Unboxing My Latest Book Haul

Book Mail: A Roundup of the Book Mail I Received Last Week

Receiving a week’s worth of book mail in mid-May is like opening a door to endless sunny-day escapes. With new book releases arriving just in time for warm afternoons and breezy weekends, this book haul feels like a personal literary festival. Each title brings fresh excitement to your TBR pile, offering stories that inspire, entertain, and might just become some of the best books of 2025. Whether you're reading in the park or planning your summer book recommendations, this stack of stories is the perfect companion for the season’s slower, sweeter pace.

Where to Buy These Books:

I want to note that I do not get paid to do these posts, I just love authors and the book industry. However, they do take time and energy to create. If you want to donate a few dollars to my coffee fund, which keeps this blog going, you can do so here: https://venmo.com/AshleyHasty or here: http://paypal.me/hastybooklist.

What I Wore:

Sweater | Earrings | Necklace | Makeup

In mid May, when the blooms are in full swing and your days start to feel like chapters from a story you’d actually want to reread, pulling on a light pink cashmere sweater, skinny jeans with a button front and frayed hem, and your go-to gold hoop earrings and herringbone necklace becomes your personal main character outfit. It’s a look that balances softness and edge—main character fashion that radiates quiet confidence and timeless main character style. As you flip through your latest stack of book mail, each spine whispering promise and possibility, you’re not just choosing your next read—you’re living your main character life. This is the essence of main character aesthetic books and clothing: style that fuels self-expression, and stories that speak to your soul. It’s an afternoon wrapped in main character energy, where what you wear and what you read merge to become your own personal plotline.

This Week’s Book Mail Includes:

• Thanks a Latte for Being My Teacher! by Rose Rossner and Emily Emerson

• Digging for Dinosaurs at the Beach by June Smalls and Grace Habib

• Digging for Dinosaurs by by June Smalls and Grace Habib

• A Pocket Guide to New Balance by May and Molyneux

• A Pocket Guide to Converse by Jessica Bumpus

• Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin

• The Secrets of Maiden's Cove by Erin Palmisano

• The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French

• Silver Echoes by Rebecca Rosenberg

• Fast Boys and Pretty Girls by Lo Patrick

• Secrets of the Career Game: 36 Simple Strategies to Win in the Workplace by Kendall Berg

• Smoke on the Wind by Kelli Estes

• Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone

• Turning to Birds by Lili Taylor

• Moms Like Us by Jordan Roter

• Family and Other Calamities by Leslie Gray Streeter

• Reckonings by Karen E. Osborne

• The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty by Kirsten Mickelwait

• The Fire Concerto by Sarah Landenwich

• When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

• The Turn by Christopher Ransom

• Women Like Us by Katia Lief

• The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

• The Cruicial Years by Dr. Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler

• Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe

• An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris

• Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau

• Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan