Rebecca

Bookmarked: May

May is month of unpredictability: we had a late frost, we hit 90 degrees. I’d say “it’s all about balance,” but it honestly felt more like a rollercoaster {or maybe a runaway stagecoach} … However. Between the cold and the heat, and the much-needed rain, the natural world is fully awake and ready to shine. The garden is growing by the day, the flowers are transitioning from Winter/Spring blooms to Summer’s riot of intense color. The reading is shifting. Let’s look at May …

🎧 The Bodyguard | Katherine Center | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📱 The Art of Vanishing | Morgan Pager | ⭐⭐⭐
📖 Crown of Midnight | Sarah J Maas | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 My Fair Frauds | Lee Kelly & Jennifer Thorne | ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
🎧 Welcome to Beach Town | Susan Wiggs | ⭐⭐⭐
📖 This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone | Catherine Mack | ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not the best reading month, but not the worst. It is surprisingly hard to pace myself through the Throne of Glass reread, since I’m trying to read with my friends, but this series is such an addictive read. It’s also extremely interesting to reread after reading everything else SJM has written, and seeing all these blatant “Easter eggs” right there in the open. I am beyond impressed with her long-range planning all over again.

I also got an early start on summer reading, even though Welcome to Beach Town was not as summer-beachy as originally thought. {Spoiler: there are some heavy topics involved!} It did get me thinking “Summer” though {as did the temperatures officially hitting 90*, oof!}, and I’ve been working on a Summer Reading list to share this year.

Have to take a moment to call out My Fair Frauds for being the wildest Gilded Age con story ever, but also such a good time. I loved the twist/reveal at the end! Also not sure why I waited so long to give Katherine Center a read, but The Bodyguard was such a good listen – I guess this means I’ve got a lot of backlist discovery ahead of me!

The library sign continues to track my year’s reading, and I love switching out the tiles. I also now have a decent-sized pile of crochet blocks, so I can share a teaser of this year’s book blanket soon!

Listening:
Audiobooks and more audiobooks. I’ve managed to find myself picking up slightly longer ones, so the time spent listening is still “high” but the number of books is lower. I’ve already got my next several lined up as well, thanks to suspended holds in Libby.

Watching:
Honestly? Not a whole lot. We’ve watched a little YouTube together while eating, mostly cooking videos from a handful of favorites, but most nights I’ve been reading instead of watching.

On the Blog:
It was another slow-ish month, but there has been a lot of behind the scenes planning for content and posts. I’m excited to indulge in another Summer of Jane, and with garden tours back on the schedule, there’s more of that to look forward to! We had our little adventure, and ate our way through the mountains. And the most adorable update of the month was the addition of 6 new chicks! As if I hadn’t shared enough photographs during the month, we also got a Glimpses post, because we all need to be reminded to find the JOY and BEAUTY in small things.

I’m hoping to settle back into a “normal” routine as Summer creeps onto the scene. My reading should increase, as more things need watering = more time with audiobooks. Unless the daily rain pattern continues, that definitely streamlines the garden/flower tending process.

Are you ready for Summer?
What was your best read/watch/listen of May?
What are you looking forward to in June? I am waiting impatiently for the newest installment of the Mr Darcy and Miss Tilney Mystery series!

Here’s to a month of moments to treasure, bites to savor, and stories that enchant!

12 comments

  1. I love seeing the world burst into color this time of year! Your flowers must be starting to look spectacular. And all the green too! And yay for new chicks!!! That is so exciting! All that new life.

    I really want to read This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone. Lol. We are not watching too much over here either, maybe just 30 minutes a day right now. We will more than likely watch more as the summer grows hotter; Wyatt doesn’t do well in high temps (and either do I anymore!)

    In June I am looking forward to our break from school! We take about six weeks off and will pick up again a bit in July, but still not a full curriculum load. We will still have reading this month ( I am so ready to be done with Holes although Wyatt is loving it!) and then next month we add in our studies about South America.

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    • This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone is SUCH a fun read! I can’t remember: have you read the rest of the series? These are definitely ones to read in order. I particularly love the sometimes snarky footnotes 😂

      The older I get, the less I can handle high temps myself … This week though has been a delight: Sunday and yesterday were in the 70s, we were 48 overnight, and even the low 80s haven’t felt terrible because of breeze + low humidity.

      Yay for school break! 😀

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  2. I am never ready for summer. It is a long, terrible siege of sweat and misery and paying homage to the god Freon. XD I think my best May read was BEING NIXON, though the full-cast audio for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was also incredible.

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  4. My Fair Frauds honestly sounds super fun, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Ah yay, I can’t wait to see your new crochet book blanket! I haven’t been watching much TV lately either, just Youtube stuff as well. Do you like Tasting History? I feel like you might enjoy that channel.

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    • It was such a wild concept, but the authors definitely pulled it off 🙂
      Yes! Mr introduced me to that channel {and YouTube in general, lol}, and we will watch it randomly 🙂 It is fascinating.

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      • I’m glad it came together in the end 🙂
        And oh amazing, I had a feeling hehe and I really like it too, I watch it sometimes and it’s sooo interesting, agree!!

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  5. The weather’s crazy here too. We had a heatwave last week, the worst storm I’ve seen before (the hail was definitely bigger than I’m used to) and now its rainy and windy. Definitely doesn’t feel like June out there now.

    I’m glad you’re enjoying your SJM reread. One day I’ll have to try and read all of her series closer together to watch out for the easter eggs you’ve mentioned. This year I just hope to get Crescent City read at last so that I’m ready for the new ACOTAR titles 🤞

    I’ve heard so many good things about Katherine Center’s books and am glad you enjoyed your first by her. My Fair Frauds sounds great too, love a good twist at the end.

    Ooh looking forward to the crochet teaser soon too.

    I’m hoping to read more this month but my number of books read may be down between it being birthday season in my family (not mine but several close relatives) and the size of some of the books I have lined up. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

    My favourite read of May was Agnes Aubert’s and I’m excited for The Unicorn Hunters. I haven’t gotten a copy yet as I’m hoping someone will resell the Goldsboro edition for a fair price 🤞 (I only discovered it after they’d sold out but fell head over heels for the endpages).

    I hope you have a lovely month 🥰 and enjoy the new Darcy book whenever it comes out.

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    • I’ll happily take some of your rain if you want to send it over the water! 😉 We are so very dry … and currently rather warm, so it feels very “oven-y” outside. Oh, Summer …

      Yes! You definitely need to do Crescent City before the new ACOTAR. I am very curious how things will pick up in Prythian… I’m also wondering if SJM is not going to somehow manage to bring TOG into the loop. I can see where there’s a little potential …

      Here’s to Junes with just enough stories devoured 🙂 Hope it’s a fabulous one with all the family celebrations! ❤

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      • Aww I’m so sorry to hear that. We were the same here just over a week ago so hopefully you’ll get some rain your way soon too 🤞

        It’ll definitely be interesting to see if that ever creeps into the other series at all.

        Thank you 🥰🥰

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