It’s only the end of May, but this year is flying by!

I don’t discuss my personal life very much on this blog, but I would like to share that I am currently expecting and due in October! This will be my husband and I’s first baby, so we’re deep in the process of baby registries and learning all we can about raising a tiny human.

I’m not sure how much time I will be able to dedicate to this blog once baby comes, but I am hoping to continue posting new content at least 2x a month. So please stay tuned!

All that said, I have really enjoyed some of the new books coming out this year. I think more authors are exploring new genres and plot lines, and the quality shows.

Here are a few of my favorite reads this year so far:

North is the Night by Emily Rath

I’ve always been a sucker for fairy tales and retellings, but this book is an entirely original story based off of a bevvy of Finnish folklore. I won’t say the prose in this book is fantastic but you won’t care because the characters and world-building more than make up for it. It feels like the book version of hearing your mom tell you a dark fairy tale for the first time as a kid.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

This might come as no surprise but I was quite The Hunger Games fan when the books first started coming out. I even remember getting my copy of the first book at an actual Scholastic book fair! Sunrise on the Reaping took me back to Panem but also fleshed out Haymitch in a way that was emotionally intriguing. This book proves that just because you know how a story ends, doesn’t mean that learning about the journey isn’t worth it.

A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen (2nd book in duology)

If you like Norse mythology, Vikings and strong female protagonists, this series is for you. The first book in the series, A Fate Inked in Blood, helps set the stage but this second book really turns up the dial with great fight scenes, character development and relationship-building. It’s rare that I feel like an author gets actually better throughout a series, but it’s certainly true here for Jensen.