May was a good reading month for me. The pandemic is still on but it’s become a new normal and I feel a bit better mentally.

May was a month with many K.J. Charles books – no regrets!

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Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles. I started a re-read of some of my favourite K.J. Charles books. Any Old Diamonds was reviewed here, and I still love it.

Gilded Cage by K.J. Charles, second re-read and second in the Lilywhite Boys series. I have also reviewed this before and it was just as good the second time around.

Band Sinister by K.J. Charles. Third re-read in a row and again, I’ve reviewed this before and I still adore Guy Frisby and Sir Philip.

Defy or Defend – Gail Carriger. This was a new release from Ms Carriger. The second in her Delightfully Deadly series about the girls from her Finishing School series. This was Dimity’s book and it was super cute. All other girls from this series showed up in the last Prudence-book but Dimity was suspiciously absent. This book gives us her HEA and a bit of a reason why she didn’t show up to Pru’s wedding.

Proper English – K.J. Charles. Yet another re-read while waiting for K.J.’s new release. This is a stand-alone murder novel proving that K.J. is a master of both the mystery and the romance novel. Loved it!

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – N.K. Jemisin. Fantasy from a new-to-me author. I had a hard time with this. I wanted to love it but since I only liked it it was hard to get through. It’s the first in a trilogy and I am not sure I’ll pick up the rest. 🙁

He’s Come Undone – Various Authors. Oh, this was spectacular. Five romance authors’ short stories in an anthology with the theme of an uptight man who is unravelled by love. Trope-y but lovely. So lovely. I bought it for the Cat Sebastian-story but the other four were so enjoyable as well I may develop a problem getting four new must-read authors.

Slippery Creatures – K.J. Charles. Oh my! New K.J. books is my undoing. This was so much fun. So well researched that you are just transported to the setting and immersed in the story. Every new K.J. book is my favourite K.J. book. This one is the first in a new trilogy with the next release set for July this year. Already counting the days.

Plan For the Worst by Jodi Taylor is the 11th book in the St Mary series and it continues to be a lot of fun. I’ve been bored by the recurring villain in other books but in this one I enjoyed him. In one of the earlier books he was just too over the top with not only villainous actions but he got very rapey and it was a weird choice. I don’t know. The take away is the absolutely perfect twist at the end. Loved it.

Lost Boy by Christina Henry is the Peter Pan retelling I didn’t know I wanted. So good. So gruesome and horrific but still true to character. This is not your Disney version of Peter Pan – or maybe it is but told by a slightly more reliable narrator. Not to say he is entirely reliable … I loved it so much. And I want to take the opportunity to recommend Peter Darling by Austin Chant as well now that I may have your attention – less horror, more fluff. So good!