I read a lot of books in May which I’m super proud of. I would say it was a pretty good reading month based on the quantity of books I read but quality wise, it wavered. I’ve had some highs and some very low rated books.
I tried to include some cw/tw I remember but the ones I listed aren’t the complete list. If you want all of them, I suggest you look them up because a lot of the books I read in May have a LOT of tw/cw.
In May I participated in the Asian Readathon. For that, I read three books.
This is a HUGE book. A HUGE book and it’s HUGE for a reason. It follows 80+ years worth of Korean history and showcases different generations dealing with being Korean before, 
during, and after Japanese occupation. As a history lover, I really enjoyed this book. The writing feels like it’s translated but I’m not sure that it actually is. There’s this kind of distance with the characters that I appreciated in the beginning because that coupled with the author switching POV’s frequently made the story feel a bit like a movie. I mean this in the sense that we got to see certain scenes from the eyes of many and it gave us this outer perspective. That being said, I do feel like certain POV switches were unnecessary. I also wish we got a bit more insight into certain characters. I got really attached to certain characters but the way their storylines just drifted along left me wanting a bit more about them.
Please look at the TW/CW for this book because there are many. Some include: sexual assault/certain graphic sex scenes (including a situation that deals with questionable consent), loss, grief, racism, and much, much, more.
I’m going to be uploading a full detailed review of this soon but unfortunately, this book was not for me. David Yoon employed this comedic tone throughtout the story that I personally didn’t vibe with. Obviously, this is just something particular to me. I found the writing to be cringey and there was this one scene/aspect in this book that wasn’t handled well in my opinion. I did enjoy the end though and ended up crying.
CW: loss, grief, cancer, racism, etc.
I genuinely really enjoyed this book. If you don’t know, this story is centered around the death of Lydia, the daughter of this interracial couple. We follow the perspectives of each of the family members in this family as they look back at their time with Lydia to figure out how and why she died. I really loved the writing style in this book. It felt a bit circular in the sense that we start off with Lydia’s death and we work ourselves backwards from the different POV’s of the family members until we finally read from Lydia’s POV on what happened. This book was emotionally heavy and carried a very somber tone. I related to alot of this story and enjoyed the discussions on race, equality, sexism, and academic pressure.
CW: Grief, Depression, Racism, Sexism, loss, cheating, death
Outside of the Asian Readathon, I managed to read seven other books.
This was a 3 star read from me. I wasn’t sold on the romance, it felt a bit like insta-love but I think that’s in part to the fact that I couldn’t connect with the couple. I absolutely loved the premise though. This story explores workplace toxicity as the two MC’s work together to keep this celebrity couple who renovate houses together amidst their book tour. I’m a huge fan of HGTV and the fact that workplace toxicity is the backdrop of a famous romcom authors’ book? LOVE IT.
CW: workplace toxicity, emotional manipulation
This was my second Taylor Jenkins Reid novel and it fell a bit below flat for me. I thought the writing was very generic and it was too fast paced. Together, these two things didn’t let me connect with any of the characters. I thought the premise was interesting but I think if the writing had a bit more depth/weight to it, it would have been a lot more gripping for me. I just feel like it lacked a bit of substance. I did enjoy how this book focused on the Emma while exploring these two romantic relationships in her life. The story wasn’t necessarily focused on the romance aspect of it but on who Emma was in each of these relationships and how they’ve shaped her into becoming who she is.
CW: loss, grief, etc.
I loved how we got to follow more from Ronan but some of the stuff that happened just flew right over my head. This book took me forever to read. I just wish that we got a bit more explanation into things that happened. This book has a very lyrical writing style and I think that sometimes, the author just relies on it a bit too heavily and forgets to properly explain things.
CW: suicide, violence, guns, death, etc.
Ah, another Brigid Kemmerer book. Her books have the same blueprint but I love every single one of them. This book has all the CW/TW as do most of her contemporary novels so please, please check them beforehand. I really loved this story because it was centered around a Robinhood plot. I really connected with Rob and wanted to hug him and whack sense into him at the same time.
Kemmerer doesn’t shy away from hard hitting topics and I personally think that the way she writes the struggles these kids go through is very palpable. This story follows Rob who’s father is caught embezzling funds and having to deal with the repercussions which includes his father’s failed suicide attempt and all the people who were affected from his father’s crime. It also follows Meagan who is caught cheating in the SAT’s which resulted in having many students’ tests invalidated. She’s also dealing with the fact that her elder sister came home from college pregnant.
So as you can see, pretty heavy stuff for sure.
CW/TW: suicide, depression, talk of abortion, and so much more.
Again, liked the premise but couldn’t get over the writing. It got better towards the end to be honest but White/the Beast was grunting and growling so much throughout this book and not even DURING the steamy scenes. He’d literally be grunting/growling in conversation and I was kind of put off by that. It was kind of a let down because the premise of the story was SO COOL. It’s centered around these two half brothers and their sister starting this underground business that handles all kinds of shady things, all under the nose of the Duke, their other half-brother. It was the second book in a series which I didn’t know but honestly, I wasn’t bothered by any missing information. It was just the writing style. I also did love the fact that Hattie is a curvy girl because that REPRESENTATION IS NEEDED OKAY.
I reread this with my friend, Sophie, and I loved this so so much! I don’t have much to say about this except demon pox is a thing and ducks are evil.
I loved this book guys. I think this is my favorite in the series. I think it’s because we got to see more of everyone and while it did have this somber tone to it, there was still humor and all the coziness of our favorite witty and half paranormal friend group.
Those were all the books I read last month! I also want to make note that I have a new page up called “BLM” for Black Lives Matter. I basically posted my previous post there so the important links don’t drown under all my bookish and lifestyle content! I will be updating it in the near future to make it look a bit more appealable. Take note though that I will not be updating the BLM page daily or will be providing ALL the available methods out there in which one can be a good ally. I will try to update the page when I can and wanted to let you know in case I am your only source of information. I am NOT and SHOULD NOT be your only source of information.
Please, please take time out of your day to stay informed and educated! And do as much as you can to help out because there’s a lot to do <3
Blue Lily, Lily Blue is you fav TRC book so far? We love a woman with TASTE!