Happy May! May...maybe the most chaotic month of the year if you have kids in school. It's right up there with December for many parents although at least May has better weather! And much less gift buying! Still comes with a break at the end of it (a break of some sort, at least). Plus, our wedding anniversary is this month (our own doing) as well as Mother's Day (not our doing). Life will feel so different by the end of the month with the kids out of school!
I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th!
Other book posts this month:
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What I've been reading!
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
This was our book club pick for April that I finished in May. It had more magical realism than I usually read, tree growing in a bookstore and all that. Multiple timelines, complicated family things, etc. It all came together in the end but the road there was a bit winding. Also, I have a hard time with magical realism. 3.25 Stars
One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In by Kate Kennedy
I am an elder millennial (born in the early 80s) but was intrigued by this. In the beginning I was all in, talked about instant messaging and American Girl Dolls. Parts made me laugh and then it got a big bogged down with darker topics and it wasn't quite the fun read I was expecting it to be. 3 Stars
Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
The premise here is that a man is brought in to be a "professional objector" to a wedding where the bride's job is tangled up with the groom's so she doesn't want to object herself but also knows she can't marry the guy. Then the former bride and the objector end up being "professional objectors" together in multiple weddings and I just can't take that there are THAT many weddings where either the bride or groom (or both) want out of it but don't have the guts to call it quit themselves, BEFORE the wedding. I don't know, people not owning their feelings is a pretty regular problem I have with romance novels, I am realizing. The weak premise brought down the book for me. 3 Stars
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano
I have read all the Finlay Donovan books and they are fun even though I have a hard time believing that Finlay can get away with THIS MANY crazy schemes, even if she's constantly dealing with dead bodies. Also, I have lost since forgotten all the mob relations and who is mad at who and who is trying to kill who. It really doesn't matter, there is a lot of belivability stretching here but it's mostly fun, in a way that seems weird with so many deaths. 3.25 Stars
In Sunshine or in Shadow by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles|
I spent 2020 reading the, then, 17 book Molly Murphy series and really enjoyed them. I was delighted when I learned the author and her daughter were adding to the series with some new books, although I missed one of the released so recently had two to catch up on and they were as delightful as the rest. This one takes place in the Catskill Mountains when Jewish families were first starting to make retreats there (I kept thinking of Dirty Dancing). Of course, there is a mystery for Molly to solve. 3.75 Stars
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
I think I enjoyed this the most of her books that I've read, 3ish of them. The main story is that a woman, somehow (don't think too much about it) always gets a note with how long each romance she finds herself in will last, from just one night to a few months or years. But then she embarks on a relationship where the slip of paper is blank. What does this mean??? Her books always have some sort of magical element and while this was some magical realism, it was more realistic than her other time travel books. 3.5 Stars
Take Two, Birdie Maxwell by Allison Winn Scotch
This book needed to be under 300 pages and it was not. Something about an actress who messed up and then finds an old love letter at her childhood home and gets her former friend to go find her old loves to see who may have written it. On board with a road trip, less so with confronting ex-boyfriends to see who might have sent it. Again, I thought the premise was weak. 2.75 Stars
How to Talk to Kids About Anything: Tips, Scripts, Stories, and Steps to Make Even the Toughest Conversations Easier by Robyn Silverman
This book was a bit long and was a drag to get through but then maybe I was avoiding reading something else because I flew through the back half. I don't agree with all of her positions but it really did give me a lot to think about in what we talk to our kids about and how we talk to them about things. Plus, just reading it felt like it gave me a bit more patience in parenting and that is always helpful. 400 pages or nearly but a lot of good information there. 3.75 Stars
I'll Just be Five More Minutes: And Other Tales from my ADHD Brain by Emily Farris
This wasn't all about ADHD but did find those parts the most interesting. Mostly just essays about her life, adventures in New York in her 20s, becoming a parent, etc. It's hard to rate essays and I appreciated the information in some of these. 3 Stars
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
This was our book club read for May and it was one of the harder books to get through. Nearly 500 pages and you just get thrown right into the action in the beginning. I had to read the book summary multiple times and then a review online before I could really figure out what was going on. Also, the first 5-7 days I was reading this was just ~10 pages at a time right before going to sleep which is far from the ideal way to get into a story. Time travel and time travel problems and a bishop's bird stump which sounds hideous. My favorite parts were the paragraphs nearly every chapter about various world events that only happened because of very specific actions leading up to them. This also should have been 300 pages. 3 Stars
Read with Luke and/or Sam
The Scruffy Sea Otter and The Eager Elephant by Amelia Cobb, illustrated by Sophy Williams
I continue to read these Zoe Rescue Zoo books with Sam and he continues to love them and lament that he can't talk to animals too (alas, his 6th birthday passes without discovering that talent, unlike Zoe). Obviously, at 40, I am not the target for these books so the fact that I find more than the talking animals a little outlandish doesn't really matter. I am hopeful that Sam will be able to read these to himself in a few years. 3 Stars (Sam would give them 5)
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
I like to read Luke SOMETHING between Harry Potter books (mostly because going from 500 page book to 500 page book is just a bit daunting) and this is what we picked up after Goblet of Fire, on the recommendation of my sister and BIL. Two kids (14 and 11) are mostly on their own and on a global treasure hunting trip against other teams with more money and parental supervision. We have MANY books to go before a lot of this makes sense but Luke did enjoy it, especially when we could be consistent in reading it. 3.5 Stars
What have YOU been reading lately??
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