At the end of April I decided to do away with my typical TBR! And instead I changed things up to limit what I was putting on the list – this way I’d feel good when I actually completed it, rather than guilty for not completing it when it was almost 20 books long. Then when I lost my Nan and I was at home for a bit I decided to create a prompt jar (rather an empty haribo tub… it’s as good as I’ve got right now!) for my TBRs.
I’m still going to have an extended TBR in my head, and books that I absolutely want to read whether a prompt fit them or not… But the TBR that we’re concerned with on here will be the ones from my prompt jar (haribo tub) and any book club reads I’m hoping to read. So, without further hold up, let’s discuss the TBR for June.
An update for you: I’m in the middle of…
The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber – Audiobook
I’m currently on chapter 26, with 3 and a half hours left (I listen on 1.2x) and I imagine I will not pick up book 3 immediately after. So it’ll just be a case of finishing this one. I’ll save book 3 for when I fancy another audiobook because I like this narrator!
A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen – Hardback
The wheel picked book one for May’s TBR and once I finished it I knew that I had to get on book 2 immediately… and shockingly I actually did that! Thankfully amazon delivered the book the day before I finished A Fate Inked in Blood so book 2 was ready to go!
City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards – Kindle
Once I finished The Accomplice I needed a new kindle book to read, so instead of picking up the book club read that I missed (because with one day to go I wasn’t going to finish it) I decided to pick up a book that had fallen victim to the great reading slump of May’s beginning. If it gets put down again then so be it, but I am really hoping that now I’ve got my mojo back, I’ll love it!
TBR Prompt Haribo Tub Picks…
I pulled 5 prompts from my TBR Prompt Haribo Tub (well my fiancé pulled some and I pulled some, totalling 5) in order for me to choose my focus TBR for the month! I actually really enjoyed this – I think I understand why creators say that the TBR Jar is one of the things they look forward to every month! I’m already excited to pick July’s!
Prompt 1: Borrow a Library book and read it
> Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling
I’d actually seen this book earlier in the day at Asda and passed it up in favour of picking up a different book. However, I still wanted to read it and my library had it available on the libby app! So, that worked out!
Prompt 2: What colour is your top? Read a book where the cover mostly matches that colour
> When Haru was here by Dustin Thao
My top was pink, which you can kind of see in the photo of the prompts. But it turns out I’ve read almost all of my pink covers (the exception being the rest of Once Upon a Broken Heart, but I’m listening to the audiobook already so I didn’t think it would count). When Haru was here was a book I purchased in 2024 during either my birthday buying spree funded by work, or when I just wanted a pick me up in Waterstones… either way, it sounds like it is going to break my heart in the sweetest of ways…
Prompt 3: Read a book under 300 pages
> The Twelve by Liz Hyder
This was a recent pick up from Waterstones (as in 2025 recent, not last week recent) but it turns out I don’t have a lot of books under 300 pages on my book case… and I don’t know an easy way to check kindle books for page counts short of opening them all individually.
Prompt 4: Google a trope and read the first book it recommends (that you haven’t read)
> Broken Bonds by J. Bree
I chose Fated Mates as my trope – not usually once of my favourites, but I thought I’d have an easier time finding a book to read this way! The first two books that were recommended were sequels in their series so they were a no go. Which led me to Broken Bonds by J.Bree!
Prompt 5: Read a book by a female author
> Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
This one is kind of cheating… but also not really. I hoped I’d be able to read Empire of Storms in June after having to take May off from Throne of Glass… and it happened to fit this prompt perfectly!
Book Club Picks…
Cody & James (Cody & James’ Book Club)
This poll has been a nightmare – first two books were so close that Cody & James decided to run a second poll with just those books… which was then 50/50 quite close to the ending of the poll. So they announced that both books would be chosen (one June and one July) – so the poll was instead just which one first… The options are The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig and My Friends by Frederick Backman.
The Knight and The Moth was declared June’s winner, and as I have already read it, that means I won’t be participating in Cody & James’ book club for June. I don’t have much of an interest of reading My Friends either. So, it is more likely I’ll be returning to an earlier month’s pick that I didn’t get to and reading that between June & July. And that is, The Will of the Many by James Islington. I was gutted I didn’t get round to it, so maybe having 2 months to get to it will mean it’ll finally happen!
Emmy (What We’re Reading)
Fairydale by Veronica Lancet has won the poll in Emmy’s book club! I have had Fairydale on my radar for a while and have it downloaded on my kindle (through kindle unlimited) so I am excited to have an excuse to kick my butt into gear and read it. However, it is quite a chunky book! So, that does make me nervous.
Jamiee (Queen’s Hollow)
The Exorcism of Faeries by J.L Vampa won the June poll for Queen’s Hollow. I have only heard of this one recently (Bailee on youtube recently read and raved about it! So it was added to my TBR as a result of that) and it was published in April 2025! For those in the UK, if you want to read it, it’s on kindle unlimited! Which is how I’ll be picking it up if I do manage to get to it. I don’t know much about it, other than it do be gothic… So we shall see how that one goes!
Final Comments…
I do think having the shorter TBR – on my blog, that I’m somewhat held accountable too – was a smart choice. Even though I DNF’d two of the books chosen in May, I didn’t feel guilty picking up other books to read that wasn’t on the blog post because ultimately it was only 5 books plus the book clubs! And the book clubs are an optional additional read for me – I aim to read 1 of them, but if I can get to more then that’s great!
I’m trying to make sure my TBR isn’t a source of pressure, which it was becoming. Even though my intention had been a source of inspiration due to the amount of books there to pick from, that got lost. Now I’m just letting my book shelves and my kindle library be my source of inspiration. And I liked it in May…
I’m hoping the addition of the TBR Prompt Haribo Jar will only help me enjoy the TBR creation that little bit more!
Reading With Tyler 
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