Due to the issues I had with my blog, I missed an entire week of this new month. This means that June already is well on its way, and I still have to recap May. This month I moved two blogs and went to London for a few days. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t too good when I was home, so I wasn’t really able to sit outside with a book. The downtime I had with both blogs and my vacation was well spent reading though. I’m still quite behind on my book reviews, but I’ll definitely catch up.

My monthly stats

In May, I read 2,707 pages and listened to 32.8 hours across 10 books. This month my reading was a mixture of both books that have been on my TBR for a longer while and newly acquired titles. It was also a bit of a genre cocktail: fantasy, contemporary and historical fiction all have been picked up. I read most books in Dutch though as there are several original Dutch ones on this list. Unfortunately, my average rating is not so great in the end, 3.2 stars. However, it took me an average of 2 days to finish a book and that’s noticeably shorter compared to the previous months.

My read books

1. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles – After listening to Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade and seeing many people mention this book, it was about time I picked it up. I listened to the Dutch audiobook. Although I was able to finish it pretty fast, I wasn’t fully intrigued till quite far in the book. Both books I’ve read by this author follow the same structure and I therefore have the same issues with them. 🎧⭐⭐⭐
2. Caught Up by Liz Tomforde – I often struggle with reading books with the same themes back-to-back, especially when it’s books about WWII. I therefore picked up a romance as a breather. The couple in this third “Windy City” novel admittedly are not my favourite, but I still had a good time witnessing their character growth and their romance blooming. 📱⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Soedah, laat maar by Maddy Stolk – After I finished the previous book, I decided to get back into history. This Dutch novel is about the colonial times in current Indonesia and the effects on the people who lived through it all (including the Japanese occupation) and the following generations. It is, as far as I believe, semi-autobiographical. 🎧⭐⭐⭐,5
4. Hoe klein de wereld is by Carla de Jong and Walter Lucius – Another Dutch book about WWII. This one tells the story of Indian soldiers who were stationed on Texel, one of the Dutch islands, serving in the British army. It took a very long time before this book emersed me and yet I still don’t really know what to think of it. I still have unanswered questions. 📱⭐⭐⭐
5. Burning Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber – I needed a break after this, so I decided to pick up a book that has been on my TBR for a little longer. I was left disappointed by the previous book in this series, but I wanted to finish it anyway. Well, I was still disappointed, this definitely didn’t need to be a trilogy. The first book was the best for me. 📱⭐⭐⭐
6. Fun For the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith – I saw this book a lot on Instagram all at once and I was intrigued by the reviews and premise. I love myself a good family saga and I often find them to be deeper layered than the premise shows. However, this was a totally different experience. Due to the multiple POVs and the book being not that long, there was too little space to elaborate the characters and story in depth. I was actually quite bored on many occasions in fact. 📱⭐⭐⭐
7. Prodigy by Marie Lu – I started the “Legend” series during the pandemic but never continued after the first book. Even though there has been a 5-year gap between that book and this next one in the series, I still enjoyed it. I had to look for a short recap though as I didn’t remember every detail, but once I did, I was able to enjoy the story. Despite my enjoyment, it somehow really feels like a second book to me. 📱⭐⭐⭐⭐
8. Go As a River by Shelley Read – I tried to pick up this book once in 2021 but quit pretty early on. I just wasn’t feeling it at the moment. Somehow, it kept popping up in my recommendations so now I figured finally was the time to try it. It gets compared to There Where the Cradads Sing by Delia Owens and I thought that book was pretty overhyped. So naturally I didn’t step into this adventure with high expectations. It’s okay, it definitely handles such heavy and emotional themes. My review will be up ASAP. 🎧⭐⭐⭐
9. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh – Another book I needed several attempts on to finish it. I started this twice but always fell asleep. This happened once again, but I still decided to push through. I think it would have been better to remove it instead, because I didn’t enjoy it at all. Maybe this author’s books and me are not a good match as I didn’t enjoy another book either. 📱⭐⭐
10. Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill – Cozy fantasy is more often not for me than it actually is, but I still want to give these books a fair chance. Especially when many people are raving about one specific book. This was the case with this novel and even though I was able to finish it quickly and the POV of a monster was refreshing, I found the stakes too low. You know everything will work out in the end and I need more. It serves its purpose, but these issues are the ones I generally have with this sub genre. 📱⭐⭐⭐

My bookhaul

1. Silver Elite by Dani Francis
2. This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
3. The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff
4. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
5. What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon
6. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
7. Fun For the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith
8. Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill

So, this was May. June is already on its way, and I can’t judge this month’s books yet. How was may for you?