Book Recommendations: Part One

If you've been here for the last couple of years you may have noticed that I rediscovered my love of books and ever since have been a bit of a bookworm. And sure I talk about all the books I've read in my What I Read's and all the ones I've brought in Hauls and a lot of you may use those posts as recommendations but today I thought I'd compile a few books both standalones and series that I recommend you add to your 2020 TBR.

The first series will come as no surprise to any of you. The Cursebreakers Series by Brigid Kemmerer fast became a favourite after I read it's first book last year and it's sequel in January. Following Harper who one night is transported to the land of Emberfall where she meets cursed Prince Rhen and his Royal Guard Commander Grey, the first book A Curse So Dark And Lonely follows them as they attempt to break Rhen's curse whilst attempting to salvage what is left of his kingdom. It's jammed packed full of dry one liners, a fierce female character and twists and turns aplenty. Yet the sequel; A Heart So Fierce And Broken, is even more explosive. It follows Grey as he takes on a journey not only to save the land of Emberfall but himself and his somewhat tense relationship with Rhen. It hosts a whole catalogue of new characters and has even more plot twists than the first book. The ending of book two has me eagerly awaiting the third book in the series but it's going to be a painful wait as it isn't scheduled to be released until November 2021. All that aside though, the main reason I love this series is Harper. She is a fierce young woman who admittedly panics when she's first transported to Emberfall but then takes a stand and doesn't take shit from anyone. It's the portrayal of Harper's disability that I love the most though. Harper has cerebal palsy but she doesn't let it stop her from being a badass, she doesn't let it stop her from standing up for what she believes in and in the first book it doesn't stop her from demanding to be taught how to look after herself in this strange and somewhat dangerous world.

This next series is another that won't come as a surprise to you either. I've spoken a lot about it recently, having just finished it in January. Arc Of Scythe is a trilogy of books from Neal Shusterman that follows a world where every disease, every possible way of dying has been eradicated. People are living longer than before and it's up to a select commitee called Scythe's to stop the world from becoming over populated. And this trilogy follows two Rown and Citra who have been picked to be Scythe's apprentices, one of who will become a fully ordained Scythe. Yet it's not just the way of the Scythe they have to learn, they have to learn how to handle the extremely delicate political system that the Scythe's live and die by. I adore this series, it has so many plot twists, shocking turns and a good cliffhanger or two that you'll be up until the early hours reading. I literally devoured book one late last year and marathoned both books two and three back to back in January. I'm a little sad this series is over but it's definitely one I can see myself rereading over and over again. The world is deliciously complex, the characters are well written and yet still have their flaws and whilst the ending isn't my favourite, it's definitely a fitting end for this trilogy. I have literally everything crossed that Neal Shusterman writes another series in this world as I just can't get enough of it.

Next is the book that I originally thought was a standalone but actually has a sequel being released in April. A Good Girl's Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson was my favourite book of 2019. It follows Pip, a young girl who's final project for school sees her reopening a five year old murder case that rocked her small town. I can not say enough good things about this book. It's a hooking read, you'll be up for hours devouring it, including it's inclusion of court transcripts, newspaper clippings and journal entries. So when I found out it was actually Jackson's debut novel, I was shocked. But also incredibly happy to find out that this was being made into a series, book two being released in April which follows Pip as she starts her own true crime podcast but gets sucked into a fresh investigation when her friend disappears. This is only starting to get the hype it deserves and I can't believe people have slept on this book for so long.

 Another YA Mystery that I can't recommend enough is The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg.This is an amazing multimedia style YA standalone that I completely devoured last year. Centered around a theme park called The Kingdom, this story follows Ana, a fantasist (think Disney Princess) who's on trial for murdering a worker at the theme park. It weaves between two times line, the present as Ana is on trial and the past which shows the build up of events until the murder itself. This is again told through a multitude of medias including court transcripts, transcripts of CCTV, interviews with Ana and even newspaper reports. It really works well to break up the events of the book, especially as some chapters can be very heavy and triggering. I do warn you that there are themes of rape, sexual harrassement and animal abuse for this book but they are handled in a very written manner that doesn't explicitly throw them at the reader but does imply that it's happening. I adored this book, it was so unlike anything else I read last year and I wish that Rothenberg had left it open enough for there to possibly be a sequel.

And the last book I want to recommend to you isn't YA. It's actually an a crime/mystery/thriller that kicked off my 2019 reading year. The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton had me hooked from the blurb alone. Evelyn Hardcastle is destined to die at 11pm unless you can work who the killer is. Yet you aren't in your own body, you're currently inhabiting the eight different hosts that are in attendance at the time of Evelyn's death. Each has their own secrets, their own reasons but with only 24 hours in each host, time to digest it all isn't something you have. And if you want to escape the grounds of Blackheath, you have to play the game until you've rumbled the killer. This book is definitely a thinker, you have to concentrate because so much happens in each chapter and as you delve deeper into the mystery, it all starts to intersect and it can hard to keep up. But I know that won't happen as you'll be hooked from the first page and it only gets better the further in you get. Stuart Turton has a new book coming out in October and you can bet that I'm preordering that right away.

What I Read: January

Thank God January Is Over! What a long ass month in terms of life and kick starting 2020 but a quick month for readng. I had an okay reading last year and I wanted to improve on that in 2020 which is why I'm a little disappointed in the amount of books I actually read in January but some of these books were a little long and took me a while to finish.

The first book I read in January was Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. This is the second installment in the Arc Of A Scythe Trilogy. If you haven't heard about this series, it follows Citra and Rowan who are thrust unexpectedly into the world of Scythes in a world where death, poverty, famine and disease have been vanquished. Picking straight up from where Scythe ended, Thunderhead is again another jam packed book that is filled with tons of twists and turns and an ending that had my mouth hanging open in shock and in desperate need of reading the third and final installment straight away.

And of course with how much I loved Thunderhead and how it ended, I just had to pick up The Toll straight away after finishing Thunderhead. Now I wanted to love this final installment as much as I loved the first two but this final wild ride didn't quite hit the spot. I understand that there was a long game being played throughout the book but at times it felt overly drawn out and hard to keep an interest in. And as for the ending. No I won't accept it. It wasn't what I was expecting and I didn't enjoy it one bit. I had thought there was going to be at least one final showdown with all the politics, twists, backstabbing and shocks but it didn't work that way. You may love the way this series ends but I didn't enjoy it, especially after the way that both books One and Two set it up.

And the last book I read in January was one of my most hyped books for the year and I'm already kicking myself for readng it so fast as I now have a year and a half wait for the next book. A Heart So Fierce And Broken is the second book in the Cursebreakers series. This book continues off where A Curse So Dark And Lonely finished but instead of focusing on Rhen and Harper, this sequel follows Grey and what's happened to him since his face off with Lilith in the first book. I can not put into words how much I loved this book. It was definitely my favourite read of the month. I adored Grey as a character in the first book so getting to extend and learn more about his character as well as introducing several new characters that added to Grey as a character made me love this book more than I thought possible. The twist near the end was one I didn't see coming and the final twist is going to make Book Three one of my most hyped books of next year, I just wish I didn't have to wait so long to get my hands on it.

What I Read: November

 

November hasn't been the greatest reading month I've had this month but it's been a busy month and I'm just grateful that I had enough time to finish what I actually read. And although I've read less than usual this month, what I have read has been phenomenal and I've been dying to tell you all about them.

The first book I finished was The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg. Centred around a very Disneyland inspired theme park called The Kingdom; it follows Ana one of seven fantasists who are very much designed around Disney Princesses, who's on trial for murder. And that's all I can say about the plot without spoiling it too much. But what I can say is that it was amazing and I loved how it was laid out throughout the book. Instead of just being straight up told, there are court transcripts, lawyer interviews, newspaper cutouts and transcripts of CCTV as it's watched. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did. There are a couple of trigger warnings in this book, both that made me feel a little uncomfortable. Fair warning now there is a slight mention of animal abuse and sexual harrassment/assault in this book. Yet if you can push past that, this book is amazing. I was hooked and couldn't put it down. Each chapter built to the murder trial that starts at the beginning of the book and it wasn't until three quarters of the way through that I had an inkling of how it was going to end. Yet how the ending played out, I was still shocked. I didn't see it coming and I'm really hoping that Jess Rothenberg makes a sequel to this as she left it pretty open that would easily be written into a sequel.

And the second and last book I finished this month is one that's been sat on my TBR pile for a while. And that is Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Now this is one of the most hyped YA books on BookTube and Bookstagram and there's a reason for it. I went in a little dubious as I didn't want to be disappointed by a book that's so widely hyped by everyone else. However whilst it was slow to start, I was quickly hooked and every new twist in each chapter had me eaer to read more. Scythe follows a post modern world where everything from faminine to mortal death has been conquered and to keep population numbers even and fair, there is an institution called the Scythedom. Scythes are like the Grim Reaper and this book follows Citra and Rowan who are taken on as apprentices under the honorable Scythe Faraday. And what starts as a friendly competition between two teenagers who's attraction to each other seems like the biggest problem, and until Chapter 15 that's how I thought this was going to play out. But oh boy did this twist quicker than an slippery seal. Each chapter has a new twist, a new shock and many had many WTF moments. The ending is possibly one of the best endings I've read all year and I'm itching to pick up it's sequel Thunderhead now. However I've got Elton John's new autobiography to read and I've been dying to read that since it was announced. If you read one book between now and the end of the year I highly recommend you pick up Scythe. Fast paced, shocking, twist and easy to get lost in, this is the perfect book to pick up and lose yourself in after a long day at work.