Everything I Read in June 2020

Hello, sweet friends! Happy Monday to you 🙂 This weekend, I had my first “relaxed” Sunday in over 6 months. I spent a large portion of the day redecorating pieces of my apartment, shooting a living room tour, engaging with you all on social media and reading my July #LotsOfBooksClub pick: The Vanishing Half. I hadn’t felt that grateful to just “be” and spend my day completely how I wanted in a really long time. Now that I’m down to only one grad class, my weekends have started opening back up to be spent however I desire.

One thing I have been able to do more is read and create content. Both of which resulted in me starting #LotsOfBooksClub and digging deeper into my to be read list. I am so happy that June was a full reading month across genres and authors. I loved one author so much that I pre-ordered her second book before finishing the first. On the contrary, I had my first did/do not finish book in a long time. Let’s jump in!

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Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Rating 5/5 | Audiobook

Description: Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?

Enjoy a drunken night out. Ride a motorcycle. Go camping. Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex. Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage. And… do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.

But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

My review: Friends, I LOVED this book so dang much! Chloe was so funny and whitty and lovable. I loved her job, I loved the character development of her family and I loved the ending. This book definitely warmed my heart and sparked my interest for more romcoms in the future. I actually just ordered the next book in The Brown Sisters series and *hint hint*: it might just be our #LotsOfBooksClub pick for August!

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Catherine House
Rating 3.5/5 | Audiobook

Description: Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal-arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire.

Among this year’s incoming class is Ines Murillo, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline—only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. Even the school’s enigmatic director, Viktória, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves within the formidable iron gates of Catherine. For Ines, it is the closest thing to a home she’s ever had. But the House’s strange protocols soon make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when tragedy strikes, Ines begins to suspect that the school—in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence—might be hiding a dangerous agenda within the secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.

Review: Okay, I wanted to love this book so bad but I just…didn’t? I felt like the beginning was far too drawn out and like there was never a true “ah ha” moment when everything clicked. The ending, like the last minute or two, was the probably the most exciting part of the book. Because of so, I would definitely read a sequel just to see what happened to Ines.

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Clap When You Land
DNF | Audiobook

Description: Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Review: This was another book that I wanted to like but didn’t. However, everyone I have talked to said that reading a physical copy is 1000% better than listening. So, I plan on borrowing a copy from a friend or the library in the near future. This author is a true poet and her writing style will be a breathe of fresh air compared to most books you’ve read. The storyline was believable and even though I didn’t finish it, I would be interested in knowing how the story ended even though I would prefer to skip over the entire middle.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Rating 5/5  | Hardcover

Description: Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Review: Honestly friends, I think I am still on a book hangover from this one! I LOVED this book so much and am still thinking about it weeks after and wondering what happened next for Monique. Because majority of the books I read are considered “new age”, it was interesting to read this book based in the 1950s coming into the 2000s. This book gave me the chance to see how marriage, gay rights and Hollywood looked all those years ago. I would highly recommend!

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An Anonymous Girl
Rating 4/5 | Audiobook

Description: Seeking women ages 18-32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave.

Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?

But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding.

Question #2: Have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?

As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

Question #3: Should a punishment always fit the crime?

Review: As this is my third book by this author duo, you can probably say that I am a fan! This book took me completely out of my day to day life and trapped me in this web of lies and double lives. I love how this book was told from several points of view and how the characters and their problems seemed so real and relevant. I also finished You Are Not Alone & The Wife Between Us during quarantine – loved them both!

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Well friends, that’s all for today! In July, I’m hoping to finish 5 books again! This is the perfect pace for me and allows me to actually make a dent in my #tbrpile! What did you read in June? I would love to know in the comments! -xo, Azanique <3