May Reading Wrap-Up & June TBR

Hi, everyone! I'm currently on summer vacation and I've been getting some reading done. Mainly, I've just been immersing myself in God's glory and that's been my predominate focus as I'm preparing for the upcoming year as I will be leading Life Group and disciplining women and guiding to them to loving Jesus. It's so nice to do another wrap-up. This is has become my personal favorite post to write on my blog and it started out as a haphazard shot in trying to track my reading. Doing wrap-ups has made me really excited to reflect on what I've read past writing a review and creating TBRs has just been fun and I don't follow them, but it's fun to throw some possible options out there that I may pick up and see what you guys think. So, let's dive right in to looking at all the books I've read in the month of May.

Books Read in May:

 

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter- 5 stars This is one of my favorite books of the year hands down. This novel blew me away. It shocked me and made my stomach hurt. It made me cry at the injustice of women being kidnapped and tortured by men who think they have a right to dominate women who are just trying to live their life. It is a heart-stopping novel, but thing that makes me so passionate about it is that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I listened to the audiobook and I highly recommend it, but I will forewarn that listening to the audiobook is a much more graphic experience than just reading words off a page and if you are queasy and don't do well with extreme graphic violence then just read it as opposed to listening.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner - 4 stars I was really excited to pick this one up because it follows a woman who was a stripper at The Mars Room and is now in prison for murder. This novel was dark and it was an interesting look at the women in prisons at the darkest parts of humanity and how they are usually a victim of circumstance not truly evil people. Check out my review here. (Netgalley ARC)

Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes by Karin Slaughter - 3.25 stars This was at the end of the Pretty Girls audiobook as bonus content and follows Julia, the missing sister in Pretty Girls, and it follows her leading up to her kidnapping and her hope at discovering why these women in the area are going missing. I didn't love it as much as Pretty Girls, but it offered great insight into who Julia was outside of who her family painted her to be as we saw in Pretty Girls.

The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan - 4 stars I really enjoyed this audiobook. It's a lot of fun, but I don't have nostalgia to the Percy Jackson series and even though I see why so many love it I don't think it's spectacular. I'm glad that I finally got around to picking up and do plan on continuing the series.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku 1 by Fujita - DNF (1 star) I thought I was going to like this manga, but I hated the panels and the story felt all over the place. I just couldn't get into it and I know that this has a fan base, so I'm obviously in the minority and I don't think this was the story for me. Check out my review here. (Netgalley ARC)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - 5 stars This book was so lovely. It was heartbreaking and listening to it almost directly after Pretty Girls was a beautiful experience. I read two novels about missing and murdered girls at the hands of men. This novel is very different from Pretty Girls as it follows the people who are affected by Susie's death and the ability to not move on as well as move on and continue living. It was so beautiful and I'm so happy that I listened to the audiobook and read pieces of it at the same time while listening. It was beautiful.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut - 4.5 stars I haven't read a Vonnegut since I was a senior in high school (two years) and I was missing him. I really enjoyed Vonnegut's satirical look at money, greed, capitalism, and the power of a buck. It was a lot of fun, but I will admit that it was a little boring at times and I felt it dragged a bit. It's not my favorite of his novels, but it's still a good novel.

Heaven by V.C. Andrews - 3 stars I read this for Peter Likes Books' book club and it was fun. I used to be an Andrews fan in middle school and would gobble up all the taboo stories I could check out of the library in the summer. However, I quickly lost interest with the formulaic plots that technically weren't Andrews but a ghost writer. Andrews is the queen of taboo and this story is over the top. It follows Heaven and her life is just full of tragedy. The problem is that the book will lag for about fifty pages and then all of a sudden we will have ten to twenty pages of emotional, physical, or mental torture that Heaven faces and then back to dull pages. Repeat that same cycle. It was tedious, but I lived for the drama.

The Luck of the Bride by Janna MacGregor - 3 stars This is a typical HR novel. It follows a girl who is raising her siblings after both of her parents pass, which is different from most HRs I've come across. The thing that ruined this for me was the writing and the hero. They were lackluster. It's a mediocre HR, but it's fun and I think fans of MacGregor will love it. Check out my review here. (Netgalley ARC)
The Game of Hope by Sandra Gulland - DNF 2 stars This novel follows the stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. How interesting does that sound? I was so excited for this one when I came across on the First to Read program page, but I couldn't finish it. I hated the writing style and felt no connection to characters. I couldn't figure out why I should care and so I DNFed because why continue to read something that isn't moving me or igniting passion. Check out my review here. (First to Read ARC)
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg - 3.25 stars I received an ARC of this years ago and I'm just now getting to it because I am a bad reviewer. Anyway, I really like the concept of magic through paper folding. It sounds so beautiful, but the novel didn't have a lot of particularly shining points outside of creativity. Check out my review here.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara - 4.5 stars I listened to the audiobook of this one for Peter Likes Books' Book Club (2nd book club read in one month!) and I really enjoyed this. It was so well written and McNamara was a talented writer. There were passages that chilled me to the bone. However, I didn't always feel captured by the information and found myself losing focus while listening at times. I think I would have to reread this in physical format to get a grasp of the full information. The afterward was heartbreaking and the epilogue letter McNamara wrote was amazing. Highly recommend!
Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier - 5 stars This is my favorite book I've read so far this year!!! I picked this up because my Facebook memories kept telling me that I read Daughter of the Forest (my favorite fantasy novel) two years ago and I felt guilty that I still hadn't continued. This book follows Sorcha's daughter Liadan and the journey she embarks on when she is abducted by a nefarious group of assassins to heal a man in the group. It is so much more than that, but I don't want to spoil several important plot points. If you haven't read the Sevenwaters trilogy, you are doing yourself a disservice. It's amazing and this book was stunning!
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn - 4.25 stars I first heard Peter Likes Books rave about this audiobook and since I've been on the waiting list at my library. For the longest time I was just kind of bored by this. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. Then chapter 75 happened and I was blown away. After that, I listened to the whole audiobook in a day. It was a really well done mystery and the slow pace makes sense because once it builds up it's BAM BAM BAM!

2018 Goals:

 -I want to finish at least three series (five doesn't seem doable). COMPLETED 3/3 

*I finished The 5th Wave Trilogy with reading two novels!

*Burn for Burn trilogy was finally finished!

*I read and started The Lord of the Rings trilogy in one month!
-I want to read five sequels (I don't have to finish the series). COMPLETED 8/5 

*Flawless by Sara Shepard is book 2 in the PLL series. 

*The Infinite Sea and The Last Star by Rick Yancey are the 2nd and 3rd book in The 5th Wave series.

*The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon is the fifth book in the Outlander series. 

*The Lord of the Rings: The Towers and The Return of the King are the first and second in the LOTR trilogy.

Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian is the last book in the Burn for Burn trilogy.

 *Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier is the second book in the Sevenwaters series.
-I also want to read four short story collections. COMPLETED 5/4 

 *Harry Potter and Philosophy. 

*Manga Classics: The Jungle Book

*Starlings

*Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

*The Merry Spinster
-I want to read three classics that are not Stephen King novels. COMPLETED 8/3 

*Manga Classics: The Jungle Book

*Anne Frank Remembered

*The ABC Murders

*Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

*The Master Plan of Evangelism (Christian Classic) 

*The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

*Heaven (It's one of the few real V.C. Andrews novels.)

-I want to read five Stephen King novels (I've already read one in 2018). 2/5  

*The Long Walk (5 stars)

*Gerald's Game (5 stars)

Read 2018 ARCs. Read 20!
Books I Posted on End of the Year Survey. YES! 3/18

*The Fiery Cross

*Ashes to Ashes

*Gerald's Game 

*God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

*Son of the Shadows

Overall Thoughts: I read 14 books and two of those were DNFs. It wasn't my most lucrative month of finishing novels, but I read a ton that I didn't finish. I also noticed as I was writing this that my reading month started off fantastic and then hit a huge slump. I blame this on Pretty Girls and The Lovely Bones and then starting Son of the Shadows. No novel could compare to Song of the Shadows because Marillier is a truly magnificent writer. The month ended with high notes though! It balanced out. I also read two physical books that were on my End of the Year Survey goals list and that's awesome! The fact that I had three 5-star reads and five books that were rated over 4 stars astounds me. I think it's a successful month of reading!

Currently Reading/ Hoping to Finish in June:
 

     

Already Finished: Furyborn and IT
Netgalley ARCs: Furyborn and LIFEL1K3
First to Read ARCs: The Mermaid
Eldeweiss ARCs: Amity
I'm currently reading Child of the Prophecy because I'm going to finish the original Sevenwaters trilogy! I'm reading The Mermaid (and I'm loving it dearly), The Pursuit of Holiness (for my future leadership position and loving it), and LIFEL1K3 (which I'm really liking so far). I started listening to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I'm loving it. I grew up watching the movie, but I've never read the book. It's lovely so far. I'm still reading A Wilderness Station, Helter Skelter, East of Eden, Against Forgetting, A Darker Shade of Magic, and Amity.

Books I'm Thinking About Picking Up:
ARCs

So, I have a lot of ARCs for the month of June that I have an option to pick through. Blood Will Out is the one I think I'm the most excited for out of all of these because it's a horror! The Hawkman sounds like something I would enjoy. I was just approved for Lying in Wait a couple of days ago and I'm really intrigued by this one! The Last Time I Lied comes out July 3 and I would like to read it before then because I'm curious about Sager's suspense novels and I was really surprised that I was approved for this one. One for the Rogue sounds cute and I was offered an ARC by the publisher and I decided to snag a copy. Technically, Ballad for a Mad Girl is an old release, but the paperback comes out June 22 and I thought it would be nice to pick up an older ARC. I was just approved for I Am Still Alive through First to Read, so I will be starting it after I finish The Mermaid.
Audiobooks
 
I know The Hollow keeps popping up. Technically I could've read it this month, but I had way too many audiobooks in my queue and it was stressing me out to look at it. So I returned and I put myself back on the waitlist. I saw Jason Reynolds in an interview with Trevor Noah and I was blown away. I need to read Long Way Down and finally become familiar with Reyonlds' work. I really want to give Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda a try even though contemporary romance isn't my genre. I recommend The Diviners to my library and they finally purchased it! I'm really interested in The Case for Jesus, but it's hardcore nonfiction, so I'm a little nervous. I've been interested in The 5 Love Languages forever and I was so excited when I saw it was available as an audio at my library. Circe sounds so good and I'm here for it. I love Karin Slaughter and I need to read another by her! I want a cute romance and I've Karen Kingsbury is nice, so I'm going to give her a shot.
Books I Own
 
I didn't get to ACOFAS in May because I didn't own until now and it's June. I keep putting The Shining on my list to read, but will June be the month I finally read it? Endless Night is one of the picks for Peter Likes Books' book club and this is something I'm really excited for. I got it on Kindle for 99 cents!

What did you read in June? Have you read any of these books or do you plan to? Did you wrap-up the books you read? Leave me a link to your blog if you did! Let me know down below in the comments!