It’s been
quite a while since I’ve done a wrap-up… well over 2 months in fact, but that
does mean that I’ve got 2 months’ worth of books to wrap up so this might well
be quite a long one!
MAY
May called for some big names, as far as books
were concerned, as well as a debut that read as thought it was written by a
well-established author. Reading Big
Little Lies was a bit of a must for me, as I wanted to delve into the TV
show and I have a strict rule requiring that I read the book first. I LOVED the
book and the show wasn’t awful either- I’ve reviewed the book in full here
if you want to read more of my thoughts on it. I would definitely recommend,
regardless.
The
Breakdown by B.A. Paris was
another absolute cracker of a read: we all know I love my psychological
thrillers and quite frankly, B.A Paris is one of the masters of the genre. I’m planning a full review of this one at some
point in the next few weeks, but if you like a good thriller or a book with a
twist at the end, then this is definitely the one for you.
I’ve reviewed my last book of May, Miss You by Kate Eberlen, in full and again, it was a book that I thoroughly
enjoyed reading. The cover of the book compares it to One Day by David Nicholls, which
I think is a fair comparison considering the plot and the style of writing. I
would say that it’s as good as One Day, in
a completely different way. My full review is here
if you want to have a read.
JUNE
June was a
month for contemporaries and even more psychological fiction. I started off
with What Alice Knew by T.A. Cotterell. This one wasn’t the
BEST book I’ve read, but it also wasn’t the worst. I have quite a few thoughts
on the book that I’m planning on exploring in more detail next week, but I will
say that there were certain aspects of the story that I found to be a little
unbelievable and frustrating. I gave the book 3/5 on my goodreads reviw, although
I must admit that I was quite generous. It could have gone either way with me,
unfortunately it went the way I hoped it wouldn’t.
By contrast,
Sister Sister by Sue Fortin was a book I really CAN get
behind. This one was creepy and thought-provoking and had me questioning every
character, every motive and every possibility. I love a book that allows you to
get lost in its pages and this was definitely one of those page turners.
Sarah Dessen and I have had a long and thorough relationship,
books-wise. She’s the author I’m probably most attached to, of all the books I’ve
ever read. Her contemporary YA books are few and far between nowadays – we’re
lucky to get a book from her every three years- and I understand why; life just
gets in the way of writing. Every time she announces a new book, however, I
have absolutely no doubt that the book will be everything I need, and Once and For All was absolutely no
exception to that. I have read every book that Sarah has written, some of them
multiple times, and she continues to write stories that touch me to the core. This
book was the same. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, and I love Sarah’s
writing style more than anything. She has such a way with words and simple
sentences from her sound melodic. My review of this will be up this week, but
in the meantime, go out and buy the book if you haven’t done already.
We all know Patrick Ness. You’ve probably read or
watched A Monster Calls and blubbed
throughout. Perhaps you’ve also read a few of his other books as well. I’m yet
to be disappointed by a book by him. Until, recently, I kind of was. I say kind of, because his newest book, Release, was actually blooming good.
Except for ONE little catch- it had a sort of side-story that just baffled me
beyond belief. Again, I’ll be sharing my thoughts in a stand-alone review in
the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that if you want to know more before buying
it for yourself.
JULY
At the end of June, I was invited to participate in the book
tour for The Things We Thought We
Knew by Mahsuda Snaith. I
re-read bits of the book in July, so I’m including it in this month’s reads. I
LOVED this book. It explored issues that I’ve never come across before, in a
writing style that I instantly found myself attached to. READ. THIS. BOOK.
I couldn’t go a month without a good old fashioned
psychological thriller, could I? Clare Mackintosh’s I Let You Go was probably one of the first books I ever reviewed on
this blog, so I definitely have a little bit of a soft spot for her writing. I
don’t think you’ll be all that surprised to hear that I See You did not disappoint me and I have a Clare Mackintosh
shaped hole in my heart again!
All The Bright Places
is one that I’ve had
in my amazon basket for what seems like forever, so I thought it was about time
that I bought myself a copy and gave it a read. This was one of those books
that you need to devour in a single sitting, and I did just that, with the exception
of the last 40 pages or so. It was a devastating book, with a beautiful and
interesting tale following two incredibly different but fascinating characters.
The relationship formed between the two protagonists was a pure one and the end
result was simply devastating.
On 4th July, along with a few friends, I went to a Waterstones event in Liverpool involving Matt Haig. I’ve read a few of Matt’s books- Reasons to Stay Alive and The Humans- and the release of his newest book How to Stop Time really interested me. Listening to Matt speak was an amazing experience and reading this book added to that experience. The book is interesting, incredibly unlike anything I’ve read before, and full of unimaginable wisdom. A truly remarkable book written by a truly remarkable author. My full review of the book will go live on Sunday, and I have A LOT of thoughts about it to share with you all.
What have you been reading recently? Let me know!
