May Reading Roundup

Despite how busy I was getting ready to move to another state (ah, how I shall miss Virginia), I devoured seven books this month. Well, technically I devoured six while another was a hard DNF, but I’ll get into that shortly. Of the books I read, every single one was a 5-star read for me. That hasn’t happened in a long time, but I desperately hope it is a trend that continues. In chronological order in which I read them, a few notes about each book I read (or started to read) in May are below.

Jenna Avery, Glittering Skies. A contemporary romantasy featuring a woman who has rainbow veins and glitter magic? Obviously, I’m interested. A purple gargoyle with a heart of gold? Did not see myself adding that one to the book boyfriend list, but apparently I’m into tails now. Anyway, all jokes aside, the world for this one is so incredibly unique, and when I got to the ending, I cried my eyes out. Absolutely bawled. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a fun, light read that will also tear your heart out and stomp on it, but in a good way. The central conflict in this one did involve a bit of miscommunication, which I’m not normally a fan of, but it was done well and was not the least bit annoying.

Shannon Chakraborty, The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold. I read The City of Brass (the first book in the Daevabad trilogy) a few months ago, and finally got around to finishing the series. I wanted to earlier, my TBR was just too long, and I felt obligated to read potential comp titles first. Based on the trajectory of the first book, I expected there to be a bit more romance in these (and for a romantic HEA), but they were very focused on the politics and magic of the world. The world-building is incredible. Really, that was the theme for this month: incredible world-building. But I digress. Despite the lack of spice (there’s only one scene that could be considered remotely spicy, and it is from one of the MMC’s perspective and does not involve the FMC at all), there is a romantic arc...it’s just ancillary. So if you want the enemies to become lovers, this is not for you. If you want epic fantasy centered around non-Western mythology with adventure and intrigue and magic, then this is absolutely for you. Left me with one helluva book hangover.

Ella Fields, Nectar of the Wicked. In an attempt to alleviate said book hangover and give me the romantic payoff that the Daevabad trilogy denied me, I wanted a spicy, mindless romantasy that I could turn my brain off for and knock out in a single sitting or two. Alas, this one did not work for me. I gave it a decent go, but I put it down after about 20% of the way in and didn’t pick it up again.

Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, and Kushiel’s Avatar. So very many people have recommended this series to me over the years, but I never got around to reading it. Then, one of my beta readers told me The Night Chemist reminded her a bit of Kushiel’s Dart, so I decided it was time to move it forward on my TBR. Having finally read it, I am honored she thinks I am even remotely in the same league as Carey, because holy crap. This might have become one of my favorite series of all time, up there with Patricia McKillip’s Riddlemaster and Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters, although the three are very different in tone (and spice). This is very much an adult series that tackles very adult themes—sexual and otherwise—so tread cautiously, if that’s a trigger for you. I’ll discuss the series in more detail in my next blog post for my monthly book review. I haven’t decided which of the three books I’m going to review yet, but it will probably be the first.