may 2025 reading wrap up
I READ SO MANY BOOKS THIS MONTH WHAT THE HECK
Books I read in May
1. Kings of Sin Series (#2-#5), Ana Huang
**spoilers for King of Greed below!
In 2022, I started Ana Huang’s new series with the first book, King of Wrath. At the time, I found it okay and rated it 3.5 stars. When the second book, King of Pride, was released in 2023, I ended up DNF-ing it, and I didn’t bother reading the rest of the series since then.
…Until I was struck with the worst reading slump this month in 2025 so here we are! This is what I thought about the books:
King of Pride (#2): I restarted from the beginning and safe to say, it successfully got me out of the dreadful slump I was in. I really liked Kai and Isa, and I thought they were cute.
King of Greed: (#3) This book took me by surprise. Compared to the Twisted Series and the previous two books, King of Greed was more angsty, emotional, and heartfelt. I enjoyed the grovelling aspect and the portrayal of Dominic’s love language (acts of service). I could see it in the way how devoted he was to Àle (his wife), and how he was willing to change for her. Even when they were separated, he still looked out for her. The only problem I had with this book was that it should’ve been longer.
King of Sloth (#4): On the other hand, I didn’t like this book. I didn’t resonate with Xavier and Sloane’s relationship and found the book too long. At the 60% mark, I was already over it and wanted the book to finish sooner. They kept bringing up how Sloane disappointed her family multiple times, and I wasn’t a fan of Xavier TBH.
King of Envy (#5): Vuk and Ayana’s book also took me by surprise, and I didn’t expect to rate this book *slightly* higher than King of Greed. This book had a darker edge than the others in the series, and in a way, it reminded me a lot of Twisted Lies.
Verdicts:
King of Pride: 3.25/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
King of Greed: 3.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
King of Sloth: 2.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️
King of Envy: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Funny Story, Emily Henry
After the Kings of Sin series, I knew that I wanted to read more contemporary romance books. I decided to read the last two Emily Henry books that were published, starting with Funny Story.
I’m not sure what the book community thinks of this book overall, but personally, I did not like it. I found it boring and I didn’t connect with the main characters, Miles and Daphne. I found him unattractive and I found her “food moaning” quirk annoying. The story also didn’t resonate with me either.
Verdict: 2/5 stars ⭐️⭐️
3. Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry
To the reviewer on Goodreads who said that Emily Henry wrote Great Big Beautiful World after reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo… well, you were right.
I know how many of my reader friends loved this book, but personally, for me, I didn’t like this book. Like with Funny Story, I didn’t care for the story and its characters. I found the plot to be boring, and I reached a point in time where I just wanted to finish the book ASAP.
But I do admit the plot twist of Hayden (redacted) got me there. I didn’t expect it at all.
Verdict: 2/5 stars ⭐️⭐️
4. Rewind it Back, Liz Tomforde
Rewind it Back was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2025, even though I was hesitant to let go of my Windy City family. It’s the last book in the series, and it’s usually bittersweet when I read the last book of a series that I love so much.
A lot of people might hate me for this but this book was a 3-star read for me. I didn’t get the same buzz (giddy feeling) that I got when I read Mile High, The Right Move, and Play Along. Here’s why:
I loved it at the beginning but as the story progressed, I started losing a bit of interest in Rio and Hallie’s story. It was nearly perfect because I would’ve liked the book more if it had more angst before they became a couple again. I also thought they changed their feelings for one another pretty quickly too, despite their past.
Regardless of that, I still adored their dynamic and their shared love for music. They felt nostalgic and warm, and I love how they fit perfectly in the Windy City family. I’m happy everyone got their happy ending and I’ll definitely miss them all.
Verdict: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
I know I read this book again last year but I got my physical copy and I wanted to annotate it. Here’s how it went:
uEE 💧UEEE☹️ uE 💧💧uuuE 😭 UEE 💧uE ☹️☹️Ueee 😭😭UEEE💧 😭UEE😭💧Eu💧💧E E😭😭 E EUE😭UUUUE😭💧😭 ue 💧ee😭💧ue e e😭. e😭Uueuuue💧💧ue ee e😭eUEE 💧💧EEE 💧💧😭U E 😭💧EE H💧😭E EUU💧😭UUEHH💧😭EUEU E 😩
That’s it.
Just read ’s post for quotes.
Verdict: 5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Love, Theoretically, Ali Hazelwood
Speaking of annotating and rereading books this month…. I also picked up Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. It read it back in 2023 and honestly I don’t remember much besides loving it (and giving it a 5-star rating).
“To be loved is to be seen” — reading this book reminded me of that quote because Jack Smith sees Elsie. Besides his clear admiration, I liked reading the ways he took care of her and anticipated her needs. He consistently noticed her and acknowledged her and he was like this (very) tall, reassuring wall of a man that I wish existed in real life.
I took down my original rating to 4-stars because of the STEM aspects, which dragged the story by a bit.
Verdict: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. Dance of Thieves Duology, Mary E. Pearson
This fantasy duology was so hard to get into at first. It took me not one, but three attempts to finally lock in and realize I should’ve started Dance of Thieves sooner.
Because I really enjoyed it. I think it’s an underrated fantasy read because it was well done in the writing, the plot, and the world building.
But you know what took me by surprise the most? Kazi and Jase. These two? INSANE. They gave me the enemies-to-lovers buzz I needed, with a side of forced proximity, a little bit of angst, TWO knife to throat scenes (!!!) in the first book, and crazy quotes that made me look up from my Kindle and scream.
“I want to kiss you, Kazi,” he finally said, his voice a whisper. “And I want you to kiss me back. But this time I don’t want it to be because we’re only making the best of it. And I don’t want a kiss that’s for show or has any conditions. I want you to kiss me just because you want to. Because you deeply want to. No one’s watching now. You can walk away, and I won’t say a thing. I promise, I won’t ever bring it up again.”
Verdicts:
Dance of Thieves: 4.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vow of Thieves: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Books I DNF-ed
Technically, these were the two books that I started last month but I didn’t bother finishing them because I put them off too long.
8. Lie with Me, Philippe Besson
During my short-read phase last month, I picked up Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. It was recommended to me on Twitter by one of my mutuals and I figured May would be a great time to read because it was less than 200 pages… But then I fell into a two-week-long slump.
Unfortunately, I decided to DNF this book at 33%. It was hard to get into it after coming out of the slump, and I just gave up.
Verdict: DNF 🚫📚
9. Eyes on Me, Sara Cate
If the first book in the Salacious Players Club series helped me get out of a slump, maybe the second book will do the same, right?
Right?
Spoiler alert: It did not help me get out of my slump. While it was my favourite book in the series in 2022, rereading it in 2025 made me question why I liked it back then.
Verdict: DNF 🚫📚
— featured image credit: pinterest
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"Here's how it went" *crying emojis* I'M HOWLINGGGG 😭 thanks for the mention and you reminded me that i also got my physical copy but i have yet to reread for annotations :')