That’s A Wrap! – June 2026

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Reading update

First of all, how are we already halfway through the year?

I read nine books in June, four more than the previous month. I think that’s proof the hours I spend in the garden is inversely proportional to the number of books I get through. This month it’s been way too hot to venture outside much, except for mercy missions to water ailing plants. I’m especially pleased I managed to read all the ARCs I’ve received with July publication dates.

Here are the books I read, with links to my reviews (if I’ve written them yet):

Prey by Graham Hurley
Dwell by Rue Baldry
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
Deception by Alan Parks
Country People by Daniel Mason
Murder at the End of the World by Araki Akane, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger
Throw Away the Key by Jason M. Hough
Daughters of Naples by Diana Giovinazzo

Picking my favourite book was easy this month – Dwell by Rue Baldry.

Blog update

I published 28 blog posts in June:

Book reviews – 8
Memes – 15
Reading updates – 5

For those who like statistics, my blog received 7.8k views in June, down 6% on the previous month. All-time views now stand at 518,832. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my reviews and/or leave comments last month.

Reading goals update

  • Goodreads – 47/104, still 4 books behind schedule
  • Books in my TBR for over two years – 3/20, one more than last month
  • When Are You Reading? Challenge – 8/12
  • Historical Fiction Reading Challenge – 22/50
  • Classics Club List 2 – 4/50, one more than last month
  • Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 longlist – 9/12, same as last month
  • NetGalley feedback ratio – 96%, down from 97% the previous month (I need to get those reviews written)
  • Audiobooks – 5/12, same as last month

Plans for July…

  • Continue to work through my 20 Books of Summer list
  • Finish writing reviews of the books I read in June
  • Read Fair Play by Louise Hegarty for my book club
  • Read all 8 ARCs with August publishing dates
  • Book tickets for events at Henley Literary Festival which takes place in October

#WWWWednesday – 1st July 2026

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Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

What I’m Currently Reading

Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)

On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?

What I’ve Just Read

Daughters of Naples by Diana Giovinazzo  (Crooked Lane Books)

What I’ll Be Reading Next

Where Are the Kings by Donal Ryan (Doubleday via NetGalley)

Something terrible has happened to Jack but no one seems to want to talk about it.

His uncles can tell him about everything from quantum physics to how to hunt for deer, but they can’t seem to tell him anything about their own sister or why Jack doesn’t feel sad for her in the way he should, or why Grandad tries to shoot Jack’s dad when he gets out of the hospital.

Still, there’s work to be done in the oily wonderland of his uncles’ garage; there’s his beautiful aunt Rose to hypnotise him and his loving grandparents to console him; then there’s JJ, who wants to fight him one day and save him the next.

But with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, it is difficult for Jack to understand the person he is becoming. How can a simple boy learn to become a king?