This Week: June 7th

News and Updates

If you’re already hearing a chorus of “I’m bored” around your house like I am at mine, it might be time for a trip to the library! A recent visit sparked a handful of summer projects for our 10-year-old—embroidery, herbal healing, and even sourdough. While these are hobbies I’ve dabbled in over the years, it’s been such a joy to watch my child discover them through books, classes, and conversations with our favorite librarians.

If your kids (or you!) are looking for fun ways to fill your summer days, start by exploring your library’s summer reading programs and clubs—there’s a whole world of creativity waiting to be discovered.

This Week

Action-adventure is the branch of storytelling fueled by motion: chases, missions, escapes, survival, danger, and relentless momentum. Even as the setting shifts—jungle ruins, stormy seas, crime-ridden cities, magical kingdoms, spy networks, wilderness trails—the emotional promise remains the same: the reader is pulled irresistibly forward. It’s a genre built on stakes, propulsion, and capability, which is why it blends so seamlessly with thrillers, quests, swashbucklers, military fiction, survival tales, and cinematic fantasy.

Action-adventure satisfies our craving for escape, but it also delivers something deeper: a fantasy of capability. Quick thinking under pressure, daring choices, improbable survival, high-risk problem-solving—and always, the pull of “just one more chapter.” It’s a perfect moment to talk about books that feel like summer blockbusters, what makes a story truly unputdownable, and the many flavors of adventure—treasure hunts, expeditions, heists, pursuits, revenge missions, storm chases, or impossible quests.

Monthly Reading Challenge: Adventure

Weekly Reading Challenge: Action

I’ve had the honor of working with the author and his publisher in recent years, reviewing advance copies of the latest entries in the Prey series—but it felt like the right time to return to where it all began with Rules of Prey. While not his first novel, this is the book that made him a household name. Following a morally gray, famously flawed Minneapolis detective as he hunts a serial killer, the story grips readers with both its procedural intensity and its deeply human core.

For fans of quick-thinking protagonists, this novel delivers: gun battles, a tense cat-and-mouse pursuit, and sharp-edged banter with superiors all hit the mark. It’s an ideal Action-Adventure pick—fast-paced, high-stakes, and driven by pursuit, with all the elements that make a story feel electrifying and impossible to put down.

If you’re looking for other great books for this prompt, try one of these reads recommended by our StoryGraph community:

Angels & Demons, Dan Brown
The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum
The Hunt for the Red October, Tom Clancy
Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

New This week

Two of our most anticipated books of 2026 are hitting shelves Tuesday – have you pre-ordered your copies yet or will you be picking them up in store this week?

Based on the true history of witch hunts and persecution, Judy Molland’s The Making of a Witch weaves together historical fiction, suspense, and a touch of romance.

The story feels especially timely, echoing moments in which women’s lives and bodies are subject to external control—where something as natural as a miscarriage can be misunderstood, judged, or even criminalized. It adds a layer of urgency and resonance to a narrative rooted in the past.

What intrigued me most, though, is the author’s personal connection to the story. As a distant relative of the heroine, Molland brings both care and intimacy to the telling, transforming family history into a compelling and accessible narrative.This story feels extremely appropriate as we return to a patriarchal society where decisions about a woman’s body lies in the hands of the male lawmakers and something as natural as a miscarriage can be deemed a crime.

If you love The Good Witch or Gilmore Girls, this new release is right up your alley: two witches, a sentient house, and a community full of magical beings. When the house loses its caretaker—and with it, its magic—it’s up to the newcomers to figure out how to save both the home and the heart of the community.

This is a fantastic fantasy pick when you’re in the mood for something lighter, cozy, and full of heart. I especially loved the strong found-family thread woven throughout The Reimagining of Thornwood House.

Jaleigh Johnson blends magical realism, portal magic, and plenty of charm into a story that feels both whimsical and grounded—making it a perfect vacation read or a great one to share with teens.

In Case You Missed It

Last Week’s Prompt

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is structured around a classic quest: a promise made, a journey into danger, a series of trials, and a final reckoning. Gawain leaves the safety of Camelot, travels into the unknown, and moves steadily toward a confrontation he knows may cost him his life. That familiar arc gives the poem both momentum and enduring narrative power.

Tolkien’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight originates in a much older source: an anonymous 14th-century Arthurian poem preserved in a single medieval manuscript. As scholar and translator, Tolkien renders that original work into modern English while preserving its mythic atmosphere, moral complexity, and spirit of adventure.

I would rate this work 4.1 out of 5 stars. I admired its epic scale and the way it captures the tension and wonder of a traditional quest, though I occasionally found the narrative difficult to follow. Some of the archaic language and names also slowed my reading. Even so, it suited our quest theme especially well this week and served as an effective bridge between fantasy and adventure.

Last Week’s Articles

Summer always feels like the perfect time for an adventure — whether that means packing for a trip, stretching out in the sun with a good book, or getting lost in a story that takes you somewhere unexpected. This month’s reading challenge theme is Adventure, and we are celebrating all the quests, daring escapes, dangerous roads, and life-changing journeys that make this genre so unforgettable.

From epic fantasy and suspense to stories of courage, survival, and freedom, adventure fiction reminds us that the journey always leaves us changed. Last week’s article shares why I keep coming back to this genre, a few of the adventure stories that have stayed with me, and why this theme feels especially fitting as summer begins.

Read all the details here and tell me what your favorite Adventure series is in the comments!

Last Week’s Preview

The Prodigal Daughter by Isabella Valeri is an atmospheric novel of inheritance, control, and the quiet violence of family expectation. Set against a world of old-money privilege and buried secrets, it traces one young woman’s uneasy return to a dynasty that views her less as a daughter than as a piece in a larger design. Valeri writes with a strong sense of mood, layering suspense with emotional tension and the lingering chill of a gothic tale.

I give it 4.35 out of 5 stars. The first part moves slowly, but the final third delivers the intrigue, danger, and emotional payoff the premise promises. If you like stories about powerful families, hidden agendas, and young women pushing back against control, this is a strong pick—especially if you enjoy gothic-leaning suspense.

Both intimate and unsettling, the novel explores the pull between duty and self-determination with a sharp eye for power, image, and vulnerability. For readers drawn to suspense shaped by family dynamics, elegant menace, and heroines who resist the roles written for them, this is a darkly compelling read.

You can read the full review here.

Reading Challenge Prompts

Adventures await us in June! Starting with a great prompt that bridges the gap between fantasy and adventure, we will be going on reading quests over the next few weeks that will see us exploring some great subgenres.

June also brings Juneteenth, a day we have honored at Read With Lindsey for several years through intentional reading and reflection. In the past, we’ve explored works covering the last known slave ship to arrive on American soil, the earliest accounts of enslaved people brought to the New World, and the story of Solomon Northrup, who was unjustly kidnapped and sold into slavery. This year, our focus turns to the Underground Railroad, highlighting the courage of those who escaped enslavement and the individuals who risked their lives to guide them to freedom.

What reading adventures are you most excited for this month?

This Week: June 7th

News and Updates