May Wrap-Up

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Hello Hello! How are you?

The world has been an awful place over the last couple of days, well, it’s been an awful place forever really, but I just want you to know that this is a safe space and I hope you can use it as a place to relax or distract yourselves, whatever you are going through. You can always, always contact me if you feel like a chat if you just need someone to listen. I’m here for all of you, you just have to ask and I will do what I can to help and support you, now and forever.

Today’s post is going to be a relaxed wrap up for the books I read in May and I hope I can remember them all because I don’t think my brain has been functioning properly these past days. I will admit, however, that I didn’t read all of the books I was intending to, a lot happened in May, I got really tired and a bit sick for a few days, so I’ve taken a little step back from some prior author requests and I’m tackling them in my own time without making myself sick.

I read nowhere near as many books in May as I did in April, but I’ve nearly read all the books I need to reach my Goodreads reading goal, I still have 30 to go, but over 70 books in just under 6 months feels like a really big accomplishment and I hope I can keep it going till the end of the year, I’ll be curious to see how many I can read once I reach my goal of 100 books in 2020.

I tried to participate in the Medieval-athon in May, but I don’t think I did very well, and out of the 27 books on my May TBR, I only read a total of 17 books, and I’m sure a few on the side, so that isn’t so bad really! Actually, in May I managed to read a total of 19 books, and I’m happy about that, hopefully, I can keep it up for June even though I’ve tried to cut myself some slack. I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet, but I may fail lol.

BOOKS READ

My Favourite Book of the Month

Venators Promises Forged by Devri Walls – 5 stars

I had a few really great books to pick from for this part of the wrap-up, but when I saw this one at the top of my Goodreads shelves I knew it had to be my fave! I loved this book so much, it was the last one I read in May and if you haven’t yet started this series, I highly recommend it because it’s awesome. Devri’s writing style, characters, world-building and plotlines are so great and captivating, I’m so honoured to have been on the tour for the first two books and I’m very excited for the next books in the series! You can read my full review of Magic Unleashed (#1) here and Promises Forged (#2) here.

May Books

The Girl and the Stars (#1) by Mark Lawrence – 4 stars

This was the first book I read in May and my first #RandomThingsTour of the month and I enjoyed it immensely. It was my first time reading this author, I was expecting to struggle to get into the writing style or the world but I really didn’t. I will say that the chapters were quite long and slow, but the writing style was amazing and the characters were just great, I’m looking forward to continuing this series. My full review can be found here.

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis – 3.5 stars

The #UltimateBlogTour organised by Dave from @The_WriteReads for May was for this YA horror book set in a town famous for being the setting of a horror movie but also the haunt of Mister Jitters. This book was a bit hit and miss for me, although some other bloggers on the tour adored it (while others really didn’t like it), I liked the writing style, but unfortunately, this one just didn’t do what I was expecting, it didn’t scare me and I worked out all the events by around 40%. It’s a shame, but it is what it is, you can read my full review here if you are curious to find out more!

The Carer by Deborah Moggach – 4 stars

It literally seems like forever since I read these books and I’m struggling to remember a lot about them, but what I do remember is that this one surprised me, A LOT. I was expecting one thing and then the story changed, so I expected something else, and then all of a sudden it was completely different! It was a rather enjoyable book and I recommend for people who like mundane and day-to-day plots and stories about families! You can read my full review here.

Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald – 4.5 stars

This book was my first-ever Orenda Books tour and I have to say that a) it was very much out of my comfort zone and different to my usual reads, and b) that is exactly why I liked it so much. If you are sensitive to disaster narratives, I would stay away because, for 90% of this book, the focus is on a bush fire raging through the town, but I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend. You can read my full review here.

Lost in Me (#1) by Lexi Ryan – 4 stars

I didn’t actually end up writing a review for this book on my blog because I ran out of days and was just not feeling great around that time. It was one of my NetGalley books to read that I had been putting off forever, but it ended up being a great story, I had a great time reading it and have already purchased the next book in the series because the ending was such a cliff-hanger!! You can read a short review for this book on my Goodreads here.

The Summoned Ones: Book 1, Flight to Bericea by Darryl A. Woods – 4 stars

The only author request I got to this month was this book and I actually really enjoyed it. I had to push it back a few days, but when I did end up finally reading it, I was struck by how different it was and even though a few things bugged me or I felt it was lacking at times, I found it to be a really entertaining and intriguing new fantasy series and I’m definitely going to be keeping my eyes open for the next instalment! You can read my full review here.

In Two Minds (#1) by K.T. Findlay – 5 stars

Wow, wow, wow, I remember everything about this book and it was great! I’m so glad I decided to read this one, it was for a Rachel’s Random Resources tour and I nearly didn’t sign-up for this one, but I’m so glad I did because it was such a surprise, very enjoyable, very unique and very informative. This book is set in the Middle Ages, the plotline is so unique and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I highly recommend to fantasy and historical fiction fans and I would urge you to go read it, right after you read my full review here!

Camelot (#2) by Giles Kristian – 4.5 stars

I read this book for a #RandomThingsTours organised by Anne Cater and it was another wow book in my May. I was completely drawn to this book by the blurb and the actual reading experience was great. This is a retelling of what comes after the legend of King Arthur, it is the second book, but is actually more of a companion novel. I didn’t manage to get to book 1, but I had no trouble understanding it or enjoying it. I would highly recommend and I look forward to going back to book 1 and then rereading book 2. Here is my full review!

Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas – 5 stars

Apparently, May was an overall wow month and this book was absolutely lovely. I had such a great time reading it, it was so heart-warming, charming and it described French people and France so accurately and in a way, I have never witnessed as a person living in France for nearly 20 years. It was glorious and I highly recommend it to everyone! You can read my full and gushing review of it here.

Reckless by Gemma Rogers – 4 stars

This book surprised me too! I read this for a Rachel’s Random Resources, I remember enjoying it and what it was about, but not really much more than that. The thing that bugged me about this one was the immaturity of the main character and I’m not a great fan of family drama-thriller type books so that diluted my enjoyment a bit, but I would recommend to thriller fans. You can find my full review for this book here.

Along Came a Soldier by Brenda Davies – 4 stars

I was really spoiled for historical fiction books this month, it wasn’t a fantasy, but it did have some more “unexplainable” elements to the plot that I really enjoyed. I rooted for Jethro and Charity the whole way, Grace was such a wholesome and great character and I loved the 1820s Cornwall setting! You can read my full review here!

Catalyst (#2) by Tracy Richardson – 4 stars

Another @The_WriteReads tour for this month and this one didn’t get much love, but I personally really enjoyed it. I can see why some people would not enjoy it, but I honestly just let the story do its thing and I had a great time. The added archaeology plotline was very interesting to me and despite some weird supernatural things, I thought this was a really interesting book. You can read my full review here if you are interested!

Behind Blue Eyes by Anna Mocikat – 5 stars

Another great WOW book in May! This was for a Booktamins blog tour and I will admit I was a bit sceptical before starting it but was absolutely captivated from page one. It was my first ever science fiction, dystopian cyberpunk novel but I found it so great and loved every minute of it. I need to get a physical copy of it and reread it before the sequel because I’m sure that I wasn’t able to appreciate everything that goes on! I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author, keep your eyes peeled for more! You can read my blog tour review for this book here!

Winter’s Gift by Florence Keeling – 4.5 stars

Another really unique and out-of-my-comfort-zone type of book but also a really good one. This one definitely has a special twist and I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I did personally enjoy it. I thought the main characters were great and the story was just a very nice distraction from the world, I definitely recommend if you are looking for a unique, quick and cute book! You can read my full review for this book here.

A Good Demon is Hard to Find by Kate Moseman – 3.5 stars

This was one of the more meeeh books from my month. I have a bit of a warning for you concerning this one, what you see in the blurb is what you get and even though I did enjoy it, I found it much too short and the blurb was very badly written because when I realised that I wasn’t getting anything more than what is said in the synopsis, I was quite disappointed. If that doesn’t bother you though, I would give it a go, it’s a fun, contemporary paranormal romance, the characters are funny and it was short and sweet! You can read my review here.

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir – 4 stars

It seems like May was a really diverse month genre-wise, this book was good, it wasn’t great, but it was good. The main problem I had with this book was that it was a bit lacking and I basically worked out who the culprit was and what had happened to various characters within only a few chapters, but I did enjoy seeing the characters work this out, come to conclusions and make theories and Elma was a very likeable character. It was a good Nordic Noir, my first actually, and I recommend to thriller and mystery fans. You can read my review here.

Tilly and the Book Wanderers (#1) by Anna James – 5 stars

Our first-ever Middle Grade Marvels BOTM was SUCH A SUCCESS and everyone loved it. I’m so glad we picked this one, it was absolutely amazing, the story was great, the plot twists were shocking, the writing style and illustrations were lovely, the quotes were amazing, the characters were awesome, the food descriptions were out of this world, YOU HAVE TO GO READ THIS BOOK. I haven’t written a review for this one yet, but it will soon be up on my blog, as soon as I figure out how to speak about it without forcing it on you and screaming READ!!

And The Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness – 4 stars

I picked this book up as a mood read a few days before the end of May because I was feeling something different and short to distract me and it definitely worked. Patrick Ness is my favourite author, I love everything he writes, his quotes are out of this world and so meaningful. I’m soon going to be posting a review for this one on my blog and try to get back into regularly posting on my Instagram. This was a really original take on Moby Dick and I found it really great! I would definitely recommend if you are looking for something different, it is a bit heavy but definitely worth it!

And finally, out of the 7 books I wanted to read for Medieval-athon to become an Empress, I only managed to read 4, and I suppose that makes me a Noble, which isn’t too bad aha!

Phew, that was a long one, I’m really happy with the books I read in May and I’m quite proud of myself. I’m really looking forward to the next months, I’m going to try to read more books from my challenge TBRs and do some mood reading and give myself a break from author requests for a while!

May Reading Stats

Number of books: 19

Number of pages: 6,045 pages

Star ratings:

            3.5 stars: 2 books

            4 stars: 9 books

            4.5 stars: 3 books

            5 stars: 5 books

Average rating:  4.28 ⭐

Genres: 3 YA Fantasy, 1 Adult Fantasy, 1 YA Horror, 1 MG Fantasy, 1 Nordic mystery, 1 contemporary paranormal romance, 3 contemporaries, 1 science fiction dystopian cyberpunk, 1 YA science fiction, 3 historical fictions, 2 thrillers and 1 NA romance.

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post and had success for you reading month in May, tell me in the comments how well you did. See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx