May was one of the most stressful months that I can remember in a long time. We had to put one of my dogs to sleep, and another dog went into congestive heart failure the next week, followed by some major health issues for my mom resulting in a hospital visit for her. Fortunately she’s home and doing better, so the last week of the month was much less stressful. I got through it with the help of some truly amazing people and by escaping into some books. I read more books in this month than I’ve ever read before (47!). Here’s a quick rundown on my goals:

• My blog continues to grow, with 20 new followers bringing me to a total of 589. I’m so close to reaching my next goal of 600!
• I read 6 books that I own, although 5 of them were physical ARCs. I’ve been getting more physical ARCs sent to me, which is an unexpected benefit.
• I read 5 nonfiction books this month, two of which were outstanding.
• As far as diversity went, I was mainly focused on getting through some of the ARCs that were accumulating, but I did read books by Asian-American authors, Black authors, LGBTQ authors, Jewish American authors, and one Arab-American author. So I’d say that I still managed to do pretty well on this front.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for May:

May Totals:

• Books read: 47
• Books DNF’d: 0
• Pages read: 8,881
• Hours listened: 9 days, 12 hours, 2 minutes
• Average pages: 341.6
• Average hours listened: 10 hours, 51 minutes

Cumulative Averages:

• Days per book: 2.53
• Pages read per day: 77.49
• Books read per month: 42.40
• DNF’d books per month: 0.2

Genres Read in May:

• Biography/Memoir: 2
• Fantasy: 15
• Folklore/Fairytale: 1
• General Fiction: 7
• General Nonfiction: 1
• Historical Fiction: 4
• History/War: 1
• Horror: 1
• Mystery/Suspense: 5
• Poetry: 1
• Romance/Erotica: 9

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 19
• 2022 releases: 28

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 42
• Nonfiction: 5

Format Read:

• Print: 9
• Digital: 17
• Audio: 21

Age Range:

• Adult: 28
• YA: 19

My favorite books of the month were The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah and Little Thieves by Margaret Owen.

Here’s what I read in May:

• Book Lovers by Emily Henry (ALC)
• Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater (Regency Faerie Tales #1) (ARC)
• The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna (Deathless #2) (ARC)
• Break This House by Candice Iloh (ARC)
• Among the Beasts and Briars by Ashley Poston
• The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (The Sandsea Trilogy #1) (ARC)
• The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang 
• Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler
• A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow (Fractured Fables #1) (ARC)
• Blood Orange Night: My Journey to the Edge of Madness by Melissa Bond (ARC)
• This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron (This Poison Heart #2) (ARC)
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owen (Little Thieves #1)
• From Potter’s Field by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta #6)

• A Sprinkle in Time by Dana Mentink (Shake Shop Mystery #2) (ARC)
• A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (ALC)

• Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (ARC)
• Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer (Forging Silver into Stars #1) (ARC)
• Violeta by Isabel Allende
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (Simonverse #2)
• As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr (ARC)
• And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling (ARC)
• Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur (Written in the Stars #1)

• Family of Liars by E. Lockhart (We Were Liars #0) (ALC)
• An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie (ALC)
• The Widow Queen by Elżbieta Cherezińska (The Bold #1)
• The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (ARC)
• Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen (Loveboat,Taipei #1)
• You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
• Good Morning, Love by Ashley M. Coleman (ARC)
• Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur (Written in the Stars #2)

• The Other Mother by Rachel M. Harper (ALC)
• The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen (Ice Cream Shop Mysteries #1)
• Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith (ALC)
• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs 
• You Still Look the Same by Farzana Doctor (ALC)
• The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule (ARC)

• Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings (ARC)
• The Ravaged by Norman Reedus and Frank Bill (ALC)
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (We Were Liars #1)

• Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty (ARC)

• Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #1)

• The Lost Legends by Cait Marie (The Nihryst #1) — proofread
• This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (This Poison Heart #1) — reread
• The Lost Prince by Cait Marie (The Nihryst #2) — proofread
• The Lost Legends by Cait Marie (The Nihryst #3) — proofread
• Secret Guard by Cait Marie — proofread
• King of Fools by Amanda Foody (The Shadow Game #2) — reread

How was your reading in May? Drop a link to your wrap up so I can check it out!