May reading recap

May turned out to be a surprising reading month, partly because I struggled with getting into a reading mood, and partly because I ended up reading books that weren’t on my list. I read five books and 18 manga, on the paper at least. Three of the manga/manhwa I’d read already before, but only reviewed them in May.

Of the five novels I read, only one was a review ARC, although I had a couple of others I was unable to finish for various reasons. The ARC was for The Vengeance by Emma Newman, which was an ok read that I ended up giving four stars to, though in hindsight it was maybe more of a three-star book. After that, I read Love Between Fairy and Devil by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang, which turned out to be completely different from the TV series based on it, but equally good.

On the last week of May, I medicated my reading slump with the two latest Stephanie Plum novels that I found in the library and so weren’t on my list, Dirty Thirty and Now or Never. I’m now almost caught up with the series. I’ve skipped book 29 as I was unable to finish it back when it came out. They’re easy comfort reads and suited my mood this time round.

I finished the month by a short historical queer romance Copper Script by KJ Charles, which I only learned about a couple of weeks earlier, so it wasn’t on my list for this month. I decided to read it right away, and I’m glad I did. It was a great read despite its short length. The review was written in June, but I count the book to May reads, as I finished it before the month changed.

For my own pleasure I read manga vol. 14 of The Apothecary Diaries by Nekokurage & Natsu Hyuuga. I’ve been reading it on MangaUP! the publisher’s official site and could’ve reviewed it earlier, but I kept hoping there would be more chapters published, which there hasn’t been since March. The book version won’t come out until October. Solo Leveling vol 12 by singNsong came out in May, so I reviewed it this month, though I’ve already completed the series on Tappytoon, which is the official webtoon publisher. Also published in May was I Ship My Rival x Me vol. 3 by Pepa. This manhua I’ve read in full too on an unofficial site, as the official publisher BiliBili doesn’t support English content anymore. It’s only published on paperback, and while I love the story, I’m not entirely happy with the print quality.

I read ten review copies of manga. Here they are in the order they came out. Tune In to the Midnight Heart 1 by Masakuni Igarashi was a cute high school manga about a boy on a mission to find a radio host whose voice he used to love. Pink Heart Jam beat vol. 1 by Shikke is a follow-up series of a BL romance about two college students. Palace of the Omega vol. 2 by Fumi Tsuyuhisa concluded the rather boring and a bit icky omegaverse romance. Merry Witches’ Life vol 1 by Menota was a cute and cozy story about grief. Cosmos vol. 1 by Ryuhei Tamura was a good start to a series about a high school boy who can smell lies and gets recruited to an alien insurance company.

The Villainess Is a Marionette vol. 1 by Manggle is a double transmigration fantasy manhwa of a villainess trying to change her fate. Murderous Lewellyn’s Candlelit Dinner vol. 1 by Muk_Bu is a very creepy story of a young man who realises his neighbour might be a murderer yet can’t do anything about it. String by Paul Tobin is fun and action-packed story of a young woman who can see connections between murderers and victims as strings. Spacewalking with You 1 by Inuhiko Doronoda is an absolutely wonderful story of autism and being different and making friends and being accepted as you are. Cat + Crazy vol 1 by Wataru Nadatani is a fun story about a school boy obsessed with cats and his quest to become a cat-whisperer.

For my own amusement, I read Punks Triangle by Yuho Okita, a sweet BL story of two fashion students, one of whom isn’t who he seems. My Classmate Ren-kun is Kinda Scary by Kusege is another stand-alone BL romance of two high school boys who don’t realise they’re in love. I read volumes 1 and 2 of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki. It’s a fun slice of life high school comedy of a manga artist and a girl who has a crush on him, available on MangaUP!. I also read The World After the Fall vol 1 by Undead Gamja & singNsong. It’s a manhwa by the same author as Solo Leveling, but it wasn’t as interesting as SL. I probably won’t continue with it. Official version is available on Webtoon.

So, a great reading month. I read a lot of web manga beside these, mostly to medicate the reading slump. I’ll likely review all of those at some point too. June is already geared to be a busy month, so here’s hoping I don’t fall into another reading slump.