You’d never know that I’m a die-hard TBR enthusiast by looking at my May 2023 reading wrap-up. This was the month of unintentional mood-reading and here you’ll find the ratings for all 25 of the books I read.
May was such a fun and spontaneous reading month for me. While I typically try to stick to a pretty strict TBR, it seems like Libby had other plans because all of my holds came in at once! That does seem to be the case with libraries though, doesn’t it? I love it. I didn’t mind switching up my books nearly as much as I thought I would. There were two books that I wasn’t able to pick up, but I decided to move There Will Come a Darkness to June and I’ll get to my reread of Fable eventually.
I think the stand-out books this month were Lessons in Chemistry and The Box in the Woods. They were both really unique stories and stuck with me for different reasons. I also did a little bit of book-buying, thanks to the fiction sale on Book Outlet. I was able to snag 6 books that I’ve absolutely loved over the years: Legends & Lattes, In Five Years, Lost in the Never Woods, XOXO, Crumbs (which I read this month), and Girl, Serpent, Thorn. I can’t wait for them to arrive so I can add them to my shelves! It was a good month to be a bookworm.
Keep on scrolling to see my ratings for all 25 books I read during May! You’ll also notice a sweet little calico cameo!
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The 25 Books I Read in May 2023
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May 2023 Reading Stats
Books That Got a 5-Star Rating (*rereads)
Concrete Rose*
by Angie Thomas
Buy the book: Amazon | Blackwell’s | Bookshop | Waterstones | Libro.fm | Barnes & Noble
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2)*
by Leigh Bardugo
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Supernova (Renegades #3)*
by Marissa Meyer
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Books That Got a 4 or 4.5-Star Rating
Crumbs
by Danie Stirling
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The Stolen Chapters (Story Thieves #2)
by James Riley
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Mr. Wrong Number
by Lynn Painter
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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
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Solitaire
by Alice Oseman
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Just My Type
by Falon Ballard
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Mooncakes
by Suzanne Walker
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Built to Last
by Erin Hahn
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The Golden Spoon
by Jessa Maxwell
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The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious #4)
by Maureen Johnson
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Books That Got a 3 or 3.5-Star Rating
The Cheat Sheet (The Cheat Sheet #1)
by Sarah Adams
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If the Shoe Fits (Meant to Be #1)
by Julie Murphy
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
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Change of Plans
by Dylan Newton
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Fall of the School for Good and Evil (Rise of the School for Good and Evil #2)
by Soman Chainani
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom Duology #1)
by Sue Lynn Tan
Buy the book: Amazon | Blackwell’s | Bookshop | Waterstones | Libro.fm | Barnes & Noble
Sheets (Sheets #1)
by Brenna Thummler
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Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame
by Meg Long
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Books That Got a 2 or 2.5-Star Rating
Only When It’s Us (Bergman Brothers #1)
by Chloe Liese
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These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows #2)
by Lexi Ryan
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Forget Me Not
by Julie Soto
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The Do Over
by Suzanne Park
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June 2023 TBR
The Looking-Glass Illusion (The Curious Realities #2) by Sara Ella [ARC]
Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin [ARC]
Someone Just Like You by Meredith Schorr [ARC]
King of Scars (King of Scars #1) by Leigh Bardugo [reread]
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros
Painted Devils (Little Thieves #2) by Margaret Owen
There Will Come a Darkness (The Age of Darkness #1) by Katy Rose Pool
By the Book (Meant to Be #2) by Jasmine Guillory
Cherish (Crave #6) by Tracy Wolff
Secret Origins (Story Thieves #3) by James Riley
Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5) by Maureen Johnson
So This is Ever After by F.T. Lukens
The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
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I am so deep in the library holds list for LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY it’s not even funny. But that’s ok because I have a lot of other stuff I want/need to read. In fact, I keep pushing holds off to be delivered later, lol. I’m surprised by your star rating for DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS–curious to know what you liked/didn’t like about it?
Haha! I was too! I waited for a good six months before my copy finally came in. I was just glad it was worth it. With all the hype surrounding it, I wasn’t sure I’d love it. But it was really good. It reminded me a lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing and storytelling style, which I love!
The short version is basically that DOTMG had a very promising start with beautiful writing, buuut the middle of the book lost me entirely. The FMC seemed to lose her entire personality and the romance aspect was super bizarre. The final third of the book had me on the edge of my seat, but I just did NOT like the middle at all. Also, how is it a duology? Because… the story ends haha. I dunno. I wanted to love it but it just fell flat for the most part.
I really love the graphics. Are they from Storygraph? I love that site! Great this of some excellent reads. Your May reading list looks to have been much more successful than mine!
I use The StoryGraph for all my data tracking, but I create my own graphics using the stats they provide 🙂