Books Read In May
I've been procrastinating on posting my May list because I wasn't especially blown away by any one or two of the books this month, although I appreciated aspects of several.
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
- The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper
- You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan
- Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
- You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
- League of Dragons by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #9)
- America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Thoughts:
- I was really looking forward to Children of Blood and Bone. I loved the sample opening chapter, and I ended up enjoying the book. I especially enjoyed the concept of the maji and the structure of the world with the gods: the mythology was a definite strong point. I also really loved the character of Amara and how she's unexpectedly strong but also just fun, and I enjoyed both of the love stories in this book and realistic tension between characters. However, I think I was disappointed because the three teenage perspectives felt a little more narrow than I was expecting. I would consider reading the next book, because it does end in an intriguing place that has potential to add more to the story, but maybe wait to buy the paperback.
- Wicked Lovely was a surprise since I ended up liking it better than I expected. It's in a genre, urban fantasy, that I don't read that much. I picked it up because I was just looking for any audiobook from the library that I thought might amuse me. I also don't read about the fae that much. Oddly, I feel like that's more of a trend in urban than epic fantasy? At first, it seemed like it was going to be one of those annoying Chosen One tropes with a love triangle which the biggest supernatural jerk would win. However, I loved the way this book turned that trope completely on its head and wove a deeper, more meaningful story about making destiny work for you and making a third choice from two inalienable options. Very cool story featuring female empowerment, and I would consider reading the next one. Again though, I really appreciated parts of it rather than the book as a whole, if that makes sense. Some of it was just very obvious, which I get sets up the less obvious bits, so... I don't know.
- You Are a Badass at Making Money was an amusing, empowering read. The first time I looked at it, I thought it wasn't practical enough, but going back in a more "woo woo, Zen" mood, it was what I needed to feel better about money and abundance in my life, so recommend it if you're in that kind of mood. Pairs well with Brene Brown.
- America's First Daughter was impeccably well researched, so if you're interested in the nitty gritty of Thomas Jefferson's life, this was really an interesting way to view it through the perspective of his daughter. Also, a lot about Patsy Jefferson's life that I didn't know, some scandalous, some sad. It worked better as a history lesson than a novel, but that (mostly) worked for me.
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