Hi everybody, and welcome to my (belated) May wrap up!

As you may have noticed, I’ve been a little less active on the blog lately and that’s because I’ve been a little overwhelmed with life-stuff (apologies for that, and more info below). But my reading, listening and watching-life have been pretty good anyway (thanks to the wonderful invention of audiobooks, so I can stand in traffic for hours each week and still get my reading done!)

Here’s what I’ve been up to this month:

Circe by Madeline Miller

I don’t know why I put off reading this one for so long. The Song of Achilles is one of my favorite books of all time and it was already proof of Madeline Miller’s gorgeous writing and amazing storytelling. So it only makes sense that I would ADORE Circe just as much. And I did. Wow, I really fell in love with Circe and her story. Also, highly recommend the audiobook, because Perdita Weeks has the most beautiful voice and does Circe so much justice.

Rating: 5 stars

Letters To The Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Another book I’ve been procrastinating for so long and I shouldn’t have, because this was just beautiful. Letters To The Lost tells a beautiful story of loss and mourning, while also featuring one of my favorite tropes: the penpal romance. I fell in love with both Juliet and Declan fairly quickly and already want to revisit their story. Also, Rev, who may be the sweetest character ever <3

Rating: 5 stars

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

After Letters To The Lost, I knew I had to continue with More Than We Can Tell immediately, because I wanted more Rev. And yes, this story delivered in so many ways. Family, trauma, friendship, all of it. Also happy to revisit Declan. Only downside: Emma really annoyed me in the beginning by being a terrible friend, though luckily she improved. And I did not like the voice actor for Rev – he felt too angry all the time, while Rev is the sweetest.

Rating: 4 stars

Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen

There are a few tropes I will never, ever, ever get enough off. Those are enemies-to-lovers (in which “enemies” can mean anything on the spectrum from “You annoy me greatly and I can’t stand you” until “we are doomed to be on opposite ends of this deadly war and I may have to kill you”, but I digress) and fake dating. I will read variations of these tropes until I’m old and grey and telling anyone who will hear me that I ship it. So naturally, when I read the premise of Fake It Till You Break It, I was hooked because it combines my two favorite tropes. I mean, it was meant to be! Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were a few downsides, such as the rather forgettable friends (their names, I have no idea anymore…) and a love triangle that mayyybe could have been left out, but all in all I highly enjoyed this book and recommend it to all fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope, fake dating trope and kdrama antics.

Rating: 3,5 stars | Read full review

If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

In case you are new to my blog and reviews, let me start by saying this: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is one of my all-time favorite books out there and this has everything to do with Alice, the biromantic ace character of my heart, and its’ adorable friends-first-romance-later romance. So when I heard about Claire’s new book, If It Makes You Happy, I jumped right on it.  Though the writing and plot felt a little all over the place, I still really enjoyed this story and recommend it to everyone who loves to read about an honest, communicative queerplatonic relationship, family dynamics and body positivity.

Rating: 3,5 stars | Read full review

Red White and ROyal Blue by Casey McQuiston

It’s hard to escape this book, since it’s pretty much EVERYWHERE and the most hyped book around right now. And I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been highly anticipating this book as well. I mean, enemies-to-lovers? Royalty and politics?  And loads of text and email conversations? YESSS! And despite my high expectations, I am happy to say this book was AMAZING and lived up to all of them. The sass. The banter. The chemistry. The friendships. The e-mails, did I mention the e-mails??? Overall, this book was just a fresh, cute, hopeful ray of sunshine and was a welcome reprieve from the sometimes ugly world we live in nowadays.

Rating: 4,5 stars

TOP TEN TUESDAY

• 7 May 2019: Fictional Characters That Remind Me Of Myself
• 14 May 2019: LGBTQIA+ Books Made For The Screen

Quote It Wednesday

On hiatus…

CALENDAR GIRLS

Calendar Girls – May 2019 – Mother’s Day: Favorite Book With Mother/Daughter Relationship

BLOG TOURS

In May, I honestly only listened to 3 songs and one album on repeat. See below 🙂

Halsey – Nightmare

“I’m tired and angry, but somebody should be”
I LOVE THIS, such a powerful song

GOT7 – Eclipse

Though I honestly don’t know GOT7 very well, I fell in love with this song. It feels so dreamy and hopeful and I love the video. Am I on the way to stan a new group? Why, yes that’s very possible.

Oneus – Twilight

Second comeback and another hit! I love these guys, I love this song and the music video is just gorgeous (yay, Italy!)

One Ok Rock – Stand Out Fit In

Just like last month, I’m still listening to the new One OK Rock album non-stop. Stand Out Fit In is one of my faves and this orchestral live version is gorgeous.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 2

Is it possible to love this second season even more than the first season? I especially loved the arc of Theo and the fact that this show actually had a trans storyline, and a trans character played by a non-binary actor. I love Lillith and I love the Spellmans. I’ve got to admit, I kind of missed Sabrina/Harvey and the season finale just weirded me out with it’s random musical moment, but overall, LOVED IT.

Game of Thrones final season

Uh. Well. Though I couldn’t watch a single episode this season without being spoiled (thanks, internet), I’m still gonna go ahead and say SPOILERS cause I need to talk about this so if you haven’t watched it yet, close your eyes and scroll down.

Now, onto the spoilers.

I honestly loved the first 3 episodes of this season. I loved the Stark reunion 2.0, I loved the preparation of the battle of Winterfell, I loved Jaime and Brienne and I even loved The Long Night, even though it felt like a lot of buildup for a one-episode battle. But then the last 3 episodes? No. Nope. Nah. And I’m not even one of those people mad that they turned Daenerys into the Mad Queen. I can see why they did that, and though I think it’s a pity for the character (which I loved), I can understand that she would have gone this route. But not like this. Not in 3 episodes (and I know people say it’s been building up since the beginning, but 80% of that buildup was in like 3-4 episodes this season and that’s not ok). I just thought the ending was so unsatisfying in so many ways. Missandei dying in chains. Daenerys going Mad Queen like her father before her. Jorah dying to protect the queen he loved, only for her to end up like this. Jaime going back to Cersei to die with her after everything and saying he didn’t care about the people even though he, you know, killed The Mad King and became The Kingslayer because he CARED ABOUT THE PEOPLE. Jon killing Daenerys and being exiled to the Night’s Watch. Again. What was that whole ‘the righful heir to the throne’ thing for then? The Hound dying in fire. Bran doing nothing all season even though he has these powers, and saying he doesn’t WANT anymore but then happily taking the throne? It’s just all so sad and unsatisfying and parts don’t make any sense to me. There is no redemption, no character building, no satisfaction. It’s not even a bittersweet ending, it’s just an unsatisfying, rushed ending. The only parts I liked were Sansa (Queen of the North) and Arya (Lila Bard anyone?). And though I’m sad he died, at least Theon had the best redemption arc in the entire series. I dunno, I haven’t read the books until now because I was happy watching the show, but I need something better than this, so when all of the books are out some day, I’ll happily binge read them instead.

ALSO…

Touch Your Heart. I watched a few episodes of this kdrama, but honestly not a lot, so I’ll save this for my next wrap-up.

As I mentioned in my last wrap-up, I’ve been feeling pretty exhausted and overwhelmed with a lot of things right now. The past few months of renovating and house stuff (I still haven’t even done all of my address changes), quitting my job and starting a new one, my mother’s health problems. It all just got to me. Add to that the fact that I missed months of dance training, but agreed to participate in our yearly show in May, thinking I would just do less but instead had to catch up and learn EVERY SINGLE CHOREO that I missed in 1,5 months time. And was asked to arrange a surprise birthday party for someone on top of that. I mean, I’m sure you understand it was all a bit much. AND THEN when I finally sat down in front of my computer to do blog stuff, I had first internet issues and later in the month my computer just broke down. So something had to give and that’s why I haven’t been as active on the blog. I’m trying to slowly catch up, but honestly, I’m taking it one day at a time. Trying to do ONE thing a day and not forcing myself to do more. So I know I’m getting repetitive, but please bear with me while I slowly get my act together again and get back to blogging properly soon…

Things that made me happy this month:

• Dog-sitting. We got to take care of my brother’s dog while he was on vacation and it was so much fun. It was also a great opportunity to explore our new neighborhood and take him for walks into the forest near our house. After 3 days we already missed him so much, but luckily we get to dog-sit again in September, this time for 3 weeks.
• Puppy visit. We are currently looking for a dog and are in contact with a few people breeding them. We had an appointment with someone in May whose dog is expecting a litter soon and we are on the waiting list, so hopefully there’ll be a puppy for us (fingers crossed). There were some other puppies from another litter there while we were visiting and honestly, whose day doesn’t get brightened by puppies?

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

• STRAY KIDS COMEBACK. I love this band and their music and can’t wait for new music, even though we just had one like yesterday (kpop fans, but especially Stays, are so spoiled)

HOW WAS YOUR May? WHAT DID YOU READ? WHAT DID YOU LISTEN TO AND WHAT DID YOU WATCH? WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR June?