May Reading

📚 Every month, I will post a wrap-up of the books I read. ✨

Some months I read with a theme 🎭, and others are just a mishmash of what I felt like reading 🎲📖.

There is usually no rhyme or reason to this — I’m easily distracted 🐿️☕, but I’m also prone to getting a little obsessed with a topic 🔍📚🍰.

My goal for this year is to read books I already own, with an emphasis on all of the Book of the Month books I have but haven’t read and Advance Reader Copies I never got around to reading. Another part of this goal is to complete reading all of my favorite authors’ books and finish series I started. 📚📖

I read 11 books in May and fell short on my goals. I began the month with some great reads, but ended up in a slump. I went nine days without finishing anything, which is very unusual for me. I ended up reading several novellas in the hopes of kickstarting my reading, which seems to have helped. Here’s hoping June is better!

📊 So how did the month turn out? 🤔✨ Here’s the breakdown: 📚🍵📝

✨📚🍰 Five Star Books☕🌟💛🍒

I read six 5 star books this month. The first was A Brewed Awakening by Pepper Basham. This was such a cute read! The next book was The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn.

Then I read the latest Spy Games book by Debbie Viguie, Backstop. I really love this series- it reminds me so much of one of my favorite 80s shows, Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I then read two Amazon Original Stories by two of my favorite authors. They were Summer Staycation by Sarah Grunder Ruiz and One Hot Summer Wedding by Falon Ballard. They were so cute and really helped my slump. The last one was Grim Tidings by B. K. Borison.

📖🍂☕ Four Star Books 👍🌼💫🍪

I read four 4 star books. The first was my first novella of the month, Leave It Up to Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey. This was really cute! Then I read A Lesson in Propriety by Jen Turano, followed by In Pursuit of Civility (which I reviewed here on my substack). The last I actually finished today- Calico Canyon by Mary Connealy. I really enjoyed this one- it’s the second in the Lassoed in Texas series (I reviewed the first one earlier this year). I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

📘😐🍵 Three Star Books 🥄🌸📝

I read one 3 star read this month. It was another anthology, The Cowboy’s Bride Collection. It had some really great stories in it.

I read one- The Paris Match.

Four of my books were advance reader copies. All of them were for 2026.

I stayed up to date with Falon Ballard and completed Kate Clayborn.

I’m up to date with Ghosted and Spy Games.

How was your May reading? 🥳📖

At the end of June, I’m going on a Mediterranean cruise with my husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, so I’ll be trying to read books set in those countries closer to the end of the month. I’m going to try to read a few Book of the Month books next.

Any plans for your reading?

Happy reading . . . always 📚🍰