4 Books I Plan to Read in May 2022
I’m a work outside the home mom of two little kids so I always try to be realistic with my monthly reading goals. This month there are several titles I’m hoping to get through for very specific reasons. I know that our weekends in May will be jam-packed so I’ve picked a few books that should be relatively quick reads if I commit to reading 50ish pages a night before bed. I’m usually a mood reader but I wanted to make sure to get through some ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) and some of my personal backlog. I’ve strayed a long way from the books I was planning to prioritize in 2022 but I’m still making tons of progress on my reading goals. I surpassed 25 books in April!
4 Books on my May TBR List
Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting
I won this book in a giveaway from Goodreads and I’m hoping to finish it before the release date!
Synopsis:
Having just broken up with her boyfriend, London Spark is not in the mood to be hit on. Especially not when she's out celebrating her single status with her sisters. So when a very attractive man pays for their drinks and then slips her his number, she passes it right back to him with a 'thanks, but no thanks'. As the business administrator for their family's event hotel, the Spark House, London has more important things to worry about, like bringing in new clientele.
As luck would have it, a multi-million-dollar company calls a few months later asking for a meeting to discuss a potential partnership, and London is eager to prove to her sisters, and herself, that she can land this deal. Just when she thinks she has nailed her presentation, the company's CEO, Jackson Holt, walks in and inserts himself into the meeting. Not only that, but he also happens to be the same guy she turned down at the bar a few months ago.
As they begin to spend more time together, their working relationship blossoms into something more. It isn't until their professional entanglements are finally over, that London and Jackson are finally ready to take the next step in their relationship. But between Jackson's secretive past and London's struggle with her sisters, London must question where she really stands - not just with Jackson, but with the Spark House, too.
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
This will be a re-read for me! Conversations with Friends is my favorite Sally Rooney book. I’m looking forward to the Hulu TV series that premieres on May 15th and I thought it would be a good idea to have the book fresh in my mind to compare.
Synopsis:
Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman's sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nick's flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strange--and then painful--intimacy.
Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.
One Night on the Island by Josie Silver
You may remember that I picked this book up way back in February from Foggy Pine Books in Boone, NC. I think it’s finally time to read it.
Synopsis:
Spending her thirtieth birthday alone is not what dating columnist Cleo Wilder wanted, but she plans a solo retreat―at the insistence of her boss―in the name of re-energizing herself and adding a new perspective to her column. The remote Irish island she's booked is a far cry from London, but at least it's a chance to hunker down in a luxury cabin and indulge in some self-care while she figures out the next steps in her love life and her career.
Mack Sullivan is also looking forward to some time to himself. With his life in Boston deteriorating in ways he can't bring himself to acknowledge, his soul-searching has brought him to the same Irish island to explore his roots and find some clarity. Unfortunately, a mix-up with the bookings means both have reserved the same one-room hideaway on exactly the same dates.
Instantly at odds, Cleo and Mack don't know how they're going to manage until the next weekly ferry arrives. But as the days go by, they no longer seem to mind each other's company quite as much as they thought they would.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler
I’m part of the Libro.fm influencer program and was so excited when this book was one of the selections!
Synopsis:
Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she's spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and the puritanical administration of Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that's kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal's perfect progeny.
But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she's not the only one Shara kissed. There's also Smith, Shara's longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara's bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara's trail of clues and find her. It'll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair and square.
Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe--probably not, but maybe--more to Shara, too.