May Reading Log

This May Reading Log is for a swap that I do at Swap-Bot.   Please be warned that this is a LOOOONG log, not typically what I do a month.  There was a week long read-a-thon and I had a nice LOOOOONG binge read.

Also, I've been more stingy with my 4s and 5s lately, so you are going to see a lot more 3s from me then you usually do.  3s are, typically, really really really good books for me now (with the exception of the 13 book series you'll see at the bottom ~ on my new scale, they'd be 1s & 2s, it just boring for me), 4 are blow my mind amazing now, and 5s are just the best of the best.  I feel like I give out a lot of 4s and 5s and wanted to stretch it out some more, because 3 is really really good too.  :)  I hope that you enjoy reading about what I've been reading!

May Reading Log ~

New Color Coding  ~  5★,  4★,  3★,  2★,  1★

01 ~ Redshirts by John Scalzi

Completed 5/1

4 of 5 stars

               This was such an enjoyable book!  I listened to the audiobook, which was read by Wil Wheaton, who I like anyways.  It just made the book all that funnier to me.  It’s basically a Star Trek parody type book, making fun of the famous “redshirts” of Star Trek always being killed on away missions.  It was really a good read, and I’m glad that I listened to it, Wil is awesome! 

02 ~ Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy must Die 01) by Danielle Paige

Completed 5/4

3 of 5 stars

               This book has been popular right now, so I thought I’d give it a try.  In it, Amy arrives in Oz to find everything different from what she knows about Oz and she’s tasked with killing Dorothy.  I expected this book to be different starting out, so the beginning threw me for a loop.  After that, I couldn’t imagine how Dorothy became the way she now is.  The book moved VERY VERY slow in the beginning for me and I didn’t start to enjoy it until half way through it.

03 ~ The One (The Selection 03) by Kiera Cass

Completed 5/6

5 of 5 stars

               I loved this series.  It seems either people loved it or hated it.  I was a lover of it.  Sure, America annoyed me at times, I have a HUGE problem with people who keep secrets from the supposed people they love, but beyond that, it was just a fun and enjoyable read.  There were some parts of this one I wish were different but overall it was a great conclusion.

04 ~ Cruel Beauty (Beauty Universe 01) by Rosamund Hodge

Completed 5/8

4 of 5 stars

               Another popular book right now, this is a loose re-imagined version of Beauty and the Beast.  I quite enjoyed this one.  In it, Nyx is raised to marry, and kill the ruler over their land, but when she arrives there, she finds he isn’t what she expected and neither is what she learns.  I didn’t like one part of the end, but overall, an enjoyable read.

05 ~ Chills: A Short Story Collection by Sahar Sabati

Completed 5/9

2 of 5 stars

               I was sent this book by the author for my Honest Review.  It was supposed to give you psychological chills, and I scare easily and I didn’t even get a bit of a start with this one.  The “scary” parts were literally a sentence or two like “I’m about to die”.  Really?  Plus I saw the ending coming for 4 of the 7 stories.  Boring and not chilly at all.

06 ~ The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Completed 5/11

2 of 5 stars

               I read this for the CL swap ~ Pick my next read.  I did have it on my shelf, as I thought it looked good, but I didn’t really end up liking it all that much.  I thought it was slow moving and boring until about the last 25%, when it finally got interesting to me.  But overall, I just didn’t enjoy it and was disappointed by the near end too.

**The next 18 books were completed during a week long Read-a-Thon. 5/12 – 5/18**

07 ~ Giving In (Surrender 02) by Maya Banks

Completed 5/12

4 of 5 stars

               An erotica, so I won’t give any details, but this was a good one.  I love Maya’s books, though they are getting quite a bit repetitive, but she makes the characters likable, so I’m still sticking with her.

08 ~ Gilded Ashes (Beauty Universe 01.5) by Rosamund Hodge

Completed 5/12

3 of 5 stars

               In the same universe as Cruel Beauty, this one is a re-imagined Cinderella story and was enjoyable, though I wish it had been full length instead of a novella.  Maia is a good character and it was a nice short read.

09 ~ Beauty from Surrender (Beauty 02) by Georgia Cates

Completed 5/12

2 of 5 stars

               This is an erotica, so not many details.  I loved the first of this series, this one let me down, mainly because the issue with her not being with the guy she loves is because she wouldn’t have her singing career anymore.  She could SING in Australia?!  Yeah, that bugged me!

10 ~ I Know Lucy (Fugitive 01) by Melissa Pearl

Completed 5/12

4 of 5 stars

               I received this from the publisher for my Honest Review, and I LOVED it.  It’s about Lucy who witnessed the murder of her parents when she was 13 and she’s been on the run ever since.  Now, at 17, she’s met a boy and she doesn’t want to run anymore.  The book is written weirdly, in alternating 1^st and 3^rd person, but once I got used to it, it flowed well and it was a great read!!

11 ~ Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Completed 5/13

3 of 5 stars

               Another popular book right now, this one is about a teen killer for hire.   While I didn’t love the book, I thought it was quite good and enjoyable.  She receives random requests for someone to be killed and she chooses the ones she wants to do.  It was definitely different and a fun read.

12 ~ No Place like Oz (Dorothy must Die 00.5) by Danielle Paige

Completed 5/13

3 of 5 stars

               This was a prequel to the first, and I wish I had read it first.  It made Dorothy must Die make SOOOO much more sense, of how and why things were the way they were.  It was more enjoyable than the first, even though it was just a novella.

13 ~ Inkspell (Ink World 02) by Cornelia Funke

Completed 5/14

3 of 5 stars

               I started this one well before the Read-a-Thon, and only finished the last 21% during the RaT.  I listened to this in audio at night.  It was read by Brendan Fraser and was a good listen, other than him having such a soothing voice, like he wanted to put me to sleep.  My least favorite part of it was Fegnolio, who was a huge character.  I’ll listen to the last one, at some point.  Not my favorite series, but good overall.

14 ~ The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next 01) by Jasper Fforde

Completed 5/14

2 of 5 stars

               Though I wasn’t sure about this one, because I haven’t read older books like Jane Eyre, I’ve been in a Book about Books kick, so I wanted to give it a try.  I like Thursday, but overall, I didn’t like the book at all.  I think those who have read Jane Eyre and other books it talks about probably would like it.  Sadly, I don’t think I will continue with the series.

15 ~ The Perfect Murder (Last Stand 06) by Brenda Novak

Completed 5/15

3 of 5 stars

               This was the last in one of the series I was trying to get finished up.  It was a good read, and a good series overall.  In this one, Sebastian has followed the killer of his ex and son across the country and gets help from Jane at Last Stand, an agency who help victims of all kinds.  She’s trying to find the sisters of a lady who came to her for help after they had gone missing.

16 ~ The Bad Beginning (Series of Unfortunate Events 01) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/16

3 of 5 stars

               After listening to Inkspell, I wanted something new to listen to.  I looked up celebrity audiobooks and found that Tim Curry does most of these, so I decided to listen to them all.  They are fairly short books (all around 200-270 pages) so I went through them quickly.  The first was fine, none of them are my favorite.  They are good for listening to, but so far it’s not a series I love.  I did see the movie, which covers the first 3 books.

17 ~ Sunrise (Ashfall 03) by Mike Mullin

Completed 5/16

3 of 5 stars

               The other last of a series book I wanted to finish and it was really good, better than the 2^nd in the series.  I’m being more stingy with my ratings, so instead of most things I really really liking getting a 4, they get a 3 now, 4s are for things I really love and 5s are for OMG I can’t put it down.  Anyways, this one tied up the story nice and neat and had some shocking moments.  Really enjoyable.

18~ The Reptile Room (SoUE 02) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/17

3 of 5 stars

               I decided to give my eyes a break on this day and listened to a bunch of these.  This is my favorite one so far, I like Montgomery and the story was fun.  Forgive me for the repetitiveness of these next reads.

19 ~ The Wide Window (SoUE 03) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/17

2 of 5 stars

               Not as enjoyable as the first two, people like the aunt in this one would annoy the tar out of me, being scared of everything around her.  UGH!!  This was the 1^st, of 3, that Tim Curry did not read, instead it was done by “Lemony Snicket” himself.  He’s definitely not as good as Curry.

20 ~ The Miserable Mill (SoUE 04) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/17

2 of 5 stars

               Another Meh read.  The story was ok, not the best, not the worst.  In this one, the find themselves trapped working in a mill.

21 ~ The Austere Academy (SoUE 05) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/17

1 of 5 stars

               There were two things I hated about this book.  The first being that there was an annoying vice principal who repeated what the kids would say.  I HATE repetitive things, so that alone would have annoyed me but then, the second thing, was LISTENING to that awful voice the narrator did for it.  UGH.  I almost put the book down, it was so awful!!  So glad to get Curry back with the next book, though I don’t know if even he could have made that any better!

22 ~ The Ersatz Elevator (SoUE 06) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/18

3 of 5 stars

               I was glad to get Curry back with this one and I was glad it was enjoyable again after the 3 I didn’t like as much.  This one was good again, though Esme got on my nerves, big time, but not as much as the vice principal did.

23 ~ The Redemption of the Dead (Sean Corrigan 00.5) by Luke Delaney

Completed 5/18

2 of 5 stars

               Giving my ears a break, I read a very very short story about how Sean Corrigan came to be where he is as a detective.  I’m not much one for short stories, but other than that, it was ok.

24 ~ The Vile Village (SoUE 07) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/18

3 of 5 stars

               Another enjoyable story, I liked this one especially the clues they were getting, which I figured out right away what they needed to do and I wanted to tell them to figure it out already!!

**The end of the Read-a-Thon.  17 books (I didn’t count the one I had started prior to it) was so great, and it was so much fun for me!!   **

25 ~ The Hostile Hospital (SoUE 08) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/19

2 of 5 stars

               This one was meh again.  I’m listening to these just at night before bed (which is what I usually do, except for that day of listening for the RaT) so I should only have a few more nights left, if I finish one every other day.

26 ~ The Carnivorous Carnival (SoUE 09) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/21

2 of 5 stars

               Another Meh, it was fine, not horrible, not great.

27 ~ The Collector by Nora Roberts

Completed 5/25

5 of 5 stars

               I LOVED this book!  It is my favorite Nora standalone after Blue Smoke.  In it, Lila witnesses a murder in the apartments across from where she is staying and gets involved in everything going on.  I loved these characters, Lila and Ash were great, and I loved even more Julia and Luke.  A really great read.  I listened to the audio of this, and not just at night because I wanted more of it!

28 ~ The Slippery Slope (SoUE 10) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/26

3 of 5 stars

               Better than the last few stories, enjoyable storyline and funny little song prior to each chapter with the audiobook version.

29 ~ The Grim Grotto (SoUE 11) by Lemony Snicket

Competed 5/28

2 of 5 stars

               This one I wavered back and forth between 2-3 stars.  It wasn’t bad.

30 ~ The Penultimate Peril (SoUE 12) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/29

3 of 5 stars

               Though I didn’t like the reappearance of some characters (like Nero from Austere who I HATE), this one was good over all.  Wasn’t expecting the end.

31 ~ The End (SoUE 13) by Lemony Snicket

Completed 5/31

3 of 5 stars

               The series was OK to boring/tedious.  It was fine for listening to at night because my night time reading isn’t my main reading, though more and more I’m loving audiobooks!  I don’t regret the 2 or so weeks I spent with this series and though it’s not a series I’d recommend or visit again, it was good to get through them all, since so many other people have read them.

32 ~ The Prediction by Darren Sugrue

Completed 5/31

4.5 of 5 stars

               Wow.  This book was a GOOD read.  I received it free for my review (review to come soon) from LibraryThing.  It was a HARD read at times.  If you have serious issues with reading about a parents pain of losing a child, then you might not want to read it.  It was hard for me at times, but I had known it was coming and braced myself and didn’t let it affect me.  Anyways, this book was sooooo good.  It was about a mathematician who had a formula for predicting the day someone will die.  One had already died on the exact date predicted and another was about to, in 6 days time.  It was a CRAZY and enjoyable read!  I recommend it to anyone who can handle lost of a child being talked about a LOT.