Another month is coming to a close, and that means it’s time to share the books purchased in June. As June was my birthday month, I did get quite a few books this month; however, the vast majority of those were gifted, and so I am leaving them out of this haul. My June 2024 Book Haul contains a handful of books, some new and some used. However, I am excited to add all of these to my TBR and read them in the future.
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June 2024 Book Haul
Yona of the Dawn Vol. 44 by Mizuho Kusanagi
A red-haired princess loses her family and her kingdom… Now she must rise and fight for her throne!
Princess Yona lives an ideal life as the only princess of her kingdom. Doted on by her father, the king, and protected by her faithful guard Hak, she cherishes the time spent with the man she loves, Su-won. But everything changes on her 16th birthday when tragedy strikes her family!
Yellow Dragon Zeno has sealed away the other three dragons in the Chalice of the Four Dragons’ Blood. He tells Yona and Hak that he wishes to return the four dragons to the heavens and end his life. But is this heartbreaking farewell truly the end of the dragon warriors?
Rascal Does Not Dream of His Girlfriend by Hajime Kamoshida
AN UNBELIEVABLE ANNOUNCEMENT!
The day Sakuta dreamed about is finally here. His search for Touko Kirishima has led him to a music festival where Mai is performing. Filled with concern and anticipation, he attends to figure out who the mysterious singer is and how she’s connected to Mai. Instead, he starts seeing strange things, like multiple Mais. And naturally, the weirdness doesn’t stop there. Will Sakuta be able to unravel this latest mystery and finally keep Mai safe?
West Like Lightning by Jim DeFelice
On the eve of the Civil War, three American businessmen launched an audacious plan to create a financial empire by transforming communications across the hostile territory between the nation’s two coasts. In the process, they created one of the most enduring icons of the American West: the Pony Express. Daring young men with colorful names like “Bronco Charlie” and “Sawed-Off Jim” galloped at speed over a vast and unforgiving landscape, etching an irresistible tale that passed into myth almost instantly. Equally an improbable success and a business disaster, the Pony Express came and went in just eighteen months, but not before uniting and captivating a nation on the brink of being torn apart. Jim DeFelice’s brilliantly entertaining West Like Lightning is the first major history of the Pony Express to put its birth, life, and legacy into the full context of the American story.
The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company—or “Pony Express,” as it came to be known—was part of a plan by William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell to create the next American Express, a transportation and financial juggernaut that already dominated commerce back east. All that stood in their way were almost two thousand miles of uninhabited desert, ice-capped mountains, oceanic plains roamed by Indian tribes, whitewater-choked rivers, and harsh, unsettled wilderness.
The Pony used a relay system of courageous horseback riders to ferry mail halfway across a continent in just ten days. The challenges the riders faced were enormous, yet the Pony Express succeeded, delivering thousands of letters at record speed. The service instantly became the most direct means of communication between the eastern United States and its far western territories, helping to firmly connect them to the Union.
Populated with cast of characters including Abraham Lincoln (news of whose electoral victory the Express delivered to California), Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody (who fed the legend of the Express in his Wild West Show), and Mark Twain (who celebrated the riders in Roughing It), West Like Lightning masterfully traces the development of the Pony Express and follows it from its start in St. Joseph, Missouri—the edge of the civilized world—west to Sacramento, the capital of California, then booming from the gold rush. Jim DeFelice, who traveled the Pony’s route in his research, plumbs the legends, myths, and surprising truth of the service, exploring its lasting relevance today as a symbol of American enterprise, audacity, and daring.
The Shadow Riders by Louis L’Amour
Dal and Mac Traven left Texas young and idealistic. They came back from opposite sides of a living hell, a war that had torn the nation in two. They wanted only to reclaim their old lives—but one man held their futures hostage.
Colonel Henry T. Ashford had gathered an army of criminals and renegade soldiers, leading them on a path of destruction and kidnapping through Texas to the Gulf. Among Ashford’s captives were the Travens’ sister and Dal’s tough-minded fiancée, Kate.
Now Mac and Dal must take up arms once again and ride together against Ashford’s army—ready to fight another war, if that’s what it takes to win the freedom of the women they love.
Sundancer by Shelley Peterson
From the outside, 13-year-old Alberta, Bird, looks like a typical teenager. She spends her days attending school, riding horses, and helping out on the farm where she lives with her Aunt Hannah. But Bird is anything but typical. For one, she hears things that no one else hears, like the thoughts of the various animals she befriends. For another, she doesn’t talk.
Although it causes some problems at school, and with the kids who come to the farm to train, Bird’s unwillingness to speak isn’t a big issue for her aunt. In fact, when a new “problem” horse arrives at the farm, Hannah realizes that the strange and silent Bird is the only one who can break through his defenses. But when Bird’s mother Eva decides to pay a visit, with a new boyfriend and Bird’s younger sister in tow, old wounds are opened and everything changes.
The Pullein-Thompson Treasury of Horse And Pony Stories
Packed with 38 exciting adventures, this bumper collection from the world’s best-loved horse storytellers is sure to delight horse and pony lovers everywhere. The three Pullein-Thompson sisters, Josephine, Christine and Diana, are among the favourite equestrian writers of all time. They first began writing horse and pony stories together in their teens, and between them went on to pen over a hundred books. The sisters’ experience and knowledge of life on horseback shines through in this wonderful collection.
I hope you enjoyed my June 2024 Book Haul. What books did you buy this month?
