What We're Reading This Month: June 2016

June is all about female protagonists, family secrets, and rich, multi-layered stories with multiple points of view. We can't enough of these powerful novels (three of which are brand new or upcoming releases) that are making us re-think everything we know about relationships, love, and loss. Scroll down for the full list of what we're reading this month.

1. Sister Dear by Laura McNeill

One sister is accused of a crime she didn't commit and has just been released from prison after a decade away from her family. The other sister has been raising her niece for ten years and hoping for the truth to remain hidden. But what is the truth? Sister Dear is a thrilling novel with surprising twists that will have you up late into the night. (Release date: April 19, 2016)

2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

For close to seventy years, from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, the United States sent orphaned and abandoned children on trains from the east coast to the midwest in order to help them find families. Some were lucky. Many were not. This somewhat dark piece of our history is explored in Orphan Train as two very different women, one young and one old, embark on a journey to discover who they are, what they're worth, and how to move forward from the past. (Release date: April 2, 2013)

3. The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

Ten years ago, three best friends made choices that dramatically shifted the outcome of their lives. And on the night of their fiftieth birthday party, they meet a magician who sends them back to the year they turned forty. Will they make the same choices? Will they be able to change the future? Or are some things destined to be, no matter what? The Year We Turned Forty is a fun beach read with a whole lot of depth. (Release date: April 26, 2016)

4. First Comes Loves by Emily Giffin

Josie and Meredith are two sisters who have been mourning the loss of their brother for years. And since that fateful night, nothing has been the same. In fact, his death is the catalyst for all that has gone wrong in their lives. A vast departure from Giffin's earlier novels but with the same beautiful storytelling, First Comes Love is a wonderful novel about what happens when we keep secrets...and how it's never too late to forgive the ones we love. (Release date: June 28, 2016)