Apprentice to the Villain
I absolutely loved Assistant to the Villain, and it took me ages to get around to reading the second in the series as I was worried it would fall flat in comparison to the first, which was an was 5 star for me. And honestly, it kind of did - it took me at least 50% of the book to actually get into it, and I just didn't find it as fun as the first one. By the end, I did really enjoy it and I do think the story is progressing really well, I just didn't fall in love with it like book one. I ended up giving this one 4 stars! Also, if anyone else has read this, do you know what I mean if I say I get Shrek-universe vibes from it?
The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
This was our May book club pick, and it's something really quite far out of my comfort zone - I used to read a fair bit of historical fiction but it's not really a genre I gravitate towards these days. I read it via audiobook, and as one of the characters is French it was great to digest her story in a French accent. The book follows a painting stolen during WW1, and we learn the story of the woman who features in it, and that of the woman who owns it now, and how these stories come to intertwine. Part one is really interesting, but I found part two just dragged a LOT. Overall it was okay, but not my thing - I gave it a 2.5 star rating.
Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey
I absolutely adore both sports romances and Tessa Bailey books, so this was an easy pick for me - I got a gorgeous sprayed edge edition from The Works, and I flew through the book itself. Hockey, cello, protective boyfriend, messed up family dynamics... a mish mash of things that worked SO well, a proper slow burn and a really enjoyable read. 5 stars!!!
The Thirty Before Thirty List by Tasneem Adbur-Rashid
I'm turning 30 next month (!!) and I picked this up in The Works agesssss ago; I read this on a sunny afternoon in the garden, and I really loved it. It felt so relatable, despite focusing on an entirely different culture to my own, and it was a genuinely sweet story about making the most of life and finding love along the way, not the way you might have expected to... 4.5 stars!
The Highland Fling by Amy McGavin
I read the first book in this series during April, and I'd grabbed both in a recent Stuff Your Kindle Day deal - I knew this one would focus on two of the side characters from book 1, and I was interested to know how it would pan out. As with the first book, the writing is SO awkward and stilted, but the story is nice. It's nothing groundbreaking and I gave it a 2.5 - properly edited etc I think it would be really good.
Not Supposed to Happen by Lizzy Barlow
As someone who has found a recent love of hiking, I was keen to read a romance book that kind of centres around this hobby; this was okay, nothing spectacular but a quick read set in the Pacific North West, which is a big part of the plot. It follows a hiking blogger and a recipe blogger who meet at a singles event and seem to hit it off... the scenic descriptions are great, but the romance left a lot to be desired. 3 stars.
Love on the Rocks by Alyssa Jarrett
Another outdoorsy romance, again due to my recently discovered passion for exploring nature - this was another freebie on Stuff Your Kindle Day, so an indie read. It's part of a 'Glam Fam' series (I didn't get a proper intro to them but it's essentially a stylist, hairdresser, MUA gang) but they don't feature much; the story follows a high flying tech marketing exec and a famous rock climber. Opposites attract, insta-love... not much spice but the spice that was in the book was thoroughly RUINED by the use of hiking terminology in bed. Absolute ick, 2.5 stars.
The Treehouse by B P Walter
I have a lot of Netgalley ARCs to get through, and this was one of them; it's a thriller about two brothers who killed somebody in a treehouse, and years later a TV drama comes out that follows the exact same story - the book itself follows the family as they try to get to the bottom of who knows what they did, and what they want now. It's fairly well written but really predictable and the ending was just pointless and strange. Some interesting features but overall not the best thriller I've ever read! 3 stars.
Keep Your Friends Close by Cynthia Murphy
Another Netgalley ARC, and one I really enjoyed - I like anything set in a boarding school or college setting, and this one was really fresh and interesting, with some hard hitting topics. It's YA, but it doesn't really read like it, and it has some great examinations of the class system as well as a twist I really didn't see coming. Honestly very good and I'd recommend; 4 stars.
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
I absolutely stan Holly Jackson, and I got a copy of this on Vinted with the gorgeous sprayed edges. This was a fantastic read - such a twisty, interesting plot following the reappearance of a presumed-dead with really well rounded characters, a few good twists, and the under-plot of the documentary series. I gave this 4.5 stars and I would absolutely re-read it, too!
So that's everything I read in May; I'm heading off to Italy tomorrow so I'll probably get some good reading done on the plane and during downtime, but I do think June will be a busy month so who knows how many books I'll get to...
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