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! 🫂
dinipandareads 
Omg I forgot I have Voidwalker…I could’ve put that in my June Pride tbr list! 😩 Well, I can always swap it out with another lol. Your tattoo looks great!
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Yeaaah, that was a really fun read 😃 I can’t wait for the second book to come out although I feel it’s gonna massively up the angst, lol. I hope you enjoy it if you do check it out though! And thank you, I’m super happy with the ink 💜
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I’m glad that you loved Paladin’s Grace. The next one, Paladin’s Strength is probably my favourite out of the quartet so I hope you continue with them. I’m glad you’re happy with the tattoo, it would be such a shame to go all that way and then be disappointed. The video of her work is amazing.
Fingers crossed that things improve for you this month and that you aren’t feeling so tired all of the time. 🤞
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Omg, I’m so excited to hear that! I loved Stephen and Grace, but I’m really curious about how Isthvan’s story will go. He’s such a talker (and charmer) compared to Stephen! 🤣
I think my biggest concern with the tattoo was how it’d look on my skin as I have darker tones and colour ink doesn’t show as well. But I’m quite pleased with how it’s healing! 🥰 She is such an amazing artist!
I hope you have a good month ahead as well, Janette!
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He definitely meets his match in Paladin’s Strength 😀
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I’m so glad you enjoyed Paladin’s Grace. I really want to get to that one soon. Absolutely can relate to not remembering all the happening in a month. Sometimes life moves so fast, something else always comes up and it’s hard to remember what you were going through weeks prior. I hope you have a good June and that that tattoo heals well.
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It was really good! Classic Kingfisher with a heavier romance bent (even gets a little steamy towards the end, but very tastefully done)! There’s always something so comforting about Kingfisher’s books. 💜 I hope you love it too whenever you get to it! Life really does move super fast. I hope that you have a great June as well, Alicia! 🌻
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Happy belated birthday!
Ooh love that tattoo, happy it worked out for you xx
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Thank you, Kris! 💜
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Ooh I’ve been meaning to pick up Paladin’s Grace for aaages!
Stunning tattoo! I love tattoos with colour, and yours is so bright while still looking quite delicate.
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It was so good! I hope you enjoy it whenever you get around to reading it 🙂
And thank you! I’m so happy with how it turned out—especially on my darker skin. The colour isn’t as bright as in those photos now that it’s been ~2 weeks of healing, but I’m still really pleased with how it’s looking 🥰
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What a fun reason for a trip. I cannot wait to see the end result.
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Thanks, Sam! It was a very quick but nice getaway 🙂
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That tattoo is beautiful, and your pre-birthday trip sounds amazing! I ended up settling on four stars for This Is How You Lose the Time War, but I’m still not sure if that’s right lol. And you’ve reminded me to give Voidwalker a try. I hope you’re having a great June so far 🙂
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These look like some great books! But now I’m curious… what games have you been playing? 😉
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