Well, I did not spend as many days reading this month as I usually do. For whatever reason I just wasn’t feeling it, whether it was because it’s gardening season, or trying out a new cookbook, or feeling kind of slumpy from my current nonfiction ARC. There were five days where I read zilch. Usually audiobooks help me out here, but I didn’t find as much time for those either. That “unproductiveness” also crossed over into blogging and I didn’t really feel like doing much of that either, so I just rolled with it. But I still have enough to report out on for my May 2026 Book Blog Wrap Up. It was a busy month!
This is a bit of a long one because I babble on at the end about my garden. So feel free to skip around, of course, to sections that are of interest to you.
Book Reviews
I posted three book reviews in May. From earliest to latest they are:
- The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
- The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula
- Rolls and Rivalry by Kristy Boyce
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views are (as of the morning of May 31):
- May 2026 Book Releases: 1,201 views
- STEMinist Romance Books: 673 views
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 473 views
- April 2026 Book Releases: 310 views
- Dungeons and Dragons Romance Books: 215 views
So, that bump in views I talked about last month did not happen this month. It’s always anyone’s best guess as to why that happens. It could be that the new Google Core updated settled down, or perhaps Google was starting to shift towards its new AI-driven search engine (barf), who knows. However, I still had more views this month (~8,000) than I did in March (the month before the Google Core update). It’ll be interesting to see how Google’s new AI-dominated search affects views.
I had some unfollows and some follows on here, so my blog follower count remained basically the same. I wonder if WordPress is doing some cleanup because this is the first year where I’ve noticed a lot of unfollows relative to my follower count.
#BeattheBacklog
I finished two books I had on my TBR prior to 2026. Those books are DEFY THE NIGHT by Brigid Kemmerer and THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL by Victoria Mas. Not my best backlog month, but that’s mainly because I decided to focus on ARCs in May.
Other Bookish Items
I finished seven books in May:
- NIMONA by N.D. Stevenson (audiobook)
- FALLING BACK IN LOVE by Kai Cheng Thom (audiobook)
- THE GEOMAGICIAN by Jennifer Mandula (ARC)
- ROLLS AND RIVALRY by Kristy Boyce (ARC)
- THE PEARL by John Steinbeck
- DEFY THE NIGHT by Brigid Kemmerer (audiobook)
- THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL by Victoria Mas
I sold three more books on Pangobooks, so that was nice. I also delisted some books I had on there that had been sitting a while and sold them to my local used bookstore. I was surprised at the ones they didn’t take, so I’ll try again with those the next time I sell to them. The owners are past retirement age, so I don’t think they’re as up to date on YA authors as I am–they always comment on at least an author or two and I have to tell them those authors are pretty well known at the moment.
I finally got a rolling cart for some books! My Pangobooks inventory was just all in a box, which made it difficult to see what I had. So I use the cart to story those books as well as my monthly TBR/hopefuls that I have in a physical format. I was worried the Michael’s cart would be flimsy, but folks on bookstagram just told me not to overload it.
Other Media Wrap-Up
THIS IS A GARDENING SHOW: This is on Netflix and by Zach Galifianakis, who hosts kids to help him explain various aspects about gardening. I wouldn’t say this show is very educational, but I think young kids might learn from it a bit. As an adult it was purely entertainment to watch Zach’s ridiculousness. It’s very lighthearted and sometimes that’s just what we need after a work day.
THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU: Oh, boy, do I have opinions about this one. Because it’s still so new, I’ll just leave it at “this was my least favorite Star Wars movie.” Shout out to Chris, a big Star Wars fan, for letting me rant to him about it!
Non-Bookish Items
Gardening
I transplanted my tomatoes after a brief heat wave in the middle of the month. We’re trying out a different way to stake our tomatoes, so to speak. Instead of cages, we buried one end of string with the planted tomato and tied the other end to an overhead piece of wood. So when the tomato gets taller we’ll wrap the string around it to keep it vertical. I hope this works because tomato plants often get way taller than their cages and flop over.
My German chamomile plants are firing on all cylinders, so I’ve been picking a lot of flower heads to dry and use later as tea. The two bee balm plants I grew from seed a few years ago and finally transplanted are massive. I thought they’d get tall rather than expand horizontally! I’m waiting for them to flower–since I don’t know where it will flower form–before I start taking cuttings to dry for tea.
I’ve also been trying to grow a lot of herbs/medicinal plants from seed, but it’s so hard because the seeds are so tiny. After a month of trying to get them to germinate, I gave up and ordered little seedlings online (arrival later this week). (For those who want to know, I’m trying to grow valerian and mullein. And I decided to switch to white yarrow which I don’t have seeds for.) Of course, what do you know…after a straight week of rain and waterlog, they’ve all had at least one seed germinate. I don’t need that many!! They’re so tiny and delicate right now that they might not all make it, so I’ll see what happens.
House
We had all the upstairs carpet removed and replaced with hardwood floors. We had planned on engineered hardwood, but found out that at least at that moment and for the type and color we wanted, it was actually cheaper (though still not inexpensive) to do hardwood. Yay for having an “outdated” color on the downstairs. (We’re fine with it, but I think the current fashion is lighter and less reddish wood.) That all went mostly well. Since most of our furniture was out of our main bedroom, my husband finally painted it, bless his heart. The last room we have left to do is our main bath, but that needs a lot of work with evening out the drywall from shoddy workmanship.
Then we got hit with a large car repair bill for our air conditioning, so that wasn’t fun. And then we were told our home HVAC system had a big leak in it and we needed to replace it. So when the recent heat wave hit we were worried it would quit working. Thankfully it held up just fine and we hope it continues to do so. (We obviously need to get a second opinion.)
Miscellaneous
Other things we did were we partook in Bike to Work Day, went to a couple local breweries, and went to a big local art fair. I bought a few things, one of which was a stoneware mug made from clay that the artist literally dug up in our mid-Atlantic area. Talk about “farm to table”! I also finally went into the thrift store I usually donate to. It wasn’t any “better” than our local Goodwill (which isn’t great), but it was more organized, which made my brain happy. I walked out with a 100% linen top, a PYREX loaf pan, and a copy of Le Petit Prince, all for $12. Like any thrift store, I suppose it’s the luck of the draw in terms of finding quality items (which is in the eye of the beholder, I know). I’m going through a phase right now where I’m trying to switch over more to 100% linen or cotton, at least with anything new I buy.
And that’s it for my May 2026 book blog wrap-up! How was your month?
I love hearing about your garden and herb project. I just bought herbs and planted a tabletop garden, but it’s my first time trying to grow them up here in the mountains, so we’ll see how long they last. I am trying to grow basil from seeds in addition to the garden.
My husband bought me a rolling cart several years ago and it’s one of those industrial library carts, so it’s huge and heavy. I never know where to put it!
Herb gardens are so nice! So many of them smell so good! Basil from seed usually pops up quickly, especially if they’re newer seeds. I’d say if you have a good amount of sun maybe they’ll germinate in a week. Have fun!
My blog views are well down this month too for some reason but my followers have stayed the same. It’s not something I pay a huge amount of attention to but the dip is quite marked. To be fair, they’ve gone back pretty much to what they were at the start of the year so I suppose there’s consistence somewhere.
Sorry to hear about your HVAC. Hopefully it won’t cost you too much to get it fixed. You certainly don’t need any more expense.
The dip in your views could be related to the Google Core updates…it’s hard to tell sometimes! As for followers, I know Leslie has also been losing a lot and neither of us know what to make of it.
It sounds like you’ve had a busy month between the gardening and house work. I hope your plans for the tomatoes work out well. I’ve tried growing some flowers from seeds but I’m not sure that transferring them went well. One type had such tiny seeds that they all kind of grew into a slump and separating them mostly seemed to squash them 🙈 I never thought of trying to dry chamomile for tea like that. Ive always used bags of it 😂
Im sorry to hear about the car repair bill too. And that the latest Star Wars movie was a let down.
I hope you feel less slumpy book wise soon. How did you find Defy The Dark and Mad Woman’s Ball?
I hope you have a wonderful June ❤️
You’re right, I did have a busy month with house work and gardening. June is kind of shaping up to be the same way. It makes me feel behind in my reading, but I guess it’s also good to get my nose out of a book sometimes, too, lol.
I liked DEFY THE DARK more than expected for a YA fantasy. If I didn’t have so many other books to read I’d consider reading the rest of the trilogy, but as it is, I don’t plan to continue. THE MAD WOEN’S BALL was great! And a quick read, which is always nice.
I guess this time of year tends to be like it with the improving weather…in theory anyway. Here our weather seems a bit all over the place 🙈
If it makes you feel any better I quite liked the first book in that series but the second ended up irritating me enough that I’ve since put it on hold. Its not a definite DNF for me series wise but I’m definitely not in a rush to read the finale either. Thats lovely to hear that Mad Women’s Ball was great 🥰
Well, then that makes me feel better about not continuing that Brigid Kemmerer series!