A complete review and recap of the books I read in May 2021. From galaxies far, far away to high fantasy romance and a beautiful YA story, this may be my favorite batch of books so far this year. PLUS. A little behind-the-scenes insight and mental health awareness thoughts.

BRIEFING NOTE: Illuminae is the first book in the YA space opera fantasy series, The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. It’s a fun and epic YA sci-fi novel set in space with a gang of badass, lovable, and snarky characters. It has everything I love in a story and more! AND THE BOOK CONCEPT. I also listened to the audiobook. It was such a unique reading experience for my 21st read of 2021! And to celebrate, I thought I’d recap 21 things I loved about Illuminae.

The Nevernight Chronicle took me completely by surprise. I went into it almost totally blind and I ended up loving it! This story is dark and mysterious, epic and unpredictable, smutty and snarky. There’s shadow magic, assassins, mythical gods, romance, swords, and pools of blood (literally). It’s savage and fierce but filled with humor, love, light, and hope. It is so much more than it appears! So let’s review The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff.