Weekly Mews: School's Out / An Author Talk / Time To Choose My Next Book (Please Vote in My TBR Poll!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently.  

Summer is here! Well, almost. Mouse's last day of school was this past week and she has sleeping in as much as possible on her agenda. So does my husband who gets her to school on time during the school year (his work day starts later than mine). Unfortunately, I still have to get up early. I am happy for them though. 

My mom invited me to attend a book talk with author Susan Straight earlier in the week. One of the many book clubs in my mom's neighborhood/community recently read her memoir, In the Country of Women, and she shared stories from her childhood and of the influential women in her life. Susan grew up locally, and although I didn't, many of the places she talked about are familiar and I enjoyed hearing more about the area's history. 

Another of the neighborhood book clubs recently read Susan's novel, Mecca, and although Susan was not there to talk about that book specifically, she did open up about the inspiration behind the novel and teased us with news of a sequel coming next year. I haven't read anything by Susan Straight, but after hearing her talk, I am very tempted to pick up one of her books! 

The bee dilemma continues . . . Someone is coming this next week to open up the wall to see if they can locate the bee hive. Fingers crossed they are able to find it and remove it without having to do too much damage. 

Somehow I hurt a muscle in my neck and it's been slow in healing. It's hard to rest a body part that I use without trying, and just when I think it's starting to feel better, I move in such a way that it reminds me it isn't completely better. 

In other news, my husband got us tickets to see the musical Hamilton this coming September for my birthday. I am so excited! 

Books Read in May

What a great reading month May was! I finished reading Menopause Manifesto at the start of the month. I was sad to come to the end of the Aunties trilogy with The Good, The Bad, and the Aunties by Sutanto, but it ended on a high note. It's such a fun series. Perfect for an escape. Yangsze Choo has earned a permanent spot on my favorite author's list with The Fox Wife, yet another amazing book she's written. Nosy Neighbors pulled at my heartstrings and Happily Never After fed my craving for romance. I picked up Octavia E. Butler's Kindred on a whim after finishing David Copperfield, hoping to stretch it out a little and read it before bed. I figured out quickly that Kindred is not bedtime reading material, the subject matter being too heavy. It also wasn't a book that could be stretched out--I had a hard time putting it down. The Secret Keeper of Main Street proved to be a satisfying historical novel with a dash of mystery and romance. I topped off the month with the graphic novel Ghost Roast (because I was still recovering from Kindred). I love a good ghost story!

• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
• The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Ghost Roast by Shawnee & Shawnelle Gibbs, illustrated by Emily Cannon
• The Menopause Manifesto by Jen Gunter
• Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
• Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson
• The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties (Aunties #3) by Jesse Q. Sutanto
• The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Trisha R. Thomas

My favorite and least favorite reads in May: While I found Menopause Manifesto informative and came away with some new insights, I was hoping for more. It falls in the "liked it" category but not the "loved it" one. Both Kindred and The Fox Wife were compelling, imaginative and moving reads that were rich in history and culture. Yet also very different from one another. I really do not want to have to choose between the two as to which was my favorite May read, so I won't. 

What was your favorite book read in May? Did you have a good reading month?

My bookmark is currently in Etta Easton's The Kiss Countdown, which I just started--and already loving. I also am reading my first Daphne du Maurier book,  Don't Look Now & Other Stories. I thought this would be a good way to sample her writing before diving into her full length novels. 

What are you reading right now?

My TBR List is hosted by Michelle at Because Reading. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books from my TBR pile I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

Please help me select my next read! These three are all very different from one another, but all are high on my TBR. Which one do you think I should read next? 

An Inheritance of Magic (#1) by Benedict Jacka

The super-rich control everything—including magic—in this thrilling and brilliant, contemporary fantasy from the author of the Alex Verus novels.

The wealthy seem to exist in a different, glittering world from the rest of us. Almost as if by... magic.

Stephen Oakwood is a young man on the edge of this hidden world. He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum wage job and a cat.

But when a chance encounter with a member of House Ashford gets him noticed by the wrong people, Stephen is thrown in the deep end. For centuries, the vast corporations and aristocratic Houses of the magical world have grown impossibly rich and influential by hoarding their knowledge. To survive, Stephen will have to take his talent and build it up into something greater—for only then can he beat them at their own game. [Goodreads Summary]

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay

Near the end of the Cold War, a CIA code breaker discovers a symbol she recognizes from her childhood, which launches her across the world to the heart of Berlin just before the wall comes tumbling down.

November 1989 —After finding a secret cache of letters with intelligence buried in the text, CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler learns that not only is her father alive but he is languishing in an East German Stasi jail. After piecing together the letters with a series of articles her grandfather saved, Luisa seeks out journalists Bran Bishop and Daniel Rudd. They send her to the CIA, to Andrew Cademan—her boss.

Luisa confronts Cademan and learns that nothing is a coincidence, but he will not help her free her father. So she takes matters into her own hands, empties her bank account, and flies to West Berlin. As the adrenaline wears off and she recognizes she has no idea how to proceed, Luisa is both relieved and surprised when a friend shows up with contacts and a rudimentary plan to sneak her across the wall.

Alternating storylines between Luisa and her father, The Berlin Letters shows the tumultuous early days of the wall, bringing Berlin, the epicenter of the Cold War, to life while also sharing one family’s journey through secrets, lies, and division to love, freedom, and reconciliation. [Goodreads Summary]

Murder Road by Simone St. James

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting!

New to my shelves:

Bookstore gift cards make the best gifts, don't they? And I sure do love spending them! The first three of these are actually Mouse's, which she bought with gift cards she received for her birthday and Easter. The others were my recent gift card purchases. 

The Wolf's Curse by Jessica Vitalis

The Otherwoods by Justine Pucella Winans

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Levithan

Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Notorious Sorcerer (Burnished City #1) by Davinia Evans

The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter

The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N.K. Jemisin

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? 

I hope you have a great week! Let me know what you have been reading!

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