Forever Lost in Literature: Month in Review: May 2024

May was another busy month, but this time with something a little fun thrown in for once: my husband and I took a trip! I'ts honestly been quite a while since we've gone anywhere, so we took a somewhat short but really fun trip to England and Ireland. It was a really nice way to get a little introduction to both countries (very little!) and it was so nice to finally get away somewhere. Outside of that, it's business as usual and getting back to the regular routine and blogging. June is gearing up to be a very packed month of new releases, so hopefully I can try to keep up this month!

In reading news, I'm actually shocked at how many books I managed to get through this month with everything going on, but I owe a lot of that to audiobooks for accompanying me during all the travel. The Silverblood Promise was definitely my top book from May–I had really high hopes for it and they all came true! I'd been looking for a big, adventurous, exciting, some hints of darkness and danger, and also just plain fun fantasy for a while now and this checked all the boxes and was everything I'd been searching for.

How was your May? Let me know how your month was below and what you've been reading!

# books read: 14

The Silverblood Promise by James Logan ★★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Paperback

Thoughts: I loved this! I had such an amazing time reading this book and am so eager for the sequel.

Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Paperback

Thoughts: I didn't love this quite like I loved Kaikeyi, but it was still a really beautiful story and I just can't get enough of Patel's writing. My review for it will be up this week!

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica ★★

Source: Library | Format: Paperback

Thoughts: I really wanted to love these given how enraptured I was with Bazterrica's Tender is the Flesh, but unfortunately most of these short horror stories were pretty... not great. A few were okay, but I don't think I'd really go out of my way to recommend this one unless you are just really curious about more work from Bazterrica. I don't regret reading it, but am a bit disappointed in the quality.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ★★★★

Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC

Thoughts: This was such a fun concept and I really like exploring Tchaikovsky execution of it. My review for this one is already up!

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor ★★★★

Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC

Thoughts: I really liked the general idea behind this novel and thought O'Connor's writing was really strong, but it wasn't one I ended up loving. My review for this is already up as well!

Daughter of Calamity by Rosalie M. Lin ★★★

Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC

Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this one and I'll have my review up in a week or two!

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: I think this book stood out to me a lot from other North Korean-based books I've read because the man at the heart of it was quite different from others I've read, so I really appreciated getting new perspectives.

The Latinist by Mark Prins ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Hardcover

Thoughts: Even though I consider myself more of a Hellenist than a Latinist, I knew I had to read this one as soon as I saw it. I went into it with hesitance given the low Goodreads rating, but it was pretty good! I didn't love it and it had a lot of frustrating components, but overall I liked what it did and found the general plot and content interesting.

Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: A really fun idea with a pretty good execution. I listened to this as an audiobook, but I think I'd rather read it sometime because I think I missed some things with the audio.

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Hardcover

Thoughts: This was enjoyable while reading it, but feels oddly forgettable now that I've finished it.

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro ★★★

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: This has a really strong start, but I lost interest as the novella progressed, unfortunately.

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng ★★★★

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: This was an interesting historical fiction novel that unfortunately never really clicked with me in the way I expected.

The Islanders by Caroline Mitchell ★★★

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: This ended up being a much mellower thriller than I expected, but I still ended up liking it. I almost DNF'd, but stuck around and was pleasantly surprised by a nice twist–it wasn't the most original twist, but wasn't one I expected in this book, so that made it worth it.

Satan's Affair by H.D. Carlton

Source: Library | Format: Audiobook

Thoughts: I didn't really expect to like this that much, but I was curious and wanted to complete things set in this storyline and I had a pretty fun time with it. It was nice to read a bit more about Sibby's background, but a lot of the book felt gratuitous.