May 2024 reading wrap-up

The mercury in New Delhi is soaring. Temperatures are reaching unheard of highs of 47 degrees centigrade. Just yesterday, the thermometer in the husband’s car read 49 degrees. We’ve had more heatwave warnings than I can remember in any previous summer.

While it’s torturous to be outdoors, reading is, thankfully, an indoor activity. I’ve spent hours curled up in my cozy reading nook, the air conditioning on at full blast, reading. From the scorching summer fires in the coast of Brittany to riding atop La Bestia in Mexico to wandering a post-apocalyptic world with a traveling symphony, the five books I read in May took me on some merry and not-so-merry journeys.

Without further ado, let’s jump into this month’s reading wrap-up!

(Click on the book covers to purchase the book on Amazon.)

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the cartels, Lydia’s life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. But after her husband’s tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and Luca find themselves joining the countless people trying to reach the United States. Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

The violence of Mexican drug cartels and the level of corruption in the country are legendary. Numerous movies have been made and books have been written depicting the violence of the cartels. But Cummins approaches the story from a different angle — instead of focusing on cartel violence, she turns her writer’s eye to the ordinary people whose lives are shattered because of it. As Lydia makes the perilous journey towards the US border, Cummins lays bare the many risks and hardships that los migrantes face when they make the hazardous journey, on foot, on the top of trains, trying to escape corrupt border security forces and cartel members disguised as immigrants. Through Cummins’ harrowing and intense narrative, I found myself transported right beside Lydia and Luca’s flight from Acapulco to the US.

The Lost Notebook by Louise Douglas (It happened on a holiday)

A notebook full of secrets, two untimely deaths – something sinister is stirring in the perfect seaside town of Morranez…It’s summer and holidaymakers are flocking to the idyllic Brittany coast. But when first an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate seemingly drives another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn. Mila Shepherd has come to France to look after her niece, Ani, following the accident in which both Ani’s parents were lost at sea. Mila has moved into their family holiday home and taken her sister Sophie’s place in an agency which specialises in tracking down missing people. It’s clear that malevolent forces are at work in Morranez, but the local police are choosing to look the other way. Only Mila and her colleague Carter Jackson can uncover the truth about what’s really going on in this beautiful, but mysterious place before anyone else suffers. But someone is desperate to protect a terrible truth, at any cost…

You shouldn’t judge a person based on their appearance alone. That’s one of the central ideas that drives this book forward. Saying too much more will probably spoil the surprises and twists in the story. I will admit, the book does seem a bit disjointed initially, but if you stick with it, all will be revealed in the most interesting of ways. Along with the main story around the case being handled by the Toussaints detective agency, is the mystery surrounding the death of Mila’s sister, Sophie and brother-in-law, Charlie. The Lost Notebook ends with some unanswered questions about their disappearance at sea, which meant I had to jump right in to the second book in the series!

The Summer of Lies by Louise Douglas

The summer is the hottest yet in the Brittany coastal town of Morranez, but when a new case lands on the desk of the Toussaints detective agency, there can be no time to relax. As wild fires bear down on the town, the alert goes out for a missing girl. 19-year-old Briony Moorcroft has seemingly been taken from her sleepy Welsh village and brought to France. Her parents are baffled and scared – Briony needs her life-saving medicine or this case will become even more sinister, and with the police dragging their heels, the Moorcrofts are relying on Mila Shephard and Carter Jackson’s sleuthing skills. Meanwhile there are mysteries troubling Mila’s life too. Two years after the accident that swept her sister Sophie and brother-in-law Charlie away and left their daughter Ani in Mila’s care, new evidence resurfaces that makes Mila doubt everything. Can Carter and Mila find Briony before it’s too late? And is the truth about Sophie and Charlie finally about to be revealed…

A new case for the Toussaints detective agency, and a familiar old mystery still to be solved. Mila has decided to move to Brittany to take care of Ani, dividing her time between Brittany and London, where her boyfriend and mother stay. As Mila and Carter work on the latest case to track down a critically ill young woman, an older mystery related to Charlie and Sophie’s disappearance during a storm also has a chance of being finally solved. The second book in this series is much more interesting from the get-go, with some very interesting twists in both the mysteries. While Briony’s case is solved, the mystery surrounding Charlie is yet to be laid fully to rest. A third book in this series is scheduled for release later this year; I hope that will finally conclude this particular mystery. Even if you haven’t read — or don’t want to read — The Lost Notebook, Douglas weaves in enough of the backstory, which means you can read this book as a stand-alone.

Keeper of Scarlet Petals by A.N. Skye

To be a Keeper was to dedicate one’s life to protecting another. Jasmine wasn’t ready for it. Less than a year into her training at Sanctuary, a college for Keepers and mages alike, and with a fresh start from a brutal life of thievery in the slums, all she wanted to do was continue mastering the sword arts and avoid her other responsibilities. Those plans are ruined when she’s assigned to be the protector of a young nobleman whose family was murdered. Her new charge is cocky, smug, and drives her up a wall at every opportunity. Forced to protect a man she can’t stand with her life, Jasmine needs to find time that isn’t there to continue her training and keep assassins from killing both of them, all the while learning magic and discovering that there’s more to life than survival. And yet, Jasmine starts to find herself inexplicably drawn to him. Unfortunately, burgeoning love is the least of Jasmine’s problems. As pieces of a malevolent plot start to unfold around them, she and her charge realize that there might be only one thing left that they can rely on. Each other.

I classify this romantasy as a palette cleanser — a decent light-hearted read between more serious, intense, heavy books. The premise of the novel is interesting, with a somewhat surprising, though not entirely, twist right at the end that sets up the scene for a sequel. I doubt that I will continue reading the series, but if you’re looking for an escape read, this may be right up your alley, especially if you enjoy reading fantasy.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (Living in a dystopian world)

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. 20 years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

I’m not a huge fan of dystopia novels, though I’ve read a handful of them over the years. I remember the hype surrounding Station Eleven when it was released back in 2014, but I thought a flu leading to the collapse of a civilization was a bit too depressing. Fast forward to 2024, and we’ve lived through our own flu-related pandemic without the world coming to an end. So I figured I’d finally read this for the Living in a dystopian world prompt for this year’s Book Bingo. And let me just say right off the bat, I really don’t understand what the hype was about! The way Mandel has woven the story, connecting the lives of some the characters who were just tangentially related to one another in the world before the collapse is quite interesting. I also loved the ideas of The Traveling Symphony that goes from settlement to settlement, putting on Shakespeare’s plays and playing the symphony, but the writing is boring, the characters are quite insipid, and it’s pretty much a snooze fest. If you are in the mood for some really excellent dystopia, I recommend The Light Pirate by Lily-Brooks Dalton. You can safely give this one of a miss, if you haven’t read it already!

Over to you! What was on your reading list this month?

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This post is part of the Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile.