What’s On My Plate – June 2022

We’re nearing the halfway point of 2022, can you believe it? I’m looking forward to the summer months this year, not because I “get” a summer break or I have anything fun planned over the summer, but because there are a ton of amazing book releases in the next few months! (Also my daughter is coming to visit for two weeks in July, and that’s pretty exciting:-))

June is strangely light for me reading-wise, and by “light” I mean I only have ten review books releasing this month. I’m going to use that to my advantage and catch up on some of the May books I didn’t have time to read, so you will probably see some crossover from May. I won’t list those books again, I’ll surprise you, lol.

I’m also starting something new this month. I think it’s interesting to see how my reviews do overall during a given month, so I’m listing the top five reviews of May, based on page views. What’s really interesting is that most of the reviews in the top five are from previous months or even years, so I’m happy that some of my reviews have “legs” and continue to get hits long after I publish them. I’ll post the list at the end!

Here are the books I hope to tackle this month:

I’m very excited to jump into Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, a reprint that some of you may have already read. Orbit picked up this series, which will be releasing over the course of the next three months.

I’ve had a review copy of We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca for months, but I just haven’t been able to fit it in. I’m hoping to read this early in the month. Eric’s books are disturbing and powerful, I can’t wait!

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert sounds so good! It also sounds much different from her book The Hazel Wood, which I haven’t read yet. I think this is a contemporary story about witches?

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett is a series finale, and it’s a series I’ve loved so far. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out, and I do hope my favorite character Clef has a more prominent role this time. Clef was mostly absent in the last book, Shorefall…

I have two Tordotcom novellas to read this month: January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky (which is actually novel length, now that I see the page count). This seems to deal with some serious topics, but I’m curious to read it.  I’m also very much looking forward to A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow, the second book in her Fractured Fables series. I believe this tale focuses on the evil queen from Snow White. I can’t wait!

I am on the Ordinary Monsters blog tour in a few weeks—and this will be my last one for a while, I’m having serious blog tour burnout, lol—and because this book is LONG (almost 700 pages), I’ll have already started it by the time you’re reading this.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson is a locked room sci-fi mystery, and after really enjoying Robson’s last book, Hearts of Oak, I’m looking forward to this one! Also, I can’t resist that title…

The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard is the first in a new series, an alt-history mystery that sounds intriguing.

Finally, I’m excited to dive into Screams From the Dark, edited by Ellen Datlow. There are a bunch of awesome contributors to this short story anthology, including some of my favorites, Daryl Gregory and Stephen Graham Jones.

Top five most viewed reviews in May:

  1. A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos (Reviewed in 2018)

  2. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Reviewed in 2022)

  3. The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards (Reviewed this week!)

  4. The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne (Reviewed in 2021)

  5. Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Reviewed in 2018)

Some thoughts on this. First of all, I didn’t like A Winter’s Promise at all, yet to this day it’s the most viewed review on my site. I’m still trying to figure out why. It was originally published in France and I believe the author has a big European following, so it may be that’s it just one of those ultra popular books. My review is pretty negative so maybe people just find negative reviews entertaining? I don’t know. But I guarantee it will be #1 next month too!

Shadow of the Gods I understand, because the sequel just came out, so folks are checking out the first book. Little White Lies, I have no idea, it’s so random, lol. Sea of Tranquility is a recent release, so I’m happy to see it in the top five, plus it’s amazing! And I’m actually surprised to see The Hourglass Throne at #3 because my review has only been live for a few days!

Overall, it looks like it will be a good month! Let me know if you plan to read any of these books. Which books are you most looking forward to reading in June?

Posted June 1, 2022 by Tammy in What's On My Plate / 34 Comments

Divider

34 responses to “What’s On My Plate – June 2022”

    • Tammy

      Me too, I can’t wait to see her! We don’t have any plans yet, but I’m sure we’ll do some fun things;-)

      Reply
  6. Susy's Cozy World

    I liked the new thing about the most viewed review, and it is amazing that one of your newest review is in the list!!!
    And I am curious to see what you would think of Locklands and Drunk on all your Strange New Words, because I hope to read them soon!!

    Reply
  8. todd

    I’ve entered various giveaways for Our Crooked Hearts and Locklands because they caught my eye, but it’s not likely I’ll win or read those anytime soon. I really like the covers for We Can Never Leave This Place and January Fifteenth. Sometimes it’s interesting looking at the stats and trying to deteremine why one page is more popular right now than others.

    Reply
  13. Destiny @ Howling Libraries

    I hope you enjoy all of these, especially the new Eric LaRocca! I enjoyed that one a lot. 🙂 I’m reading Screams from the Dark right now – so far, so good! And I love how you added the 5 most viewed reviews of the month, that’s really interesting to see. I feel like my most viewed reviews are usually older posts, too!

    Reply
    • Tammy

      I find it fascinating what reviews people are reading. I don’t always understand it, but it’s interesting!

      Reply
  15. will

    Our Crooked Hearts IS a contemporary story about witches! Plus I quite enjoyed it, so I hope you’ll not have any trouble with it either. But with “only” ten ARCs to review this month, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble! Good thing you have leftovers from May lol

    Reply
    • Tammy

      LOL I know it seems like the impossible task:-) Oh well. I’m glad you enjoyed Crooked Hearts!

      Reply
  16. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    June feels so overwhelming! I already got one book I wanted to read finished though, but there are a lot of really chonky books on my list this month which will probably slow me down (Locklands I’m looking at you!)

    Reply
  17. Greg

    That’s a fun idea to list reviews by views. It’s always interesting to look back and see which reviews/ posts get the most hits- and like you said, nice too when older reviews kinda “stick around”. I’m curious about Locklands just based on that cover alone- it looks awesome!
    Greg recently posted…Song of the Week #129My Profile

    Reply
  18. Lynn Williams

    I’m also trying to read June books whilst cramming in some of the May books I didn’t get to. I fell like I’ve made some progress but need to keep up the momentum.
    I like your idea for looking at your top five reviews of the month. Last year my review for The Sanatorium was also crazy – I literally don’t understand why. Like you it wasn’t one of my favourite reads. Perhaps I should focus on negative reviews more – although, no,, I really don’t like writing them.
    Lynn 😀

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.