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May already seems like last year and it’s only the beginning of September. Yes I’m behind and yes, that’s ok. May wasn’t a huge reading month for me (like July) but it wasn’t too slow either (like August) but I did read a lot of things I liked a lot and a few things that were just fine. So, here is everything I read in May 2020.
- If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book) plus tons of others they have for free. Get that Audible deal here.
- If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd! You can get your first month free there. You can read books and listen to audiobooks. It is unlimited (especially the reading) but if you listen to tons of new audiobooks you may be restricted after a few. I don’t listen to enough to confirm this, but I do use Scribd myself and like it a lot. Sign up for Scribd here!
- Shop my collection of bookish goodies on Etsy! These aren’t my shop items, but other shops I’ve curated into a book-themed collection. Shop my Etsy bookish goodies here!
- If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a wonderful option. It’s $9.99 a month but if you read a lot and like to read more than just new releases, it could be worth it. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
- Get $5 off of $25 from BookOutlet! This is a great place to find new books for pretty cheap. They also have sales quite a bit, so keep an eye out for those. I tend to check here for books I want if they’re more expensive other places. They don’t have everything but they do have a lot. Shop BookOutlet here!
- Thrift Books has become my go-to when I’m looking for a book and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
- Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in shortly! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.
- Shopping internationally? Check out Book Depository!
The Ruins
About the book: A group of friends are on vacation in Mexico and make friends with some fellow tourists. They set off into the jungle to find some secret ruins and the brother of one of their new friends that disappeared. What started out as a fun day trip slowly turns into a nightmare.
Author: Scott Smith
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Horror
Final thoughts: I really loved this book. I know it tends to be a pretty firm love it or hate it, but I love it. I saw the movie years ago and like it, but like usual, I liked this a lot more than the movie. It was a little slow at times and took me a while to read, but I loved it.
Ruined
About the book: Emelina Flores’ home of Ruina has been ravaged by war, her parents were brutally murdered (and she witnessed it), and she is left with nothing but her sister Olivia who was kidnapped as she watched helplessly.
Em has nothing to lose and is driven by revenge when she sets off for the Kingdom of Lera to kill the royal family and get her sister back in an elaborate plan of a stolen identity and a royal marraige but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions this plan.
Author: Amy Tintera
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA Fantasy
Final thoughts: I liked this one quite a bit but I didn’t love it. I definitely preferred Amy Tintera’s Reboot duology. I read that this winter on Scribd and actually bought physical copies of it after. This series though, I’m putting into a book exchange. This was definitely better than the second one.
The Woman in Our House
About the book: Anna Klein is ready to get back to work as a literary agent after having children so she and her husband Josh decide to hire a live-in nanny. They’re a little worried at first, but once they meet Oaklynn, that all goes away.
At least until the puzzling illnesses and inexplicable injuries start. Anna starts to feel eclipsed by Oaklynn as well as suspicious of her, but all her friends and Josh reassure her that it’s just her anxiety. But after looking into Oaklynn’s past, Anna realizes she’s not who she says she is.
Author: Andrew Hart
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Domestic thriller
Final thoughts: Here is my exact Goodreads review:
** spoiler alert ** This probably would have been a 4 if the ending wasn’t what it was. I liked the nanny plot and wish they would have done more with that, even making it more extreme maybe. I like the first 80%
SPOILERS BELOW
But this trump, nazi, White supremacist political commentary for the last 20% was just bad. The whole end sequence was just not good. And he gets eaten by coyotes? In the middle of a city basically? Come on.
Still spoilers but not in my original review, I just thought of this now while I was writing this out, there wasn’t any explanation, that I remember at least, about the weird illnesses and injuries. How did those happen? Why? Also, why was Oaklynn writing this book and sending it to her? What was that about? She just joins up with Anna at the end and it’s all ok? Maybe this is actually a 2.
Sea Witch
About the book: This Little Mermaid retelling takes us to a whole new world (wrong Disney movie, sorry) under the sea. Ok, I don’t think I could make any other Disney songs work in that. This mermaid book introduces us to Ursula before she was evil.
Evie has been an outcast in her fishing town since her best friend Anna died. But one day a girl who shares a striking resemblance to Anna shows up on the shore and each girls has their own prince charming.
Evie feels like her life might work out OK now but she has her secrets as does her new mysterious friend. Without Evie’s help, her friend can’t stay in Havnestad, at least not on two legs. So with Evie’s powerful magic, she helps to save her friend’s humanity and her prince’s heart before she realizes what she bargained away.
Author: Sara Henning
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA Fantasy/fairytale retelling
Final thoughts: We read this mermaid book for my book club in May (you should join it!) and I really liked it! It was almost like a mashup of The Little Mermaid story that we see in the movie and a prequel because we learn how Ursula basically becomes Ursula.
Bring me Back
About the book: Finn and Layla are young and in love and going on vacation. They stop at a service station, Finn goes inside and locks the car doors with Layla inside. When he comes back, she’s gone and never seen again. At least that’s what he told the police. But it’s not everything.
Ten years later, Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen, after the shared grief over what happened to Layla. It drew them together and they intend to remain together, but there’s still something about Ellen that Finn has never understood.
Not too long before they’re to be married, someone says they’ve seen Layla – hiding in plain sight. He starts getting emails, clues, and warnings from strangers who seem to know too much, and long lost items from her past keep showing up around their house. If she’s alive, what does she want and how much does she know?
Author: B.A. Paris
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Thriller
Final thoughts: I tend to only leave reviews on books I don’t like, and they’re not even that well written (i’m not great at reviewing) but if I ever do one, I’ll include it here. My exact Goodreads review: This was.. not great.
I didn’t care about anyone but Peggy the dog and found myself giving this book a lot of side eye, especially towards the end. I will say, I read it pretty fast and it had me intrigued but it ended up not so great.
Thirteen
About the book: It’s the murder trial of the century, a movie-star killed his wife. Or so they think. But Joshua Kane knows better and is determined to get the wrong man jailed for the crime. He killed to get the best seat in the house: one on the jury so he could watch it all go down.
But Eddie Flynn, a former con-man now defense attorney, is on his tail and doesn’t think his client, the movie-star, is guilty.
Author: Steve Cavanagh
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Thriller
Final thoughts: I was very intrigued by the premise of this from the first time I saw it on Goodreads. It’s something I know I’ve never seen before and really enjoyed the whole thing. The end might have been a little ridiculous, but it kept me into the story the whole time.
Aurora Rising
About the book: It’s 2380 and the Aurora Academy graduating class has been given their first missions. Tyler Jones, the star pupil, is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own heroism sticks him with the people no one else wanted, which isn’t even his biggest problem.
Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley gets that title as the girl he just rescued from interdimensional space out of a two-century cryo-sleep. But she might be the last hope for the galaxy. And the start of a war of a million years.
Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Rating: 5/5
Genre: YA Sci-fi
Final thoughts: The Illuminae series is one of my favorites of all time and I loved this almost as much. The format of Illuminae is why I like that one more, in case you’re wondering. I love the writing style. I love the characters. I just love it and can’t wait for the third one to come out now!
Avenged
About the book: This is the second book in the Ruined series and I don’t really want to ruin it in case you want to read it, so I’m not going to put the description here since it include spoilers for the first book listed above.
Author: Amy Tintera
Rating: 3/5
Genre: YA fantasy
Final thoughts: This took me forever to read. It was pretty boring until the last 25%, which I liked. I barely even remember what happened to give any kind of final thoughts.
Have you read any of these? Which ones? What is your favorite book you read in May?
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