy had me crying and re-reading the final few chapters. I definitely recommend this series and am excited to see what Mass has in store for the second trilogy following Feyre's sister.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

 

The dead don't talk. I don't know why. But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different.

A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil.

Pages: 446 

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years—except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story.

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more—except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala—and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Pages: 444

Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

 

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their dream home, the same home where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers and sisters just one year earlier.

the psychic phenomena that followed created the most terrifying experience the Lutz family had ever encountered, forcing them to flee the house in 28 days, convinced that it was possessed by evil spirits.

I have my feelings on whether this is based in truth, but overall it was a good, creepy haunted house story. 

Pages: 315

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

WHAT.
WHAT
I'm getting so many Nemo and Marlin vibes
I have so many feelings. Also we love Jack.
352 Pages

TS Song: my tears ricochet, (and a bit of All Too Well (10 minute version) (Taylor's Version))
could we also make jokes about Never Grow Up

Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone

Character says "This love"
Me thinking that this was a Phantom of the Opera retelling but it wasn't and it was better.... fdjsklfjklajlfkj. Like it's obviously not Beauty and the Beast, but I always see the connections...
The self-sacrifice, the angst, the suffering, the haunted outdoors...my jam.
Look at the ace and demi rep for me, and I'm reading it in June. 
Hey, Rowan, if you're reading this, I'm free on Thursdays.
416 Pages

TS Song: can we make an Out of the Woods joke...for some reason "So it Goes" is what went through my head, peace, cardigan

The Godborn and the King by Kaitlyn Davis

The character growth.
Also look at my babies all being adorable and smitten 
And we're talking about characters still being able to do things even though they're different. Great tea. 
I'm just...gonna be over here stanning for Rafe and Ana...like.....Chef's kiss...Perfection. Amazing. Would die for them. 
486 Pages

TS Song: invisible string

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

It's got some Cinderella vibes
*looks at cover and understands it now. 
I loved the writing style because it reminded me of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth and Darcy.
Kamran is the level of everything that I want. He's trying his best. 
The tropes are fantastic. 
Also I wish I knew more about Persian mythology so I could catch the nuances. 
Gets to the end of the book:

Like....I need something to hold me over...a date...a title...a cover...literally anything. 
528 Pages

TS Song: Enchanted

The New York Public Library Guide to Organizing a Home Library by Kathie Coblentz

I loved some of the humor, but also like...it wasn't ground-breaking. It was just a brief collection of other references, which is fine. 
128 Pages

TS Song: NA....cause it's nonfiction

Katmere Academy: An Insider's Guide by Tracy Wolff

The bonus chapters....gahhhhhh
The content. The random information. The official art. getting to know more about the Order
Y'all. The novella. fjldkfkldfdklls. The content I always want (Hudson content); he so rightfully angsty. He be an angsty teen, even though he's been alive for a while, cause he's a vampire.
301 Pages

TS Swift: (I wanna make a joke about State of Grace...cause Grace); Dancing With Our Hands Tied, The Outside, Haunted, The Very First Night

The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth-Century London by Catherine Ostler

The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth-Century London by Catherine Ostler

As maid of honor to Augusta, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Chudleigh enjoys a luxurious life. She is well-known to the public, and even served as the inspiration for Becky Sharp in William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair. 

A young Elizabeth elopes with Augustus Hervey, the heir to an earldom. Both would quickly regret the marriage and prefer to pretend it never took place. Many years later, Elizabeth would have a happy second marriage to a duke--but news of her first marriage began to spread, culminating in a sensational bigamy trial that captivated all of England, particularly since Elizabeth refused to surrender quietly. 

432 pages.

The Monarchs by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige

When one of the mother's names is Marjorie. (but no that is not going to be the Taylor song)
As I said before...can we just love the boys. 
I should have seen the twists. like....The characters that were introduced. I love how the world was expanded and everything. Also I just...loved the ending. Cause growth. 
448 Pages

TS: Afterglow