ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN MAY 📚☀️ || 8 books

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-05

[00:00:00]This man knows how to yearn. I cannot explain the psychosis that comes over you whenever you're reading a series like this and then watching the show.

[00:00:06]It's It's going to be a reading month for sure.

[00:00:13]Hello book besties. Welcome or welcome back to my channel. My name is Bailey and I like to read a little bit. And today we're going to be talking about every single book that I read in May. I read eight books and I started one. So that will be in next month's wrap-up. I feel like this month matched up pretty well with how many in terms of quantity that I have been reading. But all in all, I think it was a good reading month. We'll see as we go over everything and look at my final ratings for everything. But I'm excited because also, not only did I have some good reads in there, I also read my most anticipated read of the entire year, but we'll get to that in a minute. So, without further ado, let's talk about every single book that I read in the month of May. So, the first book that I read in May was Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens. This is a thriller, and I started this in April, but I did finish it in May, so obviously it's being included in this wrap-up. And in this one, we follow this middle-aged couple.

[00:00:57]They've been having issues in their marriage. So, they decide they're going to pack up and go on an RV trip across Canada. And on their trip, they run into this younger couple that are hitchhiking. They need a ride. And they decide they're going to take them where they need to go. Even when their stories don't really start adding up, it just seems a little weird. They seem a little off. You know, nice but a little off.

[00:01:17]Always trust your gut. That's as much as I'm going to tell you about this book cuz I don't want to spoil anything. I feel like with thrillers, you have to be very careful about what you say.

[00:01:24]Otherwise, it will spoil little things throughout the story, right? I rated this one a four-st star. I thought the ending was very, very good. I thought it really came full circle. This is a thriller that I would highly recommend listening to on audio. I did the immersive read for this because I was traveling whenever I was immersive reading it and for some reason, it just really helps me lock in on a plane. Not for some reason, it's just because there was like a crying baby and there were people walking up and down the aisles and I get distracted really easily. So, obviously, you immersive read on a plane. But, highly recommend doing that.

[00:01:51]I ended up rating it four stars. Like I said, I really liked how the ending concluded. It really came full circle.

[00:01:56]After that, I wanted something easy, something quick, you know, just something that would keep my attention because I only had like a short amount of time left of us traveling and I was like, I need something that I know I can get through and I'm not going to have to think about too much. I ended up picking up The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alex E. Harrow. I did not realize that this was a short short novella short story in a broader series. But I will say I went into it didn't know what it was about came out of it 30 something pages later because it's literally a short story.

[00:02:23]It's under 40 pages long I believe and I loved it and I was like why have I not read more of her books? That's crazy. So this one I do highly recommend reading it if you're wanting more of like a fableesque story. So it's about a saint and her learning about blind loyalty and love. That's all I'm going to tell you because it is so short that I will give everything away and I don't want to. But I do want to say about this is that Alex E. Harrow's writing style for a story being this short, it felt deeper than I thought it would. Her writing was fully immersive. The way that she described emotion and the fact that it pulled emotion out of me in less than 50 pages, less than 40 pages, however many pages it was, is absolutely insane. So, I will absolutely be reading more of her books.

[00:03:04]I ended up rating the novella four stars because I did enjoy it that much, which was crazy. But highly recommend if you're wanting something just quick and easy. I need to go back and read the rest of that series now because I think this is like book three. I guess it'd be 2.5. I don't know, something like that.

[00:03:18]The next books that I read were purely due to FOMO. So, I read The Deal by El Kennedy because the show was coming out and I didn't want to miss out. I wasn't going to read it, but then I decided, you know what? Why not? Everybody's saying it has that crack writing style.

[00:03:31]I want to get into it cuz I was seeing all the promo for it. The show looked really good and once I watched the show, nine times out of 10, I'm not going to read the book. So, I did. I don't know what L. Kennedy put in these books. Were they good? Not particularly. Did I have a fun time? Yes. Could I not put it down? Yes. The show is better. I read them so that I could watch the show. I see why people enjoy them. It has that fun romcom drama found family type of vibe in it that just makes you not want to put it down. You can very much tell that this was written in the early 2000s. it shows and like the things that were happening in the book and the way that they spoke and some of the things that they said. But I do recommend if you're wanting to read it before watching the show doing that because it was fun. Watch the show. I'm telling you, watch the show. But don't watch the first season until you've read books one through three cuz they're going out of order in the show. But anyways, the deal. I really liked how this book went deeper than I thought it was going to. I thought it was just going to be a silly little college hockey romance romcom, but it dealt with heavier topics.

[00:04:31]Garrett's book went a lot deeper than I thought it would. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read it, but basically just what these characters went through in their home lives was rougher than I expected. It also just made me giggle. The the book made me giggle. It really did. Okay, it was cringey. It was cute. It was crack writing. What do you want me to say? I ended up rating Garrett's book four stars. I then went on to John Logan's book, The Mistake. And I did not know if this one was going to be my favorite in the series or anything like that because it started off and it was insta spice.

[00:05:01]Here's the thing. All of these books are overly spicy. They really are. So, if you're going to go into it, just know that I ended up really liking his book, which was crazy to me. He's so damaged.

[00:05:12]So, the deal was a four-st star. The mistake was a 3.5 star. But, I'm pretty sure John Logan is my favorite MMC out of this entire series thus far. I just I like him damaged. I fear. I cannot explain the psychosis that comes over you whenever you're reading a series like this and then watching the show.

[00:05:28]It's a phenomenon. It just fully takes over your body and it's an obsession.

[00:05:31]This one did make me giggle a lot and I like that we get so much of the other characters throughout every single book in the series and I thought it was a good time. What's crazy though is I actually did tear up in the mistake. If you would have told me that I was going to tear up at a romcom hockey book, especially in a series that I said I was never going to read because I did not think I was going to like it, I would have called you a liar. But you would have been proving me wrong in fact because I did. John Logan's story made me tear up. So take what you will from that. After that, I read Six of Crows by Lee Bardugo. This has been on my TBR for over 2, 3 years now, something like that. It's been sitting on my shelf for forever. And my friend Kristen has beenounding me to read this book. I've been putting it off because I I don't know why, honestly. I just never had the desire really to pick it up, and it kind of intimidated me. But I ended up really really loving it, which I had a feeling I would. Cass Breer is one of the OG yearners. Okay, I would put him in Will Harenddale's league if I'm being totally honest. You have a group of six people that are supposed to work together on this heist. They do not all necessarily like each other. They do not all necessarily work well together. Some of them do, some of them don't, but they still have to do it regardless. And Casreer leads up this group. He is infamous. He's a pickpocket. He's got a tormented past. He walks with a cane.

[00:06:46]And I don't know what it is about a man that walks with a cane. It kind of gives peaky blinders in a way. Don't ask me why I've never seen Pey Blinders, but I know the vibes and I know who Tommy Shelby is, and that's what Casreer kind of gives to me. They have to pull off the heist. They don't have another choice because the money that they could make from the heist could change every single one of their lives. This has such a good found family in it. I did not expect to feel for these characters as much as I did. Now, it did take me a minute to get into, I think, just because I didn't really understand the world. I know a lot of people say to read Shadow and Bone first, but I've watched the Shadow and Bone show. So, I feel like, you know, I told you sometimes I won't read the book after I watch the show, and Nez is everything to me. The little breadcrumbs of romance left in this story, they did something to me. I still have not read Crooked Kingdom. I will be reading it. I just don't know when. The way that this one ended was criminal, but at least it's only a duogy. And the second book is obviously already out because this has been out for so long. But I loved it and I loved Casreer and I loved this writing style. I think it's young adult. It may be new adult, but it felt like an adult fantasy world, but with the YA tone set into it. I don't know how to explain it.

[00:07:54]It It feels like it's in a league of its own. And I really enjoyed it. I rated it four stars and I highly recommend reading this. After Six of Crows, I knew that Ballad of Falling Dragons was going to be started soon after, but I didn't want to start it right after because I didn't want to do fantasy than fantasy.

[00:08:08]So instead, I decided to continue the off-campus series by El. Kennedy, and I read Dean and Ali's book, and boy am I glad I did. I had such a good time with this one. I do understand why this is people's favorite book because I feel like it had a lot of emotional impact.

[00:08:23]I'm super excited for Alli and Dean's season. I can't wait. I genuinely can't wait. I do feel like the writing style improved the farther into the books I got. So, the score was definitely the best written. I ended up rating it four stars because I really did like the storyline and I thought that the characters were well-developed and I loved that we got to see the bits of pieces of everybody else. Like I said in the story, the found family is my favorite part of this whole series and I think I was just in the mania in the moment of watching the show and reading the books. Now I did not read all of the score until I had already watched the show. So there were a few things that were a little bit spoiled for me, but it's totally fine. I was not mad about it at all. You know, they changed enough in the show that it was fine. Like you know who's going to end up with who. I feel like after that, it was time for my most anticipated read of the entire year. And yes, I am talking about Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker.

[00:09:11]This is the sequel to When the Moon Hatched. And this book was going to decide if I thought the series was going to be god tier for me. And I'm here to report to you that absolutely yes, it is god tier. So, I'm not going to tell you the plot of this one or like a blurb of it. I am going to tell you a little bit about When the Moon Hatched if you don't know, so you can decide if you want to read it or not. RMC's name is Rave and she is an assassin for a rebellion group. All right. kind of against her will. Honestly, not even kind of, genuinely against her will. And she is the best of the best. But whenever there's a bounty put on their heads, kind of hits the fan. She gets taken into custody and she's about to die. Enter Conor. He is a king. He is on a mission and he just so happens to stumble upon Rave. I'm going to leave it there. I know a lot of people get intimidated by the glossery at the beginning of When the Moon Hatched. Do not let that intimidate you. It intimidated me for a very, very long time. That's why I hadn't picked it up yet. But I was told you only need to know how the time works in order to really start the book and get into it.

[00:10:06]Everything else you'll learn along the way. So that's all you need to know going into it. Okay? Just look at that in the glossery and then skip the rest and just start reading. This was highly anticipated for me. There were so many questions that were answered. There were so many more questions that arose. I cried three times while reading this book. Three times. Crazy. I love these characters so much. If you were wanting more character growth in this book, you get it. If you were wanting romance, you get it. If you were wanting yearning, you get it. If you were wanting more of the dragons, you definitely get that, too. Answers. And honestly, the foreshadowing is insane. I don't know how Sarah A. Parker does it, but I bow to her. Okay, this was a masterpiece.

[00:10:45]This is probably the best second book in a series I've ever read in my life. I'm obsessed with it. This was six freaking stars. Perfection. I would not change a thing. The only thing I would change is having the third book at the ready. I want that so badly. I have had debriefs about this book. I'm obsessed with it.

[00:11:03]The more and more you analyze it after you finish it, the more you realize all the little bits and pieces that you may have missed or the little bits of foreshadowing. So, getting to talk to people who have also read it has been really, really cool. Especially because like some things have been pointed out to me that I didn't realize that I missed and vice versa, you know? So, I loved it. I think you should read it.

[00:11:21]Don't be intimidated by it. It's perfection. It's absolute perfection.

[00:11:24]and Conor has quickly made his way into my number one or two spot, I don't know, of my favorite bookman list. I I love him. This man knows how to yearn. After that, I for sure knew that I needed a palette cleanser. So, I read Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feny. This was on my May TBR. In this one, we follow an author and he's married, but in the very beginning of the book, his wife goes missing. Fast forward a year later. He's struggling to write. He has to have like absolute silence, solitude, that whole thing. So, his agent is like, "Hey, here's the keys to this author that I used to represent's cabin on this remote island in Scotland. Go ahead and use it for the next 3 months because I think you need a push because he's not writing. He doesn't have any money. It's a whole thing." And so, he's like, "Okay." And he goes, but once he gets there, things are a little bit freaky.

[00:12:08]He's seeing things. Things aren't adding up. But, he is writing, so at least there's that. The plot twist at the end of this, I saw it coming, but I also didn't see it coming in its entirety. It was a little bit slow. Okay. It was No, it wasn't a little bit slow. It was a lot a bit slow until the last I'd say like 30% of the book. So, I ended up rating this three stars. It wasn't my favorite thriller, but I did like the vibes of it. It was very eerie, you know. And I am going to mention this real quick because this is my current obsession. I did in fact start because I killed him in May. And I will be reading it into the beginning of June. So, I will definitely be giving my rating and thoughts and everything on it in my next wrap-up. But, I am obsessing over this.

[00:12:46]I've been seeing this go around.

[00:12:47]Everybody's been talking about it. It's a Great Gatsby inspired dystopian with romance novel and it is huge and I am loving it. So, in this one, I said it's dystopian. There's a civilized world and all of its inhabitants have been enhanced in some way, but they all have different types of blood now, different colors. So, the blues are the most powerful. They're strong. They're smart.

[00:13:09]They're fast. They rule everything. And then there's oranges who are like the smartest out of everyone. And then there's greens who are the brawn.

[00:13:16]They're the bodyguards and the athletes and things like that. And then you also have the purples. And the purples are beautiful and artistic and all of those things. And then there's pinks that are the robots. And the coppers, they're classified as coppers, but they're they have one of those colors of blood, but they are coppers because they are enforcement. So, our FMC lore, Laura Dana, she is a green and her father is a politician and she's supposed to go off to this university because she wants to be able to get her right to carry a weapon and to fence again back. There is something that happened a year ago where she had to defend herself that caused her to get her rights for that taken away. She couldn't fence anymore, which she was really, really good at. In order to get that right back, she has to go to this school for 2 years. But while all of this is happening, her father decides he's going to publicly, along with a bunch of other politicians, challenge the high society, the blues. And this does not bode well, especially for a new student whenever all bets are off and she can't defend herself. So, she ends up having to align with a blue, Edmund Pru. Oh my god, his name rhymes with blue. But it's really, really good. It's so dystopian. I stayed up so late last night reading it, and I usually can't stay up late anymore. I can tell it's going to be a slow burn, like a really slow burn. and I'm so excited for it. I don't know how many books are going to be in this. I don't know if it's a duogy or a series, but I cannot wait to give you my review once I finish it. So, add it to your TBR so that you can freak out over it, too, please. So, that is eight books read, one book started. I would say that it was a pretty damn good reading month. We had one five-star, a couple that were closeish, and I really just enjoyed all of the books that I read. And that to me is a really good reading month. What was your favorite read of the entire month? Was it one of these that I read? Was it one that I haven't mentioned ever? Let me know. I'm always looking to add new books to my TBR. I'm very, very busy at the moment.

[00:15:00]Very busy. So, my reading may take a hit in June. I'm hoping not because I have a lot of really good books planned to read in June. Go check out my TBR video that I posted last week if you haven't seen that yet. It's It's going to be a reading month for sure. I have lots of fun content planned for you guys. If there's any videos that y'all are wanting from me too, let me know. I'm always open to ideas and feedback and all of the things. With all of that being said, thank you guys for watching this video. Don't forget to like and subscribe. I love you so so much and I will see y'all in the next one.