May was a pretty decent reading month for me. I read 22 books and most of them were four and five star reads! I didn’t follow my TBR that well which led to me to switching it up for June and that has been working really well for me. So hopefully when I come back to do my June wrap up I will actually have completed a monthly TBR. Also, I mentioned in my May TBR that I was going to be donating money to the Vascular Birthmark Foundation based on how many books I read. I did donate half way through the month on Vascular Birthmark Awareness Day (May 15) and I had read nine books by then so I donated $45. I was planning on donating to them again in early June but my husband and I have been donating to Black Lives Matter causes so that has been put on the back burner for now. It is still a cause that is close to my heart so I will be donating the additional $65 later this year.
Wrap Up
Rating: 5/5
This is my first Lars Kepler that I have read and I loved it. I am a huge fan of Nordic thrillers and this one did not disappoint. The book starts out with a brutal crime and I thought the story was going to be centered around this one crime but it took a left turn and it went in a different, but equally creepy, way. This married author duo do not hold back from the gore and the darkness and I flew through this 565 page book in a little over a day.
Rating: 5/5
This was just as heart wrenching as I thought it would be. I thought it was particularly upsetting that Wiesel documented more than once the chances he and his family had to avoid the Nazi’s but most people thought the stories being told were exaggerated. Just the agony of knowing that they could have avoided the horrors that were their future is just brutal to think about.
Rating: 4/5
I used to read a lot more fantasy a few years ago so it felt good to get back into the genre. This is my first adult Schwab book and I was already a fan of her middle grade and this book just cemented to me what a great writer she is. The world building in this book is fascinating and I also really loved all the action. It did take me a little bit to get into this book but once our two heroes met I was hooked.
Rating: 4/5
Blog Tour: Like You Care by Kaydence Snow
Rating: 5/5
I am so mad that I waited so long to read this book. This is a fantastically done thriller/mystery and I loved the whole journey the book took us on. I did suspect the twist pretty early on but that just led to me anxiously anticipating the reveal. I hope to read more Feeney before the year is over.
Rating: 2/5
Well, this is sort of awkward to talk about now. I loved the first few seasons of Vanderpump Rules but that show is problematic as a whole and I lost interest in it. When I saw this book at the library (obviously pre quarantine) I picked it up and I finally got around to reading it last month. Based on my rating you can tell that I didn’t like it and it already feels so dated and it just came out recently.
Rating: 4.5/5
Blog Tour: This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
Rating: 3/5
California Dreamin’ by Saffron Kent
Rating: 5/5
Rating: 4/5
Blog Tour: Forbidden Lust by Karen Booth
Rating: 3/5
This is an okay YA mystery/thriller. I do like the whole idea of the story being told in fragments. It is a creative idea but unfortunately by the telling the story that way I really struggled with connecting to the characters. The story also ended up going in an unexpected way and so I found that really interesting.
Rating: 4/5
Blog Tour: The Hideaway Inn by Philip William Stover
Rating: 3/5
Blog Tour: Midnight Abduction by Nichole Severn
Rating: 4/5
Blog Tour: Sister Dear by Hannah Mary Mckinnon
Rating: 3/5
I did like the majority of these stories but I just feel like this isn’t the best translation of the book. I want to eventually read a more comprehensive book that maybe details more of the history of the stories as a whole. I know I mentioned while I was reading this that I want to go to an actual bookstore and flip through the different editions of this book and buy a different one. Also, the story of Aladdin is still stuck in my head because it is of course so different than the movies we have seen. I also am really interested in reading The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Andieh since I have heard people say that it is inspired by The Arabian Nights.
Rating: 5/5 & 4/5
Rating: 4/5
Blog Tour: Claimed by a Steele by Brenda Jackson
Rating: 3.5/5
Rating: 4/5
ARC Review: Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso
Rating: 5/5
Blog Tour: More Than Neighbors by Shannon Stacey
Rating: 4.5/5
This is a really fun and well crafted thriller. And I know I said that it is fun but it does deal with some pretty heavy topics so please check Goodreads for trigger warnings because there are definitely some that pop up in this story. This is another one where I figured the twist out very early on but I still enjoyed the book. This was close to a perfect thriller except for the ending. The actual ending of the story was great but there was an entire scene at the end that was just a huge info dump and that is one of my bookish pet peeves. Especially this one since all the info that we learned could have been incorporated in the story earlier.
Stats
Total Pages Read: 6,829
Average Pages/Day: 220
Books With Cassie 
Holy Moley I love your wrap up! The stats at the end are so interesting! Also 22 book in one month is just incredible! Congrats. I have heard some great things about sometimes I Lie and it’s been on my TBR for a while now. I might just have to get to It now xx
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