What a month May ended up being. This year is the tipping point of years of boiling points reached at the same time. I did all my May reading in the few days where my mind seemed to be able to finally focus on reading words in actual pages and paragraphs and not 280 character posts. Unsurprisingly, the reading was very light and fun and I re-discovered a love for romance (that seems to have disappeared this month).
You Deserve Each Other- Sarah Hogle
An engaged couple realises neither of them wants to get married and tries to make the other person cancel the wedding first. The premise was far more interesting than the execution and it was a good 100- 150 pages too long. Basically, nothing happened. It’s getting made into a movie, so that may make the story come more alive.
The Henna Wars -Adiba Jaigirdar
After Nishat decides to come out as a lesbian to her family, she decides to do a henna booth for her class business competition. When a new friend chooses the same idea, their budding friendship turns into a rivalry. This was very well written and explored. The relationships were well developed and racism and homophobia were tackled in a very thoughtful way. Highly recommend.
Dominicana-Angie Cruz
A story of a new Dominicana bride married off by her family for a chance to move to America. It’s a journey of her first year in America finding her feet. It’s a compelling story.
Temptation -Kris Bryant
A nanny and her boss start to fall for each other. I haven’t read standard romance that was so well written in a while.
Late to the Party- Kelly Quindlen
This ended up being really different to what I expected it to be, but in a good way. It’s a book about a babe that has a reckoning about her entire life in her last year of high school and realises she wants more than to do the same things with the same people over and over. She goes to a party and meets someone who changes the trajectory of the year.
Parachutes - Kelly Yang
This was on my to- read for so long that I read it on the release date. It ended up being extremely different to what I expected. It tackled rape, sexual assault, class discrimination, sexuality and racism. I truthfully expected it to have more of a crazy rich Asians vibe because of the synopsis, but it was completely different to that and packed with very very big important discussions.
30 dates in 30 days-Elle Spencer
Goodreads recommended this to me based on temptation and it was so good. Veronica hasn’t had much luck dating, so her mum and personal assistant sign her up to a dating site and convince her to go on 30 dates in 30 days. This is romance, so of course she meets the love of her life but the journey and supporting characters are so interesting. I really enjoyed this.
The Best Laid Plans-Cameron Lund
Keely goes into her senior year wanting to lose her virginity before college. When she starts dating a guy in college, she sets a deadline. The story is one of friendship and growing up and how much imaginary peer pressure can skew your perception of the world.