May 2024
I’ve been reading so much, but I don’t always feel like writing a full review for everything. I was inspired by Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Quick Lit posts, as well as Hannah at So Obsessed With‘s monthly Quick Lit posts, and decided to do something similar as a way to briefly discuss the books I read in a month but don’t write full reviews for.
Ooh my May reading was sooo slow. I only read four books, and while I mostly liked each of them, I didn’t love any of them. It was not a high point of my reading life so far this year.
The Beautiful Mystery, Louise Penny (library) – 3.5⭐
I loved the unique setting (an isolated monastery! What a place for a murder mystery!) and was definitely drawn into the investigation. But the isolation and limited cast of characters that initially made this so intriguing is also what made its pace seem slow and dragged out by the end. This may have been too much book for such a tightknit premise.
Ghost Station, S.A. Barnes (library) – 3⭐
I loved Dead Silence, so this was one of my highly anticipated 2024 reads. This book, while a decent read, was a bit disappointing, because for me it lacked much of what I loved about Dead Silence and was hoping for again. Despite a great setting, the pacing was slow, it wasn’t very scary or creepy, and the characters were not very interesting.
After She Wrote Him, Sulari Gentill (purchased) – 3⭐
I loved this premise and thought this was a very inventive concept. This started so strong for me but I disliked the ending and found this one somewhat unsatisfactory.
Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo (purchased) – 3.5⭐
I loved Ninth House but was intimidated by this sequel, both because it’s a chunky book, and because there was so much to try and remember from book one! Thankfully I reread Ninth House recently to refresh my memory, but while even on a second read I found it engaging and tense and the premise for Hell Bent was so good, I found this sequel a bit of a slog. There was so much information, and so many cycles of feel helpless – come up with a plan – try and fail – feel helpless – come up with a plan – try and fail, etc. that it was kind of a drag to read and it took me quite a while to get through it. It felt like there was so much going on here and I couldn’t quite get a handle on all of it. The ending was really good though so of course I’m going to check out the next book in the series, but I kind of hope it’s pared down and streamlined more than this one.
