Book Roundup- May 2023

Hi everyone! I actually got my act together to get out a blogpost on a Monday. I’m writing this Saturday AM as I’m “at work” at the Alexandria library, getting stood up and ghosted by 2 out of 3 students I was supposed to do an assessment on. 🙃 Good thing I get paid hourly!

As always, it's time for me to recap the previous month's reading with my monthly recap. Here's the recap for May 2023. 

As you can see, with work majorly picking up and prepping for baby as our due date is nearing, the number of books I have been able to read the past few months have been dwindling. I’m sure the number of books I read will just keep decreasing and decreasing over the next several years! Oh well, I had manyyyyy years where I was solo or living alone and could spend so much time on reading…and now I’m ready for this next stage of life!

As you can also see, apparently May was the month of reading newly released books with pink covers.  Whenever I read newly released books, I often notice trends with the cover colors for books that come out around the same time.

Anyways, this month, I got some reading done in the car on our long road trips…

And I also tried to steal a few minutes here and there on the couch!

Overall, this was a great reading month. I leaned more towards chick lit/romance/beachy reads and loved that for this time of year again! Here are my brief recaps below.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Really enjoyed this one more than I expected
• Especially loved the love/romance aspect of it
• The dialogue (and also the emails) between the two characters had me hooked
• The initial SNL part was slightly interesting but became somewhat monotonous for me
• This book had a slow start but really picked up as it went on
• The first half and second half almost seemed like two different books
• It has a lot of social commentary/political views thrown in

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune- ⭐⭐⭐🌟 (3.5 stars)

• So many readers raved and raved about her first book and didn't like this one as much, but I think this one was an improvement from her first book
• I liked the resort aspect that was included
• This one was witty and artsy
• It was more romance-based than beachy (I was really going for a beachy summer book!)
• It's pretty simple- nothing complex, nothing to rave about but was enjoyable while reading

Beach Read by Emily Henry- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• This book sucked me in from the get go. To me, this one is her best yet!
• I found myself smiling while reading
• Absolutely loved the summer setting and beachy (Maine) feel 
• This book is full of joy, witty banter, and happiness- but it also has depth and is not just a “beach read”
• Includes perfect wording that made me pause and reread to appreciate what she was trying to convey
• The chapters and pacing of the book are really creative
• My only complaint is that the main male character was self-deprecating to the point where it was annoying
• Has Emily Henry's trademark style but also seems to be about/include so much more than her previous books

If you had to pick one for your summer so far? I would say to go with Happy Place by Emily Henry!

Here are just a few of the many books that are being released in June that I'm MOST excited about:

• Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan
• The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
• The Whispers by Ashley Audrain (same author as The Push!)
• The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams
• The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel
• Zero Days by Ruth Ware
• The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Hope you're able to sneak in some time for you and for reading this week! It's such a perfect season for it. My goal is to set aside time to enjoy all the sunshiney reading I can until baby gets here. After that, I’m thinking most of my reading will be middle of the night/Kindle in the dark reading!