I managed to crack this out by the skin of my teeth. I know we’re almost in June but I hope I can still inspire you with some of my favs from this month. So, what have I been reading this month? For the last week I’ve been dragging my heels with my current read, a Tess Gerritson book, but I’d say it’s nothing to do with Tess and more to do with the fact I’m so tired I just can’t keep my eyes open at night to read it. That probably means I should try doing more day time reading —but you know— kids.

House 21 hosted their first book club in May and as mentioned in my April edition, we read An American Marriage. It was a strange book, not compelling as such, but easily interesting. It depicts the life of an African American man who’s wrongly incarcerated and delves right in to his relationship with his wife. It oozes big cultural vibes and it provoked me to address a few things: The demands of a marriage and the emotional toll on both parties, as well as unconscious bias. I would based on its ability to make me take stock alone, recommend it’s worth a read.

Next month’s book club read is Beth O’Leary’s Flat Share, but I’ve not started it yet, so let me tell you a bit about what I have been reading instead.

Following An American Marriage I reverted to my trusted genre of thriller and picked up my first Karin Slaughter book. What can I say besides WOW. It’s blew my mind. The pace was so elite I felt like I was reading as fast as Usain Bolt runs.

I couldn’t get enough of The Good Daughter – not only is it beautifully written (and it really is, no language or vocab corners cut for Karin.) It was so utterly addictive that I felt somewhat exhausted at the end. That only served to prove it was completely exhilarating. I don’t know what rock I’ve been hiding under, but the moment I finished this book I went on to read two more of hers.

Her Last Breath – which is a Novella prequel to The Good Daughter, equally as enticing, it’s only failure being it’s not a full book. It just wasn’t long enough, I felt robbed by it’s too soon climax.

I then went on to read: Pieces Of Her. Which is set to be made into a Netflix original series. It was a complex read but with equal amounts of explosive content from the very first page. It’s fast and punchy pace keeps up momentum until the end.

I mentioned on this week’s podcast that I’d previously struggled with reading American written books because of the language and dialogue used, however since Karin completely dragged me over to the dark side of American thriller I couldn’t wait to get my hands on more, so I downloaded Shari Lapena’s – The Couple Next Door – another great thriller about a kidnapping gone wrong. A mother’s worst nightmare and full of the kind of characters we all hope to avoid in real life. With shocking twists and American mountain vibes. It was another race to the end. I enjoyed it and would definitely consider many more of her books in future.

All of those thrillers drained me by being so fascinatingly edgy, but afterwards I needed some lighthearted vibes. With this in mind I reverted back to the woman who opened my eyes to genres of comedy and romance, friendship and girl power, Dawn O’porter and sped through Paper Aeroplanes. She hasn’t written a book yet that I don’t adore. I don’t know what it is about her realistic accounts of women and girl power portrayals that get me so emosh, but there’s really nothing not to like. She’s a legend and every woman out there should read at least one of her books, but I suggest reading them all.

That’s it so far this month, so enjoy!!

You can find all of these in local bookstores and downloadable for E-readers. Keep reading and tag me/ message me/ share with me what you think.

You can also read this over at House21 just head to the culture & reading section.