elisa

June 2026

This month I read 4 ebooks and 1 eaudiobook and 1 physical book from the Toronto Public library, and 1 pdf, totalling to 7 books.

The numbers as of June 30th, 2026:

Total Reading Goal: 48/100 (+7)

COMPLETED: Canada Reads Shortlist: 5/5

Canada Reads Longlist: 7/10 (+0)

Nonfiction Goal: 3/12 (+1) – Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

TPL Reading Challenge: 15/25 (+2) – About a Book: How to Write a Love Story – Workplace: Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen

Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen

TPL Reading Challenge: Workplace

Synopsis: Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have built a comfortable life for themselves in Toronto with their family nail salon. But when an ultra-glam chain salon opens across the street, their world is rocked.

Complicating matters further, their landlord has jacked up the rent and it seems only a matter of time before they lose their business and everything they’ve built. They enlist the help of their daughter, Jessica, who has just returned home after a messy breakup and a messier firing. Together with their son, Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. Relationships are put to the test as the line between right and wrong gets blurred. Debbie and Phil must choose: do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?

My thoughts: I had heard about this book for quite a while but I had avoided reading it since I did not like the face on the cover staring right at me. I know it was widely acclaimed, so after I enjoyed Cleo Dang Would Rather be Dead by the same author I felt like I had to give it a try. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it. If CDWRBD felt very vibrant and emotional, Sunshine Nails felt muted. I think part of the reason was that the book focused on the entire Tran family without committing to any one character, but overall I found that the writing style did not draw me in at all. Nothing was particularly wrong, but also nothing felt exceptional, or even particularly interesting (except for the discourse on the working conditions of nail salons).

Rating: 3/5 startups that ruin everyone’s life

The City of Brass (Daevabad Trilogy #1)

Synopsis:

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

My Thoughts:

I picked up this title because I had read the first book in the Amina al-Sirafi series, which is by the same author, and which I had really liked. This one, not so much. It had the double whammy of having a lot of fantasy elements, layered with a lot of political elements, which resulted in me not really understand a lot of the nuances that were driving the story forward. By the time I got to the final cliffhanger, I was mostly annoyed by the presence of the cliffhanger rather than being motivated to continue the series. Readers would know that I would never compare anyone to Rebecca Yarros/Fourth Wing, but it felt a tiny bit like that. I should say that there was nothing bad about this book, mostly that it just wasn’t as interesting to me, personally, as her other works.

Rating: 3/5 boats that are worse than being in the poisonous lake

Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novack

Synopsis:

A 32-year-old sex worker has just killed extremist political hopeful Meat Neck. Holed up in an off-the-grid cabin in the woods, she now has only two days, her wits and a high-speed internet connection to save her own life.

Her best bet is to reach out to the wildly popular feminist investigative podcast Justice for Bimbos. In a hastily-typed series of emails, the newly-minted “Murder Bimbo” explains how she was recruited and then trained by a cabal of code-named US agents to take out Meat Neck.

But, when she starts a new set of emails, this time addressed to her ex-girlfriend, we begin to realize that Murder Bimbo might not be the unsuspecting cog she claims to be.

In a time where 'truth' is more flexible than ever before – who really is Murder Bimbo? And what will she do next?

My thoughts:

Probably the best part about this book was how different the protagonist’s stories were, but also how similar they were. Everything was built on a kernel of truth, but spun in very different ways. As an example, she always calls her coconspirators by the same nicknames, but in each version gives a different backstory behind the nicknames, with varying levels of respect/disrespect. It was really empowering to watch her peel back the layers and claim more agency and manipulation, but still be a bit freaked out since you don’t know what was truly going on in her mind. The only main flaw in this book was just that it felt so American because it was specifically about American politics and American culture that it felt a bit off-putting to me.

Rating: 4/5 pre-dinner hikes through a secluded forest

Everything is Tuberculosis

Nonfiction

Synopsis:

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

My thoughts:

Like everybody, I too fell for the hype around this book. With a name like “Everything is Tuberculousis” I thought it was going to be a crawl through history, examining TB throughout the ages, and pointing out how it has and continues to influence so many aspects of our lives. And it did kind of delivered on that. My issue was that it was too pop science-y for me. It felt really simplistic, addicting to read but light on actual substance (ironically this is exactly how it felt after finishing the author’s hit tween novel The Fault in Our Stars”). The story and the content are important and should be read, but overall I was a bit disappointed in this book, since it didn’t meet my (admittedly high) expectations.

Rating: 3/5 healthcare GDPs per capita that can’t actually afford anything

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Synopsis:

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s wondering how she’ll get through it. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is—unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body is weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she has her wits—and a will of iron. Leadership forgets the most important lesson Basgiath taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But determination to survive won’t be enough this year, because Violet knows the secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

My thoughts: I enjoyed reading this for the bookclub more than I enjoyed the book itself.

Rating: 2/5 stupid plot devices that don’t matter

Until Death by Mary Berman

Synopsis:

If Ophelia Cohen learned one thing from her parents, it’s that getting married is a bad idea. But if she’s learning anything from her widowed mother’s dementia, it’s that dying alone is worse. So when she meets Luke—the man of her mother’s dreams—marriage suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy.

But none of Ophelia’s obsessive scrolling on wedding forums can prepare her for the nightmare of planning her own. Why is her mother-in-law going crazy over every detail? Why is Luke’s family so eager to host the wedding in their vineyard’s ancient chapel? And what exactly will Ophelia have to sacrifice if she and her mother both hope to survive her special day?

Shot through with wicked humor, pitch-black horror, and unexpected romance, Until Death is a deliciously dark and funny send-up of the wedding industrial complex—and a mother-daughter story unlike any you’ve read before.

My Thoughts:

Readers will know that I’m not a big fan of horror, but I found this book to genuinely be extremely unsettling. I think the scariest horror stories are ones that could actually happen. So a supernatural monster or poltergeist doesn’t particularly scare me, but an obsessive stalker or an abusive ex-husband terrify me. I thought this book was quite scary, because fundamentally it was about Ophelia (whose mom has dementia) gradually losing her mind as she got further and further entrenched in her relationship and wedding planning. I found it to be especially terrifying because it was incredibly obvious to the reader what was going on (the mystical grape vine plants from the haunted vineyard were causing it), but Ophelia had no idea and for much of the book was completely helpless as her life collapsed around her. Far worse than any nightmare I’ve had (so far) about my own wedding.

Rating: 4/5 earrings that you hate so much you tear off your own earlobes

How to Write A Love Story by Catherine Walsh

Synopsis:

Ciara Sheridan’s father has left her with three things: a sprawling and distinctly ramshackle estate on the Irish coast, the outline for the finale to his bestselling epic fantasy series that he wanted her to finish—and writer’s block.

Enter Sam Frank: Sheridan fanboy and hotshot editor, sent from the New York publishing house direct to Ciara’s doorstep. Ciara was expecting a crusty old-timer, so the handsome young American is a surprise. And for his part, Sam was expecting Ciara to have written something by now.

Ciara and Sam have two weeks of the hottest Irish summer on record to write this novel together and secure Frank’s legacy—but will their own love story be the plot twist neither of them see coming?

My Thoughts:

This was a pretty average romance book. No big flaws except for the third act conflict which felt awkward and forced, but readers will know that I say that about every book. Not spectacular but also nothing major to complain about, which is a relief after Iron Flame tbh.

Rating: 3/5 smoothie trucks on the beach

i am, your most faithful blogger, elisa