Hello Readers! I have an ambitious TBR for May. I’m gonna set my goal high and hope for the best. 🤞 I’m hoping to read three of my most anticipated books of the year (which I’m having to actually purchase since I didn’t get the ARCs 😃), as well as start my reread of The Hunger Games series. I only have one ARC for the month, but I’m hoping to read one I have for June, too. And I need to cross off some more books from My Spring TBR! Yay for lots to read!

Here’s what I have “planned”!

Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

My current read, I picked it up through Libby when my waitlist became available. I’ve been doing better about using Libby, but I’m having to get used to the idea of a more flexible TBR. 😃 I wanted to read this one before I watch the adaptation. Let me know if you’ve watched it!

Synopsis:

Recently separated Toby Fleishman is suddenly, somehow–and at age forty-one, short as ever–surrounded by women who want him: women who are self-actualized, women who are smart and interesting, women who don’t mind his height, women who are eager to take him for a test drive with just the swipe of an app. Toby doesn’t mind being used in this way; it’s a welcome change from the thirteen years he spent as a married man, the thirteen years of emotional neglect and contempt he’s just endured. Anthropologically speaking, it’s like nothing he ever experienced before, particularly back in the 1990s, when he first began dating and became used to swimming in the murky waters of rejection.

But Toby’s new life–liver specialist by day, kids every other weekend, rabid somewhat anonymous sex at night–is interrupted when his ex-wife suddenly disappears. Either on a vision quest or a nervous breakdown, Toby doesn’t know–she won’t answer his texts or calls.

Is Toby’s ex just angry, like always? Is she punishing him, yet again, for not being the bread winner she was? As he desperately searches for her while juggling his job and parenting their two unraveling children, Toby is forced to reckon with the real reasons his marriage fell apart, and to ask if the story he has been telling himself all this time is true.

Goodreads

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Happy Place by Emily Henry

I’d planned on purchasing this one at my local bookstore where I had a gift card to, but they were sold out of it. 🤦‍♀️ Now I’m really wishing I would have pre-ordered it. Oh well, I’ll get my hands on it soon!

Synopsis:

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
 
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Goodreads

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Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

My most-anticipated book of the year, I’m still sore I didn’t get an ARC, but I did pre-order this one. It should arrive soon!

Synopsis:

Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.

At thirty-two, Fern’s life doesn’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern’s back home, running her mother’s Muskoka lakeside resort–something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend’s the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin.

She needs a plan–a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern’s going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern’s not sure she wants to know what it is.

But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?

Goodreads

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Uncle of the Year: And Other Debatable Triumphs by Andrew Rannells

When I was invited to read Rannells latest book, I told my husband, who is a Broadway fan, and he said he wanted to read it. I said I would accept the invite IF he wrote a guest review—which didn’t happen, of course. 😂 Luckily I was a fan of Rannells’ appearance on Girls so I don’t mind reading this one either. And at only about 250 pages, it should be a quick one!

Synopsis:

Candid, hilarious essays from the star of The Book of Mormon, Girls, and Big Mouth on anxiety, ambition, and the uncertain path to adulthood, which ask, how will we know when we get there?

In Uncle of the Year, Andrew Rannells If he, now in his early forties, has everything he’s supposed to need to be a true adult–a career, property, a well-tailored suit–why does he still feel like an anxious twenty-year-old climbing his way toward security? Is it because he hasn’t won a Tony, or found a husband, or had a child? And what if he doesn’t want those things? (A husband and a child, that is. He wants a Tony.)

In essays drawn from his life and career, Rannells argues that we all pretend we are constantly winning. And with each success, we act like we’ve reached the pinnacle of happiness (for our parents), maturity (for our friends), success (for our bosses), and devotion (for our partners). But if “adulting” is just a pantomime that’s leaving us unmoored, then we need new markers of time, new milestones, new expectations of what adulthood is–and can be.

Along the way, Rannells looks back, reevaluating whether his triumphs were actually failures–and his failures, triumphs–and exploring what it will take to ever, ever feel like he has enough. In essays like “Uncle of the Year,” he explores the role that children play in his life, as a man who never thought having kids was necessary or even possible—until his siblings have kids and he falls in love with a man with two of his own. “It’s an Honor to Be Eligible” reveals the thrills and absurdities of the awards circuit (and the desire to be recognized for your work). And in “Horses, Not Zebras,” he shares the piece of wisdom that helped him finally come to terms with crippling anxiety and perfectionism.

Filled with witty and honest insights, and a sharp sense of humor, Uncle of the Year challenges us to take a long look at who we’re pretending to be, who we know we are, and who we want to become.

Goodreads
Expected May 16, 2023

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The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Another one of my anticipated reads, I’ve been approved for the ARCs of this duo’s last few books… but not this one. 🤔 I’m not sure if I’ll pre-order it or just wait to pick it up in the store. Or maybe I’ll just get the ebook?? If I don’t get to it this month, I’ll pick it up in June! Super excited for Fizzy’s story!

Synopsis:

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experimentbegins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

Goodreads

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

It’s been about ten years since I first read The Hunger Games and I’m hoping to reread the series before I pick up the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I’m hoping I can at least start with the first book this month.

Synopsis:

Could you survive on your own in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weight survival against humanity and life against love.

Goodreads

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Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan

I’m hoping to finally get to this YA novel about a daughter and her birth mother set in India.

Synopsis:

A novel in two acts—told eighteen years apart—gives voice to both mother (Ayesha) and daughter (Mira) after an unplanned teen pregnancy led Ayesha to place Mira up for adoption.

Seventeen-year-old Mira Fuller-Jensen was adopted by her moms at birth. All she knows about her biological mother is that she was a high-school student from India who returned to India after giving birth. Although Mira loves her moms, she’s always felt out of place in her mostly white community.

So when Mira finds an old box with letters addressed to her from her birth mother, she sees a way to finally capture that feeling of belonging. Her mother writes that if Mira can forgive her for having to give her up, she should find a way to travel to India for her eighteenth birthday and meet her. Mira knows she’ll always regret it if she doesn’t go. But is she actually ready for what she will learn?

Goodreads

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Something More by Jackie Khalilieh

If I have time, I’m hoping to get ahead on my June ARCs by reading this YA novel that is getting stellar early reviews!

Synopsis:

A contemporary teen romance novel featuring a Palestinian-Canadian girl trying to hide her autism diagnosis while navigating her first year of high school, for fans of Jenny Han and Samira Ahmed. 

Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.

Goodreads
Expected June 6, 2023

Have you read any of these books yet? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!