The May Reading Letter: What I Read, What I Recommend, What Is Coming

May 2026 — for members only

This month I’ve been thinking about endings. Not book endings specifically — though we’ll get there — but that very particular grief of finishing a series you’ve lived inside for months. The way the world feels slightly less furnished afterwards, like a room where someone moved out and you keep looking at the empty space where their stuff used to be.

I finished the Winternight trilogy for the third time this month. Katherine Arden ends it in a way that’s almost unbearably right — not happy exactly, but TRUE, which is better. Vasya gets what she actually wanted, which turns out to be different from what she thought she wanted. That’s the most honest thing a fantasy novel can do.

What I Read This Month

Finished: The Winter of the Witch (Arden) — third read, still devastating. Bride (Ali Hazelwood) — lighter than her usual, but the enemies-to-lovers between a vampire and a werewolf is executed with her characteristic precision. House of Salt and Sorrows (Erin A. Craig) — gothic atmosphere, uneven pacing, one genuinely terrifying scene that makes the whole thing worth it.

Currently reading: The Familiar (Leigh Bardugo) — 200 pages in and I have NO idea where it’s going, which is rare and wonderful. Bardugo is doing something strange with the structure and I’m not yet sure if it’s working. Will report back.

Abandoned: One book I won’t name because the author doesn’t deserve the attention. It had a mating bond that resolved in chapter three. CHAPTER THREE. The rest of the book had nowhere to go and went there at length. This is exactly the failure mode I wrote about in the mating bond deep read — when the bond does the emotional heavy lifting the slow burn should handle, the story has nowhere left to climb. Zero tension remaining. I’m still annoyed about it.

This Month’s Pick

If you haven’t read Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik — this is your month (also on Kindle Unlimited). It’s a Rumpelstiltskin retelling set in a world that feels like Eastern European folklore filtered through a very precise moral intelligence. The romance is built on adversarial negotiation — two people trying to survive each other who slowly, reluctantly, start to prefer each other’s company. It’s enemies-to-lovers for people who like their romance served with intellectual sparring and genuine stakes. Absolutely gorgeous.

What’s Coming on Vellichor

Next week: a craft essay on how to write a villain love interest who’s genuinely dangerous without being cartoonishly evil. The week after: a deep read of the mating bond trope — what it’s actually doing and when it fails. Lore Keeper members get early access to both.

A quick note on the community front: the buddy read of The Familiar starts June 1st. If you’re interested, drop a comment or DM me — I’ll add you to the thread. No pressure, no schedule, just “are you also reading this? cool, let’s scream about it together” energy. The craft workshop on villain love interests will include a writing sprint, so if you’re working on your own manuscript, bring your worst (by which I mean best) morally questionable character.

Thank you for being here. Genuinely. This community is the best thing I’ve built and I’m not being chill about it. 🖤

— B.P.

What are YOU reading this month? Drop your current read in the comments — bonus points if it’s dark, morally questionable, and keeping you up past midnight. Let’s make this a buddy read situation. 🖤