Suggested Reads for June 2025

Millstadt Library
Jun 17
8 min read

Looking for some book inspiration? Here are some suggested reads for June!

These books have been on the New York Times Bestseller List and at the top of the Millstadt Library's most circulated list. At the end of these lists, Nichole picks a book or two that she personally recommends.

We just reviewed The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and are reading Beach Vibes by Susan Mallory for our next Senior Center Book Club meeting on Monday, July 21 at 11 a.m.

Without further ado, here are this month's picks!

Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television by Todd Purdum

An illuminating biography of Desi Arnaz, the visionary, trailblazing Cuban American who revolutionized television and brought laughter to millions as Lucille Ball’s beloved husband on I Love Lucy, leaving a remarkable legacy that continues to influence American culture today.

Desi Arnaz is a name that resonates with fans of classic television, but few understand the depth of his contributions to the entertainment industry. In Desi Arnaz, Todd S. Purdum offers a captivating biography that dives into the groundbreaking Latino artist and businessman known to millions as Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy. Beyond his iconic role, Arnaz was a pioneering entrepreneur who fundamentally transformed the television landscape.

His journey from Cuban aristocracy to world-class entertainer is remarkable. After losing everything during the 1933 Cuban revolution, Arnaz reinvented himself in pre-World War II Miami, tapping into the rising demand for Latin music. By twenty, he had formed his own band and sparked the conga dance craze in America. Behind the scenes, he revolutionized television production by filming I Love Lucy before a live studio audience with synchronized cameras, a model that remains a sitcom gold standard today.

Despite being underestimated due to his accent and origins, Arnaz’s legacy is monumental. Purdum’s biography, enriched with unpublished materials and interviews, reveals the man behind the legend and highlights his enduring contributions to pop culture and television. This book is a must-read biography about innovation, resilience and the relentless drive of a man who changed TV forever.

Genres: Biography | Nonfiction | Tv | Biography Memoir | History

368 pages, Hardcover | First published June 3, 2025

Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

When a tight-knit family moves from Brooklyn to Maine, their lives are upended by an event that will alter their new community forever in this bighearted, sparkling debut for fans of Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Pineapple Street, and Schitt’s Creek

Hazel Blum, please report to the principal’s office. Hazel Blum.

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere college town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, spend the summer at the town pool, where they acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine. Emotionally deft, authentic, and compulsively readable, Hazel Says No is a debut novel not to be missed.

352 pages, Hardcover | Expected publication June 17, 2025

Code Word Romance by Carlie Walker

Two exes. One mission. A trip she'll never forget...

Max is just your average girl. She works odd jobs, has a soul-crushing amount of debt and just happens to have an uncanny resemblance to Europe's youngest female prime minister, Sofia Christensen . . .

So when the prime minister receives a credible death threat, the CIA approaches Max with a a life-changing amount of money if she pretends to be Sofia on the prime minister's annual Italian trip.

It would be a dream if it weren't for those pesky assassins and Flynn, Max's ridiculously hot handler - the man who broke her heart years and years ago.

With her life now on the line, Max knows she has no choice but to lose herself in the role. But losing her heart to Flynn again? Now that's a risk that she isn't willing to take . .

320 pages, Paperback | Published March 18, 2025

The Ghostwriter: Julie Clark

The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

328 pages, Hardcover | First published June 3, 2025

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel

Kristin Harmel, the New York Timesbestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama” (Kelly Harms, author ofThe Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.

Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.

But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed” $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.

384 pages, Hardcover | Expected publication June 17, 2025

The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart.

Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother's enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?

480 pages, Hardcover | First published June 10, 2025

How to Dodge a Cannonball by Dennard Dayle

A cutting, revealing caricature of the American Civil War, told through the eyes of a white teenager who joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers, for fans of Colson Whitehead and James McBride.

Razor-sharp and hilarious, How to Dodge a Cannonball tells the story of Anders, a white teenager who volunteers to be a Union Army flag-twirler to escape his abusive mother. In desperate acts of self-preservation, he defects—twice—before joining a Black regiment at Gettysburg, claiming to be an octoroon. In his new and entirely incredulous unit, Anders becomes entangled with questionable military men and an arms dealer working for both sides. But more importantly, he bonds with the other soldiers, finding friendship and a family he desperately needs. After deploying to New York City to suppress the draft riots and to Nevada to suppress Native Americans, Anders begins to see the war through the eyes of his newfound brothers.

Dayle’s satire spares no one, whether he’s writing about Anders' naivete and unexpected love interest, the quirks of Confederate and Union soldiers, those out to make a quick buck off the tragedy of war, or the theater of war itself (spoiler: literally theater as the novel includes a one-act play the troop obsesses over while they wait for action).

336 pages, Hardcover | Expected publication June 17, 2025

NICHOLE'S RECOMMENDATIONS

I was excited when I saw this book coming out and had my hold on it right away. Afterall, who could resist what was seemingly a romantic version of Dexter?

And the novel started off strong, the play between the two main characters and the male lead's possible identity as a serial killer. As it moved forward, it certailny changed into more of a typical contemporary romance, which for better or worse, was fine. The female lead was hard to get behind, but she was different.

There are some great twists in the book and the overall ending is pretty touching. I would recommend giving this a shot if you like contempoary romance with some true heartfelt storylines interwoven.

Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey

What would you do if you thought your coworker was getting away with murder—literally?

Dolores dela Cruz has been dying to spot one in the wild, and he fits the mold: strangler gloves, calculated charm, dashing good looks that give a leg up in any field . . . including fields of unmarked graves. The new office temp is definitely a serial killer.

Jake Ripper finds a welcome distraction in his combative and enigmatic new coworker. He hasn’t come across anyone as interesting as Dolores in a long time. But when mere curiosity evolves into a darkly romantic flirtation, Jake can’t help but wonder if, finally, he’s found someone who really sees him, skeletons in the closet and all. Until Dolores asks Jake’s help to dispose of a body . . .

A morbidly funny and emotionally resonant novel about the ways life—and love—can sneak up on us (no matter how much pepper spray we carry).

384 pages, Paperback | First published April 29, 2025

*all descriptions of the novels and the book covers are from GoodReads.com

Suggested Reads for June 2025

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