It’s finally June! Summer time! Spring cleaning is complete and the sun is shining! But some stories aren’t as shiny as the sun, and some messes can’t be cleaned by the cleanliness of spring. This month, the 3 reads for June deals with topics such as mental illness, disease, death, and a murder filled cherry on top! Enjoy!

Matt Haig- The Midnight Library

Libraries are magical places. Within them, lives the lives of thousands. Within their pages, the souls of many sit stacked neatly onto a shelf, side by side, in harmony. However, in “The Midnight Library”, protagonist Nora Seed, gets to experience what it would be like to live in a world where she gets to reconsider her choices. Nora finds herself in The Midnight Library, where an infinite amount of books live. In this library, she has the opportunity to live life in a numerous timelines, as one may wish to do when they have lost their way. Wouldn’t life be simpler if we all had an opportunity like this? To change our wrongs, and perfect our rights. Since it’s not possible, getting to read about Nora choosing happiness is a breath of fresh air.

Sherwin B. Nuland- How We Die Reflections of Life’s Final Chapter

Most of us fear it; some treat it as another chapter of life that has yet to begin, but we’re all curious about it: death. How does it happen? Why does it happen? And why does it seem to happen to the wrong people at the right time? Although those can be difficult to answer, Sherwin B. Nuland does an excellent job of breaking apart the pieces of death to help readers better their understanding. We get a glimpse through the perspective of a surgeon as to how the human body succumbs to different varieties of disease, and ultimately shows us that dying isn’t meant to be feared, but embraced. The final breath we take, no matter the circumstance of the cause, is peaceful, as we continue our journey throughout the universe. Death isn’t the end. It’s a new beginning.

Steve Cavanagh- TH1RT3EN

Attorney Eddie Flynn gets persuaded to take a high profile case; the biggest of his career. When movie star Bobby Solomon is charged with murder, Eddie isn’t immediately convinced of his innocence, but after some investigating of his own, he’d swear by it. Antagonist Joshua Kane has to be, without a doubt, the most sickly twisted antagonist I’ve ever read about. Cavanagh put so much originality into this character, and I was so disgusted by his behavior, but intrigued as to how a mind could justify such horrendous actions. (Yes, plural) Eddie may have met his match when dealing with Joshua, because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.

If you’re interested in reading more 3 reads, check out last months recommendations here!