And here we have the rest of my May books! Some of these were really awesome, so you should read them! Also I formatted this post on my phone in the hospital so… if it’s messy, cut a girl some slack

Myriad by Joshua David Bellin
Lose You to Find Me by Erik J. Brown
Battery Life by Brennan Gilpatrick & Gregory Lang
No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore
The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe
Preset by Sarina Dahlan

Myriad by Joshua David Bellin
Published by Angry Robot on May 23, 2023
Pages: 328
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Myriad has been in so many time streams she’s lost count – hiding from her feelings about her brother’s death she works to prevent crimes from happening but finds herself committing one instead…

MYRIAD is a mind-bending time travelling sci-fi thriller that will keep readers guessing to the very end.

Agent Miriam Randle works for LifeTime, a private law enforcement agency that undertakes short-term time travel to erase crimes before they occur. Haunted by the memory of her twin brother’s unsolved murder at the age of six, Miriam thinks of herself as Myriad—an incarnation of the many lives she’s lived in her journeys to rearrange the past.

When a routine assignment goes wrong and Miriam commits a murder she was meant to avert, she is thrown into the midst of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of LifeTime. Along with her partner Vax, Miriam flees into the past in an attempt to unravel the truth before LifeTime agents catch up with her.

But then her brother’s killer reappears, twenty years to the day since he first struck. And he’s not through with the twin who survived, not by a long shot.

I feel like I need to do my own TW: this book opens with a scene of a school shooting. And there is of course talk of it through the story.

I will admit, that was hard for me to open on. But once I got past those feelings, I was completely immersed in this story.

Miriam simply cannot get past the loss of her twin in this violent crime. She’s got serious survivor’s guilt, blames herself, and just doesn’t understand why she lives.  But live she does, often living the same time period more than once. In Miriam’s world, time travel is a thing, but only in very close proximity to the present. She and her partner Vax try to correct minor wrongs, trying to “right” their timeline, if you will.

Only nothing is as it seems, and Miriam’s most recent case is likely to send her down a path she won’t be able to undo. It’s intense, it’s incredibly high stakes, and it’s a very fresh take on time travel and chock full of mind blowing twists.

Bottom Line:  Highly recommend this story not just for the excitement and cool take on time travel, but for Miriam’s story and journey.

Lose You to Find Me by Erik J. Brown
on May 2, 2023
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

A romantic, heartfelt, and hilarious queer coming-of-age story from All That's Left in the World author Erik J. Brown, perfect for fans of What If It’s Us and If This Gets Out.

Tommy Dees is in the weeds—restaurant speak for beyond overwhelmed. He’s been working as a server at Sunset Estates retirement community to get the experience he needs to attend one of the best culinary schools in the world. And to make his application shine, he also needs a letter of recommendation from his sadistic manager. But in exchange for the letter, Tommy has to meet three conditions—including training the new hire.

What he doesn’t expect is for the newbie to be an old crush: Gabe, with the dimples and kind heart, who Tommy fell for during summer camp at age ten and then never saw again. Unfortunately, Gabe doesn’t remember Tommy at all. The training proves distracting as old feelings resurface, and the universe seems to be conspiring against them.

With the application deadline looming and Gabe on his mind, Tommy is determined to keep it all together—but what if life isn’t meant to follow a recipe?

So this one is fun and adorable, but also quite moving at times. A great blend for me, really. At the start, it was giving me strong vibes of Milo and Marcos at the End of the World, to the point where I was like “wait I already read this one?” but pretty quickly diverges. This is a solidly contemporary book, which admittedly isn’t my usual jam, but I adored the author’s debut, All That’s Left in the World, so I had to give it a go. And it was really good!

It’s definitely a coming of age story of Tommy, who is trying to figure out his future plans, when his first big crush Gabe saunters back into his life. Only, Gabe doesn’t seem to even remember Tommy, much less reciprocate his feelings. The cast of characters in this story is far and away the best part. I adored Tommy’s “favorites” at the retirement community, and he has some great friends and an awesome mother. And it was full of humor, but also, really heartfelt, more serious moments.

Without giving away too much of the story, I loved the growth that Tommy underwent, and the lessons that were woven throughout the story. This isn’t really a true spoiler but…. [View post to see spoiler] Anyway, I really applaud the way the author handled a lot of the relationship aspects of the book, I’ll leave it at that.

Bottom Line: Very cute and also very heartfelt, this was a strong second offering from Erik J. Brown.

Battery Life by Brennan Gilpatrick, Gregory Lang
Published by Blackstone Publishing on May 30, 2023
Pages: 350
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Equal parts Z for Zachariah and Mad Max, Gilpatrick and Lang's darkly funny debut follows a girl from outer space and an aging scavenger who must learn to trust each other in order to survive.

Welcome to the Junkyard, a toxic wasteland where humans, machines, and everything in between fight for survival among the ruins of a long-forgotten war. This is where Diane Three-One-Seven finds herself after the arkship Cradle--the only home she's ever known--falls out of the sky.

When a mysterious scavenger named Virgil stumbles upon Diane's escape pod, the two strike a deal (if it can be called that). Virgil's spare mechanical battle suit, nicknamed the "Grave Walker," can help Diane survive the ruined atmosphere--but it could kill her if it runs out of power. And Diane's untainted blood, a precious resource in this radioactive hellscape, could keep Virgil alive long enough to finish one last mission--but at what cost?

The two will have to wait to work out their differences, however, as a new threat appears on the horizon: a masked man called the Messenger, who hopes to subdue the Junkyard with a mysterious new power. With the help of a ragtag team of misfits, Diane and Virgil may just have a chance to stop him--if they don't kill each other first.

Whew, where to begin here? Wait I know, first a disclaimer: I read this book mostly on vacation. This was maybe not the best book to read whilst tired? Because I can’t quite figure out if the confusion was on me or the book. So, there you have my main downside, that I genuinely don’t know whether is my fault.

To begin, I loved the premise and the world and especially the characters. They were definitely my favorite part. I appreciated their struggle, even if I wasn’t totally sure what was happening. And that’s really the crux: everything I “got” about this book, I really liked. But I also felt that I was missing a lot, like I didn’t fully understand what was causing the sicknesses, and I was definitely a bit lost on how some of the more minor characters and alliances fit into things.

I definitely recommend this book, but I’d also make sure to read it when you have time to fully delve into the world. Then, you can do me a solid and let me know if it was my exhaustion or if the book was actually confusing.

Bottom Line:The characters were great, and I loved the overarching concept, but found some of the content confusing..

No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore
Published by Bloomsbury YA on May 30, 2023
Pages: 384
Format:ARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review

From lauded author Steven Salvatore comes a YA about twins whose incarcerated father dies and leaves behind a life-changing secret.

When their father was imprisoned for embezzlement, twins Alex and Olly Brucke lost everything except their strong bond with each other. But after their dad dies unexpectedly, the twins start to fracture. Alex is spiraling, skipping classes to get drunk or high. Olly is struggling with a secret his dad ordered him to keep: they have a secret half-brother, Tyler.

So when Tyler shows up in their lakeside town for the summer, hoping to get to know his siblings, Olly hides the truth from Alex. But as Alex and Tyler start to form a friendship, the lies become harder to juggle. If they can’t confront their father’s past and fix their relationship, Olly and Alex each risk losing two siblings forever.

A thought-provoking novel about grief, family secrets, and figuring out how to belong against the odds.

Seven percent of US children will have an incarcerated parent at some point in their childhood. Seven percent. Yet I can only think of a handful of books that cover the topic. So to say it’s woefully underrepresented would be an understatement. There were two aspects specifically that I really loved that the author included. The first is that he went into detail about how there are lots of people, especially folks of color, who are imprisoned unjustly. But he also was very clear that the main characters’ particular father was a criminal who deserved to be serving time in some way. Not that the prison system was good, mind you, he also did a great job pointing out the problems there, but just that the father in this case was full stop guilty.

The other aspect I loved was how differently siblings can handle the same situation. I certainly was able to relate to this part, where one sibling was heartbroken and couldn’t understand the other’s perceived lack of concern about their father. It felt very honest and very realistic.

The story itself was good for the most part. At some points in the middle it did feel a little slow, and the lie of omission trope was strong in this one. I did understand it, and it made sense to the characters and story, but it still frustrated me a bit.

I loved the huge focus on family, but also on growing as an individual. The siblings had to make some pretty big decisions for themselves, and had to do so no matter how it affected the other.

Bottom Line: A very necessary and well thought out story about a topic that impacts a lot more kids than you’d realize.

The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O'Keefe
Series: The Devoured Worlds #1
Published by Orbit on May 23, 2023
Pages: 544
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

When a spy is stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, she must first figure out how to survive before she can uncover the conspiracy that landed them both there in the first place.

She’s a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they’re found and Naira Sharp knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity’s expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.

He’s the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin’s father has tasked him with monitoring the mining of a new planet, and he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.

Disguised as Tarquin’s new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy his ship before it lands. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she’s sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that’s bigger than both of them.

I was so excited for this book because let’s face it, it sounds right up my weirdass alley. And it was, nice and messy, very unique, and definitely entertaining.

Things start out hectic from the first, with our new friends finding themselves in the midst of an interstellar catastrophe. And Naira doesn’t know who she can trust, but she’s sure it’s not any member of the universal tycoon family the Mercators. Certainly not the dude she finds herself stranded with, Tarquin. Only, she doesn’t know as much as she thinks about Tarquin. And he has no idea that she’s actually Naira Sharp, former employee he betrayed, and not the random bodyguard whose body she’s wearing.

It’s very The 100 in the sense that we’ve got body snatching and planet hopping and a ton of wonderfully gray morality. These are a few of my favorite things, after all. I found the whole concept to be very fresh, and the reader has the opportunity to uncover secrets (and lies) at every turn.

My only minor complaint is that I didn’t wholly love the bits with Tarquin’s dad, in part because I hate him (which I’m meant to) and partly because I just hate those Musky types and their stories of being The Worst . But it IS important to the story, those bits just excited me less.

Discovering all the aspects of the planet, the ships, and the world back home was awesome. The whole business about undying was very interesting. And the characters were definitely my favorite part. They’re incredibly multifaceted, and certainly not always what, or even who the seem. Can’t wait for book two!

Bottom Line: Loved the world and the characters and this story full of secrets and excitement.

Preset by Sarina Dahlan
Published by Blackstone Publishing on May 23, 2023
Pages: 2
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Inception meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this captivating prequel to the acclaimed, bestselling science fiction romance Reset.

Can you give up a love you can’t forget? After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors formed a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. To halt extinction, everything in the Four Cities is carefully predicted and carefully controlled … even love. But how can you control love and freedom?

Preset weaves the tales of Eleanor, the Crone, and Eli, the Planner, before and after the creation of the Four Cities. Much has changed in the world and their relationship, but there are some truths that have yet to come to light. Fighting for change yet still loving her husband Eli, the scientist Eleanor travels to Elara, the lone city resisting fully bending to Eli’s control. There she must separate reality from lies, memories from desires, as she tries to piece together the truth about what is happening in the Four Cities. But the gulf between love and freedom, between the past and the now, between what we remember and what we strive to become can be as vast as the break between two hearts bound together. It is here, in the dark fissure left by loss, where Eleanor discovers the true cost that has been paid to save humanity.

I really enjoyed the author’s first book in this world, Reset. I mean clearly, otherwise I’d not have requested this one, eh? Anyway, this is a prequel if we’re being technical, but  it can be read as a standalone. Regardless of HOW you read it, you should read it because it’s pretty great.

I enjoyed the story in Reset, but the emotional side of Preset took the whole series to the next level. I was already invested in this world which proposes the thought provoking concept of literally resetting your life. But NOW. Now I am wholly invested in the characters, and I am even MORE invested in the world building since I understand the hugely emotional impetus that lead to it.

Bottom Line: I cannot wait for more of this series! The world is so thought provoking, and now I’m all in on the characters too.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!  

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