Jun 16 2026
The Month Was May, And I Read…
3.5 This was cute but does it really need to be a series? The main characters weren’t that compelling. I was into it for the first half and then was kind of like, “OK, get together or don’t get together, this is ridiculous now.” Could have been shorter. I’d like a spin-off of the dads though. (Female lead is a single mom co-raising her daughter with the dad and his husband. I LOVED when they made appearances!)
2. The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
Rachel Hawkins either really does it for me or she doesn’t and this one goes in the “doesn’t” category. 2 stars. Underwhelming and kind of dumb, actually.
2.5. Not sure if this was a translation issue but I was so lost. Jarring time jumps, introducing new characters with drawn out back stories out of nowhere really took me out of the story. The synopsis made it sound like it would be 100% in my wheelhouse.
4. You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White
3 stars, did not get the “Aliens meets Midsommar” vibes that I was promised. Some pretty graphic body horror in this which was fine, but it just overall made me feel gross. I listened to it on audio and just an FYI for anyone reading this who is considering the audio—the “voice” that’s used for the hive is fucking terrifying and literally made me jump and pearl-clutch in broad fucking daylight on my walks, but then it does kind of get old and annoying after a while, not to mention hard to understand.
Pretty sick book, tons of trigger warnings, great queer representation. While I didn’t “love” this book, it’s definitely one I will never forget so AJW got the job done!
5. I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway
This was actually pretty funny and I could envision it as a movie the whole time I was reading it. The only parts I didn’t like were the kid-POV chapters. I hate reading from a child’s POV so much. If you were like me and loved Drop Dead Fred as a kid (until your younger brother played it out), then this book will probably be your jam. I LOVED the main guy, Ivan. I HATED the main kid, Kay.
6. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
I enjoyed this but don’t go into this thinking it’s a true ghost story as the synopsis suggests (ghost of a woman haunting a book store). It’s about so much more than that and heavily focuses on Indigenous identity. This is set primarily in 2020, during the scariest parts of the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder and ensuing riots and protests and BLM, and it brought forth in me that same rage I felt during that time. I found myself crying out of angry many times while reading this, but also laughing at times too. I think what I loved the most about this, though, was Tookie’s beautiful relationship with her husband.
Just…don’t go into this thinking you’re getting a traditional ghost story.
7. Love Buzz by Neely Tubati Alexander
A pretty cute rom-com. No notes.
For being obsessed with cleaning, this broad is a fucking MESS. And I loved it. Absurd and funny.
OK, Chooch had been hounding me to read this because he follows Haley and her husband on Insta and used to (or still does) watch the husband’s videos on YouTube. I have to say right off the bat that Haley Pham has been getting DRAGGED in reviews for her debut novel and I needed to see if it was warranted. Bro, I have read some terrible books and this is not one of them. It was fine! For a debut novel, there wasn’t anything too glaring that jumped out at me. Was it memorable? Nope. But it didn’t suck.
(I think the general consensus is that people are crying “social media nepotism,” saying that she had an unfair advantage of getting published because she’s a known name as a book vlogger, plus her husband has a ton of followers and clout. I don’t know, the girl wanted to write a book and she did it. Just the mere IDEA of writing a book sounds very exhausting to me so I give her props for going for it. Let the girl breathe.)
LOL OMG JFC. This bitch wants to marry a plane and in her mind, consummating that means being in a plane crash. So maybe DON’T READ THIS while on a plane, while preparing for a vacation, etc. There was one line that fucking SENT me, paraphrasing it here but she basically decides to settle on a pilot and likens him to a pilot-shaped dildo that she and the plane can use together so it won’t be “cheating.”
3.5 – This was my kind of book: quirky and strange just how I like but it started to get a bit old after a while. Still a fun time though!
11. The First Time I Saw Him (Hannah Hall, #2) by Laura Dave
No, but seriously I loved the first book, “The Last Thing He Told Me.” I don’t feel like we needed a sequel to that. I found myself not giving a shit about any of the people in this book anymore, who cares.
The backstory chapters were boring AF. And perhaps I didn’t notice bad writing in the first book because the story itself was hooking me, but it is very glaring in this book. I was basically rage-reading the last few chapters. They all could have died. Who cares. Not me.
12. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
In all honesty, this should be required reading. It was hard to get through at times and that’s the point. We live in such a broken world, and the glue feels like IT IS RIGHT THERE, but a bunch of fucking psycho regimes keep kicking it out of reach.
13. Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
The adults in this book are trash. I love Jennette McCurdy’s writing.
Not the greatest reading month, but I think I am getting harder and harder to please.
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