May 2024 Reading Review

Happy Monday! We had the most perfect weekend: sunny skies, highs in the low to mid 80s. We managed to spent nearly the whole weekend outside and I did a lot of reading in a lawn chair while filling up on Vitamin D. Just lovely!

I’m here today to share the books I finished in May. It wasn’t my most prolific month but I was excited to keep returning to these books every day. Keep reading to see what kept me company last month!

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I can’t possibly pick a favorite book from May. I read across several genres and enjoyed my time with all of these books (although I was pretty torn by one of them), so I’m going to do my best to give each a moment to shine. And now I’m relieved that I had a relatively light month of reading in May!

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
This is the seventh and last book in the Throne of Glass series and covered so much ground that it made my head spin. It’s difficult to give a summary because so much happened in the first six books and I don’t want to give away any spoilers for those of you who might pick this up.

So to be safe, I’ll just say that this series has a satisfying ending and we finally see all of the threads weave back together as our heroes converge for the final battles to save Terrasen and defeat Erawan once and for all. The best part of reading this series after finishing all of the other Maas books is finding connections between characters in all of her worlds. It’s all speculation at this point, but I’m hoping Maas crystallizes those connections in her future books!

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Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
This was a reread with Mary and probably even more enjoyable this time. Alex Stern has had the ability to see ghosts since she was a little girl. After a rough adolescence, she’s recruited by Yale to monitor their secret societies and their questionable activities. She sees this as her escape from LA and terrible experiences there and never expects to actually find a place where she belongs.

I adore Leigh Bardugo and her sense of humor; I found myself laughing out loud several times while listening to this book. And this book is thick with atmosphere – I loved the descriptions of Yale and New Haven! I downloaded its sequel, Hell Bent, as soon as I finished Ninth House. I can’t wait to learn what happens to Alex and her friends!

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Gallant by VE Schwab
This was a deliciously creepy (yet cozy!) novel. Orphaned Olivia receives a letter begging her to come home to a family she didn’t know existed. When she gets there, she realizes that there are secrets far beyond her understanding. And she realizes that the secrets behind her mother’s death are hidden within the mysteries of this house in Gallant.

Friends – this is the kind of atmospheric vibe-y book that I love! I enjoyed my time in Gallant and was reminded how much I love VE Schwab. She’s on my list of authors to explore this summer!

(And the Kindle Edition is only $2.99 as of this writing!)

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Powerless by Lauren Roberts
In this world, certain people are gifted with extraordinary abilities and others are simply ordinary. Now the Elites have been tasked with wiping out the Ordinaries and the world isn’t safe for our main female character, Paedyn. She’s spent her life posing as a Psychic and when her skills help her save Kai, a prince, she gets invited to participate in the Purging Games – a brutal battle to showcase the powers of the strongest fighters in the realm.

My feelings about Powerless are torn. On one hand, I l felt as though it was simply a combination of Throne of Glass and The Hunger Games. I’m a pretty new fantasy reader and it feels as though there wasn’t very much new here. On the other hand, I loved the sexual tension between the two main characters; they practically sizzled. However, the closest they got to resolving any of that was the tiniest of kisses at the end of the book! I was very disappointed at that point.

There’s a related novella that I’m somewhat interested in reading later this year and there’s a sequel due to be released in July. I doubt that I’ll be reading it in 2024, but perhaps I’ll be a little less irritated by these characters in 2025?

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Women’s Prize Reading

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I read two books shortlisted for The Women’s Prize in May and enjoyed them both.

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright: I was drawn into this novel right away. It tells the story of three generations of women and the impact of the family patriarch, an Irish poet named Phil McDaragh. The generational trauma endured is on full display and I found this book difficult to put down. It’s not my favorite of the shortlist so far but I’m so glad that I had the chance to read it.

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville: Dolly was born in Australia in the late 1800s and lived a childhood of pure drudgery, despite being one of the brightest children at her school. After her father refuses to allow her to continue school and become a teacher, she knows she needs to marry despite feeling as though it isn’t right for her. She makes a rather disappointing marriage and we follow her restlessness as she opens several businesses and raises her children, while finding ways to endure her marriage. I loved how unflinchingly this portrayed the difficult relationships between Molly and her children; how it showed us the necessity of Molly’s gruff personality in order to succeed as much as her gender and station in life would allow.

The best part of this book is that Molly is actually the author’s grandmother. At the end of the book, Grenville shares a small story from her childhood that inspired her to try to understand her difficult and surly grandmother. I think Molly would be proud.

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This month’s readaloud:
Nim’s Island was a lot of fun! It’s about a little girl and her scientist father who live alone on an island. One day Nim’s father, Jack, has a terrible accident on his boat and Nim is left on her own for longer than expected. Luckily, she makes a friend while replying to her father’s emails who is able to help her through some of her hardships. I really enjoyed this story and it gave us a lot to think about in terms of making assumptions about other people. It’s so easy to do when you have limited information about their lives! This is a great summer book for all elementary aged children.

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And that was May in a nutshell! Were you able to spend much time reading? What was your favorite book on the month?

I hope your Monday is full of good things. Take good care!