Book of the Month May Unboxing

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April showers bring May BOOKS. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Well, it should be. Happy May, my friends! What are you reading this month? Any books you are excited for? Well, my Book of the Month box has arrived and she is an absolute vision of loveliness as usual. I snagged 5 books again this month. The choices were INCREDIBLE! Did you know you can grab a book for $5 with my referral link? Such a good deal! Anyhoo, let’s just jump right into it. Here are the 5 titles I chose for May! Let’s chat!

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

I can’t even believe I am typing this but this is my first novel by Christina Lauren. I know, right! This is also my first time realizing that Christina Lauren is two people. Not much gets by me, my friends. So, I chose this book because it is gorgeous…it gives me all of the warm tropical vibes and I am here. for. it. I also am a newly obsessed reader of Contemporary Romance and Rom-Com’s and the description completely sucked me in. Have you read any Christina Lauren books? I am fairly certain I own one and still haven’t read it. Once I finish my current review book I am going to jump right into this one…because who doesn’t need a little more paradise in their life?!? The Paradise Problem publishes 5/14.

Goodreads Synopsis

Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

Next up we have The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean. I absolutely LOVE a suspenseful thriller and the description of this book captured my attention right away. It also doesn’t hurt when Stephen King says he couldn’t put the book down! The book has already received rave reviews so I cannot wait to check it out.

Goodreads Synopsis

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

“I stayed up late into the night turning the pages until I learned the truth of what happened to Ellie—and gasped when Jean delivered a truly jaw-dropping twist.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women

It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis

Next up we have Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis. I chose this book because I couldn’t take my eyes off of the cover. It is so interesting, beautiful, and creepy that it makes me want to crack the cover and read! I have already started this one and I am really enjoying it. I am a sucker for a Gothic mystery…throw in some potential ghosts, seances, and a sapphic love story and I am bound to love it, right?

Goodreads Synopsis

A deliciously haunting debut for fans of Sarah Waters and Sarah Penner set in 19th-century Paris , blending gothic mystery with a captivating sapphic romance as two estranged sisters—celebrated (and fraudulent) spirit mediums—come back together for one last con. 

Paris, 1866. When Baroness Sylvie Devereux receives a house call from Charlotte Mothe, the sister she disowned, she fears her shady past as a spirit medium has caught up with her. But with their father ill and Charlotte unable to pay his bills, Sylvie is persuaded into one last con. Their marks are the de dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution.

The scheme underway, the sisters deploy every trick to terrify the family out of their gold. But when inexplicable horrors start to happen to them too, the duo question whether they really are at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. And what other deep, dark secrets may come to light?

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

This book has been on my TBR for so long. Magical Realism is one of my favorite genres to read so whenever I see one I try to grab it. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw sounds like it is not only a wonderful Magical Realism novel, but also an amazing Mystery/Thriller. These are ALL of my fave things in one place. I can’t wait to dive into this one. I have heard such great things!

Goodreads Synopsis

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called “Pastoral,” this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it… he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.

Hauntingly beautiful, hypnotic, and bewitching, A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Last but certainly not least we have The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. I believe this was an April Book of the Month selection. I didn’t choose this book in April and had SERIOUS FOMO because it was literally all over Instagram. The reviews were fantastic so I decided to add it on to my May order. This is another that has Magical Realism themes…and the premise is so interesting. A woman comes home and is greeted at the door by her husband…which is odd, because she isn’t married. Come to find out, there is a place in her attic that keeps appearing and disappearing husbands! I am so excited to see what all the buzz is about!

Goodreads Synopsis

An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

Happy Reading!

I hope you guys are having a great start to your month!

I am currently reading Funny Story by Emily Henry. My darling family got it for me for Mother’s Day and I hip-checked my current read and TBR out of the way to start it because Em Hen is the G.O.A.T.

If you haven’t checked out Book of the Month yet and you are curious what all the buzz is about, you can check out my blog post here. I walk you through whether or not I think it is worth the hype and the money…Yes and Yes.

Happy Reading!!