Caitlyn’s Monthly Wrap Up: May 2024

Insert usual “Wow, I can’t believe that this month is already over, it flew by so fast” comment. May has been a busy month, so let’s chat about it! Grab your favorite snack, get comfy and let’s chat!

I can’t lie, the beginning of this month reading wise felt like it was a million years ago. Honestly, if I didn’t have all my reading trackers I would’ve forgotten that it was this month that I read certain books. I got into a good groove this month, though I did start to lose focus toward the end of the month and was having a bit of a hard time focusing on new reads. All of this to say, I ended up reading 20 books this month, with 11 of them being new reads and 9 rereads.

Books read this month:

• Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie (4 stars)
• The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe (reread, 5 stars)
• The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe (ARC, 5 stars)
• Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill (ARC, 4 stars)
• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (4 stars)
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (2.5 stars)
• Second First Date by Rachel Lynn Solomon (short story, 4 stars)
• The Ballad of Darcy & Russell by Morgan Matson (5 stars)
• The Good, The Bad, and The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (audiobook, 3 stars)
• Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur (4 stars)
• Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew (4 stars)
• Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (reread, 5 stars)
• Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (reread, 4 stars)
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (reread, 5 stars)
• Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall (4 stars)
• To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (reread, 3 stars)
• When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn (reread, 4 stars)
• It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn (reread, 4 stars)
• On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn (audiobook, reread, 3.5 stars)
• Emma by Jane Austen (audiobook, reread, 5 stars)

As you can see from the list of books I read this month, I went on a Bridgerton reread binge (except for Daphne and Benedict’s books, we pretend those don’t exist) because the first part of season 3 aired this month. After going to Morgan Matson’s book signing, I’ve decided to reread all of her previous work (and finally get around to reading The Firefly Summer and Promchanted), so I started that this month and will continue on with my rereads over the summer.

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

• I’m back on my Bridgerton bullshit as you can see from what I’ve been reading this month, so I loved Robin’s Ten Historical Romance Recommendations for Fans of Bridgerton post and there are definitely some that I want to check out!
• I’ve heard a lot of good things about Katherine Center’s work, and if Helena gives it her stamp of approval I will definitely add it to my TBR! I loved Helena’s review of The Rom-Commers, and I’ll be adding this to my summer TBR. I particularly loved this part of Helena’s review which made me extra excited to check this one out. “There is something beautiful about reading a story about two broken people coming together and healing one another”

My posts this month:

• Twelfth Knight Review
• Books Read During my 24 Hour Reading Challenge
• The Girl in Question Review
• The Ballad of Darcy & Russell Review + Morgan Matson Book Tour Recap

This month was filled with some very exciting things — like attending Morgan Matson’s book signing and going to Lauren Graham’s book event and meeting her! This month has also been very busy on the work front as we’re gearing up for summer camps, which start on June 10th. I’m slightly (very) stressed and started feeling a bit overwhelmed toward the end of the month, which I do think contributed to my focusing abilities and explains why the end of this month led me to mostly rereading the Bridgerton books.

Of course, I binged the first four episodes of Bridgerton when they dropped on May 13th. It was especially fun because some friends and I did a livestream on Discord and watched it together; it was so fun to talk about the episode with them and react in real time. I want to do another watch before the rest of the season drops next month. Some friends and I were also reminiscing about Reign, so I’m doing a series rewatch and it’s been fun to revisit the series.

Other than the two book events that I went to this month, I’ve really just been hanging out at home and enjoying some downtime before the busy summer starts. While I am slightly stressed about work, I am looking forward to getting our summer program started and getting into the swing of it.

June will be another busy month for me, but I’ve got some reads I’m looking forward to and summer is my favorite time of year, so I always look forward to the summer vibes!

What were your May highlights and what are you looking forward to in the month of June?

Until next time! 💜