This June was different than any other June. It's the first June in 10 years that I didn't have to be at an office Monday-Friday. It's also the first time since Alexis was born that she's spending a summer at home. That means figuring out a new routine, one in which I still get my job done and post regularly on the blog while also fitting in activities we wouldn't normally get to do. One of those new experiences is weekly trips to the library for story and craft time, which has meant not having large gaps between books. What's different about this month's reading round-up is that I didn't read any of these on my Kindle. Each one came from my local library. The first and last books I read this month each took about a week for me to finish, but that's because they were so well-written I didn't want to rush through them.

The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern

Summary: Two young magicians are pitted against each other in a competition held within a black-and-white circus. Le Cirque des Rêves moves from city to city without any advance notice and is only open at night. The two competing magicians, Celia and Marco, fall in love. They have no idea that the competition will only end when one of them is destroyed. The stakes are high, both for the two young people as well as those who work within and come to see the circus. Will the two lovers find a solution that benefits them all?

My Thoughts: Magical. I know it's cliche to call a book about magic magical, but it's truly the best word to describe this story. In fact, The Night Circus might be the best book I've read this year. From the way the author seamlessly weaves all the characters together without leaving the reader confused to the characters themselves and the truly unexpected way in which the conflict is resolved, I could not put this book down. But don't let that trick you into thinking I gobbled it up in one sitting. Oh no. This book is meant to be savored over several days. My only regret is that I waited this long to read it.


Big Girl Panties
Author: Stephanie Evanovich

Summary: After the death of her husband, 32-year-old Holly Brennan turned to food, and now she weighs more than she ever has. When she ends up seated next to personal trainer Logan Montgomery on a flight and he offers to help her, Holly takes it as a sign and agrees. Soon, the training sessions turn into romance, but Holly isn't Logan's usual 'type,' and they both have some issues with themselves that need to be worked out.

My Thoughts: This was your typical romantic comedy about an unlikely pairing. I liked that this one had both the male and female perspective and saw both of them grow. I thought the author deviated away from Holly and Logan to another couple a few times too many. They weren't badly written; I just felt like the story didn't benefit from being told from their points of view. Note: there are sex scenes in this book, but I thought they were pretty tame. However, one of the supporting characters is into spanking so if you're weirded out by that, I'd avoid this one as it dominates several discussions throughout.

Black Rabbit Hall
Author: Eve Chase

Summary: Four siblings lose their mother in a horse riding accident one summer. Their father, devastated by his wife's death but feeling his children need a maternal influence, remarries to his old girlfriend who has a teenage son. That son and the oldest Alton girl fall madly in love, but the stepmother forces them apart even after the girl comes up pregnant. Another untimely death sends the family into a deeper spiral, none moreso affected than the oldest brother who goes a bit mad. Flash forward thirty years when the stepmother, in an effort to try to make Black Rabbit Hall profitable again, tries to rent the estate out for weddings. The first customer? The long-lost daughter of that forbidden love. But she has no idea.

My Thoughts: This book was so beautifully tragic. Told from the perspectives of the oldest Alton daughter, Amber, and her daughter, Lorna, it weaves between the late 1960s and early 2000s effortlessly. Essentially, this book is about a family falling apart and coming back together. I highly recommend it, but you may want to keep some tissues handy.

I've been speed reading through books by a newly discovered (by me) author. They're all little 200-page books, with 3-4 in a series, that I can read pretty much in an afternoon. The whole series, that is. They're different from anything else I've read before, and I'm enjoying them, but I'm not sure a majority of you guys would, so I've decided to withhold them from these reviews for now.