I am glad to see the back of May. May started an awful reading slump for me – after losing my Nan right at the end of April, and then getting rather sick while wrapped up in mourning while also trying to work… I’m glad that by the end of May I was coming back to myself and able to start reading some more. I do think the shorter TBR pile helped! So let’s have a look at what got read in May!
Here are all the books I read in May
I did also mark two books as DNF – Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland (though it is a soft-DNF as I can appreciate that it was probably just too much going on for me to deal with while in a slump) and Spells of Forgetting (I haven’t decided if this is soft DNF or permanent as I just couldn’t get into it, but not sure if that’s slump related) – as well as starting and putting down probably 10 other books within the first couple pages after realising that I wasn’t going to be able to keep my focus.
Originally when I started writing out this blog post, there were 4 books on here and I thought that was a really poor showing… I had to remind myself that this had been a tough month and so any amount of books read was a bonus. But those 4 books meant that I had actually completed my Goodreads goal of reading 52 books in 2025, in 5 months! That felt amazing! And then before long… I had doubled the amount of books read! By the end of May, I have read a total of 8 books and I am very proud of that number. I should have been proud of the 4 books, but it felt awful because of how awful the month was. But completing 8 books felt like I really accomplished something!
2 Books from my TBR weren’t read (well, they were DNF’d – potentially soft DNF’d) the other 3 were read and loved! I managed to read 2 of the 3 book club picks as well, the only one I didn’t get to was On Wings of Blood, but I do still hope to read that one! All in all, it ended up being a really good month – surprisingly so! And I’m really happy with that.
Reading Stats for May
Stats about the types books I read
| # Physical Books off TBR | # of Days Read | # of Pages Read | # of Kindle Books | # of Audio Books | # of Books Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 29 | 3,425 + | 5 | 0 | 8 |
I haven’t finished The Ballad of Never After so I haven’t included a count in the audio book. The + in the # of pages read stat indicated the amount I’ve listened to on audio but since I can’t translate that into pages, I figured the + was simplist!
Stats about the Spice level in the books I read (a 🌶 in the review list indicates a spicey book – if it’s followed by /ish it’s more steamy than spicey)
| W/ Spice | W/ Steam | Without |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 2 |
Stats about the Ratings I gave the books I read
| Joined 6⭐Club | 5⭐ | 4.5 ⭐ | 4 ⭐ | 3.5 ⭐ | 3 ⭐ | Less than 3⭐ | DNF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Book Bracket Entry – Favourite Book of the Month
The Accomplice by steve cavanagh
Well damn. This was the best book yet in the Eddie Flynn series. It was so good – I really was on the edge of my seat. I probably annoyed my fiancé who was trying to play a Final Fantasy game by my side while I’m gasping and shouting various questions and exclamations of shock. I loved this. I really loved this.
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison
Until my last book of the month First-Time Caller was my favourite book of the month, I loved it. And I didn’t expect to as it’s a contemporary romance but it truly was brilliant. I loved the banter and tension, the couple were great too and the found family aspect was something I didn’t expect but I’m a sucker for a good found family…
Biggest Surprise of the Month
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison
I picked up First-Time Caller because it was a book club pick, and after losing my Nan I knew I wanted to read something that didn’t have much death in it… Somehow it still took me three books before deciding that a contemporary romance might be the best fit. And it was. I ate this up, and that surprised me so much. Just once again showing that book clubs can be really great ways to read out of your comfort zone but find something you love!
General Reflection
As hard as May has been, the books that I was able to read (not including the ones that I tried to read but didn’t get past a couple pages nor even the two I (possibly)soft-DNFd) were all great. I don’t think May would have been a great reading month even if I wasn’t mourning because I also ended up in hospital (thankfully it didn’t end up being anything too bad) and sick with the flu at the same damn time. I’ve spent a couple weeks recovering from that but haven’t had the energy to read for as many hours as I normally would.
Thankfully I did get my mojo back in the last week of May and it did mean that I managed to catch up on my TBR! Which really helped my mood not to drop which prevented the extension of the reading slump! I am hoping this means June will start well – and hopefully the lack of pressure continues to help!
Review Dates
The Rose Bargain by Sasha Petyon Smith – Already Available – 4 ⭐🌶/ish
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins – Already Available – 5 ⭐
Direbound by Sable Sorensen – Already Available – 4 ⭐🌶
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison – June 10th – 5 ⭐🌶
The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig – June 12th – 4 ⭐🌶
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett – June 14th – 2 ⭐🌶/ish
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen – June 16th – 4.5 ⭐🌶
The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh – June 18th – 5 ⭐
Reading With Tyler 
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