may reading wrapup 🧺

Added: 2026-06-10

[00:00:04]Hello and welcome back to my channel.

[00:00:07]Today we're going to be reviewing and talking about all of the books that I read in May. May was not the best reading month, although it was still decent. I ended up reading six books, which again, not my best, but not terrible considering the fact that I was traveling for most of May. I wasn't home. I was really sick, also. But regardless, we read six books. I think I only read one book that was on my May TBR, so I'm a little ashamed about that, but we're going to try to get back on track in June. Let's talk about all of the books that I read in May. First and foremost, let's start off with Small Boat. This is a book that I actually bought while I was in London, so while I was on my trip. It caught my eye because I was at Barnes earlier on in the month and I really liked the cover. I read the description and it really caught my attention. Essentially, this is about an event that took place in November of 2021 where a boat full of migrants capsized in French waters, but they essentially blamed it on the British.

[00:00:59]And there was like miscommunication between the two nations and basically the boat capsized in French waters.

[00:01:05]That's kind of what ended up happening, but regardless, that was the first like synopsis that I read at Barnes. It really, really caught my attention because I love to read perspectives on immigrant and migrant stories. I just think it is good to read their stories and to gain empathy and humanity through that. Regardless, I didn't pick it up that day and then I was in London at the bookstore and I saw on the back that Dua Lipa actually had a little blurb and she wrote this book challenged me profoundly. It moved me and stayed with me. It's an essential story that needs to be heard. And once I read that, I was like, okay, I think I have to pick it up because that is how I describe five-star reads. So while I was in a little cottage in Scotland, I did end up binging this entire book in one day. It is a very, very short, so that's not the biggest accomplishment, but I do have a video all about that journey. And so I do kind of go in depth during that video. I ended up rating this four stars. Like I mentioned, it is about a very tragic event and we follow the POV of the lady who was in charge of the distress calls that night. And it's very stream of consciousness type of writing.

[00:02:05]We really get into the mind and psychology of that officer that day. The main kind of theme or question that this book leaves us with is when something like this, something tragic like this happens, whose fault is it? Now, this officer was not graceful in the way that she handled the situation. She quite literally tells the people in this boat when they are calling for help that they will not survive, that they will not get help. Obviously, that is not cool, not the right thing to say, but we really dive into the issue of do her words reap the consequences that she is going to potentially get? This is her job, so she has faced a situation time and time again, and she kind of argues she did her job that night. But in the past, she has also helped people, she has handled the situation better, and in this particular instance, it was just those words that she stated, and what kind of consequence does she deserve when all of this does not technically fall on her back. This is not a problem that is one person's fault is kind of what she's arguing. Yeah, she could have been more graceful, but how much power and leverage and consequence do her words really deserve? So, I think that was a fascinating argument. It is very uncomfortable reading the book because you don't like this woman who was taking the distress calls, and she's kind of recalling her whole evening and her thought process behind saying what she did. And while she's kind of stating all of this, she's talking to a police officer because the police officer is kind of pressing her and telling her that this is all her fault. And so, that woman who took the distress calls is making not an argument, but just saying, "How come this all falls on me when this is a problem that not one person can solve, and it is not on the back of one person to solve?" So, I just thought that was very fascinating. I was very bothered in the beginning and I was like, nope, don't like where this is going. And by the end of it, I really like how it wrapped up because it did really kind of pose the question of this societal problem and how do we solve this? Whose fault is it? What certain faults do individual people have in this situation? And it really just held up a mirror to society as a whole. So, it's a very thought-provoking, very uncomfortable read, but it did leave a very lasting impression on me. I really do seek out migrant and if that's something that is interesting to you as well, then I think you would definitely enjoy this book. Not in the sense of wow, this is so fun, but in the sense of wow, this poses a very real question and human morality, humanity, like what where do we draw that line? So, I thought this was a very interesting read, read it very quickly. The next book that I read was actually an advanced reader copy, so I don't own it.

[00:04:44]I read it on my Kindle and that is Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier. I ended up rating this 3.75 stars. This book is about a serial killer whose name is Sam and he is dubbed the carnival killer.

[00:04:56]He's a convicted serial killer of five women. The time comes where he is going to do kind of a tell-all documentary and he basically recants his statements and says, I was only responsible for four out of the five murders. So, we're kind of left as the reader to figure out what the heck happened and if he's telling the truth or not. And so, we flash back to this really picturesque town called Seaside, but this town has a lot of underlying tensions and a lot of secrets. This town is opening up a new amusement park called Wonderland and so, they very much want to keep their image and reputation squeaky clean. So, a woman goes missing and we follow the perspective of Barb who is a news reporter who has lived in this town all her life and she actually was the best friend of one of the women that was murdered by Sam who is the convicted serial killer. So, I don't know if I'm making sense right now or if I'm hopping too much, but it's a very intricate plot. It's not hard to understand at all. Maybe the way that I'm describing it might be, but essentially, if you want sort of an amusement park horror, not horror, mystery thriller type of book with a serial killer and confessions and documentary style, then I think you would very much enjoy this book. Although, I don't think it comes out until like August or July, like late summer, so you might have to wait a little bit. Regardless, I really enjoyed it. I was basically into it the entire time. It's not my favorite mystery thriller by this author, but I think she did a great job in giving us different perspectives. There's also kind of like a reality show subplot, so if you like drama and cattiness between women, then I think you will really enjoy this book.

[00:06:29]It had a lot going for it. It just again is not my favorite by this specific author. I have rated some of her books not five stars, but like really high fours. So, this one in particular was a 3.75 for me. The characters themselves, too, are very calculated and interesting. Like I mentioned, some are reporters, some are big reality TV stars with big personalities, and you just quite simply never know what's going to happen next. There's also a dual timeline, so we are following Sam, the serial killer, as he's kind of recalling his memory and what kind of happened the specific night that the fifth girl was murdered, and then we're following along in the timeline of Barb, the reporter, trying to figure out this current situation of this woman that has just recently gone missing. Very chaotic, full of suspense, great thriller. I had to switch mics, so hopefully that's not an issue and you can still hear me clearly. But, let's move on to the next book that I read in May. That is This Story Might Save Your Life. This is a mystery thriller, as well, and this one recently came out, I think in March of this year, so it's kind of a new release. This one caught my attention not only because of the title, I love a long title, but the cover itself is really interesting. It really brings the reader in. It excites you. This is also about two two hosts, and one goes missing. So, I that's like the basic synopsis. And so, I ended up rating this book four stars. I actually really, really enjoyed it. This is about Joy and Benny. They're the two podcast hosts and their podcast is actually called This Story Might Save Your Life. It's essentially them telling stories of survival. I don't know. It's a really interesting like topic that they discuss, but Joy one day goes missing.

[00:08:01]Her and her husband go missing and Benny's kind of there to put the pieces together, to figure out what happened to Joy and her husband all while the attention and the police scrutiny is on him. So, that's kind of scary. That's kind of our main plot, but at the same time Joy was actually writing a memoir.

[00:08:17]So, we as the reader kind of get to figure out her story, how she first met her husband, how it was going, her life, all of the lore behind her and it's kind of basically giving us some puzzle pieces to put into the puzzle. So, I think it was really intricate in the way that the story was told. I loved the ending. I loved the plot twist. I feel like it's not something extremely extravagant, [music] but it was not something I guessed easily either. I feel like this type of book I have never read before even though again, it doesn't seem like that far-fetched of a plot twist or a story.

[00:08:51]So, I really want to shed some light on this book because I think the topics and the themes that it covers [music] are extremely important. I would also maybe advise you to check trigger warnings if that's something that you're like wary of. I actually ended up reading this in one day. I started it like one night, read a chapter because I really just wanted to start it, but then I got tired so I fell asleep. The next day I locked in and I read the entire thing. That's how page-turning it was. I literally couldn't put it down. It also really felt like a fiction book even though it is primarily a mystery thriller. There were so many instances where I was like, I feel like I'm just reading a contemporary fiction book, not because it was lacking like suspense or mysterious undertones, but because the relationships and the characters that we discussed were very well developed.

[00:09:31]There's actually like a sibling relationship in here that I adored and I I it was done really well. It felt really realistic and I It was like one of my favorite parts of the book. I would definitely recommend this book if you haven't read it or if it's been on your radar. Next up, book number four that we read in May was Heart the Lover by Lily King. I also bought this one while I was on my honeymoon, so I bought this I think in Scotland. It was very much being promoted heavily out there like in uh London specifically. I saw it as like the main book in Waterstones, which is like their Barnes & Noble.

[00:10:01]Regardless, I have read Writers & Lovers by this author and this is technically the sequel because it came out after, but upon reading it I figured out it's essentially a prequel and a sequel and Writers & Lovers is like sandwiched in the middle. Let me explain. I ended up reading this 4.25 stars. I loved this book. This was also a book that I actually did not read this all in one day, but I did not want to put it down every time I picked it up. It just took me longer because once I was putting it down I like didn't feel the need to continue or like want to pick it up if that makes any sense. But, once I got to the halfway point it read super quickly and I was like incredibly invested. So, I think I read half of this in one day once I really kind of was into the story. But, we're following Casey or Cassie, who is our main character in Writers & Lovers. The beginning or part one of this book takes place before Writers & Lovers. So, in Writers & Lovers we get mentions of a past relationship that really affected who she is as a person in Writers & Lovers.

[00:11:00]So, flashing back to this book, we get that relationship. We get her lore and it is a very tumultuous, very chaotic moment in her life. She's a college student, so she's really experiencing these feelings for the first time and it all feels super high stakes because that's how relationships and love and interest feels when you're that age. So, I really really appreciated that and then once we get to part two, that is after the events of Writers & Lovers.

[00:11:26]And part two was my favorite part of the book, but also a very sad part. And if you haven't read it, I don't want to spoil it, obviously, but essentially it's just talking about how life sometimes just gets in the way. Timing sometimes is never right. It's heartbreaking, too. So, I would definitely prepare some tissues because it does get very emotional, but that's why I liked this book. It went in a direction that I was not expecting it to go, especially after reading the first half. So, I actually liked this book a lot more than I did Writers & Lovers, but I would recommend reading like Writers & Lovers first if you want all the lore. If you don't really care for that, you could go into this one like blindly, but I would recommend reading Writers & Lovers first. I did feel like the build-up in the beginning was a little too long. I would have preferred more story in the later half of the book because I feel like the events of the second half of the book happened really quickly, but sometimes that's just how life is and maybe that was like a purposeful point that the author made.

[00:12:27]So, I don't know. I thought it was a really interesting read. Next book that I read, book number five, was Lost Lambs. I listened to this via audiobook, so I don't have it physically. I ended up rating this 3.75 stars. In this book, we follow a family. They are very, very dysfunctional. We follow a man and a woman, the parents, and then their three daughters. The parents are going through their own personal and marital kind of like affairs and dysfunction while their three daughters are trying to get through school. They all have extremely different personalities. They all have different priorities as you do as a young girl. And so, it's a lot of drama that's going on in this book. I really, really liked that the characters felt super unique. They're all different from each other. We get family dynamics that feel realistic, but also really funny and witty. It's laced with humor.

[00:13:22]There's also some things that happen in this book that you're just like blown away by because you're like, "How did we get here? So, it's a lot of that energy.

[00:13:31]If you like that as a reader, I think you would eat this book up. I know I did. I actually really did enjoy the audio version because I was driving around and I was like no way this is happening right now and I was giggling because some of her characters are really funny and they're outrageous, the actions that they take. Some of these characters hit rock bottom and you just follow them along that journey trying to figure out what they're going to do next. And all in all, it was really fun.

[00:13:52]It was a fun adventure. It felt very fresh. I feel like as a reader, sometimes you just want a book like this that is going to keep you like entertained and that's what this book did. As for the plot, I feel like there is a plot, but it's not super strong. I feel like I was primarily there for the ensemble of characters because they're all very interesting and unique. So, I would say the characters definitely make up for what the plot doesn't have. Book number six was The Deal by Elle Kennedy.

[00:14:17]I also don't own this book. I read it on my Kindle, so I don't have a physical copy. I totally was not going to read this book. I ended up rating it four stars. I'll just say right there and there. I have always seen this book.

[00:14:28]Being a book talk girly, BookTube girly, I've always seen and heard about this book. I knew the Off-Campus series was going to come out, but I had never read it. So, I was like I don't even know if I'm going to watch the series. Then my friends invited me to like a girls night at her apartment and she was like we're going to watch Off-Campus. And I was like okay, cool. Like I don't like FOMO.

[00:14:44]You guys know this. I know this. So, I was like okay. I definitely want to watch the show so I can see what people are talking about. We watched three episodes in one night and while I was watching literally the first episode, I was like I have to read this. I was trying to look it up on Target's website, Barnes & Noble. It's all sold out. I was literally going to tell them, let's go to Target and buy this book because I need to read it. I was just so enamored by the story. I just knew I was going to enjoy it as a book, but unfortunately, it was completely out of stock everywhere. I ended up ordering it on Amazon, which I don't love doing, but I really just wanted to read this book.

[00:15:17]But then I found it online, so I quickly canceled my order and I ended up binging the book in like a day. It is so addicting. It was the perfect romance that I needed in that moment. I love a romance that takes place in college because you're following along our characters as they're making these very sort of impulsive decisions and it's college love, right? Like that's going to be a journey. So, that's definitely what this book was. I love that it's kind of a found family aspect as well and seeing this or watching the series, which I have at this point completely finished. I love that we get to follow along their stories as well. So, I will be continuing the series. I don't know what the heck took me so long to read this book. I for so long had seen it been like recommended, but I just never thought that I would like it, but it's definitely a romance that I enjoyed. It was raunchy a little bit. It was funny.

[00:16:07]It was endearing. It was also pretty tragic and sad and emotional. It had all of the emotions going, which I love in a romance book specifically. It's a sports romance, too, and the father of our male main character is a super sports legend, but he has a very, very strange relationship with our male main character and I like seeing that in a book. Like the way that they managed that whole thing in the book, I loved. I think it was done really, really well and handled very well. It also can be a triggering book, though, so I would look up trigger warnings for that book as well, which I did not expect, but regardless, I actually really enjoyed it. Will be locked in for future off-campus or season 2, basically, and then the second book, which I have started in this moment. So, those are all the books that I read in May. It was definitely a journey, but we made it. We read a couple books. I will say the entire time I was on my honeymoon was from May like 1st, which is when I got married, and then until May 20th, when I came home, I read one book.

[00:17:07]And in this video, we talk about six books. So, I read five books in like 10 days, which is insane, but I That just shows that I'm like in such a reader mood. It wasn't a book slump. It was definitely me traveling and me being sick that kind of prevented me from reading so many books. But regardless, we're home now, so back to regular scheduled programming. I hope you guys enjoyed this video and will follow along to see what I read in June. So, thank you guys so much for watching and I'll catch you in the next one. Bye.