Have you noticed that every month this year has had me talking about how it’s been A MONTH. 2023 is trying to test me. But this month I started drawing boundaries and taking care of myself (if you know me, you know this isn’t my normal self) which has really helped. Or maybe I’m feeling better because I LOVED all the books I read this month. Nothing was under a 4 star for me. But I did read/listen to less than I was hoping for (still on track for my 60 book goal though!). Sidney had ACL surgery (again – but different leg) at the end of May, which involves constant watching because I really hate the cone of shame (or the donut of shame in our case). This meant I got to create a new book reading space on the floor next to her, which we both enjoyed.
This month, I started using my Kindle again and I realized how much I love it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never stop buying physical books, but reading from a Kindle makes eating and reading so much easier. I also don’t have to make sure to have a light on, the Kindle has a light for me. Also also, when I finish a book that’s the 1st in a series at 9pm, I can immediately download the 2nd one. Where was this magic when I finished Twilight at 2am in 2006?
The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore [audiobook]
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
What is it about?: An 1850s house wife, Elizabeth Packard, was inspired to start dreaming of her future. Before this, women didn’t have much of a future… beyond what her husband would grant her. As Elizabeth started voicing her opinions, her husband had her committed to an asylum for being “slightly insane”. This was her experience.
My Thoughts: I have screamed so many times while listening to this damn book and tried really hard not to slam my (very tiny) car into every guy on the road. The narrator (also the author) has such a beautiful voice. I’d listen to her read anything. I would write this list down every time I got home/to work so here it is:
- Her husband said to her “of course you can have your own thoughts, you’re just not thinking right right now” and I have never wanted to raise a body just to murder it myself so much in my entire life.
- One of the methods they used to stop women from “being insane” was that they would cut off the clitorus. What the fuck does not cover it.
- When Elizabeth asked a family friend/lawyer what she could do because she was clearly not insane, he said that husbands could do whatever they wanted because their wives were their property. Cool cool cool. Love this for women.
- This is such a bullshit, insecure male power move: “If you just do what I tell you to do, then I’ll reward you by letting you leave this place.” AKA: Just be a good girl *head pat*. I have some personal issues associated with the whole “good girl” mentality so this theme that the doctors were running their mouths about were really infuriating.
- Hearing about how horrific the incidents in the asylum was really hard. I’ve heard horrible stories and I just can’t believe that no one cared. Not a single soul. Just because these people were deemed “insane”. They were just treated like they weren’t even human.
- Her husband sounded like a miserable wretch. He ruined his entire life because he wanted to be the big man in charge. Even after she got out, finally had people actually listen to her, and worked on reform, he was still like “omg boooooo poor me I married a woman with thoughts and now everyone hates me because I think that women should always listen to meeeeeee uggggh life is so unfair.” Gross.
- I always find it’s crazy that someone had to actually call shit like this out and be like “Hi, you should like idk treat people like actual human beings” because that should be bare minimum.
I was exhausted after listening to this book. However, it was so well written. It kept my attention, had a lot of details, and really painted how her situation was.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer [audiobook]
My Rating: 5/5 Stars (I do not want to hear it)
What is it about?: I mean. Really? Do you really need this? Okay, sure, fine. It’s a Young Adult book about a girl who moves to the Pacific Northwest and she falls in love with a 100+ year old vampire. Ta daaaaaaa. That’s all I had needed in 2006 to read this book. This is all you should need too.
My Thoughts: I bet you saw this and immediately said, “ohhh, it actually was A MONTH for her”. You are correct. Plus, with my last audiobook, I needed something easy. I was between listening to all the Harry Potters or all the Twilights. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was not available from my library so here I am, with Twilight. I won’t take any Twilight slander here. I love it. Non-ironically. I was exactly the right age and the perfect audience for Twilight, when it came out. I am Team Jacob (to my husband’s chagrin). If you haven’t read it already, you’re not going to and that’s fine. I can’t convince you to. But I can tell you that it’s really helped me just ~relax~ a little during my drive. So expect to see all 5 books on here. But also, the narrator is bad. Just bad. But I’ve gotten used to her.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
What is it about?: Hi. Where do I begin? Everything I have written has fallen short. It’s a book about friendship. That’s what I have. That’s what it is. The friendship that feels like it was born with you and that is stronger than a relationship love. Oh and also video games.
Quote: “Anything is fixable if you took the time to figure out what was broken.”
My Thoughts: Who the hell gave me THIS book this month? As if I haven’t cried enough. This book is EMOTIONAL. So if you’ve got shit going on and you want an ~easy read~, this is NOT for you. Wait until you’re like, okay. That being said, this book immediately went to my Top 5 favorite books ever – I understand why everyone told me to read this book. I related so (too) hard to so many different things. When I was a kid, one of my cousins was sick (they are healthy and great now). I remember going to the hospital and not, at all, understanding why I always needed to be nice to them and if they started a fight, I had to just get over it. When Sadie talked about her sick sister and how differently they were treated and simply not understanding the gravity of the situation, it hit home. And that was all in the first few chapters. I also have played video games most of my life – starting in that hospital. My mom bought us Game Boys that you could connect to one another and play Tetris against each other while they were in the hospital. When Alice tells Sam that he’s Sadie’s “Community Service”, my first thought was “Ugh, that is SUCH a big sister thing to do.” And it is. Speaking of first thoughts, as soon as I met Marx, I thought “He is such a nice boy” and excuse me, I’m going to go cry again. I normally don’t like the back and forth timeline of books OR multiple POVs but the author weaved her story so beautifully that I have firmly decided that I don’t dislike either of those things. Marx talks about being mixed – which was another relatable point. Anyone who has multiple ethnicities brewing inside them knows the feeling of, never being enough for either side. Dov is gross, I hate him. Reviewers have talked a lot about how Sadie and Sam don’t grow enough within the book, but Dov doesn’t grow at all and seeing as he’s one of the only people who shows up as an adult immediately, this says a lot. And he’s so arrogant WHICH I GET IS THE POINT but I want to punch him in penis (which, unfortunately, I think he’d probably like). There’s a quote about how Sadie and Zoe became “instant best friends, as only you can in your 20s” and I felt that. How many all consuming best friendship did I have in my 20s? Those people you meet that you instantly become friends with, you spend every second talking to them for weeks, and then you fall off to be only social media friends, not because anyone did anything wrong but the friendship served the purpose it needed to at the time it was needed. I think the most annoying thing about this book is that none of these games are actual games because I want to play every single one of them. Seriously, you have to read this book.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
What is it about?: It’s Beauty and the Beast but with fairies.
My Thoughts: OKAY EVERYONE CAN SHUT UP I’M READING THIS DAMN SERIES. But I’ve already read this book cause it’s Beauty and the Beast. Which I’m cool with. Despite my massive Snow White tattoo, this was one of my favorite Disney movie’s growing up (Hercules is obviously my #1). Feyre’s background seems a little odd to me. Her family fell from grace 12 years ago and her sisters are still literally the most useless people in the world who look down their noses at “poor” people… of which they are. And have been for 12 years. Despite this, Feyre was literally the only person in the family (for 12 years) to do anything useful? What the hell did her two sisters do all day, everyday? I kind of understand her dad being useless but her sisters are the worst. My other issue is that this “curse” is SO incredibly specific. It’s a little too perfect, which irks me and made me roll my eyes. I did guess the riddle but shout out to my epic Imposter Syndrome, making me think I was wrong. I would be worse than Feyre in this situation. She didn’t know what it was. I did, just didn’t say it. Also… As soon as a certain dark haired male showed up, Tamlin was history.
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas [kindle]
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
What is it about?: It’s Hades and Persephone but with fairies.
My Thoughts: Probably don’t read this unless you want some spoilers… Idk how to not spoil it? Series’ are hard to write about. Throw Tamlin in the trash. Just throw the whole ass man out. This book had a lot of fluff. It could have been a lot shorter without the fluff. My beef with a lot of fantasy series’ is that there’s a lot of fluff and back history that they want us to know that we don’t really need to know. I understand it paints an entire picture of the story we’re being immersed in but I could care less. I found that being in Feyre’s mind while her relationship with Tamlin started to deteriorate took me right back to the audiobook I started this month with. He was suffocating her. I’m always a fan of the guy who lets you have your own choices. So I’m Team Rhysland, all the way (I hope I don’t regret stating this). Feyre is beginning to become a Mary Sue, which isn’t my favorite but I also don’t hate it. Who wants to read a book where all the good guys fail? Might as well pick some woman to make a badass problem solver. Oh, there’s only ONE thing that could stop this monster? Our Mary Sue has it, etc. I don’t hate it, because face it, it’s a fantasy series, but I do roll my eyes sometimes. But anyway, can we have MORE Rhysland? I’m also VERY interested in how it goes with her two sisters because they both suck.
Have you read any of these books? Have I convinced you (or not) to read any of these? What was your favorite book to read in May? Have you read ACOTAR?? Expect the 3rd book review up here in June, but I think I’ll take a little break after that so I can catch up on my physical books.
Writes with Wolves 