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Ashley’s June 2025 Book Haul and Reading Wrap Up

07.29.2025 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

June is always chaotic when it comes to my professional life.  This one felt extra chaotic, but I’m really glad that I was able to make it through relatively unscathed.  You’ll find my June haul and reviews below the cut.

Books I hauled in June:

  • The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Books I read in June:

1. Beast by Richard Van Camp

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was really interesting.  The horror aspects were really compelling to me.  I found it well-written.  I also enjoyed the layering of Indigenous culture throughout the story.  It’s a great read.

2. One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: I’m glad I finally finished this mystery trilogy.  It wasn’t my favourite in the series.  The mystery was interesting though, and it made me want to keep reading the story.  It was well done, and well written.

3. I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was so good!! I love when Kelley Armstrong writes horror.  The storyline was interesting, but also emotionally devastating.  The narration and elements of horror was so great.  I definitely recommend this.

4. Wait for Me by Sara Shepard

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.  I had fun trying to figure out what this book was all about.  It was interesting that it combined mystery with some elements of fantastical (the past lives stuff).  It was interesting, but I didn’t love the depiction of mental health.

5. Wicked Sexy by JT Geissinger

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: This was an interesting enough read.  The storyline was compelling, but the pacing felt kind of off.  I also didn’t totally love the main characters, but it was fun enough to read.

6. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was an intriguing story.  I liked the development of the characters throughout the book and getting different perspectives to help put the whole story together.  The isolated setting made for added tension, and I was kept guessing throughout the story.  It was very well-done.

7. 30 Days of Night, Volume 1 by Steve Niles

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: The art style was really unique, and not really what I expected.  It was bloody and scary, but I had a fun time reading it.

8. The Red Pyramid (Graphic Novel) by Orpheus Collar

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: This was well-adapted.  The art style was interesting.  I enjoyed revisiting the story.

9. Pride or Die by CL Montblanc

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was a cute mystery.  It had some fun quirky vibes to it, and I liked how queer friendly it was.  I was interested in the overall mystery, but it wasn’t the most compelling mystery ever.  It had some really great messaging.

10. The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was a fun graphic novel.  I really liked the world that was developed and how it mashed elements of the past and present together.  I liked the storyline.  It had some really good emotional beats to it as well.  I loved the two main characters.  It’s very girl power.

11. Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was a fun play in the world of Romeo and Juliet.  I liked Rosaline as a main character, and I also liked the exploration of toxic masculinity and predatory men.  It was a fun, unique twist on the familiar story.

12. Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was a really compelling storyline for me.  It was well-written, and I really enjoyed how it played with the story of Macbeth and put a fresh twist on it.  It was really compelling.  I had a good time reading it.

13. The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: The characters are pretty interesting, but it’s not my favourite.  I enjoyed it, had fun, but I’m glad I finished it.

14. The Creeping Hand Murders by Maureen Johnson

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: I love Maureen Johnson’s quirky writing style.  This was a fun read, and I really liked seeing all the clues and the suspects.  I definitely had no idea who did it, but I had fun guessing and weighing all my options.

15. Where Nightmares Live by MrBallen

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.  I like the spooky stories but I hate that so much of it cut out of the eARC.  It just detracts from the overall effect in my opinion.  The art was definitely great though.  It’s well-designed.

16. Karmopolis, Volume 1 by Nick Bertozzi

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.  The art in this graphic novel was quite good.  I liked the design of the world and the characters.  The storyline was intriguing enough, but not my favourite.  The world felt really unique and interesting to me.

17. Vattu: The Name and the Mark by Evan Dahm

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC. This was such an interesting story.  The art was beautiful and the style of it had a really unique feel to it that I enjoyed.  The storyline was also fairly compelling.  I would read more in this world.

18. Those Who Wait by Haley Cass

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: This was well-written and interesting.  I really liked the two FMCs and their dynamic together.  The scene where they meet in person at the beginning of the story was just so good!! However, there were parts that dragged and it felt a bit overly long, which is unfortunate.  Ultimately, I had fun though, so I definitely still recommend it.

19. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Review: This was a re-read for me for the first time since high school, and I’m really glad that I did.  It’s interesting to read from the German perspective as a Canadian.  It’s a compelling read.

20. Bad Tourists by Caro Carver

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: Physical Copy

Review: This was a fascinating read.  The characters were compelling and well-written.  I also liked the inciting incident, and how that connected the characters together.  It definitely kept me guessing about what happened and who I could trust.  It was fun and twisty.

21. Forever and a Day by Haley Cass

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: This was cute, and I liked seeing where the characters ended up as a sort of extended happily ever after.  The snippets were cute, but on the whole it felt fan servicey, which is not inherently bad, but it just didn’t feel as well written as the original book.

22. Unhinged by Vera Valentine

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: This was an interesting but slightly disturbing read that ended up being an extra credit read for my book club.  The back story of how the door came to be sentient was surprisingly good.  However, on the whole, I found the concept of a sentient object romance a little bit unsettling.

23. Ionheart by Lukas Kummer

Rating: 4 Stars

Format: eBook

Review: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.  This was a really interesting story.  The timeline was non-linear, which I did find to be occasionally confusing.  I felt interesting and compelled by the science fiction elements though.  It had a good character arc, and asked some interesting questions.  The art was great.

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Filed Under: Ashley, Book Hauls, Wrap Ups Tagged: advanced readers copy, anticipated releases, book, book haul, book review, books, fiction, mystery, opinion, Personal, rating, reader, reading, review, Reviews, thoughts

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Ashley’s Goodreads

The Complete Works
The Complete Works
by William Shakespeare
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
by William Shakespeare
All the Stars and Teeth
All the Stars and Teeth
by Adalyn Grace
I Am Still Alive
I Am Still Alive
by Kate Alice Marshall
Blood of Elves
Blood of Elves
by Andrzej Sapkowski

goodreads.com

Kari’s Goodreads

The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Contagion
Contagion
by Erin Bowman
Crown of Midnight
Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J. Maas
Queen of Shadows
Queen of Shadows
by Sarah J. Maas
Ruthless Gods
Ruthless Gods
by Emily A. Duncan

goodreads.com

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