Well, the plan to beat the backlog of my to be read pile did not go well in May, only one read and the rest were review books! I love reviewing books, but preferred the better balance between the two and will be reading more of my own books in June. I didn’t read any non fiction which I find frustrating, because I love this genre, but that is my fault for over committing myself!
But I have loved the books I read and so overall it has been a good reading month!
The first book I finished was The Great American Boogaloo by Paul Flower.
It is first class satire, using intelligent writing and humour to delve into the world of the American right! Conspiracy theories abound, as does the writers obvious skill at delving under the surface of the madness on which the story is based. It is at it’s heart a comedy of errors and a tale of the absurd behaviour of the militia groups and right wing politicians, who have decided that the American president has to be stopped, before she bans not just guns, but their right to eat beef and hug cows!
Next was The Silent Brother By Simon Van Der Velde, a hard hitting, emotionally charged thriller about a young man from a very troubled background. The author has caught caustic and ugly world he has grown up in and created from it a story that will haunt me for years to come!
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason was the only book I picked up from my too be read pile in May, as it was the choice of the book group I attend. Beautifully written, it is a study of the effects of mental illness not just on the individual, but all the people around them.
Keep Her Sweet by Helen Fitzgerald is yet another stunning thriller from this writer. If there is one thing I have learned when reading Helen Fitzgerald’s books is to always expect the unexpected. The humour is always deliciously dark, her prose modern, which strong themes and characters whose voices speak to the reader, of the simmering toxicity that sits just under the surface of fractured family relationships. Few writers do it better and Keep Her Sweet is proves yet again, that in reading the synopsis, you would expect a run of the mill thriller about two sisters who simply dislike each other. But what you actually get, is a much more fascinating account of the shocking reality of families, whose connection creates murderous undercurrents.
My final read of May was Beloved Ghost by Fiona Grapth. It is a moving love story between Theo Lawder and Zac Bonneval and it follows them from their first meeting to the beginning of the movement for equality. This a gentle read, not action led, but character based and it feels as you as the reader are taking the journey with them.
Well that was May 2022. In June I intend to focus my energy on reading the books that have sat on my bookshelf for a while.
booksaremycwtches 
I had the same issue in May though my downfall was that I had too many library reservations come through at the same time.
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