May Reading Wrap Up

We’re so excited! May is finally over, and with that, our spring semester is over! No more online classes, no more finals, WE’RE FREE! Of course, with social distancing still in place most of our normal summer plans can’t be done, but we’re still excited to have free time to read, blog, and just relax!

As a side note, this post was a horror to format because of the new WordPress editor. If anyone has already figured out all the tips, tricks, and HTML that can make our lives easier, PLEASE reach out to us because we need help. We’ve formatted this a little differently from out usual wrap-ups since the block editing style wouldn’t allow us to stick with what we usually do, so let us know if you like it! We’ll probably be trying out a few new things formatting wise in our posts in the future due to the new editor.

Books Read:

Malka:

To be quite honest this month was a reading mess. As you can see I only read 3 books, and one of those, Aristotle and Dante, was a reread. I would love to be able to blame my lack of reading on finals, which to some extent is true. But the real reason I didn’t read is because of the amount of triggering content I encountered this month. The very first book I picked up was triggering, and my reaction was so bad that I couldn’t pick up a book for another week. If you haven’t already read my post about trigger warnings, I’d urge you to read it. Trigger warnings are important exactly for reasons like this.

Following that episode, I picked up a highly anticipated, very popular book only to discover that this books as well had my trigger in it. Thankfully this book had foreshadowing, so I knew to stop reading and check to make sure there was nothing that my mental health couldn’t handle. But still, I had seen so much about that book, yet I hadn’t seen triggers mentioned. And I’m not blaming reviewers, because I understand how difficult it is, but I just wish that publishers cared enough to include a list of content warnings for their readers!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Anyways, now that I’ve finished that mini rant, let me tell you about the books I did read!I started off with my reread of Aristotle and Dante. I was in a melancholy sort of mood, and was looking for a book that would match how I was feeling, and this book was the perfect pick. It got five stars when I first read it, and it got five stars now. If you haven’t already read it, definitely pick it up! It’s perfect for June, since there is LGBTQ+ rep.

---

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Next, I read and reviewed The Boyfriend Project. I have a whole review of this book, and I talk about it more in a later section of this post, so I’m just going to say that this book was not what I expected, but I still enjoyed it a lot. (It made me squeal from cuteness at one point.) There were some things that disappointed me about this book though, so if you’re interested in reading, I’d read my full review. That being said, the WOC STEM rep in this book is FABULOUS!

---

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I finished up the month by finally finishing Dear Edward. I started it earlier in the month, or possibly last month. (Time is an illusion.) This was the book club pick for the IRL book club Chana and I created back in March. And here I am, finally ready to discuss in June! I honestly love this book so much. It follows Edward Adler, who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. You get to read about how he processes his trauma and lives following the crash, while also getting glimpses into the lives of some of the passengers on the plane. The prose is beautiful, the story is fantastic, and I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good character driven story.

---

Chana:

I read 10 books this month! Yes, I am still behind on my reading challenge, but this month was just sooo hectic school wise that I didn’t really have any time to read. I’ve also been in a little bit of a reading slump, but I hope June will solve that. I’m listing 8 books with their ratings, because two of the books I read were childhood rereads, and I couldn’t really bring myself to rate them since they’re old favorites.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

To everyone who’s debating reading The Green Bone Saga, stop debating and do it!! This book tore me apart emotionally, and I’m scared for the next book.

---

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This was a reread because after reading one of my two star reads from this month I needed something that I knew I was going to enjoy. I’m so happy I decided to reread this one because the writing is absolutely beautiful, and it was really fun to see how my perception of the book changed from the first time I read it.

---

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I love Elizabeth Acevedo’s poetry!! I bought this one and it was a good choice because the cover, and the hardback itself are super pretty.

---

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Murderbot Diaries is a really great series that I highly recommend to anyone who like Sci-Fi. Network Effect is the first full length novel in the series, since the first 4 books were novellas. It was so so good! If you’ve started the Muderbot Diaries, this continuation is definitely worth the read.

---

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Fate of the Fallen was a very cookie cutter fantasy, though it did have a little twist. Instead of the chosen one completing the quest, the responsibility to save the world falls on the shoulders of the “sidekick”. I thought it was pretty basic in terms of fantasy, but I enjoyed the ending.

---

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

This book was really cute! I read it all the way at the beginning of the month and I have the memory of a goldfish, but I remember that I enjoyed it. I thought that the high school portrayal was very real and I loved all the talk about writing.

---

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I really hated this book. It was full of horrible cliches. There were also 3 different love triangles, which is way too many in my opinion. I was dissapointed since I enjoyed the second book in this series but overall would not recommend.

---

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

The Ember Queen is also the last book in a trilogy. This series had a strong start but every book after the first dropped in quality. I really admired Theo’s character in the first book, but she just got more and more annoying to me as the series went on. Also. There was a badly done love triangle.

Books Acquired:

Malka:

Gifted:

This month I was having a hard time reading in general, but I was completely unable to use the Kindle app. The words just wouldn’t process when I tried reading on my phone. Unfortunately that meant I couldn’t read my e-arc copy of The Boyfriend Project. When I saw that Book of the Month released the book early, Chana was super kind and used one of her credits to purchase a copy for me, and you can now read my review of it here!

---

Purchased:

Personally, I made a B&N purchase of Time of Our Lives and The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly. I’m currently reading one of them, and really enjoying it! (I’m trying to leave you in suspense, but I’ll give you a hint. I’ve read books by this duo before.)

---

I also ordered a care package from The Ripped Bodice, because I’m trying to support as many indie bookstores as I can. I didn’t link my Goodreads in the form I filled out, so I had read two of the books already, but I’m excited for the other four. I haven’t included them in the haul though, since they were a surprise, and I try to only include books I intend on reading for certain in these posts. And even though I’m excited for the four unread books, I don’t know if I’ll enjoy them enough to want to promote them. As for the two I’ve already read, I’ve passed them on to a friend who I hope will enjoy them!

---

Chana:

Gifted:

Things We Did:

🌼 We finished finals! This is major cause for celebration!

🌼 Tried to figure out the block editor. We can use a tutorial post if anyone knows how to use this. Especially linking multiple photos in one row. This type of editor has us feeling that it could be very intuitive if we were just the tiniest bit smarter. But alas that is not the case, so we are currently floundering.

Posts We Loved:

May @ Forever and Everly created her very own Percy Jackson Book Tag.

Cait @ Paper Fury compiled a wonderful list of upcoming 2020 YA releases.

Sabrina @ Wordy and Whimsical had some fun doing book math.

Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea did a really good job of guessing the plot of books based on their covers.

Kat @ Novels & Waffles was super concise in her one word book reviews.

What did you read this month? Did you have a good reading month? Do you have any exciting reading plans for June?

Advertisement