Celebrity-Recommended Books to Add to Your June 2025 Reading List

If mystery, espionage, and secrets sound intriguing, then “The Phoenix Pencil Company” by Allison King is bound to absorb you. The debut novel tells the story of Monica Tsai, a coder and recluse who misses her grandparents and can’t wait to visit them again, especially her grandmother, Yun. There’s a family mystery plaguing Monica, though. Her grandmother was separated from her cousin at birth, and Monica wants to get to the bottom of this strange occurrence. Monica’s coding job is all about connecting people online, and one day, she comes across a young woman who sends her a pencil. The pencil ends up uncovering all kinds of family stories. Yun used to work at the Phoenix Pencil Company in Shanghai, and Yun and her cousin, Meng, discovered that they could recover the messages written by pencils, a magical ability that only the women in their family possessed. With World War II ravaging the world, Yun and Meng fall into danger when the government finds out about their hidden gift. King’s novel combines Monica’s life with that of her grandmother’s for a rich, compelling story. 

King’s novel was Reese’s June 2025 choice for Reese’s Book Club. “You won’t want to miss this one!” Witherspoon wrote on Instagram, holding up a copy of the book. Readers were full of anticipation. “Will put it on my list,” one commented. “Looks like another wonderful book,” another wrote. 

“If you love stories about families with big secrets, loaded with unexpected twists and turns, this one’s for you,” Jenna Bush Hager said on Today of her June 2025 selection. Claire Lynch’s “A Family Matter” is a juicy story that follows two timelines. The first is set in 1982, where new wife and mother, Dawn, unexpectedly falls in love with a woman named Hazel. The situation is incredibly complicated, since Dawn has a husband and daughter. The second timeline begins in 2022, where a man named Heron receives a bad health diagnosis, and he doesn’t know how to tell his daughter, Maggie. 

“A Family Matter” delivers on high impact and entertainment. “It has the pacing of an emotional mystery,” Bush Hager went on. “This book is about first love, second chances, and the beautiful, messy ways families hold together and fall apart.” The novel was also named in USA Today’s most anticipated books of summer 2025. What makes Lynch’s debut novel so compelling is that it’s based on true stories in the U.K. about custody battles from the 1980s, where lesbian mothers were often denied custody of their children. It’s a heartbreaking, rich, and compelling read. 

The book club Belletrist was founded in 2017 by Emma Roberts and her bestie, Karah Preiss. Since its inception, the two have been sharing their favorite reads each month, highlighting authors to satisfy eager bibliophiles. For June 2025, the two chose Rochelle Dowden-Lord’s novel “Lush,” which tells the tale of four wine experts who all find themselves at a French vineyard. The four people are all at big moments of change in their lives, and while they seem like an unlikely grouping, the trip transforms each of them in completely unexpected ways. 

The novel was well-loved on Goodreads, with fans raving about the debauched, wild tale with wine at its center. “[L]oved loved loved this debut from Rochelle Dowden-Lord about 4 people invited to the home of a mysterious, lauded master sommelier, to drink one of the world’s oldest bottles of wine,” one reviewer wrote. Another happy reader confessed to being transported by Dowden-Lord’s novel. “A sumptuous and delicious novel that transported me straight into a vineyard in the south of France,” they began. “The writing is beautiful, and some of the metaphors and sentences were so brilliant they left me dazzled.” For wine lovers and travel lovers, this is the book of the summer.

Dua Lipa, who runs her book club Service95, chose Jennifer Clement’s “Widow Basquiat” as her June 2025 book. The story follows the relationship of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Suzanne Mallouk as they navigate their relationship in New York City in the 1980s. “Widow Basquiat” captures the mythos of the artist himself, until his untimely death at 27, but also tells the tale of the lesser-known Mallouk, who was an artist in her own right. 

“To say I loved Widow Basquiat is an understatement. I’m sure you will too,” Lipa wrote on Instagram, raving about the rich narrative. The memoir is full of the New York art scene in the ’80s, bringing in figures like Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Madonna herself. Fans and followers of Lipa’s book club were immensely grateful for the recommendation. “Started reading immediately after the newsletter, finished it yesterday evening,” one fan began. “I went from not knowing who Suzanne Mallouk is, to admiring her strength and resilience and enormous heart.” Another was eager to get going on the memoir, writing, “Omg! Reserving this from the library now.” A juicy love story about real artists in the gritty setting of New York City is just what we need. 

Natalie Portman is a master at choosing quirky, unconventional books for her club, Natalie’s Book Club. For readers who like something off the beaten path, this is an invaluable resource, and her June choice definitely delivered. Portman chose Helen DeWitt’s novella, “The English Understand Wool,” which has a form much like a screenplay. “A gift from my friend Bessie and our June book pick! Helen DeWitt’s novella is a darkly funny but honest look at the exploitation of trauma within publishing,” Portman wrote on Instagram, while taking a selfie with the book. 

The novella centers around a 17-year-old girl named Marguerite, raised in Marrakech by a French mother and an English father who are obsessed with good taste — a trait they desperately try to pass on to their daughter. The story deals with ruthless agents and the world of publishing, a sphere that capitalizes on the trauma of others to make a profit. Just as Portman was delighted by the cryptic book, so were readers on Goodreads. “This is a brilliant little masterpiece from arguably the most neglected living writer — the one and only Helen DeWitt,” one reader wrote. “All I can say is WOW! I waited for ages for this book to come in from the library, and the wait was well worth it,” another commented. Readers called the book “hilarious” and couldn’t get over the unique storyline.