Welcome to my monthly wrap-up for May & June 2025! I never got around to writing a wrap-up for May for no reason other than I just didn’t feel like doing it. lol. So, I’ve decided to combine the information for the past two months into one post.

First, let’s start with a garden update. This is for you, Celeste! 🙂 I got lots of stuff planted in May. The squash, green beans, banana peppers, bell peppers, lima beans, and okra all went into the ground. They are all thriving. I’ve already picked and eaten some bell peppers and banana peppers. The squash, green beans, and lima beans are all flowering right now. So, hopefully we’ll get some to eat before too long. Our planter of strawberries is consistently giving us some delicious berries, as well. We also discovered that we have a bunch of mulberry trees in our new yard. We’ve been munching on them for almost a month, now. Unfortunately, our lettuce and green onions didn’t really thrive, and the potatoes caught a fungus. I managed to save the potatoes with pruning and anti-fungal treatments, but the lettuce and green onions were a bust. I plan to start harvesting some potatoes in the next couple of weeks. So, we’ll see how that goes. We also bought a tomato plant in a planter, and it is growing tomatoes like crazy. I’m just waiting for them to ripen.

On the blogging front, things have been hit or miss. I have had some bursts of inspiration where I consistently posted and other weeks where I barely looked at the blog at all… Let’s not dwell on that, though. Now on to the monthly wrap-up!

What I’ve Read

May 2025 Books & Audiobooks

May was slightly slower than April. I just ran across several books that took me a while to get through, and it slowed my pace quite a bit. I still finished 10 books (4,562 pages), though. So, it was by no means a bad month. May was another solid month when it comes to ratings, as well, with all of my reads being 3 stars or above. I had no DNFs this month. The books I read in May are listed below (ratings link to my review, if available):

• Beware the Nameless by Zoraida Cordova (📖 / 4.25⭐)
• Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn (🎧 / 3.75⭐)
• The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. Maclean (📖 / 4.5⭐)
• The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah (📖 / 3.25⭐)
• Golden Son by Pierce Brown (🎧 / 4⭐)
• Tears of the Nameless by George Mann (📖 / 4.75⭐)
• The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde (🎧 / 3.5⭐)
• Tempest Breaker by Cavan Scott (🎧 / 4.5⭐)
• Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzalez (📱 / 4.25⭐)
• A Burning in the Bones by Scott Reintgen (📱 / 4.5⭐)

June 2025 Books & Audiobooks

I managed to get through a few more books in June than I did in May. In total, I finished reading 13 books in June (4,783 pages). One of the books was something I read for continuing education credit for my counseling license, and another of them was actually a rare re-read. While I didn’t have any super low ratings this month, there were a couple of disappointments. Here’s looking at you The Lure of Their Graves and The Robin on the Oak Throne. All of the books I read in June are listed below (ratings link to my review, if available):

• On Vicious Worlds by Bethany Jacobs (🎧 / 4.75⭐)
• We Can Never Leave by H. E. Edgmon (📱 / 4⭐)
• The Lure of Their Graves by Laura R. Samotin (🎧 / 3.25⭐)
• A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya (🎧 / 4⭐)
• ADHD in Adults by Brian P. Daly, Michael J. Silverstein, & Ronald T. Brown (📱 / 4⭐)
• His Face Is the Sun by Michelle Jabes Corpora (📖 / 4.5⭐)
• A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin (🎧 / 3.75⭐)
• A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin (📖 / 3.75⭐)
• The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller (📖 / 4⭐)
• Into the Light by Claudia Gray (📖 / 3.75⭐)
• The Robin on the Oak Throne by K.A. Linde (🎧 / 3⭐)
• The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater (📱 / 4⭐)
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (📖 / 4.5⭐)

Progress On My 2025 Reading Goals

Let’s continue this monthly wrap-up with notes on my progress with my 2025 bookish goals. I’ve kept my goals pretty simple again this year. I do want to keep some sort of record of the trackable ones, though. So, here’s a quick peek at how my year is going so far.

• Goodreads Challenge: 74/100 books (+10 in May, +13 in June)
• Storygraph Pages Challenge: COMPLETED!!
• Read from My Shelves: 27/50 (+7 in May, +4 in June)
• Books Unhauled: 20 sold on Pango (+4 in May, +3 in June)
• Blog More Consistently: 21/52 weeks with at least 3 posts (+2 in May, +4 in June)
• Read Red Rising: 2/6 (+1 in May)
• Read Book Box Picks: 6 (+1 in May, +1 in June)

I did pretty great on most of my goals in May & June. I sold some stuff on Pango and also continued reading the Red Rising series. I’m on track for my challenge of reading from my shelves, and I’ve managed to read a book box pick both months. Unfortunately, I missed some more weeks of posting at least three posts each week. So, I’m still struggling with my blogging consistency goal. 🙁

Final Thoughts

Overall, I had a good couple of months of reading with decent ratings covering quite the spread from 3 to 5 stars. My average rating was 4.13 in May & 3.94 in June, which is pretty typical for me. My favorite book in May was Tears of the Nameless, and my favorite from June was The Incandescent. What was your favorite book from May and June? Let me know down in the comments!

That’s it for this monthly wrap-up. Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and engaged with comments and/or likes! I appreciate all of you and always enjoy reading your input in the comments. I hope everyone has a great July!