What I Read in May (And the Ambitious Stack Waiting for June)

Favorite Books from May

5 Star book

Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson- This has to be my favorite book this month. It deals with one of my favorite things: a sci-fi mystery. People are randomly popping out of existence, and no one knows the reason why. Watching how society devolved to try to reconcile that is very interesting. The government tries to keep society afloat despite an alarming increase in murders, suicides, cluts, new religions, and kidnappings. Like the X-Files, we follow two agents investigating a person claiming to return from popping. Harvey wants to believe, while Shonda is a skeptic. It makes you realize how much people try to grab hold of anything that makes sense when a global crisis is happening, no matter how crazy their idea sounds. It reminds me of the pandemic. People globally didn’t handle that well either. While Absence is fiction, it is not too far from its portrayal of how people would act during a global crisis, which is quite scary to consider if I am being honest. The realness of it makes it hard to put down and will leave you craving for more.

4.5 Star books

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston: I like a romance novel with a fantasy twist. Clementine lives in an apartment that can transport her randomly seven years into the past. In the past, she met Iwan, whom she began to fall for. However, the twist is that while she sees Iwan in the past, she also meets present-day Iwan, and he has drastically changed over the last seven years. Clementine has to reconcile between past and present, Iwan, and find out what made him change. Most people are not able to see the past and present versions of a person at the same time. I like how it illustrates that we gradually change with time, and that is okay. Nothing is meant to stay the same. Overall, it was nice to watch how Iwan and Clementine’s romance unfolded through a unique complication. It definitely helped me to appreciate the romance drama more.

Take Me With You by Steven Rowley: Another book I liked because it appeals to my desire for sci-fi. Jesse watches as his husband Norman willing go to a beam of yellow light and disappears into the night sky. The novel explores how you deal with being abandoned by the one you considered the closest to you, and how you become your own person after being connected as a duo to someone. It also explores how people change in a relationship and how often we don’t realize that there is something wrong until it is too late. It was intriguing to watch Jesse and Norman’s relationship ebb and flow throughout the novel and see that they can get past the relationship hurdles. It made for a quick read and was hard to put down.

Somewhere Beyond The Sea by T.J. Klune: I was excited reading this because it is the continuation of The House in the Cerulean Sea. And it didn’t disappoint. We follow Arthur this time around as he goes before government officials to recount his abuse by the caretaker of the orphanage. However, the government has doubts about his claims and provokes Arthur enough to release the phoenix in the courtroom. Now, the government has doubts about Arthur running the orphanage and the children’s safety. They are sending a caseworker to evaluate the children. Arthur not only has to worry about the case worker, but they are bringing a new kid to the orphanage, David, who has unique views about being a monster. Arthur is worried if he is able to protect his family from all the forces against him.

I found that I enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea more, but not by that much. I felt that it was a good sequel. I liked how you see how Arthur is not always cool and collected. He has his own worries and fears and has to learn how to lean on his family for support. I also like how the children are growing into their powers and learning how to express themselves. They are all willing to fight for each other, no matter the cost. I am a big fan of found family books, and this one is no exception.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia- Noemi is tasked with checking in on her cousin Catalina, who claims that ghosts walk the halls at the house she is living in, and her husband is poisoning her. What Noemi finds is that her cousin is in terrible shape. She claims that she is visited by ghosts, and physically, she is not doing as well. Her husband claims that she is sick and the doctor on staff is taking care of her. However, Noemi starts to have her doubts when she starts having the same ghostly visits as Catalina. She now wonders if Catalina is crazy or if the house is haunted.

One of the things that I liked about the horror novel is that it deals with agency. Women are not taken seriously at High Place, where Catalina now resides. They are expected to be quiet and take care of the home. Noemi finds it restrictive of her lifestyle at home and believes that is the reason why Catalina’s spirit has dwindled. The novel also deals with the lack of agency regarding race. Noemi is considered inferior by Catalina’s new family because of her darker complexion. Noemi is also not allowed to speak Spanish in High Place. Only English is considered acceptable. It illustrates how society tries to keep a group of people oppressed. I liked how the novel dealt with all of these issues in a horror setting, and you are constantly guessing whether everything that is happening is all in Catalina and Noemi’s mind or if there is really an evil presence in the house. It is a thrilling novel that will keep you guessing until the end.

Other Reads

I also read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Hounded by Kevin Hearne, and Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. The Road follows a father and son through a dystopian landscape. Hounded follows the last druid on Earth as he deals with a god trying to end his existence. Japanese Gothic follows two young adults who are centuries apart who meet through a sliding door. They wonder if they are able to change their fate despite their past. All three are excellent reads, but I felt the ones above were better. Still, I would recommend you check them out at your own leisure.

If you want the long-form reviews of any of this, I have linked them below:

Absence

Take Me With You

The Seven-Year Slip

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Mexican Gothic

Japanese Gothic

The Road

Hounded

Other books that I read in May, but haven’t reviewed yet:

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab and House to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. I will do a review on both and have their scores at the end of next month.

DNF

I had one book that I didn’t finish, which was Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. It was for a book club that I was in. However, I have a hard time getting into non-fiction. Speculative fiction is more my speed.

What’s Next for June

I have a list of books that I am reading that is a mixture of book club reads, ARC, and personal reads:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Altered Carbon by Takeshi Kovacs 

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

The Awake: The Dispensable by Warren Wright

Narcissistic Traps by Sharelle Ellis

Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty

Escape from Media by Brandy Stoker

Three Hitmen and a Baby by Rob Hart

Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim

Flashlight by Susan Choi

Quite ambitious, but I am looking forward to the challenge! I was surprised myself that I was able to read 10 books this past month. Looking forward to seeing if I can read even more next month! What books are you guys looking forward to reading next month?