I managed to read seven books during May 2022. I feel like I’ve read more than that but I currently have a few on the go that I haven’t finished yet, so I think June may be a month with a much higher rate of completed reads.
The books I have read were brilliant though. It was such a good month with not a single book less than four stars!
Here are all the books I read in May 2022.
A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
After fleeing the darkness of her childhood days in Wales, Linda moves to a nice, normal street, marries a nice, normal man and lives a nice, normal life. However, as she spends her days cleaning her house and working part-time at a charity shop, she wonders whether there’s more to life.
When she starts receiving glossy catalogues intended for the previous occupant of her house, she becomes intrigued about the person who lived there before her. Who was this woman, and what was she like? Linda is sure they would be great friends, and so she determinedly tries to track her down.
Meanwhile, young women start going missing in her local area. Surely its completely coincidental these disappearances seem to occur when her husband leaves the house?
Is anyone really as they seem on this quiet, normal street?
It’s hard to say too much about the book without spoiling it! It’s full of surprises and so much more than a whodunnit. It’s dark, witty and so very clever.
Click here for my full review of A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Jen is living every parent’s worst nightmare. She has just witnessed her happy, funny, intelligent teenage son murder a complete stranger. Jen doesn’t know the victim or why her son would do such a thing. All she knows is that his once-promising future is now in tatters as he is arrested for his crime. Jen goes to bed in despair, desperate for answers.
However, when she wakes up Todd is at home, and it’s yesterday. The crime is yet to happen. Every day Jen wakes up a day earlier. She knows the answers must lie in the past and she must do everything she can to find them, and stop the crime from happening.
The story had me gripped from the first page. It was a thriller/mystery but also really character-led, which I sometimes find lacking in this particular genre. I cared about the characters, especially Jen and Todd.
I can honestly say this is the best thriller I have read in a long time. A brilliant concept, executed perfectly.
Click here for my full review of Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister.
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
Riley and Jen have been best friends since childhood. Jen had a difficult upbringing with her unconventional mother and she felt lucky to find the love she craved with Riley and her family. Neither of them cared that Riley was black and Jen was white.
Now in their 30s, their lives have gone in different directions but the two friends are still close. Riley is an up and coming tv journalist with her eye on becoming a news anchor. Jen lives a quieter life with her police officer husband, Kevin, and is looking forward to welcoming a baby. After years of disappointments and failed IVFs, Jen is excited to have the family she always dreamed of.
However, everything is about to change. When Kevin fatally shoots an unarmed black teenager, Jen and Riley’s friendship is pushed to the limit. As their community takes sides, so must Jen and Riley, and for the first time they find themselves on opposing sides.
This book is so much more than just a story. It challenged everything I thought I knew about racism. It encourages conversation and anyone who has ever said “all lives matter” needs to read this book. It brutally highlights the prejudice and racial injustice faced by so many in the black community.
It’s a hard-hitting, thought-provoking book and I’m so glad I read it.
Click here for my full review of We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza.
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Everybody knows Daisy Jones and the Six. They were THE band of the 1970s and their sound defined an era. Their albums were massive hits and they played sold-out arenas across the country.
Then, on 12 July 1979, it all came crashing down.
They were lovers, friends and brothers, but there was also animosity, resentment and heartache. This is the story of their legendary rise and irrevocable fall. A story of ambition, desire, heartbreak and music.
Nobody knows why they split…until now. A series of interviews are conducted with members of the band and others who were there during those heady years. Everyone remembers differently.
What really happened to Daisy Jones and the Six?
This was quite unlike any other novel I’ve read. It’s not written in a traditional novel format. It’s written as interviews with various members of the band and those who knew them. I found it so clever to read from all the different perspectives and I liked how those viewpoints altered. Everyone seemed to remember the events slightly differently.
Another fantastically, immersive and captivating read by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Click here for my full review of Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Thirteen-year-old Leni is coming of age in a tumultuous time. Constantly caught in the middle of her parent’s stormy relationship, she dares to hope that their move to Alaska can lead to a better future for her family. Her father changed after the war and is quick to anger, but her mother is devoted to him, desperate to rediscover the man she once knew.
As Leni grows up in the shadow of her parents’ increasingly volatile marriage, she meets Matthew. Their friendship quickly blossoms and it’s because of Matthew, who is thoughtful, kind and brave, that Leni starts to believe in the possibility of a better life.
It’s hard to find the words to do justice to how this book made me feel. It broke my heart and then slowly pieced it back together again.
It was just epic in every way. The stunning prose, the characters I genuinely cared for, the rugged landscape. I was completely transported. It was gut-wrenchingly sad in places and yet so hopeful and tender in others. I always say I want a book to make me feel something. This book certainly delivered that.
Click here for my full review of Great Alone by Kristin Hannah.
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
The Wolf Den tells the story of Amara, a doctor’s daughter who, until her father’s death, led a comfortable life. Without the doctor, Amara and her mother were left destitute and Amara was sold into slavery. She is eventually sold on to brothel owner Felix, where she is then enslaved and forced to forget the innocent girl she once was. Within ‘The Wolf Den’ Amara is surrounded by women who share her dream of freedom. However everything in Pompeii has a price, and just how much will Amara’s freedom cost?
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a tale of sisterhood and survival and it had me gripped from the beginning.
The characterisation was brilliant. I could clearly visualise all the women in the brothel and the men who held all the power. I really liked Amara as a character. She was a character of kindness and compassion laced with strength and a determination to survive. Her circumstances forced her to be ruthless at times and I found the change in her fascinating to read.
Click here for my full review of The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper.
All About Evie by Matson Taylor
Ten years have passed since the events of The Miseducation of Evie Epworth, and we rejoin our heroine as she’s trying to forge a career in London in the 1970s. Evie, now 26, was working at the BBC as a production assistant until an unfortunate incident involving Princess Anne and a cup of urine meant she had to reconsider her options.
Not only is she now unemployed, but her love life is as disastrous as her career. She feels she really should be in a better place in her mid-20s. After all, Paul McCartney married Linda at 26!
Can Evie find a new career and a new man? Or are her fears of remaining an unemployed spinster forever, really going to come true?
I felt Matson Taylor stayed true to the character of Evie from the first book and I could well imagine her getting into the scrapes she did. The warmth and wit were still there, as well as that Yorkshire grit and determination.
There were a few sad moments but overall the book is full of humour. It’s a really uplifting read and I loved finding out what Evie’s life in her 20s looked like. I’d happily read a book set in the 80s as Evie tackles life in her 30s!
Click here for my full review of All About Evie by Matson Taylor.
You may also be interested in reading the books I read in April 2022 and my other previous monthly reads.