I have a goal of 9-12 books for May, to help catch myself back up to my goal of 100 books. No clue whether or not I'm going to actually hit that goal, but we will see....(Lies, as of the 26th, I've read 4).
In May, I read 6 books.
1: Letters to Half Moon Street by Sarah Wallace - This book was actually much better than I was originally anticipating. I loved how it was set in an alternate history where magic is a thing and no one cares a jot what orientation you are. The whole thing is set up in letters between Gavin, Charles, Gertrude and a few others. I loved the epistolaric (is that a word? Looks like it should be...) style this was in as we only get letters back and forth between the characters. It was obvious from the get go, what persuasion Gavin and Charles both had. Though I did like the way it was revealed. Quite intriguing and I will be looking forward to more books by Ms. Wallace.
2: Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare - I liked it pretty well. I think I'd rate this one a solid 3.75/5. I'm not convinced that things could have happened the way they did in the book. We follow this girl who apparently has all manner of power and everyone knows about it, yet won't talk to her and properly train her. Then they're all surprised when she does dangerous stuff. I am wondering how Leo got away with what he did. Elsa is very observant. It shouldn't have worked. I am quite curious to get the sequel and see how the plot plays out.
3: Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer - This was definitely interesting. My dad recommended it. Now he normally reads procedurals and thrillers. This was outside of his normal. I did enjoy this one. It's another in the same vein as Louis L'Amour series, the Sacketts, where we follow a family from its founding in England to its present day in the United States. Only this one starts in the 1920s, not the 1560s. Makes it much more approachable I think. We follow a young Harry Clifton as he learns about himself and travels through school. It was curious and I'm looking forward go going back to my dad's to exchange this one for the next volume.
4: Mister Memory by Marcus Sedgwick - That poor man. He has an eidetic memory, but before it was known as that. This is set in Paris between like 1895 and 1910. The First World War has not happened yet. People go to see Mesmerists and Memorists, people basically with eidetic memories who can remember everything. Accused of a murder, we follow Marcel du Pries (Pres? I don't know, I had the audiobook!) as he is looked after by an alienist. It was all very interesting. I loved the sections we got from Inspector Petit as he basically sat down, looked at a picture, and solved the whole case. Sounding a lot like Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove when he suddenly detailed the plot. I think the ending was a little abrupt for me, the way it just sort of stopped almost mid-thought.
5: Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams - This was one of the books I saw on Threads and just has to get. It looked amazing and I must say, I wasn't disappointed. There were some things I didn't understand at all, either from not knowing the specific slang to not having grown up in anything remotely like the situation Malik and Taye did. I loved how Malik grew as a person and came to understand that maybe the people you love are the bad guys after all.
6: Heroes and Monsters by Rana Tahir - I'm counting this as completed as I did get through one of the endings. There are over eighty possibly endings to this book. It's a Stranger Things themed choose-your-own-adventure where you are the protagonist on a trip to Hawkins for the first time and you are deciding what to do during season four. It was okay. I've remembered why I don't like this kind of book and this will likely be the last one of this nature I ever read.
