This was a weird reading month (again). I feel like I did “worse” than last month. I had a lofty goal of reading a bunch of my physical books for Pride Month, but then fell off the wagon, so to speak. Between travelling, work distractions, gardening, and not really jiving with most of my reads, I kind of felt like I was in a little slump. But I still finished a few books, so I have a bit of a June 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up for everyone. As usual, feel free to jump around to the various sections that interest you.

Book Reviews

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

• This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage
• Tilt by Emma Pattee
• This Book Made Me Think Of You by Libby Page

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 evening of June 29):

1. June 2026 Book Releases: 855 views
2. Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 507 views
3. STEMinist Romance Books: 476 views
4. Dungeons and Dragons Romance Books: 207 views
5. Book Review: To Bleed A Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker: 131 views

My views this month were down. By the end of today I expect to have around 6,200 views this month, which is about 500 below average. So it’s not too much off the mark, but visitation was down for the last three weeks. I don’t know if it’s because I posted less, or because Google’s new AI update to their Core has fully kicked in, or if people are out and about now that summer is here. I did have 300+ hits from “ghost spam” and something viewing my Harper Collins archives on here for whatever reason. So, I don’t know…weird stuff.

I think I’m up one follower to 273. Welcome!

#BeattheBacklog

I finished three books that I had on my TBR prior to 2026. Those books are TILT by Emma Pattee, LETTER TO MY TRANSGENDER DAUGHTER by Carolyn Hays, and THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED by John Green.

Other Bookish Items

I read five books in June:

• TILT by Emma Pattee
• THIS BOOK MADE ME THING OF YOU by Libby Page
• LETTER TO MY TRANSGENDER DAUGHTER by Carolyn Hays
• THE EVOLUTION OF A GIRL by L.E. Bowman (poetry)
• THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED by John Green (audiobook)

This was…a weird reading month for me. There were a lot of days I didn’t read anything. Most of those days were because I was in Orlando having fun with friends and visiting theme parks; those were long days and I didn’t ready at all because I was so tired. And then I just couldn’t concentrate the first half of last week because I had an important briefing to do and I was stressing about it. While I wish I’d read more from my Pride Month TBR, I wouldn’t trade it for the actual in-person experiences I had this month.

I’m working on a few books right now: THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE by Matt Cain (audiobook–so close to finishing it, but I had to return it), A MARVELLOUS LIGHT by Freya Marske, and EMPIRE OF STORMS by SJM.

Other Media Wrap-Up

PRESSURE: We saw this WWII era film around D-Day, which is the timing that this movie focuses on. Brendan Fraser played President Eisenhower. It’s basically about how the Allies had better meteorologists than the Germans, which prevent D-Day from being an all out disaster. The movie focuses on the story of the meteorologist and his team working through the data and convincing Eisenhower to wait. D-Day was supposed to be on June 5, but a series of storms pushed the operation back. I was thankful the movie didn’t focus so much on the death and gore. I would’ve liked a little more science, but to appeal to a broader audience, I can understand why they didn’t do that.

ONE PIECE, SEASON 2: We finally finished all available episodes of the live action adaptation of ONE PIECE. It took me a long time to get into, mainly because I don’t care for sea stories. But the stakes got higher in S2, so I became more interested in it.

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO: I bought a few Studio Ghibli movies last Christmas and we finally got around to watching this one. I’d already seen it, but remembered basically nothing about it. It was more simple than I remember, but still a good movie.

Non-Bookish Items

Travel

This month we took a short vacation to Orlando, Florida to visit some friends and also go to some theme parks. I’d never been to any Disney World parks, so that was a focus this time. We chose to go to Hollywood Studios, which houses Star Wars’ Galaxy’s Edge, and Magic Kingdom, which has a lot of the classic Disney movie rides. Conveniently for us, Disney has a ticket option that is slightly cheaper if you decide you want to enter after 2 pm. That worked for us, which still allowed us 8 hours in each park to explore.

I have some mixed feelings about Galaxy’s Edge. I love that there’s a Star Wars-related theme park, but I feel like Disney missed out on capturing visitors with an emotional or nostalgic connection. While the rides (which are fun) are related to established shows, albeit the newer things, the area itself basically has no significance. It just looks like a no-name back alley somewhere on Mos Eisley, but it isn’t Mos Eisley. I didn’t really feel like I was part of something I grew up with. Even the merch was uninspiring (to me, anyway). The cantina was cool, though, and we enjoyed some beers there.

We also went to the new Universal theme park, Epic Universe. Universal does a fantastic job immersing visitors into various worlds. There’s a “portal” to How To Train Your Dragon, Nintendo world, more Harry Potter, and to an area focused on villains. I’m always impressed by Universal’s attention to detail. They really know how to capitalize on the nostalgia, which I felt was missing from Galaxy’s Edge. Universal also has better food and drink options than Disney, in my opinion. All in all, though, we had a fun time at all parks, even though it was over 90 degrees.

Garden

I’ve picked and dried enough chamomile flowers to fill an 8-ounce jar, woo! The squash bugs are out in full force and seem to lay oodles of eggs every day on my squash plants’ leaves. So far I thwarted one vine borer offspring. They keep coming for my pumpkin plant and I’ll easily find a dozen of their eggs to squish. While we were away, our tomato plants seemed to double in size. I was so shocked!

We’ve also noticed spotted lanternfly nymphs on our rose bushes, which we’re pretty sure explains why the bushes look like crap this year. The leaves look like they’ve had their juice sucked out and are spotted brown, We thought it was a fungus at first, but nope, we think it’s that invasive bug. They’re going to be bad this year, I think. 🙁

Personal

My husband and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary this month. It fell on a weekday, so we celebrated on a Friday evening instead. We wanted to try the new-ish Izakaya place nearby, but didn’t realize reservations are key. So instead we went to Founding Farmers, a favorite date spot of ours. They’re a farm-to-table style restaurant with great food and great cocktails. I rarely drink these days, but indulged in a spicy paloma and a glass of wine.