As May unfolds and the days grow longer and warmer, there’s no better time to slow down, soak up the sunshine, and get lost in a good book. Whether you're lounging on a park bench, curled up by an open window, or packing a novel for your first weekend getaway of the season, May invites us to read with joy and ease. As the weather warms, so does our craving for characters who linger in our minds and plots that carry us far from the ordinary. Let this month be a celebration of imagination, discovery, and the joy of reading for sheer pleasure.
Let’s make the most of this month’s golden hours—one page at a time.
Until Next Month!
Happy Reading! 🤓📚🌷
Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put By: Annie B. Jones
I love listening to Annie every Thursday on her weekly podcast,"From the Front Porch". It's a podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. I always have felt that she and I could be friends as we have similar tastes in books and she actually owns a bookstore, only a dream for me. In this biography memoir, each chapter represents a personal essay of her life growing up in the South and what it has meant to her by staying put. I loved Annie's openness and honesty about her life as she writes with the same wit, humor, and eloquence that she brings to the podcast. Even if you don't listen to her podcast but like books that are written in short chapter essay style with a theme of choosing to stay put in your ordinary life, then this is a book for you. I gave it 🤩 🤩 🤩 🤩 🤩 on the devourscale. PS - Visiting her bookstore, The Bookshelf, in Thomasville, Georgia is definitely on my bucket list.
The Seven O'Clock Club By" Amelia Ireland
This book has quite the plot twist about 3/4 of the way through that I DID NOT see coming. I devoured this one in 5 days, as I loved the short chapters and the alternating point of view chapters. Genevieve, has advertised an experimental grief therapy group that promises a "different approach" to healing. Four participants are selected to show up at 7 o'clock every Wednesday night for four weeks. We soon find out that all four of the participants chosen have experienced a loss or tragedy that we find out through their personal stories they each tell in alternating chapters. If you like thought-provoking books, complicated character dynamics with some magical realism thrown in, then this is a book for you. I gave it
🤩🤩🤩🤩 1/2 on the devourscale.
The Book of Doors By: Gareth Brown (Audiobook)
If you could open a door to anywhere where would you go? Cassie, a bookseller in NYC, is given a gift by her favorite customer. The book is full of strange writing and mysterious drawings with a handwritten message in the front specifically to her, telling her that "Any door is every door". She soon finds out that she is in possession of the "Book of Doors". This book has special powers and a back story that she is soon to discover. Although, I don't often read fantasy, this book had me intrigued from the very beginning. If you like books with elements of time travel, that are action-packed, and have a good vs. evil theme, then this is a book for you. I listened to this on audio, which I highly recommend, and gave it 🤩🤩🤩🤩 on the devourscale. (It can be found for free on the hoopla ap.)
The Names By: Florence Knapp
Do you follow the monthly celebrity book club picks? This month, Jenna picked, The Names, as her selection and I can see why. I devoured it in five days and loved the unique and intriguing structure of this book. This thought provoking book has the reader following three timelines at once, as you are immersed in answering the question, "Can a name change the course of a life?" Cora, the mother, Gordon, the father, and Maia, the big sister, all have different opinions of what the new baby boy in their life should be named. Spanning over thirty-five years, the story follows three alternate and alternative versions of their lives, shaped by the choice of a name. Some chapters, follow the little boy being named Bear, the name his sister chooses for him. Other chapters, follow the boy, known as Julian, the name his mother chooses for him. While, some chapters follow him as Gordon, carrying on his father's name. If you like books that have multiple timelines, messy family dynamics, and leave you wanting more, then this is a book for you. I gave it 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 on the devourscale. (Trigger warning for domestic abuse throughout the book.)
The Bright Years By: Sarah Damoff
I think I just read my favorite book of 2025!!! This book has all the feels and I devoured it in three days. The Bright Years tells the story of four generations over three parts and over the span of six decades. I loved how each part came from the point of view of the three main characters so we get to see their lives in that moment, from a different perspective. This is a tender, true- to- life novel that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, is restored by the power of grace and compassion. If you like books that offer second chances, found family, and reading with tissues near by, then this is a book for you. I gave it 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩on the devour scale.
28 Summers By: Elin Hilderbrand
Nothing screams more summer reading than an Elin Hilderbrand book. With her last Nantucket book, published and released last summer, I thought I'd bring you one of my past favorites written by her. I read this the summer of 2021 and gave it 🤩🤩🤩🤩 on the devour scale. Here is the set-up, When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.
There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?
Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere--through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise--until Mallory learns she's dying.
Read Your Color Assessment
Do you love taking quizzes & assessments to find out more about yourself? I fall for them everytime. Recently, I stumbled on the "Read Your Color" assessment and found it to be quite accurate. Do you know most people don’t know what kind of reader they are — which is why they waste time on books they never finish. Read Your Color is an assessment that helps you discover your unique reader type so you can finally find books that match you.After taking the assessment, I found our I am a Yellow Reader. Take the quiz, get personalized recommendations, and never read a book you don’t love again. I'd love to find out what color you are and if you think this is an accurate depiction of the books you usually read. Let me know in the comments.
My Reading Color is Yellow
The Yellow Reader is emotionally vibrant and driven by passion, drawn to books that stir their heart and evoke intense feelings. They seek narratives that illuminate the complexities of relationships, emotional struggles, and the profound depths of human connection. For Yellow Readers, reading is a visceral experience—an opportunity to feel deeply, empathize wholly, and journey through life's emotional extremes. They choose books not just to be entertained, but to experience catharsis, leaving each story feeling emotionally enriched, moved, and intimately connected to humanity.
The Four Seasons - Netflix
This eight-part series is an adaptation of the Alan Alda 1981 film The Four Seasons, by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield for Netflix. The decades-long friendship between three married couples is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways. Watch Trailer Here
The Nonnas - Movie on Netflix
After losing his beloved mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual nonnas -- grandmothers, as the chefs. Watch Trailer Here Based on a true story, here is a great article to read after watching the movie to learn more about this feel good story.
Sirens - Netflix
Sirens," a Netflix series, revolves around two sisters, Devon and Simone, navigating a world of wealth and power. Simone, drawn to the luxury and social circles of her boss, Michaela, a wealthy conservationist, finds herself entangled in a web of power plays and secrets. Devon, concerned about her sister's well-being and lifestyle, struggles to reconnect with her and uncover the truth behind Michaela's influence. The series explores themes of class, trauma, and the allure of a high-society lifestyle. Watch Trailer Here
Beyond Anxiety:Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose By: Martha Beck
Here's what the publisher blurb says: "We live in an epidemic of anxiety. Most of us assume that the key to overcoming it is to think our way out. And for a while it works. But there is always something that sends us back into the anxious spiral we’ve been trying to climb out of.
In Beyond Anxiety, Dr. Martha Beck explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy.
Using a combination of the latest neuroscience as well as her background in sociology and coaching, Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an “anxiety spiral,” a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. To climb out, we must engage different parts of our nervous system—the parts involved in creativity. Beck provides instructions for engaging the “creativity spiral,” in a process that not only shuts down anxiety but leads to innovative problem solving, a sense of meaning and purpose, and joyful, intimate connection with others—and with the world.
The opposite of anxiety, it turns out, is a wonderful new way of life—one that can calm and inspire us as individuals and help us become a source of healing for everything around us."
