May Mid-Month Wrap Up 🌙 | So Many Disappointing Thrillers & One 5-Star Read

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Hi everyone, I'm Rhonda, and welcome to a new video. In today's video, this is my just mid-month [music] check-in, and this is where I share with you the books that I have read so far in the month of May.

[00:00:15]So far in May, I have not been reading as much. I told you guys back in April that April was kind of a tricky month just because we're getting into the end of the school year, and I'm just you know, life is pulling me in different directions, and I'm just not having enough time to read.

[00:00:34]And then, once I am reading a book, I'm not laser focused onto the story like I typically am. Um my mind is getting pulled into other directions, too. So, my reading is kind of taking a backseat a smidge just because of where I am right now with the end of the school year. Also, we have a family vacation coming up soon, so my brain is getting prepared for that, and you know, just the things. And so, that was happening in April, and that is obviously carrying over into May, and that's definitely reflected in the number of books that I've read so far. Um so far in this first half of May, I have only read five books, which for me, that is not a lot at all. I usually read five books like three to five books in a week. I I usually read pretty quickly, but that just shows where my mind is right now.

[00:01:21]It's just not a reading. But, once we get through the end of the school year, the last day of school, and once I get back from vacation, I should be back on track with my usual reading and my usual structure of how I put out my content.

[00:01:33]let's talk about the five books I have read so far. Because I've been struggling with being focused on a book, I wanted to pick books that I was really interested in reading right now, and that is mysteries and thrillers. And I've been really told you guys this before. I've really been into books about crazy female characters, unhinged female main characters, and that is definitely reflected in these five books. So, with these books, I did happen to read two library books, which I am so proud of myself because you guys know, if you've watched my videos, that I get books from the library all the time. I mean, all the time. And I just they sit on my shelves and I don't read them and I turn them in unread only to check them out again for them to sit on my shelves. It's an endless cycle, but I'm trying to prioritize reading some of my library books because one of you guys said, you know, you're keeping other readers from reading those books and you're absolutely right. So, I need to try and prioritize reading those library books and I have. So, I'm very proud of myself. I read those two library books.

[00:02:32]And then I had, sadly, three two-star reads so far this month out of the five books, which is not good. Um but I did have one five-star book and I do have a four-star. But one of the books I gave two stars to, I am very disappointed and I'll get to that in just a little bit.

[00:02:50]But let's go ahead and start with the very first book that I read in the month of May, and that is The Fairweather Friend by Jessica Garrison. She is the author of The Business Trip. I have not read that, but I saw this at Barnes & Noble and I almost bought it and I'm glad I didn't. But I saw it at Barnes & Noble and it sounded really interesting.

[00:03:06]This one is about a woman by the name of Faith Richards and she is the um the weather girl for this weather station in this town and she's very popular. But she is found dead and there are different characters in this book who are trying to figure out who killed her, what happened to her. And as these different characters through their POV is diving into Faith's background or digging up a lot of her secrets and I was really into the story for about 70% of it. I was hooked. I was interested. I was engaged. But then the last part of the book happened. It went in a very strange direction and I did not like where it went. I ended up is this two stars because of how this ended. I thought it ended really dumb. And then also too, um with that ending it it started to feel rushed. Like like I said, the first 70% was so good. It was just riveting and interesting. And then she really the author really rushed the ending. And like I said, it was just the twists were silly, the twists were dumb, and I just I did not enjoy it. Sadly, this was my first two-star read for the month of May. The next book I read is my only five-star read so far here in May, and it is a mystery thriller/horror novel, and it's called You Did Nothing Wrong by C.C. Drews. I don't give a lot of mystery thrillers or horror novels five stars, so this should tell you how much I really enjoyed this one. I flew through this book. It was so so good. So in this book we are following a young single mom named Melody, and she has a 6-year-old son named Jude, and he is on the spectrum. She when this book opens you find that she is newly married to this other man who is also kind of youngish like her, and they have moved he has moved her from Australia to America into his childhood home that he has inherited, and they are renovating this home. They're starting their life together. And as they're renovating this home, Jude is telling his mom that he can hear voices in the walls, and these voices are telling him that the the renovations are hurting the house, which I thought was very very creepy. Melody is dealing with her own secrets and demons. She's really struggling with the fact that her son is getting older and he's less affectionate to her. Um he as I mentioned he's on the spectrum, so she is having to deal with some of his um outbursts and things that he's dealing with on a social level, and she's really struggling with it and how it is affecting her marriage. And this was so so good. I know someone who read this who has a son who is on the spectrum, and she said that she felt incredibly seen in this book because she felt like um the author did a really good job of how she portrayed raising a child on the spectrum and how difficult it can be.

[00:05:58]Yeah, I really love this one. It is definitely kind of like a psychological horror. It is dealing with a female main character who is a little bit unhinged and a little bit nuts, and I love stories that feature a bat-crap crazy female main character.

[00:06:13]That hooks me every time, and you're going to see a common theme with some of these other books I've read so far this month. A lot of them do feature unhinged main characters, and this was the first one I read this month that had that type of character. But, I was hooked from page one in the story. I thought the writing was very, very good. It created this constant feeling of dread and unease with this house and what our female main character is going through and what she's dealing with and how she's interacting with this house as well. Um it is a little bit like this haunted house type story, kind of sort of, and I love those type of horror novels as well. Also, too, even though you're dealing with a horror story and the chaos and unease and dread of that story, you're also getting a little bit of a heartbreaking story. It This was definitely a book that was kind of sad in parts because it's dealing a little bit with childhood neglect and abandonment, and that was kind of hard to read. That was really sad in parts. So, I would say this book is definitely not for everyone. It definitely leans heavily into some of the darker, messed up, wild tropes of the horror genre, and I would absolutely check some trigger warnings with this one if you can't read some of those, but I loved it. I recommend it, and it was my first five-star read for the month of May.

[00:07:33]This next book is another book that deals with a very unhinged, crazy female main character who is doing absolutely bizarre and crazy things. Um Um this is also another book that is not going to be for everyone. And that is A Good Person by Kiersten King.

[00:07:53]I love this so much. Okay, this is four stars. Um in this book we are following a woman named Lil- Lillian and she is kind of sort of dating / sleeping with a man named Henry. And she is really invested into this relationship and she thinks that Henry is the one. And one day Henry says, "Hey, let's hang out together."

[00:08:15]And she thinks he's going to take the relationship to the next level. Instead, he breaks up with her and she completely loses her, you know what? She puts a hex on him.

[00:08:26]And the next day he is found murdered.

[00:08:28]And she is immediately suspected of his murder just because of some of the crazy things she was doing leading up to his death. And she's trying to control the narrative of the story being just the grieving girlfriend and not someone completely crazy.

[00:08:43]>> [laughter] >> Um like I said, this is not going to be for everyone. This was very explicit in some of the scenes and then some of the language. And I don't usually like books like that, but it worked in this one. Um Lillian is insane.

[00:08:58]I mean, completely bonkers. You're going to get second-hand cringe, second-hand embarrassment reading her thoughts and what she's doing to the point where you're like, "What are you doing?" And I love reading about anti-hinge female main characters that give me that second-hand embarrassment. I don't know why. Um I I just love this. I thought the writing was good. I thought the way Lillian portrayed was just perfect. Um she is just reckless and delusional and manipulative and just constantly spiraling out of control. And yeah, I loved it. If you like books that are messy and over the top and a train wreck, then this is the one for you. I had such a great time reading it. I gave it four stars. The next book I have is another book featuring an unhinged female main character, and that is Victorian Psycho by Virginia Piedra or Fido. Um this one is a gothic horror, and it definitely features another insane female character, and like I said, those I've been really into.

[00:09:57]But this one I gave two stars. I don't even know what I read when I finished this. Um this one does have kind of low ratings on Goodreads, and I've heard that this short little story is not very good, but it had all the things that I like. It has, you know, a gothic story.

[00:10:13]It has the unhinged female character. It has, you know, the historical period of the 1800s, and I was like, yes, yes, yes. It just checked all the boxes that I like when it comes to a gothic story.

[00:10:24]So I gave it a chance, and yeah, I would say don't don't mess with this one. So this book is about Winifred Naughty, who has just arrived to Insor House to become the governess of two young children of this house. Um but she does it in a very creepy way. Like she is telling um the synopsis says when she's telling them bedtime stories, she's going to joke about eating children, and um it goes on to say, but the longer Winifred spends within the estate's dreary confines, and the more she learns about the perversions and pathetic occupations of the Pounds family, the more trouble she has sticking to her plan. Whether creeping across the moonlit lawns in her undergarments or gently tormenting the house staff, Winifred struggles at every turn to stifle the horrid compulsions of her past until her chilling dark imagination breaches the feeble boundary of reality on Christmas morning. Uh so that's what this one it was about. Um like I said, when I finished this book, I just was like, what?

[00:11:22]I didn't know what I read. Um I thought the writing was fine. It was good, but it was just the story was kind of boring, and I just didn't like the directions that the story went with, especially involving with and what was going on at the end. It just It wasn't for me, which says a lot because I do love reading about crazy women doing crazy insane things, and this one was just a little bit much for me. So, um yeah, this one was a two-star read. Did not enjoy this.

[00:11:46]And then that brings me to the very last book that I read in this first half of May, and that is The Writing or The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark.

[00:11:56]And Evelyn Clark is a writing duo of Cat Clark, who I'm not familiar with, and V.E. Schwab, who I am very familiar with. I read two of her books. I read um The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I also read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. Loved both of those. Her writing is amazing. Love her storytelling. Love her stories.

[00:12:17]Um so, I was eagerly anticipating this book. In fact, the publishers have been pushing this book on us for a year now.

[00:12:24]And so, this was one of my most anticipated books, and sadly, this is my other two-star book. I was incredibly disappointed in this. Um real quick, this is just going to be your classic locked-in one-by-one murder mystery story. It's about six authors who arrive on this private Scottish island to um write the ending of this very famous last novel in a series series by this very famous author who has passed away. And the winner, not only you know, has this ending included into the end of this book, but they also get a publishing contract. So, you're following the POV of each one of these authors, and really, that's all you need to know.

[00:13:08]Yeah, this like I said, this has been incredibly hyped up. I was definitely looking forward to it, and I am so annoyed with how disappointed I was in this book. In fact, this will probably be number one on my list of most disappointing books of 2026 because this was well and truly awful. I don't think she wrote any of this. It This did not read like an B.A. Paris book. Her writing is poetic and beautiful and lyrical and this just was not. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and also too nothing happened through the majority of this book.

[00:13:39]Absolutely nothing. So, I was kind of bored through a lot of it and it actually took me 5 days to read this one book just because it was boring. So, yeah, the pacing just dragged throughout this book and it felt like the story was just going on and on and on for hundreds of pages before suddenly the authors realized, "Hey, we need to end this book." And I felt like the ending was incredibly rushed. It was almost like the ending was an afterthought. Um they tried to tie up all the loose ends and I was just like, "This was a complete waste of time." So, yeah, sorry for the rant. Did not love this one. Very, very disappointed in it completely and don't waste your time.

[00:14:16]This was two stars. All right, my friends. These are the five books that I have read so whoa so far in May. Um obviously there are three pretty big disappointments that I would say definitely don't waste your time on, but I did read a couple of books that I actually [music] really enjoyed. But again, those two books are not going to be for everyone. My favorite obviously is You Did Nothing Wrong with it being five stars with A Good Person Coming In second with four stars. I really truly enjoyed both of those books and if you like reading [music] about crazy women doing crazy things, then definitely check out those books. I thought they were excellent. But I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. [music] Subscribe if you haven't already and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.