Sunday Book Club: May 2019 Reading List

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I’m posting my reading list for next month a little earlier than normal, but that’s because I have a fun post coming next week! Anne and I will be hosting a new (or rather second) installment of our Blogger Reads: One Book, Two Takes series! On May 5, we’re going to be reading Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new release, Daisy Jones & the Six (which I’m really excited to share my thoughts on).

This time though, you’re invited to link up a post on our May selection as well! Check out our first post in the series to see the Q&A form that we’ll be using again, if you want to follow that format, but you’re also free to review it however you’d prefer. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the book!

Now let’s talk May reads!

May 2019 Reading List

This past month was a little bit lighter than past months, but I think that may have been because this past month has been so hectic that I would come home and only be able to read like 3 pages before falling asleep. Or I wouldn’t be able to focus on an audiobook, so I would switch to a podcast instead. On the bright side, I really enjoyed the majority of the books I did read.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Please note: I received this book as a galley in exchange for my honest review.
I was crossing my fingers so hard that I would get this galley and I’m so glad that I did! Linda Holmes is writer for NPR and the host of their podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour. But she’s also an avid reader and we tend to agree when it comes to books and movies. She’s mentioned that she’s been writing a novel for quite some time on PCHH, so it’s exciting to see it’s finally arrive!

Let me start by saying that I loved this novel. It focuses on Evvie Drake, a woman who is more or less happy, with an okay job. Her husband passed away over a year ago and everyone thinks Evvie is broken up over it. But what we quickly discovered is that Evvie was leaving her husband the night he died. Now, she’s been beating herself up over it ever since.

This book doesn’t come out until June, but you need to snatch it up as soon as it does!

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

I had been putting off this book for a bit and I have no idea why! Maybe I said this about Kinsella’s last book, but I think Fixie, might be my new favorite protagonist from Kinsella. She’s fun, sympathetic, and geniunely cares about the people in her life. She may try a bit too hard to see the good in people, but when she fixes something, it gets fixed. I also love that while this character may seem flightly, she’s actually the one running the whole show.

Last Seen (The Amateurs, Book 3) by Sara Shepard

I read the last two books last month and I finished the last one up the other day. If Shepard intended to wrap the series up here, I think she found a good way to do so, however she also left a pretty wide opening for another book. Overall, I enjoyed this book, you learned more about the characters than anything else and I couldn’t put it down because I wanted all the answers.

The Au Pair by Emma Rous

Looking back on this book, I felt kind of meh overall. Yet I couldn’t stop reading because I just wanted explanations about everything. It just kept twisting and I needed answers! I got all of the answers I needed and it was satisfactory, but I think it could have picked up the pace a bit.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

There is a big difference between a book that you know is well written, but you don’t like it and a book that is just not great in general and that’s why you don’t like it. In this case, I thought the book was incredibly well written, it was compelling, the pacing was great, and the characters were interesting. But it wasn’t for me. I was annoyed with the ex/best friend and the whole situation in general made me incredibly uncomfortable. I kept listening, but I’m iffy about reading her next book. Maybe I’ll hold off a bit before reading it.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

This book gave me such Station Eleven vibes, I loved it. In The Dreamers, a sleeping sickness breaks out in a small college dorm and quickly spreads to the whole city. The whole story is shared from a few main characters’ points of view and you really get to see how everyone is effected different.

Lovely War by Julie Berry

I adored this book. It tells two love stories that intertwined during World War One and how those couples were pulled apart and came back together. Now, this book could have really been an okay novel. But what really took it to the next level and made it amazing is that it’s told by Aphrodite, as a lesson to the other Greek gods after she and Aries are caught having an affair and put on trial.

This book is one of the best novels I’ve read this year and I already feel like I’ll be rereading it.

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

I did a mini review of this novel on instagram, but I loved it! This is a YA novel about a girl who is forced to work with her enemy at her dad’s food truck after a prom prank goes wrong. You could probably guess a handful of the tropes used in this book, but there are a few things about it that I loved (only one of which I’m sharing). My favorite thing is that her love interest wasn’t a terrible guy. In fact, he was a great, nice, normal guy who was just really interested in her. The book wasn’t actually really about him. It was focused more on her growth as a person. He was just an added bonus!

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

Groundhog’s day for teenagers! So much so that it’s even referenced multiple times in the book. Again, I had a lengthier instagram review, but my main issue is that it felt like it dragged a little. Or at least it went on one iteration too long. Maybe it could have used one more edit? But I would still recommend it because it was an enjoyable read.

That’s it for now! Make sure to come back on May 5th to link up your Daisy Jones and the Six post!