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Monday, June 5, 2023

May Wrap-Up & June TBR

Holy cow! It's June! The year is already almost halfway over, and I'm not mentally prepared for it. Overall though, it's been a decent month. Work was a little chaotic and stressful at first, but that's over now. I'm free! For a while anyway. I'm slowly but surely getting my new place up and running, which basically means organizing and cleaning things that the landlady didn't, like the garage. Eww. And I'm having a good ol' time reading oh-so-many things.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in May


Garron Park: 3.5 stars (KU)
Savage Rivals: 3 stars (KU)
Line Mates & Study Dates: 3 stars (KU)
Puck Drills & Quick Thrills: 3 stars (KU)
A Door in the Dark: 3 stars (my review)
Egotistical Puckboy: 3.5 stars (KU)
A Fire Endless: 4 stars
Fourth Wing: 4 stars
Foolish Puckboy: 3 stars (KU)
Bro and the Beast 1: 3.5 stars (KU)
Bro and the Beast 2: 3 stars (KU)
Malum Discordiae: 4 stars (KU)
Bro and the Beast 3: 4 stars (KU)
The Blighted Stars: 4 stars (my review)
Prince and Pawn: 3 stars (KU)

I read 15 books in May, which is insane. I seriously felt like I was in a reading slump all month, but it turns out I was just devouring fast-paced romance fluff instead of the denser fantasy books that I typically read. Of the 15 books I read, 11 were from Kindle Unlimited. The KU books include Garron Park by Nordika Night; Savage Rivals by Becca Steele; Line Mates & Study Dates, Puck Drills & Quick Thrills, Egotistical Puckboy, and Foolish Puckboy by Saxon James and Eden Finley; Bro and the Beast 1, 2, and 3; Malum Discordiae by Ashlyn Drewek, and Prince and Pawn by Tavia Lark. The Bro and the Beast books are pretty short. Each one is only like 130-ish pages. I also read A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross as a library ebook. So 12 ebooks total in May. The rest of the books I read were physical copies. They include  A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe. I read an ARC of The Blighted Stars, and absolutely none of the physical books I read were on my TBR pre-2023. Ugh. I really need to try to get back to reading my large backlist.

Books Bought/Received in May


I spent waaaaay too much money in May. It was bad. Like ApollyCon-level bad but spent it all in 31 days instead of spreading it out over a few months. I knew it was going to be a very spendy month when FairyLoot started dropping some special edition sales, but I just kept impulse-buying other things too. I have zero self-control. I'm hoping I can contain myself in June. I've already skipped my FairyLoot sub for June to make up for the overspending. In total, I purchased 21 books in May, and I received 16 books total within the month.

The books I bought and actually received in May include an Amazon order for three of Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles books, Day Zero, The Dark Calling, and From the Grave, and three Barnes & Noble preorder books: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent (which I technically ordered in April, but I don't think I was charged until May), and Cursed Crowns by Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle. I also bought an ebook, Wicked Abyss by Kresley Cole, because I had some Kindle credits that were going to expire. That's seven books that I bought and received in May. I also bought some books that I haven't received yet. Those include a Mercari order of all five original paperbacks of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (this order is coming from Hawaii, so I have no idea when/if it'll make it here or if it'll make it here in one piece), preorders for the FairyLoot editions of Cassandra Clare's Last Hours series and Andrea Stewart's Drowning Empire trilogy, a B&N preorder for Cherish by Tracy Wolff that's being shipped to my parents' house, and my May Adult FairyLoot book and another Mercari order for the new FBAA ApollyCon cover that both technically arrived in June. There are even a couple more special editions I wanted to buy, but I held strong. But if they're still on sale next month, I may give in and buy them. Eeek.

As for what I received in May, that's a little more complicated. My April adult FairyLoot arrived in May, it's In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (with that god-awful redesigned cover), and my FairyLoot Crescent City editions also arrived (not pictured). I won an ARC of Ink Blood Sister Scribe from the publisher, and received an ARC of The Sun and the Void to review via Orbit. My preorder of the French edition of The Crown of Gilded Bones arrived, and I also got a "free" Australian copy of A Shadow of the Ember as I couldn't return it due high shipping costs. I ordered it from Amazon.fr and tried to cancel but it wasn't fast enough, I guess. I also got two novellas from Vela Roth, Blood Legacy and Blood Dream, from the author's newsletter. Altogether, that's nine books received (not paid for) during the month of May.

Currently Obsessed With

Well, I actually have a few different shows to talk about this month. However, I also finished my umpteenth rewatch of The Office, only to, a few weeks later, start it all over again. It's just easy to flip it on when I need something to watch while I'm eating.

I think the biggest show I watched this month was Netflix's Queen Charlotte limited series. It was fun. And sad. It definitely made me excited for Bridgerton season three to come out too, whenever the heck that'll be. After that, I watched The Maid on Netflix, another limited series. This one was also sad, but uplifting. And then finally, before I started back into my The Office rewatch, I watched Heartstopper season one. It was cute. A little cringey at times with a terrible actor playing the bully role, but overall, cute. Oh, and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with my dad Memorial Day weekend. It was also a bit sad. It was better than a lot of the recent Marvel movies have been, but it still wasn't as good as the first two films.

June TBR


I have a few repeat TBR books on here, as well as some newbies. First up, the books I need to review. That includes The Pariah by Anthony Ryan, The Sun and the Void, and Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (NetGalley ARC). I also want to read A Dragon's Promise before the FairyLoot sale of Elizabeth Lim's new book goes live. I'm still currently reading Bound in Firelight by Dana Swift. I've been reading it for a while now. I also have three library ebooks to read this month before they disappear from my Kindle. Those are The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Lightlark by Alex Aster, and Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. And then, I have a couple of others I want to re-read, like Crave and Poison Princess so I can finish bingeing the rest of the series. And finally, I want to read Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen, which is on Kindle Unlimited for a limited amount of time, thereby contradicting the "Unlimited." This is a lofty TBR. I'm betting I only get to three of these, realistically speaking.

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Okay, well, that's the month of May, plus some June sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

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