June was another month that felt slow for physical reading, and I’m just resigning myself to the fact that this is the pace I am going to read at in my current life phase (which seems to be perpetually busy for unknown reasons). And that’s fine. Audiobooks are helping me read more overall, even if I feel like it doesn’t completely count, even though everyone assures me it does! And it guess I should acknowledge that it really does, considering some of my favorite books so far have been ones I listened to… stay tuned for my top 10 books I’ve read so far this year list next week!
Audiobook reads:
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalo
The Siren by Kiera Cass
Physical reads:
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch
Legendary by Stephanie Garber
I enjoyed all of these, with my top two faves being Stalking Jack the Ripper and Legendary, which is great because I got to meet both authors in June!
So Stephanie and I actually go back a little ways, when once upon a time we met through blogging! She hopped onto Heidi Lang and Kat Bartkowski’s blog when the two girls were Stephanie’s Pitch Wars mentees, and we got to know each other online. Flash forward to her selling Caraval (and Heidi and Kat are also published now with the delightful middle grade A Dash of Dragon and upcoming A Hint of Hydra), and it’s been so fun to watch her dream of becoming a published author turn into a reality! So when she announced her book tour for Legendary and I saw Nashville’s Parnassus Books on the list, I was ecstatic that I would have the chance to meet Stephanie in real life!
I have to say, I was really nervous! I think Stephanie knew I was coming, but I still wondered if I needed to be like, “Hey, it’s me, Amy!” or if she would recognize me on her own. Thankfully, it only took her a couple of seconds of looking at me to recognize me and was instantly like, “Can I give you a hug?” Of course! Stephanie is just the sweetest and everything about the evening was so fun. I had just listened to Jack the Ripper on audio the week before when I realized Kerri would be at the event too, and while I’m sad I didn’t have a book for her to sign, I told her I enjoyed it and she gave me an autographed bookmark for Escaping from Houdini, which I am excited for! 
I love how books and writing can bring people together!
Tell me what your favorite book you read in June was!
How fun to meet a blogger friend irl–especially a published author one! I understand what you’re saying about audio, but I still totally count them as reading. I love a good audiobook and during the school year I depend on my commute time to get through some of my TBR.
I think with audiobooks I feel like I might be missing something, plus it feels weird to count as reading when I’m actually doing work at the same time, but I think I’ve been retaining what I’ve heard pretty well.