Phew. This his been a massive month for my reading. For some reason, I’ve had an intensely aggressive approach to getting books read. Obviously I’m still enjoying reading them, but I feel like I’m competition with myself.
This month I read 14 books. FOURTEEN. That’s a lot for me. Some of them were quite short, and I’ve enjoyed spacing novels out with novellas. But Goodreads tells me that May was my highest number of pages read too, so there were definitely some more heavy duty ones in there!
Most were also eARCs – I’ve got 20 more on my NetGalley that haven’t been published yet, and 39 (!!) that are much older and I just need to clear out. So this new ferocious reading has definitely helped reduce that slightly!
5 Star Reads:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate – A great sci fi novella with interesting characters, really interesting science and some beautiful sci fi ideas.
One Year of Ugly – A dark comedy about illegal Venezuelan immigrants trapped in Trinidad – a lot funnier and harsher than you might expect!
The Book of Koli – Really enjoyable first installment in the Rampart Trilogy – post-apocalyptic fantasy in a strange new world.
4.5 Star Reads
The Obsidian Tower– really enjoyed the start of this new series by Melissa Caruso. Exciting world, lots of action, so much going on.
The Course of Love – a thoughtful, logical approach to how we experience love, and how we can all struggle even post-happily ever after.
4 Star Reads
Camp – strong LGBTQIA+ story about a boy who changes himself on the outside to try and snag the cute guy at his queer camp – but has he really changed himself in the process? Or change the guy’s mind?
The Age of Witches – follows three women in New York and England, developing and securing their own power and influence as witches.
3.5 Star Reads
Full Disclosure – an important story about an HIV positive teenager exploring how close she can get romantically with her diagnosis – but felt too much YA angst took over the key story.
Swipe Right – cute, funny and sassy rom com. Covered most of what I needed but not much more than that.
3 Star Reads
The Change #1, #2, #3 – I gave #2 a higher rating but averaged them at 3 stars – fun, short and quirky post-apocalyptic stories for teens.
Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen – quirky historical fiction about a woman who gives birth to rabbits. I enjoy that kind of weird folk tale fiction but this didn’t quite hit it for me.
2 Star Reads
The Second Chance Hotel – rom com that was more painful that joyful. Had quite a few issues with inconsistencies in the text and characters who would regularly fight and shout at each other in a not very romance-sparky kind of way …
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Downside of getting so much read (for me) in one month – more work to write a wrap up!
As I’ve not been going anywhere or spending anything except on food, I’ve also been more tempted to just buy some books (Kindle and hard copy) that I’ve been waiting for. Recent arrivals have been The Toll by Neal Shusterman, The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett (already read it but wanted a physical copy for the shelf) and Folk by Zoe Gilbert.
I’ve also bought a few Kindle deals for books and authors that I spotted last year but didn’t pick up at the time – Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim and House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig.
Have you read any of these? Or are there any that you’re particularly looking forward to? And do you think I can keep up the pace for another month 🙂 ?
Alpha-Beta-Hannah 
Aw, this was an incredibly good post. Taking the time and actual effort to make a very
good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and never manage to get anything done.