I read some really great books in June (I can’t believe that the year is already half over… that doesn’t seem right!) and I discovered some new favorites.
I don’t really tend to read a lot of fantasy, but I was really struck by a mood to read some fantasy recently. I read Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity and I loved it! It’s an anti-monarch, gothic fantasy from a refugee perspective, with a touch of slow burn romance (which I also rarely read, but was surprised by how much I loved the relationship between the characters in this book). It’s the first in a trilogy, and I’m so excited for the rest of the books to come out!
Another highlight of June was the latest release from Amal El-Mohtar, her short story collection Seasons of Glass and Iron. I don’t know if I can think of an author that writes more beautifully and poetically than Amal El-Mohtar. Each of these stories feels suffused with magic and the love of all kinds that blooms between women. The first story in this book made me so emotional, and I continued to be captivated by every story that followed it.
I also adored The Butcher of the Forest, a horror fantasy novella about Veris, a woman who is forced to venture into the strange woods at the edge of her village to retrieve the children of the brutal Tyrant. The children snuck out from the castle and got lost in the forest, and being the only known person to ever go into the forest and come back out alive, the Tyrant gives Veris one day to find and bring them back or else he will destroy her entire village. I love pretty much any kind of story that features a haunted or cursed forest, and this was perfectly nightmarish. It also touched on themes of tyranny, tradition, and what effects violence and erasure have on a small community.
Overall, I really enjoyed everything that I ended up reading in June, from works of literary fiction, a cozy mystery, horror, fantasy, to a unique memoir.
Girlbeast
by Cecilie Lind, translated by Hazel Evans
A novel originally published in Denmark that reimagines the lolita narrative, poetically delving into the complexities of girlhood, consent, and desire; unsettling, uncomfortable, yet powerful.(not available in the US currently)
A Shady Hollow Mystery, Book 4: Twilight Falls
by Juneau Black
The fourth installment of the Shady Hollow mystery series, where fox journalist Vera Vixen must solve a crime involving a pair of starcrossed lovers, a very high waterfall, and a slew of secrets.
Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories
by Amal El-Mohtar
A beautifully written, richly textured collection of stories threaded through with magic and the myriad ways that love blooms between women; themes of identity, belonging, and memory.
Jamaica Inn
by Daphne du Maurier
A classic novel of suspense and horror about a young woman who goes to live with her estranged aunt and her husband at the notorious Jamaica Inn, a place on the moors filled with dark secrets.
Weavingshaw
by Heba Al-Wasity
The first book in a gothic fantasy trilogy following a young woman that can see ghosts who must make a deal with the Saint of Silence to save her brother, leading her to a haunted estate on the moors.
We Survived the Night
by Julian Brave NoiseCat
A genre-defying memoir merging the author’s personal family history, indigenous American history, and coyote folktales; memorable, deeply emotional, and beautifully told.
The Butcher of the Forest
by Premee Mohamed
A medieval novella intertwining fantasy and horror that follows a woman forced to enter the forest outside her village to retrieve two royal children, and terrifying things await her there.
Universal Harvester
by John Darnielle
June’s book club pick; an eerie literary fiction novel set in 1990’s Iowa, where tapes at a video rental store are found to have mysterious scenes of new footage taped over them.
