Cassandra Cain is the daughter of super-villains and a living weapon trained from birth to be the ultimate assassin. But that doesn’t mean she has to stay that way, right? She’ll have to go through an identity crisis of epic proportions to find out. But how do you figure out who you’re supposed to be when you’ve been trained to become a villain your entire life? After a soul-shattering moment that sends Cass reeling, she’ll attempt to answer this question the only way she knows how: learning everything she possibly can about her favorite hero–Batgirl. But Batgirl hasn’t been seen in Gotham for years, and when Cass’s father threatens the world she has grown to love, she’ll have to step out of the shadows and overcome her greatest obstacle–that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero.
Mark has managed to choose the perfect two books to introduce me to the world of DC. I read You Brought Me the Ocean earlier this year and I absolutely adored it, and now we have this one. I love the idea of these newer DC stories being aimed at teen/young adult readers, and they suit me perfectly.
Shadow of the Batgirl follows Cassandra Cain, who is growing up and learning about herself, as well as living in a library. What’s not to love? I immediately fell for the art style and colour palette, which was vibrant and beautiful. Purples, blues and pinks are used throughout the spreads and I just adored it, I could look at the pages for hours and still find new details I didn’t spot before. The library made for such a lovely setting and was, as you can see below, portrayed so beautifully.
Copyright DC Comics 2020
I really liked Cassandra as a character and her innocence. Throughout this story she is constantly learning more about herself and overcoming mistakes. She is also always learning from those around her and this made for a wonderful found-family. Local restaurant owner ‘Jackie’ Fujikawa Yoneyama and librarian Barbara Gordon made for slightly odd but equally likable fairy godmothers. I really loved the relationship between them both and Cassandra, and how they became the people who took her under their wings.
The combination of (very little) dialogue and beautiful, expressive illustrations made for a delightful read. I loved the artwork so much, I feel like this will become a real comfort read for me.
Hi everyone! I took part in something so exciting over the weekend and I wanted to share it with you. I joined in with Becca’s bookoplathon, which was a 48 hour readathon. The point of the bookoplathon is to use Becca’s bookopoly board (a play on a Monopoly board) to pick prompts for the readathon over the weekend. The other fun thing about this readathon is that you can’t really plan your TBR because the prompts were released over the weekend at 12 hour intervals! Becca explains how the readathon works in the video below, if you’d like to find out more.
The other crazy part of this readathon is the fact Becca decided to make it completely live for the whole 48 hours! No, she didn’t stay up the whole time, but a group of other booktubers joined to make sure the entire weekend had live reading sprints all of the time. I absolutely adored this as it made for a real sense of community and was so much fun to watch live sprints and read alongside others.
I decided to join this readathon only a few days before, and I was in the middle of filming a vlog at the time. I decided to turn it into a Bookoplathon vlog when I joined the readathon, and you can see this below! It’s a very long chilled out vlog that covers a few days before the readathon until just after it ends on Sunday night.
I managed to choose the first two prompts beforehand (as the first two are the only one’s announced in advance) and I decided to go for A Court of Silver Flames and The Black Flamingo. I was actually already reading A Court of Silver Flames but that’s okay in the rules of this readathon so I went for it! I’ll put a full list of prompts below and the books I decided to read for each prompt.
As I mentioned I was already reading this book when I decided to join the readathon, and initially I had the (very) hesitant goal of just finishing this book. I managed to read 425 pages of this on the Saturday of the readathon, and 100 pages from midnight on the Friday night when the readathon began. I really loved this and I’m so proud of myself for finishing it so quickly!
Cassandra Cain is the daughter of super-villains and a living weapon trained from birth to be the ultimate assassin. But that doesn’t mean she has to stay that way, right? She’ll have to go through an identity crisis of epic proportions to find out. But how do you figure out who you’re supposed to be when you’ve been trained to become a villain your entire life? After a soul-shattering moment that sends Cass reeling, she’ll attempt to answer this question the only way she knows how: learning everything she possibly can about her favorite hero–Batgirl. But Batgirl hasn’t been seen in Gotham for years, and when Cass’s father threatens the world she has grown to love, she’ll have to step out of the shadows and overcome her greatest obstacle–that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero.
I initially read The Black Flamingo for this prompt, but I had some time left on Saturday night so I decided to pick up this graphic novel instead. This was so emotive, with beautiful art and most of it was set in a library. What’s not to love?
A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.
I read this book originally covering 3 different prompts, but eventually covered only one. This is one I’ve wanted to read for a long time and it was so beautiful and impactful.
The manga adaptation of the beloved novel by #1 Bestselling author Rainbow Rowell! New York Journal of Books Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go. Now that they’re in college, Cath must decide if she’s ready to start living her own life. But does she even want to if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? Cath doesn’t need friends IRL. She has her twin sister, Wren, and she’s a popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow community with thousands of fans online. But now that she’s in college, Cath is completely outside of her comfort zone. There are suddenly all these new people in her life. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming boyfriend, a writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome new writing partner … And she’s barely heard from Wren all semester!
I ended up picking this one up at the very end of the readathon for the contemporary prompt. It was a cute way to re-read the story, but nothing extraordinary.
The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship–like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor–April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world–everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires–and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.
I was unsure of what to pick up for the first book in the series prompt, but I’m so glad I read this one. It has become a quick favourite and was so cleverly written. However, I do want the second book asap now!
Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.
I slightly misunderstood the chance card prompt and ended up randomising my entire TBR and picking the top standalone. I am glad I picked this one up as it’s been on my TBR for so many years, but it was a bit of a let down for me.
Prompt 7 – a book outside of your usual two genres
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen and the White Rabbit all make their appearances, and are now familiar figures in writing, conversation and idiom. So too are Carroll’s delightful verses such as The Walrus and the Carpenter and the inspired jargon of that masterly Wordsworthian parody, The Jabberwocky.
For this prompt, I chose my two main genres as fantasy and contemporary and decided to choose classic as one I don’t pick up as much. I’m glad I did because it allowed me to choose Alice in Wonderland, which was so wacky and such an entertaining read.
The heart of the Runaways died years ago, but you won’t believe how she returns! Superstar author Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, Carry On) makes her Marvel debut with fan-favorite artist Kris Anka (ALL-NEW X-MEN, CAPTAIN MARVEL) in the series that will shock you and break your heart! Did Chase and Gert’s love survive their time apart? Have Karolina and Nico’s feelings made their friendship impossible? What emotional landmines lie in wait to DESTROY the Runaways?!
In a rush to finish all 8 prompts of the readathon (which I never expected to do!), I picked up another graphic novel right at the end. Although this one wasn’t my favourite, I’m definitely going to see where the series goes and I’m glad I managed to finish it and round off the readathon.
Did you join in with the bookoplathon? Or do you take part in readathons?
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she’s struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can’t seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it. The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre’s Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta’s orbit. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other. Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts. Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other’s arms.
This is a book I was simultaneously so excited and so hesitant to read, mainly because it’s been a while since I finished the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I also wasn’t planning on reading it so soon, as I tend to read series together, but I gave into the hype eventually and I’m glad I did! Firstly, I don’t think you need to read this directly after the ACOTAR series due to this being from Nesta’s point of view (the sister of the narrator of ACOTAR). It’s been a good few years since I finished ACOTAR and I still fully understood everything that happened in this book and didn’t feel out of the loop.
This book was very much character driven, and focuses heavily on Nesta’s relationships with those around her. I loved seeing her slowly realise she did have the support of characters around her, and discover a found-family of her own. I also enjoyed reading about her relationship with Cassian which was highly entertaining on every level (if you know you know). And even though this book lacked action in some ways, I did fly through it and read it in around 2 days. I had forgotten how purely addictive and immersive Maas’ writing is, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found it very hard to put down!
It’s common knowledge that Nesta is a bit of a b*tch, and I admire Sarah J Maas so much for taking that stereotype and flipping it on it’s head. The way Nesta is written about throughout this story is so, so clever and I adored it. We see inside her head for the first time and begin to understand all of the darkness she tackles on a daily basis. I just loved the way her mental health is written about, especially as this is something we rarely see explored in fantasy. Although no specific terminology is used, the way Nesta is described includes symptoms of PTSD and depression, which are discussed openly and honestly throughout the book. This made Nesta such a relatable character that I sympathised with easily and quickly grew to like and root for.
Welcome back to the Night Court, Nesta Archeron.
I couldn’t help but compare this book to my opinion of the ACOTAR series, which is one of the reasons why this book didn’t quite reach the full 5 star rating, although it very easily could have done. The first reason is I sadly felt like I was missing out on seeing some of the city itself. I know this is probably due to Nesta’s situation, and I did love any other world-building, but I did miss reading more about Velaris. I also adored the nature of the house itself, which almost becomes one of the central characters in many ways. My other, very small complaint is it did sometimes feel like the relationship between Nesta and Cassian overtook most of the focus of the story. We know by now that Sarah J Maas is famous for her smut, and although I enjoyed it as much as the next person, I did feel like it took some of the focus off the action and plot, which should have been at the forefront in places.
Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable journey back to Velaris and I adored it. Nesta really grew on me as a character and the discussions of mental health felt crucial to this novel. I can’t wait to see where this series goes in the future!
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga where we share books we’ve bought or received this week. Find out more and join in here!
Hi everyone! I’ve received a couple of books recently that are helping to complete some of the series I have or have read the first book of. I’m super excited to carry on with them!
I read The Last Namsara a while ago and I really enjoyed it. Me and Alex are hoping to buddy read the whole series this year so I picked up the second one recently!
Both of my copies of Chain of Iron also arrived recently around the release. I managed to nab this standard edition with a beautiful dust jacket, which was the virtual tour edition.
I also managed to grab one of these beautiful Waterstones editions and have it redirected it to my house as it was going to the shop I work at. I’m so glad it arrived safely. Even though I haven’t read Chain of Gold yet and I’m not planning to read this series soon, I’m super happy to have them all on my shelf because they look so beautiful.
Good Wives is the second story about the March family. Three years on from Little Women, the March girls and their friend Laurie are young adults with their futures ahead of them. Although they all face painful trials along the way – from Meg’s sad lesson in housekeeping to Laurie’s disappointment in love and a tragedy which touches them all – each of the girls finally finds happiness, if not always in the way they expect. The book includes a behind-the-scenes journey, including an author profile, a guide to who’s who, activities and more..
This review is for Good Wives, or part 2 of Little Women. My review for the first part can be found here. Most editions of the book will contain both parts and will be commonly called Little Women in it’s entirety, but the Wordsworth children’s collectors edition I read ended at the end of part 1. I then borrowed my boyfriend’s copy of the Penguin Paperback Classic (found here) which contains both parts so I could finish the story properly!
Good Wives is set 3 years after Little Women, when the sisters are presumably in their late teens. Not surprisingly due to the name of the book, this part mainly focuses on the sisters settling down into relationships and moving out of the family home. I enjoyed the way this book uses letters between the girls and Marmee, as well as focusing on where they are throughout the books.
Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go,
I really liked the way this book looks at marriage and relationships as the sisters get older, especially having the different opinions from the girls. This whole book is so fascinating in the way it looks at femininity and marriage, and I really love how all of the sisters have different ideas of how they want to fit what is expected of them as women. Meg is the very ‘traditional’ sister, married in the first chapter of Good Wives and satisfied largely by her little family. Jo, however, is the polar opposite, and very forward thinking for her time. Considering the time this book was published, it is a revolutionary piece of writing when it comes to Jo. She is definitely my favourite sister and the one I most admire and relate to.
Although I absolutely adore the sisters and learning about how they grow and develop over the course of Good Wives, this book definitely lost a little of the magic I felt in Little Women. I didn’t quite feel as connected to the sisters as I did during part 1, which I believe may be due to the fact they are not living in the same place and everything can feel a little jarring between sections. Little Women felt like such a comforting book, whereas this one is definitely slightly deeper and darker. I definitely believe this is due to the girls growing up and exploring more about themselves and their relationships. It just lost a little bit of innocence between the parts, which at least for me makes Little Women what it is.
and it makes the end so easy.
I’m so glad I read these parts separately, even if it was a complete accident! I believe that if I had read this as one book, it would have reached 5 stars for me, but I am glad I was able to judge this as a separate text. I still very much enjoyed this part of the story, and I know the story as a whole will be with me forever.
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
What I’m slowly realising about myself as a reader is that I am definitely becoming more fussy when it comes to contemporary books. I had very high expectations of this book, especially because it felt like the most talked about contemporary of 2019 in the book community/on bookstagram. Maybe it just didn’t quite reach the high expectations I had for it, but I sadly didn’t quite feel the connection I was craving when it came to this book.
That being said, I can see why this book was so well loved. For a start, it’s just so refreshing to see an alternative history of the American presidents. Trump just doesn’t exist in this world, and that itself was such a joy to read about. Instead, we have a female president and a bisexual Latin FSOTUS, which felt like a breath of fresh air. Enter Henry, the Prince of England, and Alex’s (FSOTUS) enemy.
Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too.
Both Alex and Henry are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, and end up falling in love with each other. There is a lot of coming-out and coming-of-age discussions in this book, that also centre around being in the royal/presidential family. Although I can’t account for how realistic any of the handling or discussions around the sexuality of either of the characters, I did find them it all very entertaining to read about. It also really made me step back and think ‘wow, would it really be such an issue having a gay prince/bi FSOTUS? Huh, yeah, I guess it would‘. Reading this (completely unintentionally) around the same time as Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah also pushed this to the forefront of my mind.
I liked the characters in this book a lot, but I also felt slightly disconnected from them. I often had to double check which character was Henry and which was Alex, which may say more about how much I was paying attention to the story than about the book itself. Although I liked the wider cast of characters, I also felt disconnected from them sometimes. It was at times like these where I realised the book was written in 3rd person, and it did cross my mind that this book could have gained something from maybe being 1st person with alternate points of view. I also want to point out I felt like the enemies-to-lovers plot was a little rushed in my opinion, but I did enjoy reading about Alex and Henry’s relationship. There is a lot of smut in this book, but I don’t feel like it was overdone.
I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.
This book had some amazing quotes, and I really loved the writing. However, it felt a little long at times and it could have been more of a page turner with shorter chapters, in my opinion. I definitely did have goosebumps reading the end of this book, and I liked a lot about it. I just didn’t love it as much as I was maybe hoping to.
NB/CW: It is definitely worth noting this book is New Adult and contains somewhat detailed M/M sex scenes. Also contains alcohol use, mentions drug use, discussion of death of a parent.
Hi everyone! I’m a little late in posting this really, as my new BookTube channel has been up for a few weeks now. I’ve decided to create a channel to be the video counterpart of this blog, so also under The Books are Everywhere! I’m super excited about this space, where I’ll be posting wrap-ups, TBRs, vlogs, unboxings and chats. Let me know if there is anything in particular you would really like to see!
You can go and subscribe to the channel here, and I’ll post a wrap-up of my first 4 videos which are currently live on the channel.
In my first video, I had a chat, introduced the channel and myself and picked my next 3 reads from my TBR teacup.
I also did a very late video covering the 2021 releases I’m excited for in the first quarter of the year.
More recently, I posted my February wrap-up and quickly told you my March TBR.
And my most recent video (from just yesterday!) is a chill unboxing video where I look at the An Ember in the Ashes set in detail as I unbox them.
What kind of videos would you like to see me create?
Raised in isolation and home-schooled by her strict grandparents, the only experience Birdie has had of the outside world is through her favourite crime books. But everything changes when she takes a summer job working the night shift at a historic Seattle hotel. There she meets Daniel Aoki, the hotel’s charismatic driver, and together they stumble upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—is secretly meeting someone at the hotel. To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell, and in doing so, realize that the most confounding mystery of all may just be her growing feelings for Daniel.
I don’t read as much contemporary as I used to, but Jenn Bennett is an auto-buy author for me. I’ve loved all of her books so far and I only have Starry Eyes left to pick up now. She has a great knack of writing compelling contemporary books with very real characters and always with an interesting, mysterious twist, and Serious Moonlight was no different!
Although Alex, Approximately remains my favourite Jenn Bennett book, this one might be a close second. The characters in this book felt so real and alive. They are dynamic and make a lot of mistakes, but not without reason and I actually quite enjoyed how layered the characters felt because of it. I think one of my favourite small things about the way these characters were written is it’s all in the detail. It’s in the way Birdie wears a flower in her hair and had a sheltered childhood. It’s in the way Daniel likes magic tricks and David Bowie. All of the tiny details made every character feel vibrant and beautiful and I fell in love with each of them a tiny bit. The side characters were diverse and amazing in every way.
Judging other people unfairly doesn’t define them; it defines you.
I also loved the plot of this book. I never expect to have so many twists and turns and I definitely didn’t guess what was going to happen along the way! The plot is interwoven mystery and romance, with one sometimes coming to the forefront of the story. Although a little far fetched sometimes, I was so invested in the story and I couldn’t stop reading at the end because I just needed to know what was going to happen to Birdie and Daniel.
There was so many tiny things I loved about this book. I find Jenn Bennett’s writing always brings the location to life and I find I always want to visit the settings afterwards. I also loved the food in this book (no surprise there!), which seemed to have constant talk of pie, and a great sushi scene. The characters were really sex positive and talked a lot about sex, which was not only brilliant but also made for some very humorous scenes!
And in the end everyone will be disappointed.
This book was so quirky, cute and just an all around amazing. It was also really diverse, with a compelling plot and beautiful cast of characters. I will definitely continue to read all of Jenn Bennett’s books!
Hi everyone! I’m here today with my February Wrap Up and March TBR. I managed to read 11 books in February, which I’m pretty happy with. I read a mix of books with most of them being 3.5-4 stars, so it was a solid month with a lot of enjoyable reads!
Emilia and her twin sister Victoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Victoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to discover who did this, and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden. Then Emilia meets Wrath, the outlier among the seven demon brethren, always choosing duty over pleasure. He’s been tasked by his master with investigating a series of women’s murders on the island. When Emilia and Wrath’s fates collide, it’s clear this disturbing mystery will take a bewitching turn…
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
A sharpshooter. A dreamer. A damn good liar. Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic. For humans, it s an unforgiving place, especially if you re poor, orphaned, or female. Amani Al Hiza is all three. She s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she s destined to wind up wed or dead.Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she d gallop away on a mythical horse or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.
Once, in the desert country of Miraji, there was a Sultan without an heir. The heir had been killed by his own brother, the treacherous Rebel Prince, who was consumed by jealousy and sought the throne for himself. Or so it was said by some. There were others who said that the Rebel Prince was not a traitor but a hero… In the final battle for the throne, Amani must fight for everything she believes in, but with the rebellion in pieces, and the Sultan’s armies advancing across the desert plains, who will lead, who will triumph, who will live and who will die?
For Penny Lee, high school was a nonevent. She got decent grades, had a few friends, and even a boyfriend by senior year but basically she was invisible. Having just graduated from high school, she’s heading off to college in Austin, Texas, and she’s ready for it. Sam has had a rougher time over the last few years. He grew up in a trailer park and had to bail when he caught his addict mom taking out credit cards in his name to buy more crap from the Home Shopping Network. He gets a job at a café whose owner is kind enough to let him crash on a mattress in a spare room upstairs. He wants to go to film school and become a great director but at the moment he has $17 in his checking account and his laptop is dying. When Penny and Sam cross paths it’s not exactly a Hollywood meet cute: they’re both too socially awkward for that. But they exchange numbers and stay in touch—almost entirely by text message, a form that allows them to get to know each other while being witty and snarky and intimate without the uncomfortable weirdness of, you know, actually having to see each other in person.
What does persuasion mean – a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen’s quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances.
What if death is only the beginning? When Harriet Stoker dies after falling from a balcony in a long-abandoned building, she discovers a group of ghosts, each with a special power. Felix, Kasper, Rima and Leah welcome Harriet into their world, eager to make friends with the new arrival after decades alone. Yet Harriet is more interested in unleashing her own power, even if it means destroying everyone around her. But when all of eternity is at stake, the afterlife can be a dangerous place to make an enemy.
Cover art by Trần Nguyên Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented. As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane’s mom also seems to be spiralling with the return of her childhood home, but she won’t reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the “storage room” her mom has kept locked isn’t for storage at all — it’s a little girl’s bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears…. Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more… horrid?
Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse. These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint. This beautiful collection includes stunning full-color illustrations of each story.
My favourite read this month was definitely Emergency Contact, and my least favourite was The Guest List.
Little Women is one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time, based on the author’s own youthful experiences. It describes the family of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at fifteen is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Laurence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever.
This is a story that has oddly been with me throughout my life, in one way or another. When I was a child, I picked this book up after reading Jane Eyre and loving it immensely. However, I couldn’t get into it and put it back down for another time. Likely over 10 years later, that other time finally arrived.
New Year’s Day 2020: me and my boyfriend decided to go to the cinema to see the brand new adaptation (I posted about it here!). It was packed, almost every seat taken, and we ended up craning our necks on the front row. Despite that, I fell in love with that film so deeply that I saw it another three times afterwards, also in cinema. Just over a year after that, I finally pick up my new Wordsworth classic edition, and fall in love all over again.
Take some books and read; that’s an immense help;
I don’t have sisters, but I imagine that this book portrays how having sisters really feels. The chaotic, arresting energy these girls have between them is addictive. I never fail to feel their undying love for one another and those around them, I just adore how the friendships and relationships really jump off the pages. The girls capture my heart again and again, with their bravery, self awareness, caring natures and childlike abandonment.
This book truly feels like a comfort read, and diving into it’s pages is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket, or sinking into a warm bath. It is like that first sip of tea, when you can feel the warmth spreading around your body. I will never understand just how it works, how stories such as these can have such a calming and nurturing tone to them, but it feels like a gentle, comforting kind of magic.
and books are always good company if you have the right sort.
Without spoiling this book, I did feel very surprised at the ending, and it is something I will warn you of. Having known the story of Little Women for a long time, and having watched the 2019 movie adaptation, I knew what I was going into and fully expected to have a good cry. However, the original publication was actually in two parts – Little Women and Good Wives, with the second book being set 3 years after the original story. Now, it is highly common to find most editions of Little Women contain both halves of the story, but as it happens, mine did not. I imagine this is due to my edition being a children’s classic, and I would definitely recommend checking your copy if you are looking to read both books in one! Luckily, my boyfriend has a copy that includes both books, so I will definitely be carrying on fairly soon.
The Books are Everywhere 