Hi all! I’m here today with my May Wrap Up. I only read 6 books in May unfortunately, mainly due to finding it hard to read alongside Throne of Glass. I also read The Empress of Salt and Fortune in the last day of April, which is why it missed the list and ended up on this one!
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.
Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor’s lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She’s a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
Everyone at Fairvale Academy knows Bryson Keller, the super-hot soccer captain who doesn’t believe in high-school relationships. They also know about the dare Bryson accepted – each week he has to date the first person who asks him out.
A single school week is all anyone gets. There have been no exceptions to this. None.
Until me, that is.
Because brilliant Bryson Keller forgot one thing. He never said it could only be girls . . .
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness. In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught. Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament – fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. She’s at last returned to rescue her once glorious kingdom to confront the shadows of her past, but before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight. She will fight for her cousin. She will fight for her friend. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal King and awaiting their lost Queen’s triumphant return.
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
The New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series reaches new heights in this action-packed, heart-wrenching and fantastically addictive sequel to Sarah J. Maas’s epic debut Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is bold, daring and beautiful – the perfect seductress and the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But though she won the King’s contest and became his champion, Celaena has been granted neither her liberty nor the freedom to follow her heart. The slavery of the suffocating salt mines of Endovier that scarred her past is nothing compared to a life bound to her darkest enemy, a king whose rule is so dark and evil it is near impossible to defy. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her heart to pieces: kill in cold blood for a man she hates, or risk sentencing those she loves to death. Celaena must decide what she will fight for: survival, love or the future of a kingdom. Because an assassin cannot have it all . . . And trying to may just destroy her. Love or loathe Celaena, she will slice open your heart with her dagger and leave you bleeding long after the last page of this New York Times bestselling sequel, in what is undeniably THE hottest new fantasy series.
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
A sublimely twisty LGBTQ+ thriller that subverts expectations at every turn, Hideous Beauty probes the hidden secrets that haunt a seemingly perfect relationship in the wake of a terrible tragedy. Compulsively readable and engaging, Hussey’s YA spine-tingler is a future classic of the genre. Dylan is forced to come out after his secret relationship with Ellis is exposed on social media, but to his surprise, everyone is really supportive – or appears to be. But Dylan’s and El’s happiness is short-lived, and following a tragic accident, Dylan begins to realize how little he knows about the boy he loves…or those closest to him.
Review | Goodreads | Waterstones
Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can’t bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back…
The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king – for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?
My least favourite book of the month was The Empress of Salt and Fortune (including it as it made the list), and my favourite was Crown of Midnight! I can’t wait to see how the rest of the Throne of Glass books live up to that one.
I have a few more books than this on my June TBR, so I’m hoping I can push myself to read a little more!
What did you read in May?
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
| Shop | Goodreads | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | Facebook |
The Books are Everywhere 