The JUNE Report | 2026

Nothing monumental happened. Somehow, it became one of my favourite months anyway

For someone who spends an alarming amount of time trying to optimise their life, June was refreshingly unproductive.

There were no big breakthroughs, no dramatic life updates and no moment where I suddenly became the sort of woman who gets through an entire week without saying, “I’ll reply to that later.”

Instead, I read without racing to finish the book. I went on holiday and spent entire afternoons doing little more than swimming, sleeping and deciding what to eat for dinner. I fell headfirst into a new sitcom, watched far too many documentaries and stood in a stadium with 80,000 other people remembering that caring deeply about something is one of life’s greatest joys.

READING

I have a confession to make.

For what I think is the first time in years, I didn’t finish a single book in a calendar month.

There, I’ve said it. Please don’t revoke my literary citizenship.

To be fair, it’s not as though I stopped reading. I was juggling about four books at once, despite once believing that people who did this were complete psychopaths. Somewhere along the way, I became one of them. I also finished a book on the 1st of July after taking it on holiday with me at the end of June. Agonising timing. Rather like arriving at the station just in time to watch your train pull away. Close enough to be frustrating, but not close enough to count.

Old me would’ve been irrationally annoyed. There would’ve been a tiny voice in my head saying, Well, you’ve broken the streak now. As if reading is Duolingo and an owl is about to knock on my front door demanding answers. But I said something last month that I’m trying very hard to believe: I’m reading for me, not for the tiny digital badge at the end of a Goodreads challenge. The books don’t know what month it is and neither should I.

Instead of pretending I have an impressive reading roundup, I thought I’d share something much more enjoyable: my fantasy TBR.

The inspiration came from Hannah Eyerman on Instagram, who went on a five day solo reading retreat. Five whole days dedicated almost entirely to books. Frankly, after a few months of 6 a.m. Monday alarms, this sounds less like a holiday and more like a medically prescribed treatment.

In my version, I’d catch the next flight to Copenhagen or maybe Hallstatt. Somewhere where the hotel duvet is suspiciously fluffy, breakfast pastries arrive still warm, the tea is bottomless, and every street looks like it’s been designed by someone who genuinely cares about window boxes.

I’d spend the mornings reading in a café until I felt guilty enough to go for a walk. I’d buy flowers I couldn’t possibly fit in my suitcase. I’d wander bookshops where I understand approximately three words but buy something anyway because the cover is beautiful. I’d be one of those women who effortlessly reads for six uninterrupted hours without checking Instagram.

Realistically, my screen time report would have something to say about that fantasy. My attention span currently resembles a Labrador puppy at a fireworks display. But this is my imaginary holiday, and in it I can absolutely finish a book in a day.

So these are the five I’d pack:

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

Ever since Careless People, I’ve become one of those insufferable people who recommends memoirs at dinner parties. This feels like it’ll scratch the same itch. Family, marriage, betrayal and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Exactly the kind of book that makes you underline half the pages and casually drop into conversation.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Everyone on the internet has read this except me. My toxic trait is refusing to buy hardbacks because I know a paperback is coming. Unfortunately, I want the paperback to arrive immediately because a tradwife influencer whose entire idyllic life is fake? That’s catnip.

Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert

I’ve accidentally let nonfiction fall off my reading list this year, so I’m making 2000s pop culture my latest hyperfixation. Consider this required reading. Less doomscrolling, more studying the decade that collectively altered all of our brain chemistry.

The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray

The second someone described this book to me, I knew it was getting added to the list. Hollywood, wellness culture, cults and the slow unraveling of identity. If a memoir leaves me questioning everything by chapter three, I’m usually in.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Sometimes you don’t need a new book, you just need to revisit the one that made you feel everything the first time around. My favourite Emily Henry novel and one I’m convinced only gets better with every reread.

EXPLORING

I ended the month exactly how June should end, on a girls’ holiday by the sea.

A couple of years ago, Albania wasn’t even on my travel wish list. Then every other TikTok seemed to feature impossibly turquoise water, friends kept coming home insisting it was “the next Croatia”, and I was convinced.

We stayed in Sarandë and spent most of our time between there and Ksamil. Albania feels like it’s on the edge of something. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, with crystal-clear water, incredible seafood and a coastline that still feels relatively untouched. At the same time, tourism is growing at an astonishing pace, and you can almost see the country changing in real time. Some places feel polished, others still feel like they’re figuring it all out. Personally, I found that part of its charm.

Getting there was surprisingly easy. We flew to Corfu and caught the ferry over to Sarandë, all pre-booked before we left. Almost everywhere accepted euros, even though the local currency is the Albanian lek, so we never felt caught out.

This wasn’t a sightseeing holiday. It was a switch-your-brain-off holiday. Our hotel had its own stretch of beach, so our days were spent reading, sleeping and swimming. We hired a boat one day and drifted between quiet coves with water so blue it looked edited. We treated ourselves to beach clubs that would have cost a small fortune in Ibiza or Mykonos but here were around €35 for the day. Every evening ended with seafood, sunset and several fiercely competitive rounds of cards.

It was the first holiday in years where my brain properly clocked off. No planning, no rushing around trying to make the most of every minute. Just sunshine, salty hair and the rare feeling that there was absolutely nowhere else I needed to be.

PLAYING

I have a feeling Not Suitable for Work is about to become one of those sitcoms. You know the ones. The shows you put on after a long day because spending twenty minutes with the characters feels like catching up with friends. Mine have always been Friends, New Girl and How I Met Your Mother. This month, Mindy Kaling’s latest has quietly joined the list.

The show follows five twenty-somethings trying to survive their first proper jobs in Manhattan. AJ and Davis are junior finance analysts working impossible hours, Abby is stuck as a celebrity stylist’s assistant, Kel is juggling substitute teaching while chasing acting, and Josh has landed a production assistant role in television thanks to his network CEO dad.

As someone who works in TV, Josh made me laugh because I’ve definitely met a few of him. And AJ? She was almost painfully relatable. She’s ambitious, outspoken and completely consumed by work, while still secretly hoping her office crush might notice her. I saw a little too much of myself in her.

What makes the show work isn’t the jobs, though. It’s the chemistry. Every character feels distinct without becoming a caricature, and within a couple of episodes I was already rooting for all of them. The friendships feel messy, funny and familiar in a way that’s surprisingly comforting.

I’ve seen people say the show doesn’t feel “Gen Z” enough because it isn’t trying to tick every cultural box. Personally, I think that’s its biggest strength. Instead of chasing trends, it focuses on something much harder to write: believable relationships.

It is a slow burn. If you’re expecting huge set pieces or instant laugh-out-loud moments, you might wonder what all the fuss is about after episode one. But then again, so were New Girl and Parks and Recreation. The best sitcoms often take a little time to settle into themselves, and once they do, you’re rewarded with characters you never want to leave. By the end, I wasn’t wondering whether I’d watch another season. I was wondering how soon I could start recommending it to everyone else.

OBSESSING WITH HARRY STYLES

If you read my last newsletter, you’ll already know I had what can only be described as a spiritual experience at Harry Styles. Less because of my quarter-life crisis and more because Harry Styles remains one of the greatest live performers I’ve ever seen.

I was one of those fangirls. The kind who watched every episode of The X Factor, learnt all five names before they were household names and somehow convinced herself a tweet ending in “x” was written just for her. Sixteen years later, I’m still here. Still buying the tickets. Still knowing every word.

There’s something incredibly special about growing up alongside an artist. Harry has been the soundtrack to so many different versions of me, from a teenager with posters on her bedroom wall to someone now standing in Wembley, looking around and realising we’ve all grown up together.

One of my favourite parts actually happens before the show. You start spotting sequins on the Tube, feather boas outside Pret and cowboy boots weaving through Wembley Park. You catch someone’s eye and instantly know where they’re heading. It’s like belonging to the happiest little secret society.

Standing in a packed stadium on the hottest day of the year should be my worst nightmare, but a Harry Styles crowd is unlike anything else. Eighty thousand strangers somehow feel like friends. It’s girlhood in its purest form: coordinating outfits months in advance, helping each other take photos, buying merch you’ll treasure forever and screaming your favourite songs with people you’ll probably never see again.

I think people underestimate how joyful fandom can be. There’s something wonderful about caring this much, about letting yourself be excited and refusing to become too cool to sing at the top of your lungs.

Mostly, though, I just feel proud. Proud that the nervous teenager from The X Factor has become an artist capable of creating moments like this. What a privilege it’s been to grow up with him.

RESEARCHING

Has Netflix quietly entered another golden age of documentaries? It certainly felt like it this month. Every few days there seemed to be another release that immediately took over my group chat, complete with voice notes, conspiracy theories and messages saying, “Have you got to *that* bit yet?”

The Murder of Rachel Nickell was probably the standout. Released alongside The Witness, the drama based on the same case, it revisits the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common and the devastating failures that followed. Even if you think you know the story, it’s an incredibly moving watch that gives Rachel’s family the space they were denied for so many years.

Then there was Maternal Instinct, which tells the horrifying true story of Taylor Parker, a woman who faked a pregnancy before murdering her friend and abducting her unborn baby. It’s one of those documentaries where every new detail somehow makes the story even more unbelievable than the last.

Finally, Should I Marry a Murderer? technically came out before June, but it stayed firmly in our conversations all month. It follows a Scottish woman who discovers her fiancé has killed a man and hidden the crime. Equal parts true crime and psychological study, it leaves you wondering how much we can ever really know about the people we love.

Safe to say my “I’ll just watch one episode before bed” plan didn’t stand a chance this month.

TEN FOR THE MONTH

1. Seeing Hamilton and immediately remembering why people (me) never stop talking about it.

2. Declaring that Sunday roasts taste better in a pub garden than they ever do in winter. Please don’t remind me I said this when it’s freezing in November.

3. Celebrating everyone. Birthdays, pregnancy announcements, new jobs, dream opportunities. I really do have the best people to cheer on.

4. Café Sundays, Homemade lemon muffins, toasted bagels, iced coffee and pretending my kitchen was the neighbourhood brunch spot.

5. Evening beach walks where the only item on the agenda was watching the sun disappear.

6. Getting back to the gym. My muscles weren’t thrilled, but I was.

7. Week 25 of my “52 Weeks of Midweek Dinners” challenge. Nothing beats a Tuesday spent catching up with good people over good food.

8. Sinatra: The Musical. What a voice. What a show.

9. Albania. The sea really is that blue.

10. Harry Styles. Some things deserve a place on every favourites list.

Some months are about achievement. June wasn’t one of them. June reminded me that a life can feel wonderfully full even when nothing particularly monumental happens. Sometimes all you need is good friends, a beach, a brilliant TV recommendation and enough headspace to actually enjoy them.

About Twenty Five Reset

The 25 Reset: A home for eldest daughters with a quarter-life crisis, part public diary, part pop culture chat. Expect lessons from turning 25, reflections on growing up online, and discussions on books, TV, films and everything in between.

• Dear Diary - My public diary that maybe shouldn’t be public

• Monthly Report - My monthly joys shared with you

• Friendfluenced - the friendships that raise us, change us, and stay with us long after they’ve shifted

• She Said Yes - ‘52 weeks’ of saying yes. Doing something … anything … every day just for fun.

• Consumed - Everything I’ve read, watched, listened to and loved lately

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