Mel's Random May

May has been hard working month - at least for me! All the short weeks in April with Easter bank holidays means it was hard to get back into 5 day weeks again. It didn't help that the sun seems to have disappeared fom the UK. However, one of my friends stayed with me recently and left this lovely to do list on my whiteboard which really cheered me up and I wanted to share. Try and make sure you all pick up at least one item on the list this month! :)

So, how was my reading month?

Books
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde (FCC's Speculative Fiction Challenge)
Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later - Francine Pascal
Remember Me 3: The Return - Christopher Pike (BV's YA of the 80s and 90s)
The Tenth Chamber - Glenn Cooper (BCC's Mystery and Suspense Challenge)
Killing Rocks - DD Barant
Angel Burn - LA Weatherly
Dead In The Family - Charlaine Harris
Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov (FCC's Speculative Fiction Challenge + Personal Challege)
Rot and Ruin - Jonathan Maberry
The Neon Court - Kate Griffin (FCC's Speculative Fiction Challenge)
The Sentinel Mage - Emily Gee
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley
Bite Marks - Jennifer Rardin

Audiobooks
Tempest Rising - Nicole Peeler

EBooks
Wow - I can't believe I didn't read any ebooks this month! I was on a serious mission to shorten my physical TBR pile so left my kindle at home for most of May. This will no doubt be balanced out by July when I plan I plan to take only the kindle on holiday with me. As for shortening my TBR pile - it might have worked if I hadn't gone on a couple of splurging spending sprees (try saying that five times fast!)... :)

Other Posts
Books Remembered look back at Sweet Valley High
I introduced a new occasional feature - Same Book/Different Cover and started with Kelley Armstrong's first Otherworld book - Bitten.
In addition I had two Giveaways - Sarah's Birthday celebrations & Splash Into Summer Blog Hop - which ends today - last chance to enter here!

In addition there were the usual wishlist posts, in my mailbox and Throwback Thursdays.

So with all that in mind my reading challenges status looks like this:
BCC's Mystery & Suspense Challenge - 7 Read, 5 Left to read
FTC Speculative Fiction Challenge - 11 Read, 1 Left to read
BV's YA of 80s and 90s Challenge - 10 Read, 2 Left to read

Personal Classic Challenge -  3 Read

This month I also took part in the The Unread Reader's All Male Review Challange to read books with Male Protangists or authors. I think I did quite well with 5 books under that heading this month!

Highlight of the Month: Has to be Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - adventure, coming of age and mystery - simply brilliant.

Honourable Mentions: The Neon Court by Kate Griffin - I love Matthew Swift and it's set in my home town! Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde was great as well.

So what was your month like?