Monthly Wrap-Up – May, 2016

 

Welcome to the end of another month. I can’t believe that May is over already! It was a busy month as usual, but it was a fun month. I am linking to Best of the Bunch, Feed Your Fiction Addiction’s monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up and The Book Date’s Month in Review. So check out what I did in May, my top pick and my most anticipated books of the coming month.

 

 

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Books Reviewed

 

I reviewed thirty books this month.

1. [1 May] The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight ★★★
2. [2 May] The Last Good Girl by Allison Leotta ★★★★
3. [3 May] The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konen ★★★
4. [4 May] Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman ★★★★½
5. [5 May] Congratulations On Everything by Nathan Whitlock ★★★½
6. [6 May] The Immortal Crown by Kieth Merrill ★★★★
7. [7 May] Even If the Sky Falls by Mia Garcia ★★★★
8. [8 May] The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay ★★★★½
9. [10 May] Stirred by Tracy Ewens ★★★★
10. [11 May] The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye ★★★★
11. [12 May] 100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen ★★★★
12. [13 May] Don't Tell, Don't Tell, Don't Tell by Liane Shaw ★★★½
13. [15 May] B. S., Incorporated by Jennifer Rock, Michael Voss ★★★★
14. [16 May] Faerie by Eisha Marjara ★★★
15. [16 May] The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey ★
16. [17 May] 26 Kisses by Anna Michels ★★★
17. [18 May] It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort ★★★★
18. [19 May] The Children by Ann Leary ★★★★
19. [20 May] Jerkbait by Mia Siegert ★★★★½
20. [21 May] Before the Fall by Noah Hawley ★★★★
21. [22 May] The Wedding Sisters by Jamie Brenner ★★★
22. [23 May] People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper ★★★★
23. [24 May] True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan ★★★★½
24. [25 May] Never Too Real by Carmen Rita ★★★½
25. [26 May] You Know Me Well by David Levithan, Nina LaCour ★★★★
26. [27 May] Frannie and Tru by Karen Hattrup ★★★★
27. [28 May] Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger ★★★★½
28. [29 May] Life Before by Michele Bacon ★★★½
29. [30 May] Meet Me Here by Bryan Bliss ★★★½
30. [31 May] Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge: A Novel by Paul Krueger ★★★★

I reviewed five 4 1/2 star books this month. Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman, The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay, Jerkbait by Mia Siegert, True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan, and Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger. They were all fantastic reads in their own ways, and this month I could not pick just one to love the best, so for my very first tie, I present Jerkbait by Mia Siegert and True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan! I love diverse books and YA books written from a male lead character’s perspective, so these both fit the bill. They were both also very emotional in different ways, and I loved the journey they both took me on. So hats off to Mia and Kenny on some fantastic reads!

 

 

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This Month in Review…

I hosted a Guest Post (here) by authors Jennifer Rock and Michael Voss, co-authors of a great read, B. S., Incorporated, see my review here. You can enter to win a copy (physical US only or Kindle) until June 10th.

I hosted the April Wrap-Up Round-Up giveaway for Feed Your Fiction Addiction’s monthly wrap-up. I heart Nicole and she has a great meme going on for month end posts. You can check out the Round-Up over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction and you can link your monthly post as well.

I went to BEA16 in Chicago and had an amazing time. You can check out my posts on it here and here.

As you know, I took a break from memes and discussion posts in May. I was posting between 14 and 17 posts a week and could not continue that with real life and stuff. I took a break from tours, blasts and cover reveals quietly a few months ago (unless I really really like the book) and it was a huge help. I will occasionally still post some discussions, Waiting on Wednesdays and Top Ten Tuesdays but not every week or even every month.

 

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 Challenges

I completed my card for Spring Bingo from Pretty Deadly Reviews. This card is for books read March 1, 2016 through May 31, 2016.

 

 

Second Chance – The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Set In Space – The Martian by Andy Weir

Non-Binary MC – Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Under 200 Pages – Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens

Ugly Cover – The Dig by John Preston

Set Over 200 Years Ago – The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay

March, April, May Release – Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

Criminals – Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl

Metallic Lettering – My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

Based On A Real Event – Save Me Kurt Cobain by Jenny Manzer

Book Towards Another Challenge – This Side of Providence by Rachel M. harper

Green Cover – Burning Down the House by Jane Mendelsohn

Retelling – Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Set In More Than One Country – Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley

Characters Are Not Human – An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel

Recommended by More Than One Friend – Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Flowers On the Cover – Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly

MC Shares Your First Initial – Faerie by Eisha Marjara

Written Under A Pen Name – The Beast by J.R. Ward

More Than One Author – The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

End of the World – The Hidden Twin by Adi Rule

Number In the Title – Trust No One by Paul Cleave

Non-Fiction – I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Stand Alone – The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan

 

 

I completed my Mount TBR Reading Challenge hosted by My Reader’s Block. The goal of this challenge is to read the books you got in 2015 but have not yet read. My goal is Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile. I have read 64 books from my TBR as of May 31, 2016.

If you are ever curious on my reading challenge stats during the year, I update my Challenges page about every other week. You can check it out here.

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I created a tribe on Triberr in March and am still accepting members (Book Bloggers Unite). It is a service to help and encourage social media sharing of posts. You can sign up to join for free and I will make any joiner a member to enable sharing right away.

 

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Author Tuesday

 

 

In May I was lucky enough to host Becky Jerams author of Reasons To Love a Nerd Like Me on May 10 , 2016 (her interview here) and on May 24, 2016 I had Kenneth Logan author of the upcoming June 7th release True Letters from a Fictional Life, (his interview here).

June will bring us – June 7, 2016 – Emily Albright author of The Heir and the Spare with two signed hardcover copies (US/CAN) up for grabs and on June 21, 2016 – Suzanne Redfearn author of No Ordinary Life will join us and we will be giving away a signed copy (US only). 

The full list of past, current and future authors can be found here.

 

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United States of Books

 

 

United States of Books for May

1. [2 May] United States of Books – Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
2. [9 May] United States of Books – Close Range by Annie Proulx
3. [16 May] The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey ★
4. [23 May] United States of Books – Doc by Mary Doria Russell
5. [30 May] United States of Books – Drown by Junot Díaz

 

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What’s Next?

 

I have never been one to do book tags, but some of them look so fun, I will try to do at least one a month starting in June. They are not a commitment as they are one and done, and I think that will help add some variety, but not burn me out.

I have a few review related things coming up that I think will be fun, in July I am planning to start Series Saturdays. I have at least a dozen series hanging out that I have not gotten to read over the years (yup years on some of them) and most of them have been completed, so I plan to post a review for each series starting with book one till the last one on Saturdays. In August I am planning to start working on whittling down my old TBR. Books that are not series that have also been hanging out that I just have not gotten to. I will review these on Sundays.

I would love to start doing some buddy reads and joint reviews, so if anyone is interested hit me up here!

 

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Most Anticipated June Releases

 

 

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Upcoming Reviews

 

I have thirty-two reviews scheduled for June. Here is a sneak peek at some of the books to be reviewed in June.

 

 

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Anything Else?

 

You can check out the rest of my May happenings below.

1. [7 May] Weekly Wrap-Up – May 7, 2016
2. [13 May] Super Quick BEA16 Wrap-Up
3. [21 May] Two Weeks, One Post
4. [28 May] Weekly Wrap-Up – May 28, 2016

 

My May Waiting on Wednesdays

1. [3 May] Waiting on Wednesday – The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder
2. [10 May] Waiting on Wednesday – Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy
3. [17 May] Waiting on Wednesday – The Singles Game by Lauren Weisberger
4. [24 May] Waiting on Wednesday – The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close
5. [31 May] Waiting on Wednesday – The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

 

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So how was your bookish month?