My Monthly Wrap-Up: May 2025

Hello and welcome to my May wrap-up. May was mostly a mixed bag for me. Two of my most anticipated reads for the year were not quite up to my expectations. But I had lots of surprises in some of my other reads. I finished 17 books, five of them audiobooks, and I have been keeping up with my challenges. Here is a graphic showing all of the books I read this month.

Favorite ARCs

*The Medusa Protocol was a really fun and quick read. This is the second book about a group of reformed assassins who avoid killing and just want to be left alone.

*Sounds Like Love was a very sweet romance between two lost and lonely people. There is a touch of magical realism and I loved all of the musical references.

🎧*Lady’s Knight was hilarious and I just adored the audiobook. I really enjoyed the characters and the faux medieval setting.

Reading Challenge Books

*Field Notes from a Fungi Forager was my nonfiction read for the month. I really enjoyed learning about the local mushrooms and fungi and the illustrations were beautiful.

🎧*Yellowface was the book I chose for my Buzzword Cover Challenge. The prompt was eyes on the cover and this book immediately sprung to mind. I really enjoyed it and loved the reader for the audiobook.

*Sunrise on the Reaping was a book I chose for the prequel prompt on the 52 Book Club Challenge. I really enjoyed reading about Haymitch and his personal hunger games, even though it was a tragic story.

Favorite Reads

Plan for the Worst was a fun read. I am still enjoying this very long time travel series. I hope to pick up the next one soon.

*How to Seal Your Own Fate was a fun sequel. I almost liked it better than the first book in the series. The mystery was more interesting and there was a surprise twist at the end.

*The Listeners was an ARC, but I am including it here because it was still a good read, just not one of my favorites. I liked the characters and the setting, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

Favorite Audiobooks

🎧*I’m Starting to Worry About this Black Box of Doom was such a hilarious story to listen to. I really enjoyed the readers and it had me laughing all the way to the explosive ending, literally.

🎧*Holy Terrors was so much better the second time around, although I think a lot of that had to do with the reader. She did such a good job of capturing Vanya’s wit and sarcasm that I found myself laughing throughout most of the story.

🎧*Cursebound was also so much better than I thought it would be because of the reader. They had a new reader for this second book in the series and it made such a difference. I hope they keep her for the third book.

Well that is a wrap on May. A little bit disappointing in some ways, but delightful in others. June is so far shaping up to be a good reading month. It is hard to believe that we are almost half way through the year. Until next time…

Happy Reading!