Monthly Wrap Up | June 2025

I went on a much needed vacation in June. I went to South Korea for one week and it was exactly what I needed, mentally and physically (I got a lot of walking in lol)! I even took a break from reading and it felt good to take a break from that too. So I read less books this month, it actually matches what I used to read, which is a good 13-15 books a month.

I read 14 books and posted 15 book reviews in June.

I am going on a weekend vacation in 3 weeks with my husband to Las Vegas. We’re going to see Lady Gaga!

Books I Read – 14 books:

  1. On Wings of Blood by. Briar Boleyn
  2. The Bond That Burns by. Briar Boleyn
  3. Where the Library Hides by. Isabel Ibañez (audiobook)
  4. Spell to Wake the Dead by. Nicole Lesperance (arc)
  5. A Magic Deep & Drowning by. Hester Fox (arc)
  6. Enigma by. RuNyx
  7. Summer in the City by. Alex Aster
  8. You Between the Lines by. Katie Naymon (audiobook)
  9. House of Hearts by. Skyla Arndt (arc)
  10. Warrior Princess Assassin by. Brigid Kemmerer
  11. Of Flame and Fury by. Mikayla Bridge
  12. The Knight and the Moth by. Rachel Gillig
  13. The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce
  14. Tricks of Fortune by. Lina Chern

Reviews I Posted On My Blog: 15 Books

5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

4 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:

3 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️:

2.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️💫

2 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️

Book Tags:

Birthstone Book Covers: June – Alexandrite/Moonstone/Pearl

Blog Tours:

Let’s Talk Bookish:

Let’s Talk Bookish:  Pride Month Book Recs! | 6/6/25

Let’s Talk Bookish:  Traveling for Literature | 6/13/25

Let’s Talk Bookish:  All About Audiobooks | 6/20/25

Let’s Talk Bookish:  Mid-Year Check-In | 6/27/25

Other:

How was your month?

WWW Wednesday | 7/2/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Where has June gone? I don’t think I’m ready for the second half of the year!

What are you currently reading?

Wrath of Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling (Fear the Flames, #2) – 20% don’t know why this one is going too slowly for me.

Soul of Shadow by. Emma Noyes – 4%

A Steeping of Blood by. Hafsah Faizal – 8%

Once a Villain by. Vanessa Len – 1% just started


What have you just finished reading?

The Knight and the Moth by. Rachel Gillig – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Tricks of Fortune by. Lina Chern – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Of Flame and Fury by. Mikayla Bridge – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia – ⭐️⭐️⭐️


What are you going to read next?

A Theory of Dreaming by. Ava Reid

Heir of Storms by. Lauryn Hamilton Murray (just waiting on my fairyloot copy but it might come in 2 weeks)

Roots of Darkness by. Demi Winters

The Executioners Three by. Susan Dennard

A Land So Wide by. Erin A. Craig

What are YOU reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 6/29/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+. Went to lunch with the whole family to celebrate my nephew turning 20!

+ Started to do some back to school shopping for my kids since they go back in August – summer is going by so fast for them.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished


Currently Reading:

Wrath of the Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling

Soul of Shadow by. Emma Noyes

Roots of Darkness by. Demi Winters

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • K-pop Demon Hunters (Netflix) – why was the ending tragic?! Ugh. Loved the music!
  • We Were Liars (Amazon Prime) – trying to see if I remember anything of the story, since I have an arc of the sequel to read this year.
  • The Buccaneers (Apple TV+) – of course they only show one episode a week when I’m so used to binging shows. But I do love that I have something to look forward to and I enjoy this show!

Videos I Posted to Youtube:

My May monthly reading wrap up video which is SUPER late I know. There was just too much happening in May and June to put together a video, but I did it before June came to an end. 😅

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube

Let’s Talk Bookish:  Mid-Year Check-In | 6/27/25

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.


This week’s topic is:

June 27: Mid-Year Check-In

Prompts: Now that we’re halfway through the year, let’s check in! How has your reading year been so far? What reading/blogging achievements are you most proud of? Looking forward, is there anything you want to change up for the rest of the year?

**********

How has your reading year been so far?

I feel like I’ve read some really entertaining books this year so far. But I also feel like I’ve been reading way too much this year compared to last year.

What reading/blogging achievements are you most proud of?

I think I’m just proud that I’m keeping up with my netgalley arc list and on top of posting on my blog.

Looking forward, is there anything you want to change up for the rest of the year?

No, there isn’t anything I’m going to try and change for the rest of the year. I am finding making my monthly wrap up youtube videos kind of hard to keep up with. But maybe because I went on vacation this month and I’m trying to get back into the groove of things. I wish I was still on vacation!

June Topics:


June 2: Pride Month Book Recs!

  Prompts: Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, we’d love to hear about your favourite LGBTQIA+ books, why you love them, and what books you’d recommend for a summer Pride reading list. Are there any new releases you’re looking forward to reading this Pride Month?


June 13: Traveling for Literature

  Prompts: Many books are inspired by real-life settings. Have you ever visited places inspired by books you’ve read? What places are on your bucketlist? If you could visit any fictional setting come to life, where would you go?


June 20: All About Audiobooks (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you like to read audiobooks? Where do you typically get audiobooks? Do you have any favorite narrators, or platforms for listening to them? Do you find it easy to access audiobooks, or can it be more challenging compared to ebooks and physical books?


June 27: Mid-Year Check-In

  Prompts: Now that we’re halfway through the year, let’s check in! How has your reading year been so far? What reading/blogging achievements are you most proud of? Looking forward, is there anything you want to change up for the rest of the year?

WWW Wednesday | 6/25/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

It’s been a chill week and I’m finally making headway into The Knight and the Moth! I probably would have been done with it if it was an ebook but with hardcovers I actually have to find daylight hours to sit and read it. But it’s summer and when I sit and read, my daughter likes to start talking to me 😅🥰. So many July releases are coming out soon and I think I have 6 July arcs to finish still! I had 19 arcs for July to finish. It was a little too much on top of the books I was borrowing from Libby and books I was buying. 🫠

What are you currently reading?

The Knight and the Moth by. Rachel Gillig – I’m at chapter 9! It’s good so far!

Wrath of Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling (Fear the Flames, #2) – this is an arc and I’m 14% in. Haven’t made a dent in this one.

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce – 20% in – kind of not feeling this one but I’m pushing through

Tricks of Fortune by. Lina Chern – 17% in

Of Flame and Fury by. Mikayla Bridge – 25% – Phoenix racers – pretty cool!

Soul of Shadow by. Emma Noyes – 4%


What have you just finished reading?

Summer in the City by. Alex Aster – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

You Between the Lines by. Katie Naymon– ⭐️⭐️⭐️

House of Hearts by. Skyla Arndt – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Warrior Princess Assassin – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


What are you going to read next?

This list hasn’t changed since I went on vacation! I will be getting to these soon!

A Theory of Dreaming by. Ava Reid

Heir of Storms by. Lauryn Hamilton Murray

The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Roots of Darkness by. Demi Winters

What are YOU reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 6/22/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ This week went by kind of fast as I took the time to recover from my trip. Plus there are two kids to kind of entertain so we’ve been going out to the mall, hitting some arcades, and my daughter has all these art projects she wants to do so we’ve been working on that. My son is I think FINALLY kicking the remnants of the cold or virus he caught at the end of May. I’m bummed that he’s been congested for almost a whole month! He only has 7 more weeks of summer vacation left. It’s kind of crazy to think summer vacation is so short now.

+ I definitely miss being on vacation and having buffet breakfasts all week! 😅 Back to cooking for the family.

Blog Posts:

I didn’t post much this week it seems!

Books I Finished


Currently Reading:

Throne of Secrets by. Kerri Maniscalco

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce

Wrath of the Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling

You Between the Lines by. Katie Naymon – audiobook

The Knight and the Moth by. Rachel Gillig

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

Videos I Posted to Youtube:

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube

Let’s Talk Bookish:  All About Audiobooks | 6/20/25

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.


This week’s topic is:

June 20: All About Audiobooks (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you like to read audiobooks? Where do you typically get audiobooks? Do you have any favorite narrators, or platforms for listening to them? Do you find it easy to access audiobooks, or can it be more challenging compared to ebooks and physical books?

**********

Do you like to read audiobooks?

I don’t love it. I could only get through 1 audiobook a year but now, 5 years later lol…I can now maybe do 1 audiobook a month! Or every other month which is a real improvement.

Where do you typically get audiobooks? Do you have any favorite narrators, or platforms for listening to them?

I get them from Libby. I don’t have any favorite narrators yet. And I usually listen to them on my Libby app on my phone.

Do you find it easy to access audiobooks, or can it be more challenging compared to ebooks and physical books?

I’m not always seeking them out but I do find that sometimes the selection on Libby is limited. But I don’t want to pay for audiobooks since that’s my least favorite way of reading and would never re-listen to a book.

June Topics:


June 2: Pride Month Book Recs!

  Prompts: Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, we’d love to hear about your favourite LGBTQIA+ books, why you love them, and what books you’d recommend for a summer Pride reading list. Are there any new releases you’re looking forward to reading this Pride Month?


June 13: Traveling for Literature

  Prompts: Many books are inspired by real-life settings. Have you ever visited places inspired by books you’ve read? What places are on your bucketlist? If you could visit any fictional setting come to life, where would you go?


June 20: All About Audiobooks (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you like to read audiobooks? Where do you typically get audiobooks? Do you have any favorite narrators, or platforms for listening to them? Do you find it easy to access audiobooks, or can it be more challenging compared to ebooks and physical books?


June 27: Mid-Year Check-In

  Prompts: Now that we’re halfway through the year, let’s check in! How has your reading year been so far? What reading/blogging achievements are you most proud of? Looking forward, is there anything you want to change up for the rest of the year?

WWW Wednesday | 6/18/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

My trip to South Korea was AMAZING. I had so much fun, it felt too short but wow, it felt like a real vacation – only because vacationing with my kids and husband feels like I’m not on vacation haha, I’m still in caretaker mode…but this shopping tour with my sister was relaxing, even with all the walking we did because tours can be strenuous but it was good exercise for me. I needed that! We met some really fun retired ladies (I hope to be traveling like them when I’m their age!). It felt like I went outside and as the kids say today “touch grass”. 😅 It felt so nice to let my mind let go of responsibilities for a week. SIGH…take me back! I didn’t get much reading done (it was actually nice to take a break from that too), but I did manage to read one book on the trip.

What are you currently reading?

The Knight and the Moth by. Rachel Gillig – I will focus on this one this week.

Summer in the City by. Alex Aster – same reason as above

Wrath of Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling (Fear the Flames, #2) – this is an arc and I’m 14% in.

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce – 20% in

Tricks of Fortune by. Lina Chern – 17% in


What have you just finished reading?

A Spell to Wake the Dead by. Nicole Lesperance – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Enigma by. RunYx – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Magic Deep & Drowning by. Hester Fox – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Where the Library Hides by. Isabel Ibañez – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (audiobook I finished before vacation)


What are you going to read next?

This list hasn’t changed since I went on vacation! I will be getting to these soon!

A Theory of Dreaming by. Ava Reid

Soul of Shadow by. Emma Noyes

Heir of Storms by. Lauryn Hamilton Murray

The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia

What are YOU reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 6/15/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ I had two Saturdays yesterday. I ended Saturday in Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, boarded our flight home at 9pm, Saturday. And landed in Hawaii at 9:45am, Saturday. So I was all messed up and dealing with jet-lag!

+ I was in Seoul, South Korea all week – and I LOVED it. What a fun tour group we had, a mix of retirees, families, some seniors (which was kind of hard on them with all the walking). But it was a great group!

  • Making our own Tal Masks (to ward of bad spirits/ghosts) at the Bukchon Art Center – made this one for my hubby! Then a walk through the neighborhood, it had lots of hills but loved the old traditional Korean houses.
  • DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) – we had a chance to explore, while most of the group went shopping in the area.

  • Cheonggyecheon Stream – my sister and I at this really pretty stream.
  • Gyeongbok Palace – my sister and I again at the palace. It was a warm day, glad we brought our umbrellas for shade but wow did I sweat and my feet were killing me after this long day.
  • Girls in the Hanbok dresses at the palace! They looked so pretty!
  • After the a day of going to the stream, Gyeongbok Palace, the National Folk Museum and the Blue House and walking a LOT – we were all so hot and tired BUT we still had one more thing to do. We had a cooking class with Food & Culture Korea. The woman who runs this class, Ellie is the food styler for shows like Squid Game (Season 3), Pachinko on Apple TV and other K-drama shows. She is amazing, full of energy and so much fun! We learned to cook japchae (we cooked this) and bulgogi (we watched a demo). Everything was delicious and we got a copy of the recipes and a certificate with our names written in Korean on it.
  • For one of our free days on the tour, my sister and I booked us hair appointments at Juno Hair in Myeongdong (I think she says there are 3 of them in that area alone). We had a haircut at the scalp treatment which was over a fun and relaxing experience! Judy (@juno_judyy on instagram) my stylist was the sweetest. Then we did a LOT of shopping before m sister had a facial at Muse Clinic. I sat and waited with all our shopping bags. After dropping the bags off to the hotel we ended the day with dinner at bhc Chicken to eat some fried chicken and my sister had beer.
  • Our last free day we went back to Namdaemun Market (which is across from our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Namdaemun. We did our last minute shopping, but we also checked out the smaller palace up the street called Deoksugung. It was another day of a lot of walking but we ended the night with our last tour group farewell dinner which was a buffet.

It was such a great trip, and I definitely want to go back again to explore even more!

Blog Posts:

I didn’t post much this week it seems!

Books I Finished

A Spell to Wake the Dead by. Nicole Lesperance


Currently Reading:

A Magic Deep & Drowning by. Hester Fox

Throne of Secrets by. Kerri Maniscalco

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce

Wrath of the Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Movies I watched on the airplane:
    • Wicked
    • 27 Dresses
    • My Best Friend’s Wedding
    • Inception (but I fell asleep for parts of it)

Videos I Posted to Youtube:

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube

Let’s Talk Bookish:  Traveling for Literature | 6/13/25

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.


This week’s topic is:

June 13: Pride Month Book Recs!

Prompts: Many books are inspired by real-life settings. Have you ever visited places inspired by books you’ve read? What places are on your bucketlist? If you could visit any fictional setting come to life, where would you go?

**********

Many books are inspired by real-life settings. Have you ever visited places inspired by books you’ve read?

Looking at my current books I’ve read, I realize I do not read a lot of books based in reality lol. 😂. But that makes sense since I’m always escaping…but I did find a few books that were set in places I’ve visited in the past.

All Paths Lead to Paris by. Sabrina Fedel – Paris, France! I went in 2011 for my honeymoon – it was a European Grand Tour so we hit a lot of popular cities in Europe.

Love Unmasked by. Becky Dean – Venice, Italy – this was part of my honeymoon tour but we only were there for one day, which I was sad about. i found it such a mysterious city and wanted to explore but didn’t have time. But we did the gondola ride, and I remember it being VERY hot.

Something Like Fate by. Amy Lea – if I remember this book, they went all over Italy.

All Roads Lead to Rome by. Sabrina Fedel – Rome, Italy – I remember going to the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basillica. We went to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. The Colosseum was so hot and crowded, I felt like I didn’t really get to appreciate it. But I enjoyed Rome!

Castle of the Cursed by. Romina Garber – Spain – this takes place in Spain and the only place I’ve been in Spain is Madrid, but it was a fun trip.

The Seventh Veil of Salome by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Los Angeles, California. This takes place in the golden age of Hollywood but I went to college in California during 1996-2000. So definitely a different era but a time was had! Some of the best years of my life.

The Getaway List by. Emma Lord – New York, New York – my best friend from college and I took a trip to New York back in 2009. It was such a fun girl’s trip and a much needed one at that time. I have so many good memories of that trip.

What places are on your bucketlist?

What the River Knows by. Isabel Ibañez – Egypt is on my bucket list!

The Amalfi Curse by. Sarah Penner – I’ve been all over Italy but I haven’t been to the Amalfi coast.

This Time it’s Real by. Ann Liang – China is on my list as well.

Under Loch and Key by. Lana Ferguson – Scotland has always been a place I’ve wanted to visit.

XOXO by. Axie Oh – South Korea! But I’m crossing this off my list since I’m in South Korea as this post has published.

The Great Alone by. Kristin Hannah – Alaska. The trip that COVID took away from my family (parents, sister and her family and mine) – sad….we had a Disney Alaska Cruise booked when Covid locked down everything.

Tokyo Ever After by. Emiko Jean – Tokyo, Japan. I’ve been to Okinawa, Osaka and Kyoto but never to Tokyo. That’s next on my list!

If you could visit any fictional setting come to life, where would you go?

Most of the fictional settings I read are scary! lol….but these are the places I would love to visit just for a week or so.

Den of Liars by. Jessica S. Olson – the setting is like Vegas but with magic and more danger. I’d be there visiting just for the magic and gambling.

Embrace the Serpent by. Sunya Mara – I just want to have a golemn friend that was made of rocks! Oh and magical gems.

The Floating World by. Axie Oh – this world seems very magical.

Thunderhead by. Neal Shusterman – okay this world fascinates me, I’d be scared of the Scythes but…having no death because such advancement of medicine? This world kind of sounds like what our reality is heading towards but it’s fascinating to read about.

Onyx Storm by. Rebecca Yarros – I’d just go for a tour of meeting the dragons lol.

A Court of Mist and Fury by. Sarah J. Maas – Velaris. Plus I feel I’d only feel protected in Velaris.

June Topics:


June 2: Pride Month Book Recs!

  Prompts: Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, we’d love to hear about your favourite LGBTQIA+ books, why you love them, and what books you’d recommend for a summer Pride reading list. Are there any new releases you’re looking forward to reading this Pride Month?


June 13: Traveling for Literature

  Prompts: Many books are inspired by real-life settings. Have you ever visited places inspired by books you’ve read? What places are on your bucketlist? If you could visit any fictional setting come to life, where would you go?


June 20: All About Audiobooks (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you like to read audiobooks? Where do you typically get audiobooks? Do you have any favorite narrators, or platforms for listening to them? Do you find it easy to access audiobooks, or can it be more challenging compared to ebooks and physical books?


June 27: Mid-Year Check-In

  Prompts: Now that we’re halfway through the year, let’s check in! How has your reading year been so far? What reading/blogging achievements are you most proud of? Looking forward, is there anything you want to change up for the rest of the year?