June Worthwhile Stuff

📚 Books
Party of Two, Jasmine Guillory: This book is as fizzy, ephemeral, and joyful as the fireworks on its cover. Party of Two is a fun summer read that is basically a gender-flipped Notting Hill with a politician instead of a movie star. I love that all of Guillory's books are set in the same universe, and characters from previous books pop up in each new one. Her books are more rom-com than old-school Romance, making them accessible and relatable. Plus, they are filled with awesome, strong female characters.


🎶 Music
Fine Line, Harry Styles: I'm about six months late to this one, but the pandemic has given me the bandwidth to explore new-ish pop music, and I am better for it. This is another album that lives up to the hype and is perfect for summer. The pure pop of "Adore You" was the hook for me, but now that I've had a chance to properly dive into the album, I have also become quite fond of the 60s/70s Laurel Canyon influences found in "Golden", "Canyon Moon", and "Treat People with Kindness"; the psychedelia of "She" and "Sunflower, Vol. 6"; and mellow folk vibes layered with fuzzy guitars (somewhat reminiscent of early Bon Iver) of "Cherry" and "Fine Line". Styles draws from a wide range of influences, yet the resulting album is a beautifully coherent piece of art.

"Make Em Wanna Change", Adam Sanders: Adam Sanders delivers yet another inspiring country song with heartfelt, thoughtful lyrics that avoid the country life cliches that seem to be overtaking the genre these days. Sanders put out a tee shirt a few years ago that proclaimed 90s Country as the best decade in music, and "Make Em Wanna Change" definitely hearkens back to that era.

"Freedom '20", Miles Fisher: I love Miles Fisher's original stuff (check out his excellent Video Music EP), but his covers are awesome too. He blessed us with a killer take on "This Must Be The Place" (complete with an American Psycho-inspired music video), and now he brings us a new version of a George Michael classic. In Miles' own words, his latest is "an upbeat banger that belongs on your summer playlist. They don’t make hit singles like this anymore - I had to record 29 separate vocal tracks alone (he had a whole choir). Everything you hear is me so turn it up."