june-a-ling-a book-ding!!
behold! it’s all of june’s monday morning weekly reading book reviews all in one spot for your convenience! and, of course, complete with links to bookshop.org where you can learn more about each title— &/or shop + support the indie bookstore of your choice while you’re at it! :D
many happy, colourful reads to you, my page*sniffers! :)
xo,
*hallie :)
✨📖 weekly reading book review june 2025: episode one!! 📖✨
📚 this week i read:
😭 THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by lisa see
💖 THE ROMANCE RIVALRY by susan lee
🎨 in picture books & faerie tales:
🌟 hilary knight’s THE OWL & THE PUSSY CAT
(you’ll have to find a used copy somewhere!)
🌟 LON PO PO written & illustrated by ed young
🌟 YEH-SHEN a cinderella story from china retold by ai-ling louie & illustrated by ed young
📺 watched:
💃🏽 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES season two
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8510382/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
🧵 PROJECT RUNWAY season 19
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437741/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
📖 currently reading:
🔎 THE STOLEN QUEEN by fiona davis
my copy from book of the month: https://www.bookofthemonth.com/refer/4fk6zo9eig4
📚 miiiiiiight read next:
💜 A WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING by t. kingfisher
💙 THE BIG BAZOOHLEY by peter carey
(a weekly reader book!)
🩵 EGO IS THE ENEMY by ryan holiday
💛 DEEP WORK by cal newport
👉🏽 don’t forget all of my faves are organized by genre on my bookshop.org page for you to explore: https://bookshop.org/shop/halthegal
👉🏽 new timelapse illustration video is up in the crayon box + happy mail (with june’s sticker!!!) ships this week!! https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
with a glorious mess in the studio to wade through,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review june 2025: episode two!! 📖✨
☕️ here’s what i read this week:
💛 THE STOLEN QUEEN by fiona davis
my copy from book of the month (join for $5 with my referral link HERE)
❤️ THE WHISPERWOOD LEGACY by jo schulte
💜 THE BEAST & THE BETHANY by jack meggitt-phillips & illustrated by isabelle follath
🥳 miiiiiight read next:
🖤 THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by patrick ness (happy b*day eve, dear friend haley!!)
🩵 WORDS WITH WINGS & MAGIC THINGS poems by matthew burgess , pictures by doug salati (thannnnkkkkkkk you, dear library gal pal rea!! 🥹💘🎁)
🩷 LOST SOULS MEET UNDER A FULL MOON by mizuki tsujimura (early copy from scribner!! out 10/21/25!! 🤩)
with museums and beasties and magical parks on the brain,
💜xo,
*hallie 🤓
👉🏽 bonus intel: i’m taking ART & june’s very silly & colourful sticker happy mail to the post office today!! want in on the secrets & fun? check out the crayon box!! 🥰✨☕️🖍️🙏🏽❣️
✨📖 weekly reading book review june 2025: episode three!! 📖✨
☀️ this week, i read:
❤️🩹 (most of) THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by patrick ness (on pg 356/479)
🎭 HENRY IV PART 2 by wm shakespeare
🤎 THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY BOOK 2: REVENGE OF THE BEAST by jack meggitt-phillips, illustrated by isabelle follath
boxed set of the first three paperbacks on bookshop.org HERE
number 2 (seen in this video) on barnes & noble HERE
📚 currently reading (for wednesday’s book club):
🧋LIVE AND LET CHAI by bree baker
📚 hope to read next:
🐙 REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by shelby van pelt (for sunday’s creative, inspired, happy book club with evelyn skye!!)
evelyn's creative,inspired, happy substack HERE
🥹 WORDS WITH WINGS & MAGIC THINGS by matthew burgess, illustrated by doug salati
🎧 started listening to:
📝 PLOT TWIST, the new podcast by author besties victoria aveyard & soman chainani
❤️ in picture books collected from my used bookstore:
✏️ Stone Soup, Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice, There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight, Puss in Boots (fred marcellino), Goldilocks & the Three Bears (james marshall)
watched:
🎬 Anchors Aweigh (1945), Sweeney Todd (lansbury and hearn, on stage in 1982), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), Disney’s Snow White (2025)
with pencil shavings for a rug,
your artsy, caffeinating, old-movie-obsessed, musical story nerd pal,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review june 2025: episode four!! 📖✨
📚 here’s what i read this week:
🩷 A PERFECT DAY TO BE ALONE by nanae aoyama (new adult; set in tokyo; better than i pitched it, probably 🙃)
🤎 LIVE & LET CHAI by bree baker (yay cozy small beach town mystery for dear greenville book club!!)
(july's dear greenville book club sign up HERE! we’re reading A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN!)
💔 THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by patrick ness (please stop chasing me, mean cult man army on horses on another planet!!! 😂🤪🤪🤪🤪)
💙 REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by shelby van pelt (for evelyn skye's creative inspired happy book club!!)
📚 currently reading:
❤️🔥 THE GHOSTWRITER by julie clark
[my book of the month copy (try for $5!): https://www.mybotm.com/4fk6zo9eig4]
📚 reading next:
🩵 HENRY V by wm shakespeare
💚 SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by claire keegan
💜 DREAMSLINGER by graci kim
📚 gonna start listening to:
🎧 NEVERMOOR by jessica townsend (again!!!!!) in time for tomorrow’s release of no. 4 in the series: SILVERBORN!! yaaaayyyy!!! 😄😆😆😆
libro.fm audiobook link here!: (currently on sale for LESS THAN $3!!!!)
bookshop.org link to NEVERMOOR here!
bookshop.org link to SILVERBORN here!
what stories are you reading, loving, enjoying right now?!
📝🎨🎧🩰🎬🎭📖
off to make this brownie (& coffee chocolate chip gelato) my breakfast of painting champions,
💜xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review june 2025: episode five!! 📖✨
📚 this week i read:
🔥 THE GHOSTWRITER by julie clark
my copy from BOTM (my referral code to try for $5!): https://www.mybotm.com/4fk6zo9eig4 )
🦉 WORDS WITH WINGS & MAGIC THINGS by matthew burgess & illustrated by doug salati (all ages GorGeouSLy illustrated poetry!!)
📚 currently have a bookmark in:
💜 DREAMSLINGER by graci kim
💚 SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by claire keegan
📚 excited to/probably might read next:
💙 THE BEAST & THE BETHANY: BATTLE OF THE BEAST (book 3!!!) by jack meggitt-phillips & illustrated by isabelle follath (my latest middle grade series obsession!!!!)
💛 A FORGERY OF FATE by elizabeth lim (my signed copy from books of wonder!!)
signed copies available from books of wonder : https://booksofwonder.com/products/9780593650615?variant=42234571718698
🩵 HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER by kristen perrin
💜 A WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING by t. kingfisher
🧡 SILVERBORN by jessica townsend
❤️ QUEEN MACBETH by val mcDermid
🎬 currently watching:
📺 BEN-HUR (1959; on to disc 2!)
imdb link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
🎶 THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965; this week’s @whatwentwrongpod coverage!)
imdb link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-went-wrong/id1512847066
🌳 & thank you adam scott for being terrible at pranks…. i hope they gave you an emmy for that one…. 😂🧀👮🏽♂️
parks & recreation, season 6, episode 11: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3429722/?ref_=ttep_ep_11
i’m just here for the cold breakfast pizza,
❤️🔥xo,
*hallie 🤓
fave read(s) of june 2025
every month, i recap of allll the books i read and show you a stack of my faves. alas, this month, of the eleven titles i finished, there was only ONE that brought me so much joy i’m gonna call it the whole stack:
THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY (book one) by jack meggitt-phillips and illustrated by isabelle follath.
it was odd and quirky and silly and the characters and everything ridiculous that i love in a novel. and it was middle grade— and had great black and white illustrations— so perfect for ALL ages. (including your reluctant readers!)
so get yourself some summer reading fun.
i’m about to start the third book in the series and if you pick it up, i hope you love it as much as i do! :D