I can't post without mentioning the horrific events that have taken place in May. George Floyd was murdered by police. It is disgusting that this continues to happen. Things need to change. In the past week or so I have focused on closing my mouth and opening my eyes & ears in order to listen to educate myself. Please visit this website to see how you can help to support the Black Lives Matter movement. If you would like to recommend some books by black authors, please do so in the comments. I am aware that is not anyone else's job to educate me and will continue to educate myself, but if you feel passionate about a particular book, or any other resource, and would like to share it, please do so.
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I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella -
After reading and not loving two Sophie Kinsella books previously, I decided to give up on her as I felt she just wasn't an author for me. However, I picked this one up as part of my 'Reading The First Books Added To My Goodreads TBR' post and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting. For my full thoughts, check out that post.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Book Of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern -
This one I also picked up for that same post. Cecelia Ahern is one of my favourite authors, so I was excited to get to pick up another of her books and continue working my way through her backlist. I read this in a day and really enjoyed it. I give more of my thoughts in that post.
Rating: 4/5
Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot -
Yet another for the first books I added to Goodreads post. I had no expectations going into it but this one was a disappointment. A lot of things about it annoyed me but the mystery aspect of the story wasn't too bad. Again, for my full thoughts, check out the post.
Rating: 2/5
The Biker by Jolie Day -
This is a romance short story that I found while randomly browsing the audiobook selection on Scribd so decided to give it a listen. It is about a woman who fled to a small town to escape her past but one night a biker crashes in the town, which was kind of her fault, and he ends up staying with her until his bike get s fixed. This was super short so obviously things move very fast. It was a fun, steamy story but also had a bit of plot to it. It actually had more plot to it than I was expecting and it took an interesting turn. It did seem a bit like it was trying to do too much in too short a story, so everything resolved very quickly and it could have benefitted from a few more pages.
Rating: 2.5/5
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer -
With the announcement of the release of Midnight Sun, of course I had to reread the Twilight series. This is the series that got me into reading again and will always hold such a special place in my heart. This was my third reread and I still enjoy it every time. Obviously, this series has its problems. The problematic elements are pretty clear when reading it as an adult, and I can acknowledge and appreciate it's issues, but I will always enjoy reading these books. I think rereading this series is exactly the kind of comfort read I need during these uncertain times.
(I will not be changing my ratings for any of these books during rereads, even if my feelings for any of them change).
Rating: 4/5
Let's Get Textual by Teagan Hunter -
I was in the mood for a fun romance and had seen a few booktubers I watch recommend this one recently, so when I saw the audiobook on Scribd I decided to give it a go. This is a new adult romance following a girl who receives a text from a wrong number, but rather than ignore and delete she ends up texting this random guy back. I really enjoy the 'wrong number' trope and it was done well in this one. The chemistry between the two characters was clear, even just in the texts, which had me rooting for them from pretty early on. I really liked that this book didn't drag things out for too long. The texting went on just long enough before they met in person, and then the relationship progressed at a good, steady pace after that. I thought the conflict was handled well, it wasn't completely dramatic and was resolved in a fun way. I had a fun time reading this and would like to pick up the other books in this series at some point in the future.
Rating: 4/5
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer -
Continuing on with my Twilight reread, I picked up the second book in the series. I have never reread past the first book, so I really enjoyed this reread. New Moon was my least favourite in the series originally, and for the first quarter of the book I could see why. Bella was pretty insufferable for a lot of the book, but I found myself really loving Jake and the time those two spent together. I'm finding a lot of my initial feelings for this series changing, but my overall love for these books remains. I can't wait to carry on with this reread.
Rating: 4/5
What Makes Us Stronger by Freya Lewis -
I wanted to read this book to mark the third anniversary of the Manchester Arena attack on May 22nd. It's a short book so I thought I could easily read it in a day. However, this book was so hard to read for me that it ended up taking me until the end of the month. This is a non-fiction book, telling Freya's story of the attack and how it changed her life. Freya was seriously injured in the attack and also lost her best friend. Although I wasn't there and didn't have anyone close to me who was, the Manchester Arena attack really affected me, and continues to do so. This book was hard to read, but it was worth every second. Freya is an incredibly brave young woman, not only for what she has been through, but also for how she has shared her story. In her book, she gives her recollection of the events on the night, as well as sharing about her injuries, how they affected her, her recovery in hospital and beyond, and how she has used what happened to do so much good. It is heartbreaking, it is eye-opening, and it is so inspiring.
Rating: 5/5
Those are the 8 books I read in May. This was the first time I had read a themed TBR for a blog post and I really enjoyed the experience, I think it actually encouraged me to read more. I'll definitely be doing more like that in the future. It was a varied month in terms of ratings, some hits and some misses, but I really enjoyed my reading throughout the month.
What was the best book you read in May? Is anyone else rereading the Twilight series following the Midnight Sun announcement?
Sophie :)
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