Five Things to Tell You Vol. 26
two hot summer releases, a wild trip to Denver, June books galore, and more!
Well, hello there! So happy to see you today!
This past month+ has been so much fun ~ such a whirlwind ~ and you know what I’m so proud of? I just keep writing to you. I love this newsletter and I love consistency, and it feels GOOD to show up. Is it always the easiest thing? Well, no. Compiling my Five Things and my Tuesday newsletters is often done in ten minute increments and this space is always on my mind, but that’s okay. That’s the way my life is right now, and my newsletter reflects that! I don’t worry about fancy photography or perfection of really any kind, and just … hit send. My messy self, headed your way.
I hope you have a few minutes to settle in with your favorite snack to see what I have collected for you today …
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You all know I adore summer releases, and I couldn’t help but dig into my early copies of two of this season’s biggest titles. When life is full and reading time is limited, I need a sure thing ~ something that I can trust to hook me immediately, even when I only have short snippets of reading time. These two books were absolutely perfect for optimizing my reading time over the past few weeks.
Read It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan if you want an incredibly atmospheric Long Island summer experience, with an unconventional romance and a nod to a real life celebrity story. | available now! | read my review
Read Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid even if, like me, you don’t like reading about space or the 1980s, but DO love a unique, compelling story that simply won’t let you set it down. Excellent. | releases June 3 | read my (very short) review |
Also, don’t miss these two interviews with TJR as well! A must-read from Time and one including her book recs from the NYT (gift link). NYT also has an entire TJR GUIDE! (gift link) I have read every single one of her books, btw. I was there from the start.
I don’t often shout about way-future releases here, but I was SO EXCITED to see this one announced!
Wreck by Catherine Newman releases on October 25, 2025 and I can not WAIT. This is a follow-up to Rocky’s story from my beloved favorite of last summer ~ Sandwich. I read Sandwich while on our Maine trip last summer and I really can’t think of a more perfect reading experience. I also adore Newman’s first novel, We All Want Impossible Things, which I recommend to people as “the funniest book about a best friend dying that you’ll ever read.”
Newman’s work is either an absolute love it or hate it experience, it seems, so take this news as you will. Just know that I’ll be giddy with anticipation until I get to read Wreck!
How do I even sum up last weekend’s adventure without seeming like a complete masochist? I probably can’t, but just know that I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT and all the extreme exhaustion was worth it!
Here’s the rundown from last weekend:
Attended graduation events at the middle kid’s high school all day Friday. Attended the graduation ceremony at 7:00 pm Friday night. Woke up at 3:00 am on Saturday to leave at 3:30 am for the airport 90 minutes away. Luckily my husband drove me so I didn’t have a car to get later! Flew from Rochester, MN to Denver, CO with a 2 hour layover in Minneapolis. Got to Denver at about 11 a.m. MST and the oldest picked me up at the airport on her way through from California. And we DROVE RIGHT BACK TO WISCONSIN. STRAIGHT THROUGH. Arrived home at 4:00 a.m. CST.
I’ll spare you the details of the torrential rain on my most-hated-highway I-80 and my adventures on the back roads in the sandhills of Nebraska while my daughter slept and my exhausted ramblings while she drove the wee-hours stretch home through South Dakota and Minnesota, but just know that I wouldn’t trade those sore, cramped, tired hours in the car with her for anything on earth.
Sunday was a rest day at home, and Monday was a FAMILY DAY! We actually all managed to be in the same place long enough for a family picture and walk at a favorite city park - our family of 5 with the two older kids’ partners. YAY!
Want to join our amazing striped tank top squad? Well, for only $8, Target will hook you right up. We got ours for only $5.60 on sale - WIN!
And the oldest is now off again, moving to Madison tomorrow for a conservation-related job and all new adventures. I’m excited to have her closer for this next phase, however long it lasts!
June = Pride! Remember that books celebrating an amazing, diverse range of people release ALL YEAR LONG, even though publishers like to really mostly promote queer stories in June.
If you’re looking for some amazing recommendations of recent queer releases to read this month and all year long, definitely check out just a few of the roundups out there:
Electric Literature: The Most Anticipated Queer Books for Spring 2025
LGBTQ Reads: Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Adult Fiction: January-June 2025
LGBTQ Reads: Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: January-June 2025
Brooklyn Public Library: Pride Month 2025 Books for Adults
And finally, it’s time to highlight June book releases I am excited about! There are so many new books I can’t wait to read (remember, this is my favorite book release season!) ~ I hope you find a few to put on hold or pre-order as well.
You can just tap on the image above or click through here to see all of the titles over on Bookshop. When you get there, remember to page through at the bottom, as there are two pages of titles this month.
Remember, this is not a list of ALL the books releasing in June 2025, just a list I spent hours and hours curating over the last six months of the books I personally am excited about.
Want some new releases that are already on shelves? Take a look at my past months’ release lists!
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡
Thanks for stopping by!
I love the Tank Top Squad. :o)
Good point on Anabel--I do love her more mature characters, but I think this latest was my favorite. She knows how to write . She's just not funny, right? That's what killed me was the emphasis on how funny the main character was (NOT AT ALL).
Love the Pride book lists!
I’ve driven to Denver CO from Chicago IL and i’m with you that it’s the loongest drive lol. I drove with my bf to pick up his kids for the summer and on the way back (this was right around Memorial Day weekend) we got the storm. I think I-80 is a hit and miss. Curious about the backroads of Nebraska though. usually it’s just a draggging drive for us lol ❤️❤️
ooh. I see why you take that route now.