Planning on going on vacation with this family sometime in the next 2 months? This list of monthly recommendations, all of which are coming out this June, are some serious contenders for your book wishlist.
First things first, I like to include a few shout-outs about new releases that I haven’t had a chance to read yet in each book round-up, so I hope you’ll check those out along with the three books I had a chance to read this month. I try to make it through four books a month, but while working full-time and being in nursing school, I don’t have quite as much time to read as I did.
Next, I’m excited to announce that two of the authors from this month’s list will be doing Q&As here on the blog next month: Georgia Stone and Gloria Chao. Two authors I’m very glad to have had the chance to discover for the first time this month.
Keep reading to see the reviews and my ratings for this month’s must-read books.
New Release
Just Emilia | Jennifer Oko
The past, present, and future collide in a DC Metro elevator as three women get caught up in a gripping time-traveling tale of memory, emotion, and unspoken truths about their shared history. Synopsis: When Emilia Fletcher finds herself trapped inside a Washington, DC Metro elevator, getting out is the least of her problems. Sharing the confined space with her are Em, a troubled teenager plagued by suicidal thoughts, and Millie, an elderly woman yearning to mend ties with her estranged daughter. As the hours drag on, hunger, exhaustion, and panic set in, revealing an almost incomprehensible truth: they are the same person. Locked in an uncompromising match of memories, the three women excavate and attempt to reckon with the shared shame and suffering stemming from an unresolved trauma that has cast a profound shadow over their lives. Brimming with biting humor, compassion, and quick-witted insight, JUST EMILIA is remarkable journey of self-discovery. Releases June 10th.
The Friendship Fling | Georgia Stone
Sometimes you just need a good romantic novel, and Georgia Stone’s latest delivers just that. When Ava Monroe, a barista in a busy London coffee shop meets Finn O’Callaghan for the first time, she has no idea what she’s in for when she agrees to help him complete his London bucket list. His contract job only lasts a few months, and Ava who keeps herself closed off to the rest of the world with the exception of her best friend Josie (who tells her she needs to get out and enjoy life more) finds herself opening up bit by bit to Finn.
The book goes back and forth between Ava’s and Finn’s POV, giving us all an inside look into the very moment when they go from being just a ‘friendship fling’ to something deeper… if they can both just manage to get out of their own heads.
Rating: A
“The Friendship Fling is fun, feisty, and sexy—I really loved it! The characters have such brilliant chemistry, and it’s the perfect escapist novel to curl up with.”—Emily Stone, bestselling author of Always, in December and A Winter Wish
In this delightfully charming and heartfelt debut love story, two lonely and wildly different strangers embark on a short-term friendship over one London summer—only to discover they may be something more by the time the season ends.
No one would ever call Ava Monroe a people person, which isn’t ideal for a barista in a busy London coffee shop. She’s sarcastic, blunt, and cynical, and her relationships are strictly no strings attached. With her best friend Josie soon leaving for a year, Ava knows she’ll be all alone unless she shakes up her routine. But she can’t risk bringing chance back into her carefully controlled life.
Then insufferably cheerful, country-hopping, undeniably gorgeous Finn O’Callaghan rolls into her coffee shop with a horrifying proposal —a strictly friends-only summer fling. Finn needs a local to help him complete his London bucket list, and Ava needs to reassure Josie she won’t be on her own. And it’s only for a few months.
To Ava’s surprise, their mismatched friendship of convenience becomes oddly tolerable, and as they work their way through Finn’s list and around the sun-drenched city, from rooftops and floating bars to nights at the museum, their adventures—and Finn’s company—start to feel . . . nice. Incredibly, terrifyingly, dangerously nice.
Still, rules are rules—Ava has good reasons for them—and as the days get shorter, Finn’s departure gets closer. Because that’s the thing about summer: it always ends. Right?
An Heiress’s Guide to Death and Diamonds | Kristen Bird
Kristen Bird has done it again, with her latest novel in the Dakota Green series. Since we last left Dakota, she’d just won the annual beauty pageant, developed feelings for the sheriff investigating the death of Mr. Finch, the previous owner of the Rose Palace, and had decided to go back to veterinary school.
In An Heiress’s Guide to Death and Diamonds, Dakota returns to the Rose Palace for her high school reunion, and for the reading of Mr. Finch’s will. (You’ll have to read the book to find out why she’s going to will reading!) When another murder occurs, Dakota finds herself searching for answers once again.
This book is another must-read, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out!
Rating: A+
When Dakota Green returns home for her high school reunion, she expects awkward small talk and warm beer – not a dead body on the dance floor. But at the historic Rose Palace, old flames and fresh murders are always in fashion.
In Dakota’s small-town of Aubergine, Virginia, family fortunes hide deadly secrets and diamonds aren’t always a girl’s best friend.
Still adjusting to veterinary school, a long-distance relationship with the town’s handsome sheriff, and the bombshell revelation of her true parentage, Dakota’s hoping for a drama-free weekend. But when former classmate and reality TV star Brett Brinkley drops dead at the Class of 2015’s reunion party, all eyes turn to Dakota’s childhood best friend as the prime suspect.
Now Dakota must race against time to catch a killer, uncover the truth about a missing diamond, untangle a web of secrets and somehow decide whether to accept an unexpected inheritance – all before midnight strikes. Between a fake séance, a blackmail scheme, and more suspects than she can count, Dakota’s about to learn that some family jewels come at a deadly price.
Sharp-witted and charming, An Heiress’s Guide to Death and Diamonds is a delightful small-town mystery packed with twists. If you love the humor of Janet Evanovich and Elle Cosimano, it’s time to get hooked on the Dakota Green mystery series.
The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club | Gloria Chao
Fans of the Finlay Donovan series are going to want to check out The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club, the first of the ‘Hu Done It Mysteries’. Centering around Kathryn Hu, this hu-done-it, it’s a book you’ll want to add to your summer reading list. The perfect beach or poolside read, despite being a mystery (like the aforementioned Finlay Donovan series), this book involves a murder but manages to keep it lighthearted.
When Kathryn sees a note on the door to her boyfriend Tucker’s apartment, she opens it to see rose petals leading all the way to the bedroom, believing a proposal might be coming, she goes to the master bathroom to clean up, only to hear what she believes is her boyfriend rehearsing his proposal. Imagine her surprise when she pops out to say yes, and finds he is proposing to someone else.
After she leaves the apartment, Olivia reaches out and they decide to go on the weekend vacation that Kathryn was planning to take Tucker on… only to find out he has yet another girlfriend. Together, the three women plot revenge, only to find out that someone has beaten them to the punch… and taken it one step further.
Rating: A+
In this laugh-out-loud murder mystery, three women dating the same man band together to get revenge, but when they discover his body, they’ll need to solve his murder before they go down for it.
The body in the closet was going to be a problem. Kathryn Hu knew it. Yes, Tucker Jones was a cheating scumbag, and yes, she’d agreed to meet Olivia and Elle—Tucker’s other girlfriends—to exact revenge for all he’d put them through… But then they found him. Dead.
Do they look guilty? Yes.
Do they feel guilty for having wished him dead just hours before? Maybe a little.
But—solid motive and a crime scene covered in their DNA aside—they’re innocent. They swear.
To clear their names, Kat, Olivia, and Elle team up to find the real killer. But as they go undercover and lie to everyone, including the hot detective working the case, they realize that every person in their ex’s life had a reason to want him dead. Will they uncover the truth before they go down for a murder they didn’t commit?
Filled with humor and shenanigans, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is a romp of an adventure by award-winning author Gloria Chao, perfect for fans of Dial A for Aunties, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and John Tucker Must Die.
New Release
Bat Eater and other names for cora zeng | kylie Lee Baker
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.
Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.
So the bloody messes don’t really bother Cora—she’s more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what’s real and what’s in her head.
She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can’t ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.
As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.
Books
May Recommendations
