I read a bunch of amazing books last month that I can’t wait to talk about! Also, I’m trying something a little new this month in the formatting of my wrap up posts; let me know what you think in the quick poll at the end.

May Recap

Rather than write up my full thoughts, I’m going to give some quick takeaways here for all of the books I read this month, and then link the titles to my full review on Goodreads!

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan: I was pretty reluctant to pick this up since I didn’t really enjoy the first book in the series, The Hidden Oracle, but I actually had a lot of fun with this one!

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean: I don’t like the “women as revenge” trope, plus this one got off to a slow start for me, but I did really enjoy it by the end!

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas: Did we need this novella? Probably not. But that didn’t stop me from totally loving it! I really enjoyed revisiting this world and these characters, and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the series goes.

A Scandalous Deal by Joanna Shupe: This is one of my favorite romance novels I’ve read it a long time! I’m struggling to articulate what I liked about it so much, but it’s 100 percent up my alley and I completely adored it.

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker: There were parts of this I really enjoyed, but overall I found this book to perpetuate the snobby culture around wine, which I wasn’t a fan of.

Tough Luck Hero by Maisey Yates: The best book in the Copper Ridge series so far! I loved Colton and Lydia and watching their marriage become real (after they ran off to Vegas and got married when Colton was abandoned at the altar by another woman!).

Last Chance Rebel by Maisey Yates: Not as good as Tough Luck Hero, but definitely a great addition to the series!

Take Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates: Meh. Yates is at her best in her full-length novels, and I don’t plan to bother with anything less going forward (with the one exception for Madison West’s book). There’s just too much crammed into too few pages, and it never works for me.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: I really wanted to love this one, but the reality is it’s just not really my thing. There were parts I really liked, and overall I thought the book was worth reading, but I completely missed whatever made everyone love this book so much.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo: This book has such a cute premise, following a high school senior who decides to change her unluckiness in love by following the steps prescribed in Korean dramas. But ultimately I didn’t fully connect with the characters and it read a bit juvenile to me. Still a cute read, though!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Another book that I somehow missed the hype for! This book was well done and I enjoyed it, but again, I missed whatever is making people rave about this one.

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James: This was another excellent historical romance that has pretty much everything I’m looking for! I loved watching Alaric and Willa fall in love, and I can’t wait to read more about the rest of the Wilde family! I’m hoping they’ll be my new Bridgertons!

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: Finally, a hyped book that I totally understand the love for! I flew through this one and loved every minute of it (except for the plague parts—those freaked me out a bit). Definitely a new favorite!

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire: This series keeps getting better and better! I loved revisiting characters from the first book and getting to see even more of the other worlds! I can’t wait to see what McGuire does next with this series.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: So I didn’t love this one quite as much as Illuminae. I just didn’t connect with the two main characters as much! That said, it was still a great installment in the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James: This was just as good as the first one! James is doing an excellent job with this series and I can’t wait for more books.

What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine: My friend highly recommended this one, but I had to DNF it after about 65 pages. Something about the writing style just didn’t work for me, and then it got a bit gruesome, and I decided not to continue. But if you’re looking for a grim fairy tale, my friend speaks really highly of this one!

My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris: This is a bit of a tricky one because, as a choose-your-own-romance, I haven’t technically read the whole thing. So I just marked it as read and didn’t add it to my Goodreads challenge for this year. But I think I paged through enough to get the gist of it. Basically, I had an enormous amount of fun flipping back and forth through the different parts of the book, but it’s not ground breaking by any means and doesn’t necessarily include the emotion I love in a good romance.

Book News

I told you this would be back in some form! I was thinking it might be fun to have a mini recap section in my monthly wrap up posts.

First off, what on earth is going on with romance authors? It started with one author trademarking the word “cocky,” which is so generic that I honestly have no idea how it was approved, and now other authors are trying to trademark other rather generic words and phrases (Forever? Seriously?). How does anyone think this is a good idea?! At least the forever author backed down in the face of the backlash, but the cocky author is really doubling down. Just, what? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? What a mess.

If you haven’t been following this at all on Twitter, this article does a really good job laying out the original chain of events, while this one summarizes her new lawsuit. I also recommend reading Courtney Milan’s Twitter thread here about the forever author’s apology. Oh, and this is about all I know for the “shifter world” trademark.

Not to keep your blood pressure up, but I also think you should check out this article about FanX, a Utah book convention. Basically, author Shannon Hale criticized the organization for how it handled allegations of sexual harassment by an author at the event, and when she posted a fragment of an email she received from the organization, they completely flipped out. It’s bad. Check out Hale’s Twitter for more details.

On to less rage-inducing news, we have a cover for King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo!! And the third book in Alyssa Cole’s Loyal League series!

Although on a sad note, both Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff and Dark Age by Pierce Brown, which were scheduled for September releases, have been pushed back. Dark Age is now scheduled for February 2019, while Darkdawn is scheduled for September 2019. I’m sure these books will be better for the delays, but waiting is the worst!

But to swing it back to a positive note (I know, this section is an emotional roller coaster), Sarah J. Maas just announced a new series! It will be an adult fantasy series with a late 2019 release date. You can read the full details here.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for more book news!

Favorite Links

I’ve seen other bloggers do a section or post highlighting some of their favorite posts and videos that other creators have put out and love the concept, so I thought it’d be fun to introduce to my own blog.

I really enjoyed Rincey’s video for BookRiot about her journey with romance novels. I’m so excited she’s finally starting to find some that she likes!

Cait’s Bookish This or That Tag: But the Stressful Torturous Edition Because Mwahaha Haha post on her blog, Paper Fury, was as stressful as promised, but also a lot of fun!

Emily at Possibly Literate had a great list of book recommendations for Asian Pacific American Heritage month!

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy Mackenzie Lee’s recommendation videos on Epic Reads, and her list of books to read for Women’s History Month didn’t disappoint!

I’ve really been enjoying the unhaul challenge that has been making the rounds on BookTube lately, and I think Chelsea’s video on her channel, chelseadolling reads, is probably my favorite. It’s just so satisfying to see how many books she unhauled! My own life feels lightened as a result.

I really enjoy Beth’s Reading Around the World series on her blog, Reading Every Night, and this month’s is about Oxford!

Blogging Recap

I had a bit of a slower blogging month than usual this month, what with switching jobs and having a bunch of family in town. I’m hoping to get back on track in June! But in case you missed it, here are the posts that went up on my blog in May:

• April Wrap Up Part 2
• Big News! Life and Blog Update
• Monthly Recs: BookTube Made Me Read It
• BookCon Tips and Tricks
• This Is My Genre Book Tag
• Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2018
• Books I’m Most Excited to Snag at BookExpo

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Alright, so that’s the first installment of me playing around with this new format! (Here‘s the old one for reference.) If you don’t mind, it’d be awesome if you’d participate in a quick poll. And let me know in the comments if you have any further thoughts about the new layout. I’m still not quite sure what I think of it yet or if I want to continue doing it this way, so I value your feedback.

And of course, let me know what you’ve been reading and loving in the month of May!!