Monthly Wrap-Up: May Reads and Keeping Up Momentum

I said that May would be the month of productivity and catching up, and it definitely has been just that! The seasonal depression stayed away for the month since it was pretty much completely sunny (and hot as heck!) every day.

I believe that what I accomplished this month is impressive, despite not actually completing all of my stated goals for the month. But to be honest, I always overload myself with things to do.

We’ll start with the books. I wrote down a list of 13 books to read during the month of May and I read 12. I changed a couple around, DNF’d one and didn’t get to a couple before they expired, but I did read 7 of the original 13 on my list. Here’s what I did read:

–        Supernova by Marissa Meyer

–        Wires and Nerve 1 by Marissa Meyer

–        The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

–        Wires and Nerve 2 by Marissa Meyer

–        I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

–        Cinder’s Adventure by Marissa Meyer

–        Book of Night by Holly Black

–        Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

–        Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer

–        Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli (BCR)

–        Belladonna by Adalyn Grace (Netgalley ARC)

–        Of Beast and Burden by Kelsey Kicklighter (Netgalley ARC)

I tried to read Boys I Know by Anna Gracia, but I couldn’t get past the immaturity of the main character. Whether or not that was an intentional part of her character, I couldn’t stand the decisions that she was making, and how much she wanted to make bad decisions. Maybe I’m too much of a rule follower, or many I’m just too much of an adult now, but it isn’t what I’m looking for in a heroine.

My least favourite read this month is a surprise to me: Book of Night by Holly Black. I thought that I would love her adult debut since I love The Cruel Prince and a lot of her other young adult novels. But it fell flat for me in the character and plot departments, which makes it really hard to connect with. I did read it in just over a day, but I was hooked by the promise of the amazing magic system and the intriguing world rather than anything else. I wrote a review of it as well, and it shouldn’t be too far back on the homepage if you want to hear my in-depth thoughts.

My favourite book from May is actually the first one I read. I have a few others that I thought might take that place away, but Supernova by Marissa Meyer won over by a longshot. There’s nothing like the end of an amazing series to overshadow everything else. It’s been a while since I’ve finished a series (at all) and wanted to reread it immediately. I can’t wait to read the Renegades series in a year or two. My reviews of each book can be found on the homepage of my blog.

The books I didn’t finish for May and really need to read are The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor and Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. I’ve started The Drowning Sea and pushed both of them to the top of June’s TBR so that I don’t fall behind on what I need to read in June. (See June TBR post for that list)

As for A Wizard’s Guide to Gardening, I had hoped to write 18 scenes and managed only two. I didn’t mention it before, but the thing holding me back was my new computer setup. I was using a keyboard with huge, pop-out keys. Every time I tried to write, I had to pick my fingers up off of each key so that I didn’t catch my fingers on the edges of each key. It slowed me down incredibly and frustrated me to no end. I ordered a new keyboard, with flat keys like the ones I’m used to on my laptop, and it got here today! This post has been so much easier to write, and I can’t wait to spend copious amounts of time writing in the near future.

It turned out that writing less of my novel was a good thing. My second writing goal was to catch up on this blog. I didn’t get all eight reviews up this month, but I managed six and was able to reconfigure June’s posts so that I got a head start on the eight for June.

The workout goal is hard to talk about, but I will say that I dove into some research and was able to learn some key information about how to take care of myself going forward. I won’t be updating about that anymore on here, because I think the focus should be on me, not updating.

There you have it. The hope I had for May was well worth it. I’m caught up on the blog, about to get ahead, was able to read twelve novels, and fixed what was keeping my writing back. I’d say that was a successful month.