May was another great reading month for me. I finished nine books and started another, discovered some great new reads, revisited When the Moon Hatched, and completed my Throne of Glass reread.
It wasn't one of my best months in terms of books completed because several of the books were big beasts over 700 pages or 30 hours long, but I actually read more than I usually get through, so I'm happy with my progress.
Let's have a look at how I got on in May, and then I'll talk about some of my favourite (and least favourite) reads lately.
May Reading Stats:
📖 9 books completed, 1 started.
📖 5 hardbacks.
🎧 4 audiobooks
📖 1987 pages (4903 pages including audiobooks).
🎧 101.33 hours listened at 1.1x or 1.2x speed.
📖 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!
📖 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!
📖 Average rating: 4.53 stars.
📖 Average book length: 544 pages.
📖 Average time to finish: 8 days.
Less books than some months, but it was my best for hours listened, and second best for pages read so far this year. I also rated all but one four stars and above, so it was a great month for vibes, too.
I Read:
📖Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen. 4⭐
📖Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher. 4⭐
📖Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan. 5⭐
📖Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. 5⭐
📖The Midnight Train by Matt Haig. 3.75⭐
🎧Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐ (Reread).
🎧Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐ (Reread).
🎧Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐ (Reread).
🎧When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker. 4⭐ (5 star in print. Reread).
And I Started:
📖Divergent by Suzanne Collins. (Reread).
Favourite Reads: I thought Dire Bound was going to be my favourite new read in May, but then I read Thistlemarsh and Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, and it quickly got demoted. They were both so cute, cosy, whimsical, and fantastical.
Thistlemarsh is easily one of my favourite reads of the year so far. I found myself addicted to this enchanting Faerie fantasy tale, and the blend of magic, adventure, and history that added so much wonder and whimsy to every page. Think Emily Wilde crossed with a little bit of the magic, betrayal, and Faerie trickery of The Folk of the Air. It's about a young woman who is forced to make a deal with a Faerie to help fix up her family's crumbling estate to meet the terms of her inheritance and be able to continue caring for her sick brother, or the house will pass to the man who she despises more than anything. And she can't have that. Of course, nothing quite goes to plan, and there's plenty of surprising twists and turns, exciting adventures, betrayals, and threat to life along the way- as well as some slow-burn romance, found family vibes, and forced proximity. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Mouse and Thornwood as they progressed from reluctant allies to something more complicated, and learned to work together to repair Thistlemarsh, navigating unexpected hurdles and unseen foes along the way. Their enemy era was endlessly entertaining. Also, it has the cutest dragon/ dog sidekick, and a detestable villain who was so fun to hate. I really couldn't recommend this book to you more! I loved it so much, I'm dying for a sequel.
I decided to try Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter after enjoying the author's Emily Wilde trilogy, and loved it more than those three books combined. It was a charming cosy fantasy about a struggling cat-shelter owner who accidentally ends up co-habiting with Montreal's most-wanted dark wizard with a feline allergy after her original rescue centre is destroyed during a magical attack on the city. Agnes just wants to take care of her cats, but as the police grow suspicious that illegal magic is at play in her shelters, she gets swept into a world of magic and crime, and caught in the middle of a feud between two of the world's most powerful sorcerers. But the more time she spends with Havelock, the more Agnes realises that perhaps he isn't the monster that the world makes him out to be. And maybe he's not as irritating as she first thought, either... I wasn't sure if this book was going to be for me, half-expecting it to be another dull copy-and-paste contemporary romance, but it was so charming, comical, and imaginative that I loved it almost immediately, and couldn't put it down. It was such a fun read, and I laughed my way through it- especially at the snarky back-and-forth between Agnes and Havelock while in close quarters. I also got lost in the whimsicalness of the magic, loved all the cute cats, wanted to eat all the pastries from the magical oven, and found the French Canadian setting interesting. I don't think I've ever read anything that touched on that side of Canada's culture before. If you love cosy fantasy, cats, magic, and slow-burn romance, you need to read this book at once!
Favourite Listens: My favourite audio reads were, naturally, the last three books in the Throne of Glass series- Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, and Kingdom of Ash. It's my favourite series, and even though it was my third read of the books in as many years, I had the best month listening to the final three audiobooks. Even if the reread emotionally annihilated me fifty times over all over again. You can find my original reviews of the books here.
Least Favourites: I didn't hate anything that I read in May, but something has to be last, so I'm going to say The Midnight Train by Matt Haig. I enjoyed the story and the interesting perspective it gave on the choices we make in life- how one bad decision can lead to a chain of bad choices that negatively shape our entire lives, until we die miserable and alone, like Wilbur did. How we shouldn't let our dreams cloud what's really important in life, and to appreciate what we already have in front of us. However, as thought-provoking as it was, the reason that I didn't rate it higher was that it also had its flaws. The writing style was very simplistic, the characters felt a little too stereotypical, and I found some of the dialogue irritatingly cheesy at times. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good read overall, and one that got me thinking more about my own life choices. If you liked The Midnight Library, or love a good cautionary tale, you should definitely give it a try.
Well, that's what I read in May...
Have you read any good books lately?
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