When I make TBR lists I tend to treat them as a list of “hopeful reads.” I’m easily swayed from a TBR list I create for myself, usually because of mood reading or the arrival of a library hold. However, this time I want to stick to my June 2023 TBR list. I don’t know if I’ll be able to read all of these books. But I want to stay as close to this June 2023 TBR list as possible for several reasons.

The first is to read the first book of a series or two to decide whether I want to purchase the inevitable special edition of their sequels. Second, I want to focus more on my own physical backlog, which was one of my bookish goals this year. And third, August is an ARC-heavy month and I need to start prioritizing because July will be incredibly busy for me.

With all that in mind, here is my June 2023 TBR list. It seems I gave myself a lot of chonkers for this month. The book titles link to either Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Priority Reads

A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES by Sarah J. Maas: This is the last of the ACOTAR books that Chris and I are buddy reading together. I was the brake on this one as we were supposed to finish in May. But non-bookish life was a bit busy last month, so we pushed it to June.

HILD by Nicola Griffith: I joined a small group buddy read of this on bookstagram. It has been on my Goodreads TBR for quite a while. So it will be nice to finally read it. I’m looking forward to it because it’s set during 7th century Britain. I’ve always had a soft spot for the medieval era with respect to historical fiction.

HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL COVEN by Juno Dawson: I received this in one of my book subscriptions last year, I believe. The sequel comes out near the end of June, so I’d like to know if I like it enough to potentially order a presumed special edition of it.

NORTH QUEEN by Nicola Tyche: This is an ARC I acquired on NetGalley during an incident in which my finger slipped and hit the request button. I ignored the page length because the early reviews seemed pretty positive. Plus it’s a fantasy romance and I love those.

Hopeful Reads

ORCHID CHILD by Victoria Costello: This is another ARC. I opted not to request it on NetGalley earlier because I was trying to be good. Instead I included it in my anticipated second quarter reads list. However, the author contacted me separately and offered to send me an ARC. I accepted with the caveat that I wasn’t sure I could read and review it by the publication date. But that I would love to read and review it nonetheless.

FORGED BY BLOOD by Ehigbor Okosun: Yet another ARC. I want to read this sooner rather than later since I believe it will be in one of my book subscriptions. I’ve read a couple of ARCs this year that ended up having a SE. Sometimes it’s nice to know beforehand whether to skip a month or not given space is at a premium these days.

BRITTLE by Beth Overmyer: Admittedly the cover 100% drew me in followed by the shorter page length (288). The publisher categorized this book on NetGalley as New Adult fantasy and the blurb promises fae and folklore. So count me in. This hits stores in August, but due to its length I might be able to squeeze it in as a faster read.

HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD by Sarah J. Maas: I really wanted to read this in June, but since I had to push ACOSF to June, I doubt I’ll get to it. So this is solidly in my hopeful bucket. But I do want to read both books by the end of the year since the third one comes out in early 2024.

What’s on your June 2023 TBR?