June was a much-needed month of a low-key blog hiatus. I still lurked on the blogosphere, but I didn’t post as frequently, the results of which are evident in my monthly statistics. Despite that I have plenty to share to fill up a June 2025 Book Blog Wrap-Up. So hop aboard and check out what I was up to (or you missed) earlier this month in my June 2025 Book Blog Wrap-Up.

Book Reviews

I posted three book reviews in June. From earliest to latest they are:

• Cloud Warriors by Thomas E. Weber
• The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
• The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten

Blog Statistics

Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.

My top five posts for total page views are (as of the morning of June 30):

1. 2024 Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag: 691 views
2. Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 468 views
3. Book Review: Gild by Raven Kennedy: 303 views
4. Book Review: Gleam by Raven Kennedy: 215 views
5. Book Review: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Maehrer: 170 views
6. STEMinist Romance Books: 170 views

I didn’t break 6,000 views this month. So I’m definitely down views, partially because I haven’t posted as much and partially because Google SEO is still kicking my blog to the curb. But I think at the moment it’s mostly the former. Sometimes you just need to take a break, y’know? But SEO treated my mid-year freakout book tag post from 2024 well! I gained one new follower and now sit at 254.

#BeattheBacklog

I finished one book that was on my TBR prior to 2025: THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach. I also put THE NIGHTSHADE GOD by Hannah Whitten on my TBR last year. But I can’t really count that because it doesn’t come out until late July 2025.

Other Bookish Items

I finished eight books in June:

• THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH by Rachel Gillig
• A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES by T. Kingfisher (audiobook)
• THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach
• THE QUIET DAMAGE by Jesselyn Cook (audiobook)
• ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET by Judy Blume (audiobook)
• THE NIGHTSHADE GOD by Hannah Whitten (ARC)
• THE MILLICENT QUIBB SCHOOL OF ETIQUETTE FOR YOUNG LADIES OF MAD SCIENCE by Kate McKinnon (audiobook)
• EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD EXCEPT ME by Django Wexler (ARC)

There’s a chance I might also finish TUSK LOVE by Thea Guanzon. I gulped down half of the book yesterday.

I DNF one book, MONTICELLO by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. The writing style and I just did not click. I read half of it before I decided to move on. I felt kind of guilty about DNF it because I wanted to like this BIPOC book, but it just didn’t work out for me.

Finally, I posted my Anticipated Third Quarter Book Releases in 2025 list. There’s some good stuff in here, so check out that labor of love!

Other Media Wrap-Up

WILL AND HARPER: I finally finished this documentary on Netflix. It’s about Will Ferrell taking a road trip with his good friend Harper, who relatively recently decided to be her true self as a transwoman. They have some heart-to-heart conversations along the way. I thought it was a nice tribute to Harper and all the emotions that come with this change of status in life.

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS: Okay, I wasn’t initially going to watch this. I’m not into Kpop. But I saw a clip shared on bookstagram and the graphics kind of hooked me. The storyline is nothing complicated, but it was fun nonetheless. It’s about a trio of female kpop stars who have to renew the barrier that keeps demons out of the human realm.

Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor: We went into this not expecting much, maybe a few laughs and a stuffy prize. But it was really good and we laughed a lot watching this tribute to Conan before he got his Mark Twain prize. It’s available on Netflix.

BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY: This is a Netflix documentary on Reading Rainbow. It was so good. I cried at the end, perhaps a bit from nostalgia and also from seeing how much the production team actually cared about the show. While I don’t remember much about the books themselves, I do remember LeVar and his kind enthusiasm on the show.

REMEMBERING GENE WILDER: This is another Netflix documentary. (Honestly, there are some good ones on the platform!) I didn’t know a ton about Wilder, but this was a thoughtful look at his life in about 1.5 hours. Whew, did I cry at the end of it when his wife recounted his death. Wilder seemed like such a unique man–what a cinema gem.

Non-Bookish Items

Whew, this month had quite a heatwave in Virginia (and much of the U.S.). Weather like this makes me thankful I don’t work in the outdoors very often. Most of our garden plants were established enough to weather the heat fairly well. But I had to water some of the much smaller plants, a couple of which didn’t make it because they were so tiny. They were eggplants, but at this point I might just replace them with tomatoes (which I need to start). The vine borers have finally found our summer squash plants, so they and I are at war for the foreseeable future.

We went to our local public (for a small fee) garden a couple of weeks ago, too. I really wanted to make sure we caught their lily display. Thankfully, we did. There were some that hadn’t quite started blooming yet while others were on their way to peak bloom. It was lovely.

And that’s it for my June 2025 Book Blog Wrap-Up! Feel free to link yours in a comment below.