Everything I Read This Month: May 2023

First things first, I highly recommend the Audible audiobook version, which is narrated by Vanessa Kirby. I want all of the audiobooks I listen to going forward narrated by her. It was great.

Anyway, this was a freebie included with my monthly Audible membership and it’s easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. A dramatic retelling of the Arthurian tale through the eyes of Morgan, half-sister to King Arthur, who eventually becomes the Morgan Le Fay of legends.

And good news — this is the first installment of a planned trilogy!

Morgan is my Name by Sophie Keetch is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

In book four of her Cuba Saga (books one through three referenced here), Chanel Cleeton jumps back in time to 1896, giving readers a glimpse into a Perez ancestor assisting Cuban revolutionaries during a period of forced reconcentration camps for Cuban citizens.

Marina Perez finds herself a spy in the efforts to release an unjustly imprisoned eighteen-year-old woman, Evangelina Cisneros, who dreamt of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression.

In all, the novel is a compelling glimpse into Spanish and Cuban history that will make you want to learn more.

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Stepping away from Cuba and South Florida as a primary setting, Our Last Days in Barcelona gives Chanel Cleeton’s readers insight into two more Perez sisters, along with their tight-lipped mother.

Time hopping between 1936 and 1964 Barcelona, Spain, the novel shows how the past and present intersect, with mother and daughter sharing similar situations where they have to choose between family expectations and their own desires.

Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Book two of five in the ACOTAR series (I featured book one last month), A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas follows Feyre’s transformation from human to High Fae in book one. She’s back with Tamlin, having saved him during her tormented time Under the Mountain, but something isn’t the same….

Basically, this novel tears apart the Beauty-and-the-Beast trope from the first novel, showing Tamlin to be an overbearing and destructive partner for Feyre. However, lucky for Feyre, there’s another High Lord to rescue her as she settles into the misunderstood Night Court.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Book three of five in the ACOTAR series, A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas opens with Feyre back at the Spring Court, working undercover to spy on Tamlin and his possible ties to an existential threat.

While I enjoyed Feyre’s double crossing Tamlin, I was relieved that the whole book wasn’t spent with her in the Spring Court. Feyre’s time in the Night Court and Velaris with Rhysand and their inner circle make for very compelling reading, especially while they navigate the complex politics of the High Lords they need on their side in the coming war….

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

A shorter novel — a novella in light of the other books in the series — A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas is basically a Christmas episode for the ACOTAR cast.

Feyre, Rhysand, and their inner circle celebrate the Winter Solstice, Feyre’s first as High Lady. The novel follows the emotions and traumas facing the cast of characters after the dramatic conflict in book three. It also sets the stage for the final book in the series, which focuses on Nesta.

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

The final book in the ACOTAR series, A Court of Silver Flames is Nesta Archeron’s story. The moody, prickly-proud sister of the High Lady of the Night Court, Nesta finds herself the center of an intervention. After giving in to her trauma and temper one too many times, Nesta is exiled, more or less, to train with Cassian, her would-be mate. Essentially, she is sent away to get her life in order.

This book is pretty different from the others in this series because it is fully Nesta’s story. At first, I wasn’t sure what I would think about that, but, in the end, I think it might be my favorite! I just wish there were more in the series!

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

This book is NOT for everyone, let me just put that out there first. Bryn Greenwood’s All the Ugly and Wonderful Things deals with some really difficult subject matters, particularly a “love story” and “relationship” between an adult and a young girl.

Wavy, the protagonist, experiences all kinds of trauma right from the start of the book, leaving her vulnerable and largely reliant on herself. She basically raises her younger brother while her drug dealing parents are in and out of the picture. In time, she meets a twenty-something-year-old named Kellen, who worked with her dad’s drug trade.

Kellen basically becomes a baby sitter for Wavy and the story progresses. The relationship is all kinds of messed up because of the age difference. However, Greenwood’s writing, and the way she follows Wavy’s story through ten-plus years, really make you think about the many ways that people (and government systems) fail individuals like Wavy and her brother.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Included in my Audible membership, The Blue Tattoo was an interesting non-fiction history to take in. I had no idea who Olive Oatman was before this book, and I knew very little about the history of early Americans who traveled west, and even less about those who wound up living with Native American tribes.

After her family was killed en rout to the West Coast, Oatman was first a captive of one tribe before assimilating into a second. The psychological and sociological implications of both periods are fascinating. Further, Oatman’s forced celebrity experience after leaving her second home with the Mohave is rather fascinating, in a heart wrenching kind of way.

The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org.