What I read in May 2021

If you’ve been around here for a while then you’ll know I love reading. In fact a few years ago I used to write regular book reviews on here. I fell out of love with them though so I stopped. Last year I posted a few bookish posts though and I really enjoyed writing them. So I’ve decided to give monthly book round-ups a go instead. So here’s the second one with mini reviews of all the books I read in April 2021.

I will say I’m not the worlds fastest reader so unlike a lot of book bloggers who can fly through a few books a week (like, how?!) I usually average a couple of books a month. That’s fine though, it’s not a race and I’m not a book blogger I just really enjoy reading and I love talking about books!

Also you won’t find any books rated below 3 stars on here, a few years ago I decided if I just wasn’t feeling a book then I wouldn’t force myself to carry on reading it. There’s too many good books to read to waste time carrying on with bad ones!

Birthdays for the Dead

Author: Stuart MacBride | Genre: Crime | Length: 487 pages

Crime novels have become a firm favourite of mine over the last couple of years so I’m always excited to get my teeth stuck into a new gritty and gruesome novel. Birthdays for the Dead seemed to have it all; a brooding main character fallen from grace and a serial killer who kidnaps young girls and tortures them just before their thirteenth birthdays.

Detective Constable Ash Henderson’s daughter, Rebecca, went missing 5 year ago just before her thirteenth birthday. A year later the first card arrives with a Polaroid of Rebecca strapped to a chair and terrified. Each year another card arrives and each one is worse than the last. Each photo shows Rebecca slowly being tortured to death.

Rebecca was taken by the Birthday Boy. The killer has spent twelve years kidnapping girls, torturing them and sending their families the cards. The problem is no one knows that Rebecca is a Birthday Boy victim because if they did Ash would be taken off the case. Now Ash must find the killer whilst battling his own demons.

It took me quite a while to get through this book as I was in a bit of a reading slump at the time. With that in mind I don’t know if it was the slump that caused me not to enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. There was a lot going on in this story and I mean a lot. There didn’t seem to be a big focus on what was supposed to be the main storyline because there were so many other things happening. This was the first book in the Ash Henderson series so I will probably give the second book a go to see if it’s any better.

The Monsters of Rookhaven

Author: Padraig Kenny | Genre: Middle grade/fantasy | Length: 245 pages

After my reading slump I decided something a little easier to read may go down better. So I had a look in my young adult collection on my Kindle to see if anything took my fancy. I’m a big fan of young adult books and a big believer in reading whatever you want even children’s books. Anyway The Monsters of Rookhaven stood out to me as being an interesting sounding Gothic monster story. What it turned out to be was so much more than a Gothic novel. It was a wonderful story about being different, love and understanding other people.

Mirabelle has always known she’s a monster, that her family are different. When the protective shield known as the glamour that surrounds the family home is torn orphaned siblings find Rookhaven. Looking for a sanctuary they are reluctantly allowed to rest at Rookhaven, but Mirabelle has found something she’s never had before, friendship in the outside world. Determined to not only protect the brother and sister but bridge the gap between monsters and humans Mirabelle lets them into her world.

But something else has also made it’s way to Rookhaven. For hundreds of years the monsters have had limited contact with only a select few humans from the village and a pact has formed. The monsters stay where they are and villagers won’t hunt them but now something has come to disturb that balance and both sides are about to learn that the true monsters aren’t necessarily the ones you can see.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. It was such a beautiful, thought-provoking novel which I didn’t expect when I first started it. I know the print version is illustrated so maybe one day I’ll pick up the print version to enjoy this lovely story in all its glory.

Two Can Keep a Secret

Author: Karen M. McManus | Genre: Mystery | Length: 330 pages

Having previously read On Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus I was looking forward to getting stuck in to another one of her books. This definitely didn’t disappoint and was full of twist and turns just as I expected.

When twins Ellery and Ezra move to Echo Ridge, the epitome of small-town America, to live with their grandmother they know they’re already wrapped in the towns dark past. Despite the fact they’ve never visited Echo Ridge, nearly everyone knows who they are. Their mother was also a twin and the towns Homecoming Queen nearly 20 years ago but on the night of homecoming her sister went missing and was murdered. Just 5 years ago the same thing happened to the reigning Homecoming Queen. Now someone has declared open season on homecoming yet again and Ellery finds herself right in the middle of it all. Everyone has something to hide in Echo Ridge but most people aren’t good at keeping secrets and Ellery is determined to find out what really happens in the small town.

This was definitely a real page turner and I loved all the twists and turns that happened. It was great to try and work things out alongside Ellery while being charmed by the small town of Echo Ridge.

I’m glad I got out of my reading slump and May turned out to be a decent month for reading. The Monsters of Rookhaven is definitely my stand out book from the month.

Have you read any of these books? What did you read in May? Let me know in the comments.