June has always felt like the doorway to possibility.
When I was teaching, June meant the end of one season and the beginning of another. Now, in retirement, it feels even sweeter. The calendar opens, the days stretch a little longer, and I find myself looking ahead with the same excitement I felt as a child on the first day of summer vacation.
This year, I have simple plans.
I want to spend mornings watering flowers and tending tomato plants. I want to sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and a good book. I want to write stories, work on manuscripts, and enjoy the freedom of creating without rushing from one obligation to the next.
My husband and I spend most of the year in Texas, but every summer we make our way north to our nearly 100-year-old log cabin on a lake in Northern Michigan.
By the time June arrives, I am more than ready.
Our summers in Michigan are what we wait for. There’s something special about returning to a place that holds so many memories. The cabin has weathered almost a century of seasons, and each summer it welcomes us back with cool lake breezes, towering trees, and a slower pace of life. Mornings begin with coffee on the porch. Days are spent tending flowers, checking on tomato plants, writing, reading, and enjoying the simple rhythm of summer.
One of the things I look forward to most each summer is creating a reading list.
Some of these books I will absolutely read. Others may sit patiently on my nightstand until autumn. That’s part of the fun. A summer reading list is less about accomplishment and more about possibility.
So here are the books I hope to read this summer, somewhere between watering tomatoes, chasing sunsets, writing new stories, and enjoying every beautiful Michigan day.
Just Finished
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry
- Code Name Heléne by Ariel Lawhon
- The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow
Currently reading
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Want to read
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
What are you currently reading? Have a beautiful June and…
Happy Reading,
Lisa
Blueberry Pancake Publishing 