Wow, I had no idea—or at least I completely forgot—that I didn’t do a monthly wrap-up for April, so I guess I’ll be combining April & May this time. I’ve been so exhausted and brain fog heavy these past two months, that aside from my weekend away in May, I don’t really remember anything else that’s happened. 😅 It’s probably because nothing has happened (other than work issues and my trip), but sometimes it’s discombobulating not remembering what happened a month ago, lol.
I announced a mini-hiatus at the end of April, and I really thought that I would still post every now and then in May, but I pretty much wound up going MIA. I think I just don’t have the energy for much these days and so it was needed, but as always, getting back into the groove of things always takes time. I think I might still be a little here-and-there in June, but I’ll try to slowly start to be more active!
My highlight in May was the pre-birthday trip that I took myself on to Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) which is about a 6 hour flight in total with one transit through Singapore. I went specifically to get a tattoo with an artist who I’ve admired for a long time and who’s based there—thankfully, it all worked out and I wound up spending about 4 days there. It was a really quick trip but I’m quite happy that I did it! I actually don’t have a photo of my tattoo but I do have the video the artist shared on her page. I’m really happy with how it turned out. 🥰 The majority of my tattoos are black so I’ve never had this much colour on me before. I’ve been really careful with the healing process so far and it seems to be looking good although I notice some colours (like the very light green) don’t show up as well on my dark skin, but I t hink it still looks really good. I’m so pleased I got it done! 🙂
I’ve continued to game so much that I’ve really not been reading a lot. I think it’s also because I’m just so mentally drained every day that my focus is kind of shot. For the two months, I read a total of 14 books — 8 in April, 6 in May. I didn’t have any 5-star reads this month, but a few came close. It’s a bit hard to pick favourites but I loved Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher and Voidwalker by S. A. MacLean was great too!
I’m going to do the breakdown a little differently this time, as I’ll be covering two months.
Books are arranged in random order (cos I hecked up the order, lol)
Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Glenn Marsh — ★★.75
Until We Meet Again by Lily Kim Qian — memoir unrated
Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean — ★★★★.5
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak — ★★★★.5
Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa — ★★★★.5
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher — ★★★★.5
The Wicked Sea by Jordan Stephanie Gray — ★★★.5
Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner — ★★★★.25
Buckle Up, Buttercup by Hazel Mack — ★★★.75
Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher — ★★★★.5
Behind Five Willows by June Hur — ★★★★☆
You’re Dead to Me, Reed Walker by Gwenyth Reitz — ★★★★☆
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone — undecided
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley — ★★★☆☆ (might be less)
It’s fair to say that I haven’t really been focusing on any of my challenges (except for Goodreads, even though I haven’t updated it on the site itself). 😅 So I’m going to keep this blank for now and will update it in the next monthly wrap-up!
✔ Goodreads Reading Challenge: 44/100
And with that, we’re down yet another month in the year. How was your reading month? I hope everyone is doing as good as can be and taking good care. Hope June treats you well, friends! 🫂
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