82 Books I Read From January – May

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I was not expecting to have this large of a January through May reading list. This year I thought I would give myself a realistic goal of 52 books read for the year. Well I reached my goal. Between January and May I read a total of 82 books so far. I wasn’t anticipating reading as much as I have for the first half of the year but I’ve read a lot of great books.

There have only been three books that I did not finish and actually stopped reading them. I think the main reason why I stopped reading these books was because either I wasn’t getting into the story, I was tired of it, or there was something that just didn’t sit right with me. Let’s dive into those first.

Books I Didn’t Finish

A Twist of the Blade is the second book in the Shadows and Crowns series by S.M. Gaither. There was nothing wrong with this, I just couldn’t get into it like I did the first book. I don’t know what it was, if my mood changed, or if the author lost me but I got about half way through and ended up giving up.

The Fallen Queen is the second book in the Gods and Monsters series by Janie Marie. With this book I got tired of the main character. I got about half way through and just couldn’t continue. 

Haunting Andeline by H.D. Carlton was the third book that I DNF’d this year. I have heard so many good things about it but there were a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way with the story. There were a lot of conspiracy theory type references that were just big no’s for me. I can handle conspiracy theories, but the ones used in this book were close to some things that we have had in the real world that cause actual harm on real people.

January through May Reading List

Now I have read a lot of really great books so far this year. Below is my list and ratings for each of the 81 books I’ve read. I have kept books that are in a series close together in order to make it easier to follow along. Rankings are for the series as a whole. Sometimes a book in a series isn’t as good as the other but because the others are great the whole series will get a high rating.

Remember 1 star is really bad but I finished and 5 stars is I will be buying a physical copy and rereading this book often. For spice it goes from 1 is fade to black to 5 stars graphic and lots of sex scenes.

As always with any book please check trigger warnings or if you have questions about any of the books below leave a comment and I’d be happy to help you out.

• Tower of Dawn – Sarah J Maas – 5 stars
• Kingdom of Ash – Sarah J Maas – 5 stars
• A Shadow in the Ember – Jennifer L Armentrout – 5 stars 3 spice
• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon – Kimberly Lemming – 3 stars 4 spice
• The Demon Queen Trials – 2 Books – C.N. Crawford – 4 stars 3 spice
• Honey and Ice Trilogy – 3 books – Shannon Mayer – 5 stars 2 spice
• Gods and Monsters – Janie Marie – 3 stars 
• Hades Castle Trilogy – 3 books – C.N. Crawford – 4 stars 3 spice
• House of Sky and Breath – Sarah J Maas – 5 stars 3 spice
• What Lies Beyond The Veil – Harper L. Woods – 4 stars 4 spice
• Zodiac Academy books 1-7 – Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 5 stars 4 spice
• Plated Prisoner Series – 3 book – Raven Kennedy – 5 stars 2 spice
• Monsters and Muses Series – 3 books – Sav R. Miller – 5 stars 4 spice
• Deliciously Dark Fairytales – 3 books – K.F. Breene – 5 stars 5 spice
• The War of Two Queens – Jennifer L. Armentrout – 5 stars 3 spice
• Legacy of the Nine Realms – 4 books – Amelia Hutchins – 5 stars 4 spice
• Demigods of San Francisco – 6 books – K.F. Breene – 5 stars 2 spice
• Vicious Lost Boys – 2 books – Nikki St. Crowe – 5 stars 5 spice
• Maze of Shadows – 4 books – Kathryn Ann Kingsley – 5 stars, 3 spice
• I read 3 books that I no longer recommend – Check out this post for more information.
• Forget-Me-Not Bombshell – Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 5 stars 5 spice
• The Song of the Marked – S.M. Gaither – 4 stars 1 spice
• Brutal Prince – Sophie Lark – 4 stars 3 spice
• Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac – 5 books – Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 5 stars 5 spice
• Salacious Players Club – 2 books – Sara Cate – 5 stars 5 spice
• I read 3 books that I no longer recommend – Check out this post for more information.
• The Soldiers of Anarchy – 2 books – Nikki J Summers – 5 stars 3 spice
• Corrupt – Penelope Douglas – 5 stars 3 spice
• Never After Series – 3 books – Emily McIntire – 5 stars 4 spice
• Dreamland Billionaires – 2 books – Lauren Asher – 4 stars 3 spice
• The Crimson Crown – 2 books – Kayleigh King – 5 stars 3 spice
• Den of Vipers – K.A. Knight – 5 stars 5 spice
• Twisted Love – Ana Huang – 4 stars 3 spice
• Taming Mr. Walker – Rosa Lucas – 3 stars 3 spice
• The Ritual – Shantel Tessier – 5 stars 5 spice
• Chasing Love – Kat T. Masen – 3 stars 3 spice
• The Miles High Club – 3 books – T.L. Swan – 5 stars 3 spice

My Favorites

While Jennifer L Armentrout and Sarah J Maas are always some of my favorite books to read, I want to focus on some of my other favorites here.

Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti is a series that I highly recommend you read slowly. I binged all 7 books in the matter of 9-10 days and it left me with burnout. This series is not an easy one to get through because there are a lot of things that happen. For me I needed to step back from it in order for me to really appreciate and love this series.

The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy quickly became one of my favorite series. There are twists and the characters are fantastic. It took me a bit to get into but then it completely won me over. I highly recommend this for the fantasy romance readers out there.

Legacy of the Nine Realms by Amelia Hutchins is another series that I recommend taking slowly because there is a lot that goes on. It’s got a badass FMC and you will want to check trigger warnings for it. It’s such a good series though it isn’t complete yet and we don’t have a date for the next book in the series.

Demigods of San Francisco by K.F. Breene is a completed series and really good. I binged this series quickly without an issue or getting burned out. It’s an easy read with fantastic characters and it’s a feel good series.

Forget-Me-Not Bombshell by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti holds a soft spot in my heart. One of the best and most underrated books the Twisted Sisters have written. It’s a reverse harem dark romance so check your trigger warnings before reading. Still I cannot wait to own this book because it’s one of my favorites.

Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti takes place in the Zodiac Academy universe and I loved it more than Zodiac Academy. It’s another reverse harem dark romance so check those trigger warnings. This is a reread for me at some point.

Salacious Players Club by Sara Cate has me in a chokehold and the third book in this series just came out. I cannot get enough of these characters and I love it. Make sure you check trigger warnings because the story is based around people who own a sex club. There are some pretty graphic sex scenes in these books.

The Soldiers of Anarchy by Nikki J Summers is a dark romance series that you’ll want to check trigger warning on. I have fallen for the soldiers and I cannot wait to read about Colton next. Nikki J Summers has quickly risen to one of my favorite authors.

Never After Series by Emily McIntire are standalone reads and they are not interconnected at all so you can read them in any order. Emily McIntire is a genius of doing retellings of some of our favorite Disney and Fairytale retellings so I highly recommend reading them. As always check those trigger warnings. There are dark romance elements in each of the books.

The Crimson Crown by Kayleigh King is a paranormal romance duet. I freaking love these characters. Duke and Lorcan are some of the best supporting characters I’ve ever seen written and I really hope that Kayleigh King does books for them as well. I love this duet and highly recommend it.

Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight is a reverse harem dark romance that I didn’t think I would like but actually really loved. I love it when a book can completely change my mind and prove my expectations wrong and Den of Vipers did that. Make sure you check trigger warnings on this because it’s got some really messed up scenes at times.

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier is a dark romance secret society book that is highly recommended on Tik Tok. I happened to love this regardless of the anxiety I felt over certain scenes. It was fantastic, I loved the characters, the secret society plot is interesting and this book makes me want to dive into more books like it.

The Miles High Club by T.L. Swan is a fantastic contemporary romance series that I highly recommend. The Miles brothers are beautiful and I cannot get enough of them. I cannot wait for the fourth and final book in the series to come out later this year.

To Be Read

I have a lot of books on my TBR list (To Be Read) at this point and I can’t wait to get to them all. However, as with any book reader like me there is a good chance that for every book you manage to read to get off your TBR there are 5 more added. It’s ok though, eventually I will take a break scrolling through Tik Tok and actually clear my TBR, right? Well, that’s what I’ll keep telling myself anyways.

Have you read any of these books? Let me know which ones you read and your thoughts on them in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.

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