Hello Book Friends! Here are the last 5 books I read in May. Hopefully I can get my May Stats up before my first June round up but not sure that will happen.
Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis – 4 Stars In this story we follow Piper who after raising her two younger siblings is finally ready to restart her life. She almost has enough money to go to school in Colorado to be a nurse. After years of being an EMT she is ready for this, however her siblings both decide to move back home at the same time interrupting Piper’s plans. As with most of her books, this is more than just a romance, it’s about learning to forgive yourself and those around you. It’s about family at its core. Another great read I would highly recommend, maybe by a pool with a fun drink in your hand.
The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel – 5 Stars I would give this one all the stars if I could. Sometimes a book is just what you need in that moment and this was mine! I had just dnf’d a book and then finished one that was meh so I picked this one hoping it would be better. It was!!!! I loved the main character and how she wasn’t afraid to be herself even when her upbringing was saying to be something else. Her friends loved her and even though they all did things differently the love and support was amazing!! I love a good hate to love and this one was great!! Highly recommend.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson – 3 Stars Earlier this year I read The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes and really enjoyed it. There is some controversy surrounding these two books but I am not going to get into that here. At the center the stories were similar, about the packhorse librarians in Kentucky in the 1930’s and 40’s. To me that was where the similarities ended, this story added another element by introducing up to the blue people of Kentucky. I really enjoyed this aspect of the story because it gave me something new to research about. My main compliant with this one is that I wish there was more interaction between the main character and some of the side characters, because there wasn’t as much some of the ending was hard to take. I also wanted a ton more from the ending, it left me with so many questions! Overall still a fun read and am glad to have read more on this subject!
Camp by L.C. Rosen – 4 Stars In Camp we are following a group of teens who every summer go to Camp Outland, a camp for kids who are LGBTQ+. This is Randy’s 4th year and this summer he is determined to win over Hudson and not just be one of his conquests. To do this he changes his name to Del and hangs out with the more masculine crowd instead of his theater group. What follows is not only making Hudson fall in love him but also a discovery of himself. Randy learns that he does like sports and being a leader but also loves acting and theater. This was a really cute story about learning to accept you and your peers for who they are and not who you think they should be. Randy’s family is very accepting of him and who he is while Hudson’s family is not. Hudson’s family thinks he should be normal and to fall into stereotypes. At times I struggled with Randy because he was changing himself so much for someone who didn’t know all of him and kept ditching his friends for Hudson but in the end it all worked out. I also really enjoyed the theater aspect of this book, every summer they do a musical but cast based on skill and not gender. I would have loved to see their version of Bye Bye Birdie where he was more of a Ziggy Stardust character! Overall this was a fun book and gave it 4 stars. Thank you Netgalley, Fantastic Flying BookClub and Little Brown Books for my copy in exchange for my review.
The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis – 5 Stars Here we follow Brynn and Kinsey who used to go to summer camp together when they were younger but never liked each other. Years later they are once again thrown together but this time there is much more going on. Enter Eli who is Kinsey’s best friend but has a thing for Brynn. I really loved this one like I have all the others by her. I loved Kinsey’s character and her harsh self defense mechanism and her relationship with Deck! This story tackles family in all forms and battling illness. Such a great read, highly recommend!
Until Next Time, Happy Reading!
BeckyBookstore 
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