Monthly Reading Wrap-up #2 (June 2025)

3.5 ⭐

After reading Ali’s book “Deep End”, the latest book before this one (it was a 5 star read for me), I was super excited for this one. I have loved all of Ali Hazelwood’s books and gave them all 4 or 5 stars. This one though, is definitly at the bottom of my Ali Hazelwood books ranking.

I couldn’t get past the comments Connor’s friends made on the first night in Italy about Maya getting along with baby Kaede because their brains weren’t fully developed yet or some shit like that. Poor girl’s 23 years-old, not 12.

Also, why the fuck was the age gap and power imbalance mentioned so much? Like I get it that he’s 15 years older than her and is a lot richer than her, but why does he have to bring that up every. single. time? Give it a rest pal!

However, I liked seeing Connor trying to fight his feelings for Maya the whole book knowing damn well it would not work because he was so in love with her. That’s why I gave it 3.5 stars.

I thought the end was quite abrupt – we didn’t really see that much of the character’s relationship after Italy. but I actually don’t think I’d be able to read more of this book to be honest.

2 ⭐

I decided to start reading the “Playing for Keeps” series instead of starting the “Boys of Tommen” series like I had planned, and boy, what a mistake that was. I didn’t like this book.

Every person I saw talking about this book on TikTok said it was a great series for someone who loved the “Windy City” series and the “D.C. Stars” series. So, since I loves those series, I decided to give it a try.

I couldn’t wait for the book to be over and I considered DNFing it multiple times. I endured it just because I have a goal of finishing all books I set myself to read this year.

The amount of cringing moments I had reading this was astounding. And don’t get me started on the nicknames the MMC had for this you know what. Just ridiculous in my opinion.

Am I still gonna read the other books on this series? Yes. Why? Because I like to suffer (also, people say the other books are better).

5 ⭐

I did end up starting the “Boys of Tommen” series this month and boy, I can’t tell you how much of a good decision that was.

I LOVED “Binding 13” – Johnny Kavanagh has my whole heart and soul. Shannon too!

I was expecting to cry a ton as I read this book, but I surprisingly didn’t. Was is sad? Very, but I didn’t cry. Stay tunned for the other books on this series to see if I end up crying (I bet I will).

This book was so good I read all 700 and something pages in about 24 hours. I was so into it that I went straight to “Keeping 13” as soon as I finished this one.

Am I the only one who always wants to be reading to know what happens next but then gets sad cause the book ended too quickly? Cause I’m like that.

5 ⭐

After the end of “Binding 13” I had to start “Keeping 13” right away. I was just so invested in Shannon and Johnny’s story that I don’t think I’ll ever move on from it!

For this book though, I took about 5 days to read, instead of the 24 hours I took reading the first installment. I think it was for two reasons: the first is that I didn’t want the story to end and the second reason was because the couple was already “formed”, I guess, and when that happens, I tend to read the book a bit slower because the “chasing” part was over. Oh and also because I felt like I was gonna cry after every chapter and my heart couldn’t take it (I told you I was gonna cry).

Having said that, I’m not saying the story got boring – not AT ALL. There was always something happening that kept me on my toes.

Overall, I think this is series is quickly becoming one of my favorites of all time!

4.75 ⭐

Continuing to delve into the “Boys of Tommen ” world, I read “Saving 6”.

Like the previous two books in the series, I loved it. I gave it a slightly lower rating than the other two because I liked Johnny and Shannon’’ story a tad bit more that Joey and Aoife’s.

I thought this book as a bit too much back and forth, especially on Joey’s part. I completely understood his reasoning, but I still thought it was too much of a back and forth thing.

I have a feeling “Redeeming 6 “ will be a 5 star read for me, though.