This Week: June 21st

News and Updates

Are you a soccer fan? The FIFA World Cup seems to be everywhere right now—and I’m loving every minute of it.

Full disclosure: I’m not actually a soccer fan, but I am a fan of the incredible energy it brings. There’s something special about seeing so many cultures and countries come together for the love of one sport. From the Tartan Army to the Green Army, the Oranje Legioen to the Outlaws—I can’t get enough of the fan spirit!

Curious to learn more about the stars behind the excitement? Check out this list from Goodreads of soccer-related books for some great reads.

This Week

Swashbuckler stories are adventure fiction with swagger: sword fights, narrow escapes, clever disguises, tests of loyalty, sea voyages, court intrigue—and heroes who win as much through nerve and charm as brute strength. Even as the setting shifts—pirate ships, royal courts, ancient cities, rebellion plots—the emotional engine remains the same: momentum, danger, wit, and the exhilaration of watching someone stay bold under pressure.

These stories tend to deliver clear stakes, unforgettable villains, brisk pacing, and a strong sense of justice or honor. At the same time, they leave plenty of room for banter, romance, found family, and big, cinematic moments. It’s the perfect prompt for books that feel transportive, propulsive, and fun—especially for summer readers craving movement, adventure, and personality.

Monthly Reading Challenge: Adventure

Weekly Reading Challenge: Swashbuckler

If you’re a fan of the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Anthony Hopkins, this week’s pick is for you. The film draws heavily from Johnston McCulley’s original story, The Mark of Zorro, which follows the masked hero on his quest for justice—and to rescue the woman at the heart of the story.

The Mark of Zorro is a perfect fit for our swashbuckler theme, with all the elements readers love: a masked hero, daring sword fights, secret identities, high drama, romance, and a bold stand against injustice.

Zorro himself is both charming and theatrical, using wit and skill to outmaneuver corrupt power—one of the hallmarks of truly satisfying swashbuckling fiction. The story delivers that larger-than-life, adventurous energy the genre thrives on: danger, flair, rebellion, and a hero who makes justice feel thrilling rather than grim.

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

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty
The Black Corsair, Emilio Salgari
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

New This week

There are no upcoming anticipated releases this week, but I do have one special book on preorder!

Amy Chamberlain’s Half Price Happiness sounds like a novel that truly sees so many of us right now. Its heroine is a master of discounts, coupons, and sales—but when a string of small disasters upends her life, she begins to realize that bargain-hunting isn’t the only place she’s been cutting corners.

What happens when we stop chasing the deal and start chasing happiness itself? Chamberlain’s story follows a woman determined to redefine what it means to live well, learning to find satisfaction beyond the thrill of saving money and discovering a fuller, more meaningful version of happiness along the way.

In Case You Missed It

Last Week’s Prompt

In 2017, I decided to try my hand at quilting. Terrified of sewing machines and unsure where to begin, I chose a simple block pattern and set out to hand-sew a quilt top from cheerful flannel prints and colors I found in the discount bin at our local fabric store. Nearly a year later, I had a fully finished quilt—100% hand-sewn. It was a labor of love and a way to prove to myself that I could do it.

For as long as textiles have been part of human culture, quilting has had a place in it. The art of sewing together scraps from garments and other fabrics to create beautiful, functional blankets gave new life to materials that were precious to many families. Whether because of isolation, poverty, or scarcity, fabric was not always easy to obtain. History is filled with references to threadbare military uniforms and early pioneers huddling beneath scraps of blankets for warmth.

That context makes the signal quilts associated with the Underground Railroad even more compelling. Created with limited resources—both materials and time—these quilts served as possible lifelines, helping guide individuals as they sought safety and freedom. Yet the meanings of many symbols used to communicate with conductors and passengers have been blurred by time. The generation responsible for creating these works of art often lacked access to literacy and the ability to record their own history in writing, so much of what we know today was preserved through oral tradition and generational storytelling, with some details inevitably lost along the way.

When Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard set out to uncover the hidden history of these symbols and their use, those challenges were front of mind. With few historical documents written by the makers themselves or by members of their communities, the authors often had to rely on secondary sources—sources that may have misunderstood the history from the beginning or reported it through biases that cannot be ignored. What they could not have anticipated was the vibrant tradition of the Gullah communities along the Carolina coast, or one quilter whose stories would reveal far more than the history of signal quilts. Ozella Williams’ ability to build intrigue as she shared her memories opened the door to a broader understanding not only of quilting as an art form, but also of how textiles may have been used to help change history.

I give Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad 4.85 out of 5 stars. With my limited knowledge of both the art form and this history before reading the book, I thought I had a firm grasp on the creation and use of signal quilts. I was quickly proven wrong. Tobin and Dobard bring readers along on a journey of discovery that mirrors their own years of research. I appreciated the honest, open discussions included in these pages, especially the authors’ willingness to engage with difficult topics rather than shy away from them. I often found myself pausing to search for place names and quilt patterns online so I could gather visuals and additional context to deepen my understanding as I read. I connected with both the authors and their interview subjects, and I could not stop telling my quilting community about this book. Hidden in Plain View takes the Underground Railroad, its conductors, and the brave people who undertook this journey out of the pages of our school history books and breathes life into them as real people seeking the basic rights we value today.

I chose Hidden in Plain View for the Read With Lindsey reading challenge prompt “Underground Railroad” and in honor of Juneteenth later this week. Over the past few years, we have read books written by enslaved people, histories of the last slave ship to arrive in America and its continuing legacy, and fictional works depicting slavery. This year, I felt it was important to show not only the struggle for survival and the fight for basic rights, but also the covert methods used to pursue freedom. If you have appreciated biographies of Harriet Tubman or nonfiction works such as Bound for Canaan, you will likely find this book just as meaningful.

Last Week’s Articles

Juneteenth is a meaningful time to reflect on freedom, remembrance, and the stories that help us understand history with more depth and humanity. In last week’s post, we celebrated this remembrance by sharing five powerful books that open up conversations about slavery, memory, resilience, and the lasting impact of the past through modern literature. These stories not only honor history but also challenge us to listen more closely and engage more thoughtfully with the narratives that shape our present.

You can read more about why these books still matter and what they bring to the conversation here.

Last Week’s Preview

Jessica Guerrieri’s Both Can Be True is a thoughtful, emotional mystery about addiction, family trauma, fractured trust, and the complicated bonds between women. Centered on the Gilmore sisters, the novel explores how grief, mental illness, and alcoholism can shape a family while also showing how community and connection can help people begin to heal. Guerrieri’s portrayal of addiction is honest and self-aware, and her depiction of parenting a neurodivergent child while partnering with a neurodivergent spouse feels especially lifelike.

I give Both Can Be True 4 out of 5 stars. While the story was somewhat difficult to follow at first and the ending felt less seamless than the rest of the book, the characters, themes, and audiobook narration made this a memorable read. This would be a strong choice for book clubs or buddy reads, especially for readers who enjoy layered mysteries and emotionally complex family stories. Content includes depictions of addiction and drug use.

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 21st

News and Updates