📚 On Reading in June 2025 (Best of)

Hello, lovely readers!

Welcome to a monthly look at my reading life. Recently I noticed that many of the books that I was really excited for this year have not been my favorites but I have been hitting it out of the park with books I knew nothing about and just randomly picked up. Maybe something about expectations is playing a role? Maybe things that feel new-to-me are more exciting at the moment? Maybe it’s just this cursed, upside down year? Who is to say.

While my DNF’ing is a bit off the charts, my Best of 2025 list is gonna be huge at the end of the year if things continue like this. Also, I’m leaning far more into graphic novels which is a thing I especially do when my stress levels feel unmanageable. Thankfully I have a large pile of graphic novels to get through.

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan

Give me all the perfectly genre blended novels! Givhan knows how to write a family drama + mystery where neither is sacrificed for the other—or used as a marketing ploy while really just being one. This follows a family living in a small town at the Salton Sea. Mal has a contentious relationship with her mother, who blames her for Mal’s sister’s disappearance. Mal’s older brother Esteban now goes by Steve, for his political career (I am making a face), and her younger brother Benny is a police officer. Her oldest daughter Gris is home from college for her uncle’s party and her youngest daughter Amaranta is in high school.

The family drama is centered on the past missing daughter, Mal’s parent’s health, Esteban’s career which aligns with the rich and powerful family of the town that everyone has stories with, and the big secret that Mal has been keeping: the identity of the father of her daughters, whose own daughter went missing and has been a suspect since.

The mystery: Mal’s sister Elena’s long ago disappearance; now one of Mal’s coworkers at the butcher shop has disappeared; soon someone close to Mal will send everyone racing to find yet another missing girl…

I was deeply invested in the family and the mystery.

Victoria Villarreal is a fantastic audiobook narrator and made me side-eye the hell out of the audiobook of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil which chose not to have a Spanish speaking narrator for a Spaniard main character.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

This novel (and Hot Girls with Balls) are two examples of books I picked up knowing nothing about and ended up really enjoying. In this case if you enjoy the full effect of watching a book’s plot unfold I recommend going in as a blank slate reader.

If you rather know what it’s about: this is a near future light-dystopian (you know there’s wars but not on page nor detailed) in which a group of contestants on a reality show are placed in a remote house surrounded with weather so hot they can die outside. At first they’re given tasks, as a group and individually, which they need to complete in order to win things like a door for privacy, furniture, and most importantly food to stay alive…

It’s a great balance of being a fun, entertaining read, while also taking a look at our society with a focus on consumerism. It’s a beach read with plenty of meat on the bone.

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris

I went into this thinking it was going to be one main case in which the company Johnson & Johnson behaved terribly but no, this entire book is one case after another in which the people in charge at Johnson & Johnson lied to the public, manipulated data, obstructed government investigations (just to name a few things!) in order to sell products they knew were going to not only cause serious harm but kill a lot of people.

It’s the kind of reporting that I see the “wellness” industry use to prove that medicine/science is bad because it’s a for-profit industry that doesn’t care about health/people only money except their solution is the for-profit “wellness” industry that is founded by grifters. What this book actually makes very clear is the need for proper regulations, rather than politicians working for businesses, and also any time the punishment of a law is a fine it’s not a law because rich people will just factor it into their costs.

Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyễn

I picked this up solely because of the title and was blown away. It is incredibly difficult to do what Benedict Nguyễn pulls off in this novel: a critical look at our society’s treatment of trans women, celebrities, and Asian Americans while being funny, fun, smart, cheeky, piercing, and considerate. It follows two trans women volleyball players' personal, professional, and romantic lives while playing on professional men’s teams. The book is full of the commentary from their fandom which is chef’s kiss for its realness and how well it weaves through the novel.

The audiobook narrator, Nicky Endres, is exceptional and I will absolutely read anything Benedict Nguyễn writes next.

Other People's Houses (DC Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh

I’ve loved this Welsh police procedural from the start: The Last Party (the first in the series) started with a hilarious premise of how two police officers from different countries are forced to work together. Plus, it’s a murder mystery where the victim was hated by everyone so everyone is a suspect— a trope I’m always up for.

I prefer series where the character’s personal lives change over time which Mackintosh has delivered on: DC Ffion Morgan is at heart a hot mess but she’s made big strides to get certain things in order, and is generally trying to do better while still hilariously being herself. The mysteries in Other People's Houses involve a dead estate agent and a luxury home block with sudden break-ins and attacks. Complicating the hell out of everything (and driving everyone up a wall) is Ffion’s boyfriend’s ex-wife desperately trying to be one of the elites on the block…

Bonus points for great banter and being set on the border of Wales and England.

Lunar Boy by Jacinta Wibowo, Jessica Wibowo

This is a middle grade scifi graphic novel about a moon boy that dives into identity, family, and community. I loved the images and Indonesian and queer culture and got transported away in the story.

I Hate Fairyland Compendium: The Whole Fluffing Tale by Skottie Young

Years ago, when the series started, I was reading the issues/volumes as they released but I’m terrible about keeping up with series releases sometimes and I feel off. So when I saw there was a compendium edition that collects issues 1-20 (It’s a chunker!) I had to have it.

It somehow hit different reading then vs the current state of the world which made it an even more interesting read and the dark humor was very welcomed. Basically a sweet little girl gets stuck in Fairyland and all she has to do is perform some fun tasks to be sent back home but instead she gets stuck, unable to complete things properly, and just gets angrier and meaner the longer she’s trapped in a little girl’s body now as an adult.

Cat Massage Therapy Vol. 1 by Haru Hisakawa

I’ve yet to find a subgenre/term for this type of manga but have read a few where it’s not about plot but instead gentle vibes. In this case there is a literal massage parlor run by cats. These types of mangas never fail to be a soothing balm to the soul.

That’s all for now, as always feel free to shout anything you’ve been loving lately!