Wondering what to read now? Here are all the hot new June 2023 book releases for you. I’ll let you know what I’ve read, what I can’t wait to read, and what’s getting all the attention this month.
In case you’re new to Booklist Queen, every month I cover all the hottest new book releases. I try to read as many new book releases as I can to give you an honest perspective on what to read and what to skip.
However, I realize that my to-read list might not exactly match yours. That’s why I’ve also included some of the most popular June 2023 book releases from your favorite authors.
Enough from me. Let’s get on to the June 2023 book releases so you can fill up your to-read list.
Top June 2023 Book Releases
The Seven Year Slip
Ashley Poston
Ever since her aunt’s death, Clementine has put her head down to work harder toward her goals at her publishing company. Living in her late aunt’s apartment, one day she finds herself shocked to find a man in her kitchen. With kind eyes and a seductive Southern drawl, he’s the perfect man for Clementine. Except for the cosmic mistiming: he actually exists seven years ago. When Clementine encounters him in the modern day, she is shocked by how much he has changed.
I haven’t read The Dead Romantics, Poston’s big hit last year, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Seven Year Slip, especially since I’m not much of a romance reader. To my pleasant surprise, I fell in love with Poston’s nuanced love story, which reminded me of a few of my favorite Josie Silver’s writing. This twist on a time travel story keeps you guessing, for every time Clementine slips into the past, it affects her interaction with the present. Poston takes the concept of right person/wrong time to a whole new level, giving you an engaging and enjoyable summer read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
My Rating:
Publication Date: 27 June 2023
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Zero Days
Ruth Ware
Jack and her husband Gabe are security experts, hired to break into buildings and hack security systems. When a routine assignment goes awry, Jack returns to find her husband dead. Now Jack is the prime suspect and, on the run, she must decide who she can trust while hunting the real killer.
In Zero Days, Ruth Ware forgoes her trademark gothic psychological thriller for a straight-up action thriller that sorely missed the mark. With just a few chapters, the reader finds Jack on the run for murder, never stopping until the end of the book. Instead of setting a thrilling pace, the plot felt repetitive, with bursts of movement interspersed with Jack’s thoughts as she grieves. With very few characters, it wasn’t difficult to figure out whodunit which always spools the fun of any mystery. Having read all of her books, Zero Days is my least favorite Ruth Ware book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Gallery/Scout Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
My Rating:
Publication Date: 20 June 2023
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The Five-Star Weekend
Elin Hilderbrand
A popular food blogger, Hollis Shaw’s life is not as picture-perfect as it seems. When her husband is killed in a car accident after an argument and her daughter pulls away, Hollis decides to try a “Five-Star Weekend.” She gathers her best friend from her teens, 20s, 30s, and midlife together for a weekend on Nantucket. But the perfect weekend turns sour when her friends don’t all get along and her childhood friend invites Hollis’s first love along.
The Only One Left
Riley Sager
In 1929, a teenage Lenora Hope was accused, but never convicted, of killing her parents and her sister. For decades, ever since polio left her unable to speak or move anything but her left hand, Lenora has remained in her family’s Maine estate. In 1983, after a six-month suspension after a patient’s death, Kit McDeere has no choice but to accept an assignment as Lenora’s home health aide. When Lenora begins to type out her story to Kit, Kit suspects that the old lady might not be as harmless as she appears.
Riley Sager’s thrillers are usually a summer staple for me, but The Only One Left was a struggle to read. The plot is mind-numbingly slow. Admittedly, it’s hard to introduce drama when your prime suspect is a paralyzed old lady who can’t talk. The first half of the book spends most of the time in Kit’s head, looping on the same anxious thoughts. The book finally picks up near the end, adding in some unexpected twists, but it took way too much forced reading to get to that point.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley Dutton through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
My Rating:
Publication Date: 20 June 2023
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Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Lisa See
The granddaughter of one of the only female doctors in China, Yunxian is taught all about women’s illnesses, alongside her best friend Meiling, a midwife-in-training. When Yunxian becomes a wife in an arranged marriage, Yunxian is forbidden from speaking to Meiling or helping the household women. Determined to break away from tradition, Yunxian goes on to treat women from every level of society in this novel based on a true story from the Ming Dynasty.
The Whispers
Ashley Audrain
In a well-off neighborhood, four families gather together for a pleasant summer barbecue but are thrown when Whitney, the perfect hostess, explodes at her son Xavier. Months later, Xavier falls out a bedroom window in the middle of the night. While he lies critically injured in the hospital, Whitney refuses to speak and the other women begin to wonder what really happened that night, knowing they all have secrets to hide.
The Whispers was a page-turning family drama that I could not put down, reading it in one evening. Each account of motherhood was different but contained such power, showing the strain that comes from the choices each woman makes. Unafraid to tackle hard subjects, Audrain tackles the dark side of motherhood in this intense suburban thriller.
My Rating:
Publication Date: 20 June 2023
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Love, Theoretically
Ali Hazelwood
Elsie Hannaway is an adjunct professor teaching theoretical physics by day. But by night, Elsie supplements her income as a fake girlfriend for rich clients. When Elsie’s favorite client turns out to be the brother of Jack Smith, the experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career, Elsie’s worlds unexpectedly collide. Elsie is more than prepared for an academic feud with Jack but is completely caught off-guard by the romantic tension between them.
Book of the Month – june 2023
Receiving my blue box from Book of the Month Club is a highlight of every month.
Here’s how it works – each month, they pick 5 books and you get to choose one book or skip until the next month. If you want to add any extra books, then you get them at a discounted price.
Each month is usually a mix of new releases and advance copies of unreleased books. If you are interested in joining, right now you can use my Book of the Month Club affiliate link to get your first book for $5!
The June Book of the Month selections are:
See the Complete List of Upcoming Releases!
GMA Book Club June 2023 Pick
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Emma Törzs
Half-sisters Joanna and Esther Kalotay have spent their whole life guarding the ancient and rare magic books their family has been sworn to protect for generations. To avoid her mother’s fate, Esther has fled to a remote Antarctic base while Joanna has isolated herself in the family home. When their father dies, the sisters reunite and discover that their parents have been keeping secrets from them. Secrets that span centuries.
Read With Jenna’s June 2023 Pick
The Celebrants
Steven Rowley
Just before graduation, an apartment of students at Berkley is shocked when their roommate Alec overdoses. Gathering together, they make a pact that when they are in desperate need, they can each request a living “funeral” – a gathering where they are reminded that life is still worthwhile. They’ve been there through Marielle’s divorce, Naomi’s parents’ death, and Craig’s art fraud conviction. But now Jordan’s diagnosis has him and his husband facing a living funeral that might precede an actual funeral. Although I liked the idea of the book, the characters fell flat for me and the friendships didn’t seem genuine.
Reese’s Book Club June 2023 Pick
Cassandra in Reverse
Holly Smale
Cassandra Dankworth has a fairly predictable life and she loves it that way. Until her boyfriend dumps her, she gets fired, and the local cafe runs out of banana muffins. When Cassandra discovers that she can go back and change the past, she starts making small adjustments to fix everything. Except, she realizes she might be trying to change all the wrong things.
The Most Anticipated June 2023 Book Releases
The Paris Daughter
Kristen Harmel
In 1939, Juliette and Elise become instant best friends in Paris, bonding over being young mothers to little girls. When Elise is targeted by the German occupation, she entrusts her daughter to Juliette. When Elise returns after the war, she finds Juliette’s bookshop reduced to rubble. Neighbors say that Juliette and a young girl survived. But which girl? And where have they gone?
All the Sinners Bleed
S. A. Cosby
After a career as an FBI agent, Titus Crown returns home to become the first Black sheriff of his county. A year later, a young Black man is shot by one of Titus’s deputies. Determined to find the truth wherever it leads, Titus must weave a fine line investigating a shocking crime in the American South.
The Spectacular
Fiona Davis
In 1956, Marion learns that being a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall is much more demanding than she imagined. When a bomb explodes in the theater, Marion urges the police to try a new technique: psychological profiling. As she gets caught up in the investigation, Marion realizes that she might be putting herself and those she loves at terrifying risk.
The Beach at Summerly
Beatriz Williams
In 1946, Emilia Winthrop, the daughter of the caretaker, becomes enchanted with Summerly’s new hostess, Olive Rainsford, and the surviving Peabody heirs. When an FBI agent turns up hunting a spy, Emilia’s decisions blow everything apart. Eight years later, the CIA is set to do a prisoner exchange, and Emilia finds once again caught up in the events.
Banyan Moon
Thao Thai
In this epic multigenerational novel, a Vietnamese American family is left reeling when the matriarch dies. With a positive pregnancy test already throwing her carefully planned life out of balance, Ann returns home to Florida to mourn her grandmother Minh. When Minh leaves her old gothic mansion to both Ann and Ann’s mother, Huơng, the mother and daughter must face old tensions. Meanwhile, Ann discovers secrets from Minh’s youth that have impacted the family for generations.
The First Ladies
Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
After co-authoring The Personal Librarian, Benedict and Murray team together to share another uplifting true story. The daughter of formerly enslaved persons, Mary McLeod Bethune became a champion of civil rights and women’s rights. Bethune eventually formed a strong friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. When Eleanor becomes First Lady, she finds herself more and more shifting from her husband’s viewpoints and taking a strong stand, working with Bethune to fight for justice and equality.
The Wind Knows My Name
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende weaves together two stories of parents searching for a better life for their children in this June 2023 book release. To keep him safe, in 1938, Samuel is shipped off from Austria to England with only a change of clothes and a violin. In 2019, Anita Díaz and her mother flee the violence of El Salvador hoping. When Anita is detained at the US Border alone as social workers desperately try to find her mother.
The Spare Room
Andrea Bartz
After giving everything up for a man who just called off their wedding, Kelly Doyle finds herself stranded in Philadelphia. When her childhood best friend offers her guest room during lockdown, Kelly jumps at the chance to reconnect. Quickly, Kelly falls in love with her hosts and they welcome her into an open marriage. But the deeper Kelly becomes entangled, the more she suspects they have done this before … and the last guest disappeared.
Popular June Upcoming Releases
What June 2023 Book Releases are You Most Excited to Read?
What books can you not wait to get your hands on this month? Did I miss any June 2023 book releases that you are anticipating? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases:
Nichole Bradburn says
I can’t wait to read My Magnolia Summer by Victoria Benton Frank, released June 6. Surprised to not see it included. Debut novel by Dorothea Benton Frank’s daughter (whose books I loved!!), stepping into her mothers shoes (as it were) after her death…