My June 2025 Reads – A Book Review

Image by Long Phung from Pixabay

June, June, June was baseball, baseball, baseball for me. With a little bit of my husband’s book launch and my trip with the girls to New Orleans sprinkled in! Let’s recap.

First thing’s first: Baseball. When I say these baseball tournaments were hot? And I mean HOT, I ain’t lyin’! My son got into baseball all-stars for the summer, and every practice was hot, every game day was long, and most importantly, hot. Luckily, the baseball moms shared their canopy tents, and I didn’t have to bake too much. But it was a journey. Packing snacks, sandwiches, water, drinks. Making sure I had my neck fan, my son’s wet towel to cool him off, my sunscreen. That heat was no joke. Will I do it again next summer? Ask me again next year after the amnesia has had time to set in.

My husband’s new book, Encounter at Owl Rock, is in stores now! Check it out! His book tour took him to Atlanta, Cali and NY. I was able to attend the ATL book reading, and it was amazing! Check out this cute independent bookstore in Atlanta.

Also, this past month, I visited New Orleans for the very first time with my sister and my girl, Samantha. Seeing Bourbon Street for the first time was one of the best parts. There were so many people and so many lights. It was definitely something to see! Below is us at the Cat’s Meow, where my sister did a badass rendition of 4 Non-Blondes’ What’s Up? Everyone in the bar sang along! It was a good time!

We also took a cruise on the Mississippi River and had brunch. We visited the famous Cafe Du Monde and had some delicious beignets. We visited Sazerac House to partake in their free cocktail samples and learn some New Orleans history. We went on a Ghost Adventures Tour, and my Fitbit informed me that I walked close to 20,000 steps that night. Insane! We wrapped up our final night at Sun Chong, digging into some Asian food while listening to some Hip-Hop and R&B. It was a vibe. We drank in the streets, we laughed our heads off and can’t wait to plan our next girls’ trip, only this time, we’ll need our other girl Jaime to join us!

Now I know you all are wondering, when did I find the time to write and read? The truth? I have no fuckin’ clue. But somehow I managed to read 8 books, and I wrote two additional chapters. I’m kinda stuck on Ch. 33, trying to work out the nuances of this particularly emotional scene. I’ll get the kinks out though. Eventually. 😉

As always, if you’re interested in reading my first novel, The Secrets We Keep, it’s available to read here. This book has cheating themes and plenty of spice for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Without further adieu, check out my reviews of the books I read in June.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

I listened to this on Libby. It was such a tragic story, and I really did feel moved at the end. There were so many things that the main character, Elsa, was afraid of all her life. You just go with her on this journey. The difficult relationship between her and her daughter, Loreda, is complicated by Loreda’s blaming her mother for her father, Rafe, leaving. By the way, we do not like Rafe. His leaving his family without so much as a goodbye, during such a difficult time (The Great Depression), even though Elsa was always there for him, was truly despicable.

Reading this as a black person was hard because we’re asked to sympathize with the poor white person, but when they mentioned the word negro, I think once or twice, it was something to the effect of, ‘we have job openings, but not for the negro or the Mexican’. Segregation and discrimination at the time were still very much a thing, and if it was hard for poor white people, just imagine how much harder it was for Blacks or any other minority during that time. It wasn’t easy letting my mind go there.

Many people died. Babies died due to malnutrition. There was no food, and they felt weak, worked their fingers to the bone. Everything just piled up on top of the other, with the dust bowl, not being able to breathe the air outside, having dust pneumonia, not having money, not having benefits, getting taken advantage of by the rich people who owned the farms. The rich people paid them less and less, and threatened violence if they stepped out of line.

Such a sad story from beginning to end, but Elsa does find love, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel for some characters. I’m glad that her in-laws ultimately became her family. That was really nice to see. Overall, very well done.

4.25/5 stars

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

I listened to this on Audible. This one was kind of boring to me. I didn’t feel the love of the modern-day characters, Georgia and Noah. Like them falling in love, and then her punishing him for lying about a deal with the book? I found myself really not caring about Georgia or Noah at all, and not believing that the guy fell first.

I don’t get why people liked this book. It was very vanilla to me. And the couple from WWII era, Scarlett and the pilot, their love was intense, but it was almost too perfect. It was like everything was great from when they first met, to when they got together, to them getting married, to them having a kid. Everything was just ‘this is what you do when you fall in love by the book‘. The little obstacles the author placed in their way were barely an inconvenience and easily overcome.

There was nothing particularly exciting about their (WWII couple) love, but I did feel it. But even the reveal at the end, which I won’t spoil here, was just okay. Shrug.

It took me a while to get through. I just wanted to get to the end already.

2/5 stars

Pocketful of Blame (Book One) by Chloe Walsh

I listened to this on Audible as well. It kept my attention and made me wanna keep reading. It had a little bit of dark romance sprinkled in there, and a little bit of a bully trope. I was surprised that the sexy scene happened as early as chapter 6. He, Sketch, was so cruel to her, kept calling her killer, even when he was all up on her. At that point in the story, we didn’t fully know their past, so yeah, it was surprising.

She, Romi, thinks he broke up with her because he got bored and wanted to date other people, but it’s so much more.

I’m interested to find out what really happened to Chris because it sounds crazy. And the parents lived lives of debauchery and simply did not care about their kids.

I felt for the two main characters. It was a very short story, I think 200 or so pages. I finished this in two days. I will complete the series. Can’t help it. I’m intrigued.

4/5 stars

Pocketful of Shame (Book Two) by Chloe Walsh

Also listened to this on Audible. I enjoyed watching Sketch warm up to Romi. A lot of shocking relationship stuff is revealed, and I don’t want to spoil it here, but wow! Also, Sketch was burned as a baby? What?

Another cliffhanger. Spice by the book. Nothing earth-shattering or out of the ordinary. Will I continue? Yep. Things changed between the two leads when the bad guys found them in that diner, and Sketch protected Romi during the gunfire. Who are these goons? A simple story I finished in one day.

4/5 stars

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

I read the hard copy from the library. Page 402: “Then we take turns sharing our stories.” That’s a direct quote that irritated me. A cop out!

This book is frustrating. Even with the twist, which I didn’t see coming, I feel like it’s not worth the read just to get to that part. Were Hayden and Alice living and breathing characters? Mostly. But having to wade through a ton of pages to get to the best part, the last 50 pages? No.

It had a happy ending. Thankfully. And even had some drama in there. But the ending felt rushed. Like ‘gee, I’d better wrap this up.’

This was not a favorite of mine. I’ve read all her recent books now, and if I had to rank this one, I’d say this is my 3rd favorite, behind Funny Story and The People You Meet on Vacation. You can see my past reviews of her other books here, here, here, here, and here.

This one was tough because I didn’t understand why we had to learn about Margaret’s grandparents and parents (though I didn’t mind her parents’ story, the reluctant movie producer and female director ahead of her time.) All to get to the lies Margaret was keeping from Alice, which I won’t spoil here. And what was the point of Laura (Margaret’s sister) being in a cult? So much of it was told and not shown. Which I can’t stand. And all that buildup to the sex scene, and then the sex was lackluster?

It was boring. We’d get somewhere, and then we’d have to rewind to Margaret’s story. Frustrating.

3/5 stars

Pocketful of You (Book Three) by Chloe Walsh

I listened to this on Audible. This was probably the weakest one. They created a lackluster villain in Romi’s father. The Italian guy with the accent was intriguing. Don’t know what his deal is yet. But every chapter of Preston’s was filled with bad writing. He is such a caricature of a character. Everything is sexual to him. But the new characters, like Preston’s uncle or something, I’m interested to find out his deal. This was a quick one that I wish were better written.

2.5/5 stars

Pocketful of Us (Book Four) by Chloe Walsh

Listened on Audible. A respectable conclusion to the series. A lot of murder happened at the end. Some sad, some justified. Sketch was like an unpredictable, emotional guard dog, especially when the goons were being rough with Romi. They’re young, like 17 or 18. And they made some stupid decisions and volunteered information that only ended up hurting them in the end, which I guess is realistic.

We didn’t get to see anyone mourn all that death and see how it all affected them. And Preston never grieved Chris’s death. He just went on cracking lame jokes. Not perfect, but you gotta see how it ends. One death is particularly tragic and sad. Overall, entertaining.

4/5 stars

Treacherous (Carter Kids – Book One) by Chloe Walsh

Listened on Audible. This is a series I won’t be continuing. This was either the first or one of the first books Chloe Walsh wrote, and it shows. The ending was all over the place, talking about characters I barely knew, so I had no idea what was going on. After the two main characters have sex for the first time, she lies about it being her first time, even though her thighs were covered in blood. Seriously? They were so immature. They were 17, so I guess immaturity was expected. But still.

I didn’t really like either of the leads. They both got on my nerves. Noah called her a bitch several times. Then kept saying you’re the thorn in my side. That phrase was overused.

The voice actor for Teagan, whenever she spoke Teagan’s lines, she made her sound like a whiny baby. This would probably be better read than listened to, unfortunately. But still, there are so many other books out there to read. You can skip this one.

1.5/5

Thank you for reading!