On Reading in May 2025 (Best of)

My favorite part of May was the first half when the temperature was perfect and I got to read—and work—outside on a lounge chair. I’m also a big fan of the whole nature during spring, except for whatever ate all my grown-from-seeds cosmos, pentas, and sunflowers. That was just rude, and I understand all the cartoon characters at war with animals even if I’m forever Elmyra Duff at heart.

In my reading life I’ve been feeling this for a few years now: the fall of book editing (why books are bad now).

As for what I read in May here are my standouts—across genres—and a handful of mysteries that were entertaining.

More Best of 2025

Blob by Maggie Su

Give me all the weird things, please! I love a smart, weird novel that has a point. Vi Liu has never felt like she fits in with anyone, or anywhere. Then she brings home a literal blob with eyes that she finds in the street. Over time—through commands, feeding it, and a lot of TV and lessons—the sentient blob becomes a gorgeous man. A man that Vi brings home to her family as her boyfriend. But can a sentient blob turned man be a fix for her life and how she feels? If you like darky funny and weird, definitely read this one.

I’ve become a big fan of Eunice Wong’s narrations and was thrilled to see she was the audiobook narrator.

Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read

Scammers stay scamming when they’re rich and have government connections could have also been the title of this book. (Someone should really put me in charge of naming things.) This is the history of multilevel marketing companies (think Mary Kay, Amway) and how a “business” that is built on the sales coming from the sellers and not actual buyers is still not officially labeled a scam. Not a spoiler, the wellness industry of course comes into play. I really like how Read dove deep into all the original history (and people’s real bios vs the public lies on their bios) while also interviewing and telling the stories of people who were scammed by MLMs.

Too Old For This by Samantha Downing

I love a crime book that starts with a !!!! scene and then doesn’t let up. My top two Downing books are For Your Own Good and now this one— even though they are very different books they both have leads that believe in punishing others who don’t behave as they wish. In this case you get to know a retired serial killer “forced” out of retirement when a potential docu-series might upend her current quiet life. Warning: you might find yourself halfway through realizing that you’re worried about the serial killer.

Big Heart

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

This may end up on my best-of-list at the end of the year—I may go into a Kevin Wilson novel with super high expectations because one of my favorite novels is Nothing to See Here, so that might be why this landed just shy? Or maybe it was missing a tiny bit of something I can’t put my finger on? Maybe the world is just garbage and I want too much from things? Anyhoo, it is definitely a Wilson book with charm, quirk, big heart, and people trying to find themselves—in this case a man goes looking for his half-siblings who are all unaware that their father has started and left many families throughout the years.

Winging It With You by Chip Pons

I have found myself DNF’ing romances lately for being slowly paced without characters that I care enough about or for over promising a premise that isn’t strong enough on the page. I love that Pons delivered both on the fake dating trope/romance story and the fun, chaotic element of being on a reality show like The Amazing Race. (I love when I pick up a book solely because of the cover and it pays off!)

Graphic Novels

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

NYPL’s Teen Banned Book Club chose this and so I figured what better time to finally read it. It’s a lovely graphic novel about a young boy who reads fairy tales with his mom (they get woven into the story) who is trying to find a way to say that he is gay while his mom is dealing with having left her family behind in Vietnam. It’s about language and generational barriers, family, friendship, coming out, guilt, grief, and finding your way.

Trung Le Nguyen has a fall releasing graphic novel, Angelica and the Bear Prince, with a gorgeous cover that is absolutely on my TBR.

Lore Olympus vol 8 by Rachel Smythe

I remain obsessed with this series and the second a new volume comes out I drop everything, read it, and then hate that I read it so fast and have to wait for the next installment. It’s a modern retelling centering Persephone and Hades that began as a webtoon and is now serialized. I love the artwork’s watercolor feel and use of color for different characters, emotions, and tone and I’m always here for any kind of grumpy/sunshine trope, plus the banter, and slow build just totally works for me in this series.

Entertaining Mysteries

Up In Smoke by Nick Brooks

I really liked the characters in Up In Smoke and the predicament that one of the main characters is in throughout the book: Cooper grew up with brother and sister Jason and Monique, with Jason being a big brother figure and Monique being his crush. On the night of protests he ends up looting with Jason as Monique delivers a speech on peaceful activism. When Jason gets arrested for murder, Cooper can’t bring himself to admit he was there so instead he teams up with Monique to prove her brother didn’t murder anyone—all while having to hide from Monique what he did…

I liked this one as much as I liked Brooks’ Promise Boys and look forward to more YA mysteries from him.

We Don’t Talk About Carol by Kristen L. Berry

This is a missing person mystery that also works for readers who like contemporary and family dramas that unearth family secrets. I’ve found that many of the recent mystery/thrillers don’t equally focus on both the theme/personal stories and the mystery/crime which usually feels unbalanced but I liked the balance in this one.

It’s Berry’s debut novel and I’ll pick up her next book.

The Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocumb

I love the way Slocumb puts his knowledge of music into his crime books. This focuses on a family forced into witness protection but the adult son has to give up his music career and is really struggling with that. After they’re kicked out of the program (whoopsie) they come together as a family to solve the case the FBI couldn't, hoping it’ll free them— but it’s a crime book so of course that just puts them in danger. I like witness protection crime books, and didn’t mind the big Hollywood thriller ending that was more for entertainment than reality, but the beginning when you get to know the family was a great contemporary story.

The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson

I read the entire book in two sittings because I couldn’t put it down. It’s a twisty, university set crime novel about scammers and revenge. My favorite thing about this book was one of the topics it centers around: how generational trauma can be exploited in community.

I read a galley months before its publication date and I don’t have the bandwidth to go back and make sure no thread was left loose but if there are (the ending feels a bit messy) it will still rank as one of my top mystery reads of the year for wrapping this topical topic around a thriller.

And that’s it for past reading, now onto the TBR pile that will certainly bury me.