June 2019 Reading Wrap Up

I managed to read a total of 10 books in June which isn't bad, it's only a couple less then what I read in May, and yet for some reason I'm quite disappointed in myself. I think it's mostly down to the fact that I didn't manage to read all of the books on my June TBR post and therefore didn't reach my monthly goal. I've had a couple of slow weeks so I've only felt like reading a few chapters here and there rather then picking up a book and reading half of it in one sitting. I suppose it brings up the question of whether we should be setting ourselves reading goals and whether or not that applies too much pressure on us as bloggers. We should just be reading what we want when we want and reading simply for pleasure instead. Anyway, here's all the books I read in June and a little of what I thought about them...

Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher

So I actually started of the month with a bit of a disappointment. I was really looking forward to this as I love watching Tom and Giovanna's youtube videos and I've read some of Giovanna's books before so I was interested to see how they would come together for a YA book. This is a dystopian about a girl called Eve who is the first girl born in fifty years and is therefore humanity's last chance at survival and she teams up with a boy and they work to overthrow the people controlling them. I just thought some of the ideas seemed a little recycled, there was very little world-building going on and I wasn't overly invested in the characters. It was ok but I don't know if I'll be picking up the next in the series when it's out.

Cogheart Adventures Series by Peter Bunzl

I really enjoyed reading this middle grade fantasy series. It was a lot of fun with plenty of action and loveable characters. I especially liked that it was set in an alternate Victorian London where there's a lot of steampunk elements such as mechanical people and animals and people travelling by airships. The third book didn't excite me as much as the first two but I gave the overall series a solid four stars. You can find my full series review here.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

This was my favourite read of the month by far. I love a good mystery novel, although YA mysteries can be a bit hit or miss, but this was so cleverly told and and I loved how everything unfolded. As much as I enjoyed it, I did feel like nothing was really resolved rather it asked more questions and set up the plot for the next book. I knew that this was the first book in a series but I was not expecting such an abrupt ending either so I'm very excited to get my hands on The Vanishing Stair.

Beau and Bett by Kathryn Berla

And we also have my least favourite read of the month. This just didn't do anything for me at all. I thought it was boring and rushed whilst at the same time having nothing happen plot-wise. I disliked both of the main characters and essentially wished I hadn't wasted my time on this. The highlight was that it was a super quick read and I read it within an hour or two. You can read my full scathing review here.

The Life and Death Parade by Eliza Wass

Unfortunately, I ended up reading two disappointing books in a row. This was a library book that I picked up because it was short and I liked the idea of a YA gothic, haunting novel but this was nothing like what I was expecting and not in a good way. I thought the majority of the characters were obnoxious and frustrating and the writing style was so incredibly slow that I almost gave up. The only thing that saved this book was the reveal towards the end but that was the only moment of excitement in the entire book in my opinion. My full review will be up in the next couple of days.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

This was actually a re-read for me although I first read nearly ten years ago so I was interested to see if my positive opinion still stood. I did really like this book,  it's written as one long letter so it's difficult to get into the pacing of it but I think the author does a great job showing us the effects of Stockholm Syndrome. Nothing felt cringy or contrived, it was written very realistically. This is a really solid YA contemporary with amazing descriptions of the Australian outback, I felt like I was right there in the desert with Gemma and Ty.

The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth

This ended up being a pretty average YA fantasy series in my opinion. I'm not a massive fan of fantasy so it takes a lot for me to be impressed and this just fell flat in places. I read the first book in the duology a year ago so I was a little fuzzy with some of the details and what had already happened. I liked the characters of Cyra and Akos but I feel like there was just too much going on in this sequel. There was too many characters and places to remember and the switching POV's just made everything even more confusing. I still want to read Roth's Divergent series though as I think i'll probably enjoy that one a little more.

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

What an interesting read! I've never read a book written backwards before and it was really compelling reading how the events unfolded to bring us back to what happened in the opening chapter. I really loved the writing style and I even really liked the main character, the only thing that let this down was that it was a bit predictable unfortunately but still a really great concept.

Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts on them? What did you read in June? Link your own wrap ups in the comments for me to read!