I enjoyed May reading and have a nice stack of very good books. I had two 5🍷s – although you’ll see below that one may be a tad on the generous side. Following those, I had a good number in the 4 range. We had a lot of rainy days here in Colorado in May (so weird!) which lent to a lot of reading time. In other news, our empty nester days are on pause as we welcomed the baby home for a few months as one lease ended and another hasn’t began. And of course there is the baby dog Nelson.
I am not sure if I have mentioned Nelson yet but if you follow on Insta you’ve surely seen him. In January we adopted what we thought was a larger lab mix from a local lab rescue. We decided to submit a Wisdom panel DNA test as he was the most un-labby lab we had ever met. Well, he is largely Great Pyrenees with good amounts of Anatolian Shepherd and Mastiff and a few other breeds in small quantities – lab = 4%! Ha! He is a lot of work to train, he is approximately 1.5 years old now and the trainers we have worked with have all guessed the same conclusion that prior to mid December he likely had very little human contact. He spent a month after he was picked up just before the holidays at shelters, rescues and foster homes before he made his way to Colorado where we fell in love and brought him home in late January. He is an excellent cuddle buddy and here is what he watched me read in May.
Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro
I have to admit when I picked Signal Fires for one of my in-person book clubs, I only knew some of the plot. It was on my TBR list, had received very strong reviews from friends and so I went with it. While it was a bit heavier than I expected, I loved it. I found the way the timeline was explained within the timelines unique and interesting! You’ll have to read it to find out what I’m talking about. I absolutely loved Ben and Waldo and felt connected to the other characters as well. If you are looking for a shorter read that is a deep family drama, this is it. And if you’ve ever spent time thinking about, “What if?”, it’s also for you. Dani Shapiro is clearly a gifted writer and I will be digging around to find out what else she has written that I have missed.
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Live Learn Love Well: Lessons from a Life of Progress Not Perfection – Emma Lovewell
Was this a five star book by my regular reading standards? Probably not. But here’s the thing. For 4+ years, Emma has looked at me through a camera and I have seen her on a screen as if she is looking right at me and talking to me and encouraged me and told me that I can do it! She’s always believed in me and her entire Peloton community, and has never said one negative thing about anything I’m doing. So I can’t imagine not giving her all the love right back.
With that said, I think I’m done reading Peloton instructor memoirs.
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Yellowface – R.F. Kuang
Yellowface is my first book that I have read by R.F. Kuang and I now see why there is so much hype. On top of her obvious gift for the written word, I love that she takes on the publishing industry and the authentic voice drama in this somewhat at times satirical novel about two young writers – one a breakout star and the other a wannabe. June’s envy of Athena’s early super success keeps her engaged in a somewhat fake friendship until one fateful evening she witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident as she chokes on a pancake (a pancake!!). Everything after that spins around topics such as racism, diversity, culture, authentic voice and more. I loved this book and plan to give Kuang’s Babel a try soon.
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Romantic Comedy – Curtis Sittenfeld
Major SNL vibes here as Sally, a sketch writer for a weekly comedy show The Night Owls, takes us through her week in the never ending pace of preparing for Saturday’s show. She’s notoriously been unlucky with love and we see her develop a crush on the week’s host, Noah – all while watching her co-worker friend Danny’s relationship implode. I found this to be a light, cheeky read that was a good break between my heavier books. It was chosen for one of my in-person book clubs and I’m glad as I am not sure if I would have read it otherwise.
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How To Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing – K.C. Davis
While much of what’s covered isn’t what I was looking for, I appreciated her calm and gentle voice and approach (audio book) and can see how many will benefit from her book. I liked her terminology and overall message.
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A Likely Story – Leigh McMullan Abramson
NYC, The 90’s, child of famous parents and a family of writers? Yes, please. Isabelle Manning grew up in a wealthy household in NYC, funded largely by her best-selling novelist father, Ward Manning. Isabelle wants to be a successful writer like her father but so far it’s a no-go. As her 35th birthday arrives, she is still reeling from the unexpected death of her mother, Claire, and the pages unfold in a way I didn’t expect. There is a similarity here to one of the other books on my list in May, but I will let you figure that out on your own.
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The Collected Regrets of Clover – Nikki Brammer
This was extremely well written but timing is everything here and won’t be for everyone due to the overall topic. Clover is a death doula and has experienced great tragedy in her own life, losing her parents at a very young age. Before that, she witnessed her kindergarten teacher dying while reading to the class and it had a profound effect on her as she navigates her own path. She spends so much time with the dying that she really doesn’t focus at all on living. Until of course one particular woman has some final wishes that send Clover on an unforgettable journey. Deeply profound, this is one I won’t forget. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for an advance e-copy. The Collected Regrets of Clover will be available on 5/9/2023.
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Same Time Next Summer – Annabel Monaghan
Annabel Monaghan’s Nora Off Script was one of my favorites last year, so I was delighted to receive an advance e-copy of her upcoming release. The long lost love trope is no newbie of course but I was cheering for Wyatt before I really even knew the whole story. Sam and her now fiancé Jack return to the beach to check out a possible wedding venue and Sam is confronted with her past. There is so much unresolved between Sam and Wyatt and you can definitely feel it. It is a dual timeline story that jumps back to their childhood and then teens, of summers at the beach as compared to now, at 30. I definitely enjoyed the book and suspect it will be a big beach read hit this summer. The middle of everything being unresolved felt a bit long and tedious and then the ending was so fast. Monaghan excels at real, messy characters, especially the supporting cast. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Same Time Next Summer will be available on 6/6/2023.
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The Celebrants – Steven Rowley
I had high expectations after loving The Guncle, but this one fell a bit short for me. The premise was great but I found most of the characters dull and annoying. There were parts that I saw the style from Rowley that I loved before, and that kept me going. I think those that like unlikeable character driven novels will love this one more than I did.
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The Friend Zone – Abby Jiminez
This was not my first Jimenez book and it wasn’t my favorite either. Kristen is helping her best friend prepare for her wedding and she is also preparing for a medical procedure that is taking a toll on her. She’s decided to keep this quiet although it is a very large part off the book. Enter Josh – her BFFs fiancee’s bestie. They hit it off but Kristen has decided she is not good enough for Josh and self sabotages. I generally have enjoyed how Jiminez incorporates heavy real world problems and topics into her story lines but I felt she took it too far with Kristen and her self loathing. I would have preferred to see some intervention sooner – I think perhaps some with similar issues may read this and give up too soon and feel down on themselves more than perhaps they already do. It felt like a missed opportunity to really reach her audience. 1/4 way through I was going to recommend this book to someone but then decided not to due to this issue. I would have preferred to see more coping mechanisms earlier on. My guess is as Jiminez has developed her craft over time, she is on to this as her more recent books do a much better job at navigating obstacles and possible solutions.
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The Senator’s Wife – Liv Constantine
This was a bit more predictable than I would have liked and read as a much more dysfunctional suspense family drama-ish than a thriller. I started out really liking it but then frankly I grew a little tired of it. If you strongly enjoy the unbelievable family suspense books you will likely love this one more than me. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing – Ballantine for an advance copy in exchange for may honest opinion. The Senator’s Wife is now available.
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No One Needs to Know – Lindsay Cameron
No One Needs to Know is my second book by this author and while I did like it, there was nothing in it that brought it up to the love range. It is a solid 3 star book in my opinion. These were very wealthy, un-relatable and unlikeable characters and everything to me seemed pretty darn unrealistic. We’ve got kids attending an elite private school and their mothers willing to do pretty much anything to get them placement at elite/top high schools and colleges. Mix that in with an anonymous forum that gets hacked and you’ve got a domestic/neighborhood thriller on your hands. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the advance e-copy. No One Needs to Know will be available on 5/9.
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