Hey all, Sam here.
I’ve had a pretty good reading month for April, and that has been really nice. I even managed to tackle a couple chonky books, which is always a great feeling, and I’ll talk about all of those in less than a week (have to finish the month first because I’m still reading some books). But a few days ago I had to look around my library and decide what books I wanted to add to my May TBR. Of course, I already knew what ARCs I had on my list (I keep a NetGalley spreadsheet so I don’t forget release days….even if I sometimes don’t have the books read or reviewed by that date). So it was just a matter of adding a few other books to the list to get it up to the 12 books I have in any of my TBRs.
Sometimes that can be a challenge, but I was feeling like I wanted some cozy reads and some quick reads. We have a vacation planned to Ohio for a week so we can visit my mom, so I’m hoping to read at least a few books while we’re there. But I did also want to throw another sort of chonky book into the mix as well. Overall I think I’m pretty happy with my selection of reads, although I always expect my mood to drag me a different way and make me pick up a completely different book instead.
All right, let’s go ahead and start with discussing my hopeful NetGalley reads for May. As usual I have the expected release day listed for those books.
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (May 5), Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow (May 19), Startup Hell by Caitlin Rozakis (May 19), Bromantasy by Maire Roche (May 26)
Honestly, I expect all of these to be quick reads. The newest installment by Nghi Vo is a novella, which makes it a short read, and I’ve enjoyed the whole series so far. They’re written as self-contained stories and according to the author, you can read them in any order you want. I’ve obviously been reading them in publication order, but I think I need to check my previous blog posts and make sure that I’ve actually reviewed all of them.
Anyway, then we have a book about a couple of rival magical veterinarians who have to work together to save the Familiars when some magical surges have them going feral. It’s certainly a different approach to dark academia, by adding a little magical whimsical vibes, but I’m excited to check it out.
Next is literally a combination of magical witches, a corporate workplace story at a tech startup, and devils from Hell making deals. It sounds like a mashup that is going to be ridiculous and incredible. I’ve enjoyed the books by Caitlin Rozakis that I’ve read so far, so I have high hopes for this one. And then there’s Bromantasy, which has the tagline “Two heroes. One brain cell.” If that doesn’t sell you on the book, it’s about two best friends, one who feels unqualified for anything, and the other who is immensely capable…and signs them both up to complete a quest to take care of a dangerous monster, only to discover that that monster is actually just a little girl who has been torn away from her family. There may also be some cozy queer fantasy vibes for this book, so I’m certainly intrigued by it.
A Queen Crowned in Flames by Hazel McBride (May 26), The Last Best Quest Ever by F.T. Lukens (May 26), Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee, The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
Next on the list of NetGalley reads is the sequel to A Fate Forged in Fire, which I read last year and I’ll link the review there for you. I’m not going to say much more about the book because it is a sequel and the conclusion to the duology. Finally there’s the newest release by F.T. Lukens which has two rival questing heroes, one of whom has been lying, faking, and staging her victories. She retires from questing life…until her brother bets his life on completing a quest, and she has to come out of retirement along with her rival and a band of other questers, where she eventually has to decide if she wants to be the fraud the kingdom celebrates, the hero the kingdom needs, or someone else entirely.
Aside from the NetGalley reads, I picked up Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe on a book shopping trip last year, and it’s about time to finally read it. It follows a stressed out student from our world and the Chosen One from a fantasy world, and they meet up in a coffee shop that I guess bridges the two worlds, and the two bond and start trying to find ways to see each other more. It just sounds cute.
After that I have The Entanglement of Rival Wizards which is a modern fantasy academic rivals story. I’ve been approved for the next book in the series (which might just be interconnected standalones, but I still want to read them in order), so I think it’s time I pick this up. I’ve read many books by Sara Raasch over the years, so I’m excited to finally get around to this one.
The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M Anderson, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
Continuing on with my reads picked up from my personal library, I have Kiri Callaghan’s debut. I’ve sort of followed Kiri’s TTRPG videos the past couple of years, so hearing that she wrote a book meant I wanted to at least check it out. It is a cozy sapphic magical mystery set in a London where supernatural crime might reveal the Fey’s existence and so they turn to a changeling they sentenced to 500 years of Nightmares to solve the crime, which means she needs to acclimate to society and figure out the case at the same time. It sounds pretty interesting to me.
I read Swordheart years ago, and now that we finally have a sequel coming out, it is definitely time to refresh myself on the world and get ready to read Daggerbound (which I hope to read and review before/by release day, because I was approved for it on NetGalley).
I do believe that The Keeper of Lonely Spirits was another randomly picked up while book shopping addition to my library, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. It is another queer cozy fantasy, and this one follows an immortal ghost hunter who has to face his tragic past in order to embrace the found family he’s discovered.
Finally, I’ve fallen just a teeny bit behind on reading books by V.E. Schwab. I had meant to read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil when it was released, and it just didn’t happen. From what I’ve gathered it’s sort of a historical fiction, fantasy, horror story, and it might involve vampires. Honestly I feel like the synopsis is intriguing but also vague enough not to give things away. I’m honestly amazed I haven’t encountered too many spoilers about the book, so that’s nice.
All right, well that does it for me for today. What books are you hoping to read in May? Let me know in the comments, because you know I’m always looking to add more books to my TBR. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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