What I Read in June

I'm a bit late with my post as we are now half almost half way through July (how did that happen?). But I've finally managed to write up my post for what I read in June and actually even though I had a really slow month for reading I'm still on target to reach my Goodreads target way before the end of the year.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

I was gifted this book via Netgalley and I almost picked it as last months book of the month. It is wonderfully unique and you can read my full review over on goodreads.

Last Seen by Lucy Clarke

Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea – and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever.

Sarah’s son survived, but on the anniversary of the accident, he disappears without trace. As new secrets begin to surface, The Sandbank hums with tension and unanswered questions. Sarah’s search grows more desperate and she starts to mistrust everyone she knows – and she’s right to.

Someone saw everything on that fateful day seven years ago. And they’ll do anything to keep the truth buried.

Now this is the novel I chose as June's book of the month. It is a story that had me guessing the whole way through, it is one beguiling tale.

The Beta Mum - Adventures in Alpha Land

When 33-year-old Sophie Bennett moves from a sleepy suburb of Toronto to glitzy West London, she doesn't know where she has landed, Venus or Mars. By a stroke of good luck, her three-year-old daughter Kaya attends Cherry Blossoms Nursery, the most exclusive nursery in London - hence the world - where she meets a sea of Alpha mums: Super Successful, Super Skinny and Super Rich. There, not is all as it seems, and she has to fight against the lure of a cult, a two headed dragon and Mumsolini's dictatorship. 

When Sophie struggles to fit in and starts to feel deeply lonely, she starts an anonymous blog, The Beta Mum, dissecting the lives of the Alpha Mums, especially Kelly's, the blonde, beautiful and bitchy class rep who constantly makes her feel like a second class citizen. When Sophie's marriage starts to falter, she engages in an email relationship with one of her readers. But then, one of her blogs goes viral and her blog becomes more and more successful; how long will it be until they discover her true identity? Is her marriage strong enough to survive her reader's advances? And will she ever fit in with the Alpha Mums? 

Written by a fellow blogger, I was lucky to receive an advance copy of her debit novel. Very funny and super relatable, if you've ever been subjected to those 'playground mums', you'll enjoy this story.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.

But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and a rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.

Life as Wednesday's bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined. Soon Shadow learns that the past never dies...and that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing - an epic war for the very soul of America - and that he is standing squarely in its path.

Now this is the novel that took up all of my time last month. At over 600 pages long it is a LONG book but I will tell you it is well worth sticking with. Neil Gaiman has the fantasy genre totally sussed and I was engrossed through each quirky page.

So there we have it, that's all I managed to read in June, here's hoping I have a better July, although I did start this month with a 700 page novel ....