I Love Books

She/her || This is my book blog! Here, I write reviews and generally post about bookish stuff

[lonebooks]

Hey! It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here cause I’ve been taking a break from social media for mental health reasons. But I’m back now and I’ve been enjoying the bookshops that have reopened near where I live! These are some of the books I’ve bought recently from secondhand bookshops and local bookshops. I’m very excited to read them! The books pictured include:

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

A Vow so Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Empress of all Seasons by Emiko Jean

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

[lonebooks]

One of my most recent reads is Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo! Whilst being drastically different in tone from the Grishaverse series, this book has the same charismatic characters and vibrant world building. In this book we follow Alex Stern, a young woman with a dark past working for the Ninth House of Yale to monitor the other eight houses, to ensure that their occultic practices don’t go too far. After it seems like one of the houses has overstepped their boundaries with devastating results, Alex must work to discover the truth about the secret societies of Yale, and herself. Before reading this book, I’d advise looking up a list of trigger warnings as this book contains a lot of adult content.

[lonebooks]

Recently I reread the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and really enjoyed it so I decided to finally read the first two books in the companion series, The Book of Dust! I mostly enjoyed them though the timeline gets a little confusing as there are 20 years between the first book and the second book which I wasn’t aware of until I started reading it. Overall I enjoyed La Belle Sauvage over The Secret Commonwealth but I’d still recommend them both to fans of the series who want to see more of the rich fantasy world that Lyra grows up in!

[lonebooks]

I bought these books a while ago from charity shops before my country went back into lockdown again. I adore shopping at charity shops and secondhand bookshops as I’m usually able to find books I haven’t seen anywhere else for a really good price. It’s interesting trying to work out the history of the books too, in this haul there are a couple of retired library books and one was given to someone as a reward. It gives them a lot of character! I can’t wait for the shops to open again! In the meantime I’m looking forward to hopefully getting through these books in the upcoming months. The books pictured are:

Slated by Teri Terry

Fractured by Teri Terry

Shattered by Teri Terry

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

The Martian by Andy Weir

A Blade so Black by L.L. McKinney

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

The Sin Eaters Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

[lonebooks]

Happy new year everyone! I hope that 2021 brings good times to everyone and that things can return to normal soon. In the meantime here are the books that I got for Christmas this year! I’m so excited to start reading them. The books pictured are:

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

The Malloreon series by David Eddings

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

Dark Age by Pierce Brown

[lonebooks]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but here’s some books I bought from my local charity shops after they reopened recently (as well as a few from the high street)! The shops had been shut for a long while where I live so it was really nice to get out of the house again. I love shopping in charity shops as I often pick up books that take me out of my comfort zone so I’m really excited to read these! The books pictured in this photo are:

Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

Slay by Kim Curran

The Inquisition by Taran Matharu

The Outcast by Taran Matharu

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Clean by Juno Dawson

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

A Christmas Railway Mystery by Edward Marston

Assassins Creed Brotherhood by Oliver Bowden

[lonebooks]

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand was one of my favourite books I read last month! In this book we follow Marion, Zoey and Val who live on a remote island where girls have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances for decades. The main thing I enjoyed about this book was the representation and feminist themes. There is an asexual character of colour and multiple wlw characters who could be read as either lesbian or bisexual. This book really explores the way society trys to turn women against each other and the way that men in positions of power exploit women. I loved the message of finding your own path and there being multiple ways to fight back. Another thing I enjoyed was the connection the characters had to the land; if you like paganism or follow witchcraft I feel like you’d really enjoy this aspect of the book. Add this to the fact that it’s really scary and you have an absolutely brilliant autumnal read!

[lonebooks]

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl series by Paige McKenzie is a series I’ve been meaning to finish for quite some time but I finally got around to it last week! This series follows Sunshine, a teenage girl who discovers her new house is haunted and must solve the mystery of what’s going on along with her friend Nolan, before people she cares about get hurt. I enjoyed this series for the most part as I have nostalgic memories of watching the web series it’s based on after reading the book for the first time in my early teens. However it is full of mildly annoying tropes associated with YA such as the unnecessary love triangle and the ‘not like other girls’ main character. It was also written in collaboration with another author who didn’t contribute to the last book and was replaced by someone else which results in the last book feeling a bit disjointed from the rest of the series. I’d recommend it if you want a quick spooky read though, especially if you don’t mind, or enjoy, the more tropey aspects of YA.

[lonebooks]

The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill is another one of my October reads! It’s much shorter than I was expecting, almost novella length and I practically read it in one sitting. This book follows a man called James Monmouth who after years of living and travelling abroad returns to England, the country of his birth although he remembers nothing about it. Once he arrives, otherworldly events start to occur around him and he finds himself being haunted by a strange, pale boy who follows him wherever he goes. The atmosphere of this book is definitely the part I enjoyed most. Susan Hill is excellent at creating a really spooky, foreboding feeling in her books and it’s especially prevelant here. The ending left me a bit unsatisfied though as the explaination we get of the hauntings seems a bit rushed and vague. Nevertheless, I think this book is worth picking up, especially if you enjoy classic ghost stories from the late Victorian era as it emulates the style of that period really well!

[lonebooks]

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge was one of my favourite reads of the year and I’m so happy to have this beautiful hardback edition! It’s a perfect read for October as while it’s not about ghosts or vampires, it does have a very creepy atmosphere. This book follows Hark and Jelt, two boys who live in an archipelago of islands which were once ruled by monstrous gods. After a risky plan goes wrong, Hark and Jelt discover that the gods have not disappeared entirely and Hark finds himself risking his life to save his home, and his friend.

[lonebooks]

My spooky season reading has begun! I have a couple of tbr and recommendation photos to post but in the meantime I decided to post a photo of my copy of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I went into this book as I haven’t watched the TV show, although I know that they’re incredibly different. While it takes a while to get going, I found the later half to be really scary. It’s more of a psychological horror about what is real and what is not. I also appreciated the wlw representation. While it’s not explicitly stated it’s heavily implied which you rarely see in older books, particularly in the horror genre.

[lonebooks]

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much recently, I’ve been feeling really unenergised and low. Hopefully with spooky season approaching I’ll be felling more motivated. On the plus side, I’ve read lots of books! This is one of my most recent reads, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. I’ve been trying to read from more genres that I wouldn’t normally pick up and magical realism is one of those genres. I loved the concept of following three generations of women in the early to mid 1900s. I wasn’t expecting the historical aspect of this novel but it was one that I really enjoyed! While the magical realism aspect of the book took some getting used to, the author used it really well to express emotions and characters in a really unique way. Although I think the neurodivergent representation could have been handled better, overall I really enjoyed this book!

[lonebooks]

JOMP August book photo challenge

Day 31: Read this month

I didn’t read that many books this month as I was concentrating on reading classics, adult fiction and big books which take me a while to read. I read six books this month. One of these was Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr, the start of the classic high fantasy series, Deverry. This book is a bit dated and the writing style is a bit hard to get into. I think the world building makes up for it however and I really enjoyed reading it for the most part.

[lonebooks]

JOMP August book photo challenge

Day 30: Freebie

For this prompt, I decided to post a photo of my latest book haul, the first since lockdown regulations were relaxed where I live! I enjoyed going book shopping for the first time in six months a lot and while I obviously had to wear a mask and sanitize my hands constantly, it was nice to do something normal again. The books pictured in this haul are:

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Toni Adeyemi

Challenger Deep by Neal Schusterman

Devil Darling Spy by Matt Killeen

Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury

[lonebooks]

JOMP August book photo challenge

Day 29: This months favourite

I haven’t read many books this month as I wanted to read some longer books and series that I had on my TBR. I’m so glad that I decided to read the Shades of Magic series by VE Schwab. Though I didn’t like the second book as much as the first, the last book in the series more than made up for it with character development and suspenseful plot.

[lonebooks]

JOMP August book photo challenge

Day 28: Author’s debut

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favourite authors and his debut book, Elantris, is really impressive for a debut. While it stands on its own as a stand-alone fantasy novel, albeit one that fits into the Cosmere universe, there are reports of a sequel possibly coming out over the next few years and I’ll be really excited if it does!

[lonebooks]

JOMP August book photo challenge

Day 27: Rainbow books

When setting up the books for this prompt, I realised that I need to buy more green books! The books pictured are:

A Conjuring of Light by V. E Schwab

Nowhere Near You by Leah Thomas

The Kill Order by James Dashner

Now I Rise by Kiersten White

State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

Satellite by Nick Lake

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

The Devouring Grey by Christine Lynn Herman