May was a hectic month for me. My kid graduated from high school and I spent a lot of time chasing after her to make sure she got all her last minute stuff done. I didn’t talk about it with anyone really, but she had a rough time with remote learning during the year and a half at home and ended up having to make up a lot during her senior year. It seemed like the teachers gave up on chasing after the kids during that time. Her junior year was more of the same, except on campus. This last school year, she had some teachers who really seemed to reach her and encourage her to succeed. Her counselor was a great help as well. So she caught up, passed all her classes and final exams, and was awarded her high school diploma last Friday. Squid Vicious is an adult on her way to take on the world. I am so proud of her. While a parent’s job is never really over, I am relieved to be done with the daily school traffic and high school drama. I am ready to guide her through the next stage, college. May was stressful for a lot of other reasons that I won’t get into, but this school stuff really takes a load off me.

I didn’t get a whole lot of reading done because my mind just wasn’t having it. Usually I’m able to lose myself in a good book, but I had a hard time focusing. Instead, I spent a lot of time crocheting and watching stuff that doesn’t require an attention span. Lots of Kitchen Nightmares and Worst Cooks in America. And I watched all three seasons of Picard (pretty great btw). So I didn’t read as much as I usually do, but the books I did read were pretty great. I wrote a couple of full reviews and a couple minis and have two full ones pending. I’m slow, I’m sorry.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
The Walking Cat, by Tomo Kitaoka
My Weird Nightmare Baby, by Riley Odell
Brad, Unwound: A Puppet Scorned Yarn, by Jamie Kort

⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Dr. Circumcision, Quack MD, by Sea Caummisar

Unrated due to pending review:
What Good Girls Do, by Jonathan Butcher
The Girl With All the Gifts, by M.R. Carey

That list is so short. It’s been a while since I had so few books to talk about during one month. If I had to pick a favorite, I would choose The Walking Cat. Cat manga is best manga. I want all the cat manga. I might have to raid my kid’s bookshelf for my next cat manga read. My least favorite was Dr. Circumcision, Quack MD. The story itself was not bad, but this was an audiobook ARC, so my review was heavily skewed by the quality of the audiobook narration. I have two more audiobook ARCs by the same author with different narrators, so I’m hoping to have a better experience with those. I also own a ton of Caummisar’s books on kindle, so if audio doesn’t work out I will try another one of those. I enjoyed her Thanksgiving story.

June is off to a good start. I’m already feeling less stressed and I’ve been reading more. I’m pretty close to finishing up two crochet projects. I’m making progress on several reviews in my drafts folder. I’m feeling good about things that had me feeling not so great.

Plans for June include lots of reading and lots of reviews. Several are ARCs, but there’s also the Books of Horror Indie Brawl that I’m reading my way through. I think I own them all now, many in digital format but a good chunk in audio format. Thanks for that big sale, Audible. My queue is full, but not overwhelming. I should really update my list though.

Anyway, read some books.