Favourite Books of 2020 (So far!)

Hey guys! Today I am bringing you my favourite books of the year so far. I’ve read 64 books so far and I’ve rated ten of those five stars. Nearly all of them are part of a series and rather than list the entire series as being a favourite, I’ve instead opted to pick one book from each series. It was incredibly difficult as these series are pretty amazing. Here’s the ones I picked out:

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Hangman by Daniel Cole: This was actually a reread and was on my favourites list in 2018. I’m pleased that I loved it just as much the second time round. It’s quite possible the best sequel I’ve ever read – it was even better than Ragdoll (the first book). It deals with the aftermath of the Ragdoll murders and the police are also faced with a new threat of copycat murders. It’s shocking, every chapter something crazy happens and before you’ve even had chance to process it something else happens. It’s intense, gripping, horrifying, right the way through until the very last page and then you’re left with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger… it’s honestly one of the best crime thrillers I’ve ever read. I highly recommend this trilogy.

Book haul – 2020

Hey guys! Today I’m sharing with you some more books I’ve purchased this year with my own money and I’m actually surprised by how many I’ve bought in 2020. I’ve managed to acquire 16 books so far this year (this doesn’t include multiple copies) and I’m really excited to share my most recent buys with you. I’ve also decided to include some of my own pictures! They’re not very good, but since I wanted to talk about the multiple copies I thought it would be best to take my own.

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House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas: I had to share pictures of my stunning copies of House of Earth and Blood. I ordered both Waterstones editions – the hardback with exclusive red sprayed edges and the tour edition. I love both these editions so much and I’m so glad I was able to get my hands on a copy of the tour edition. I read this book when it came out and I loved it so much. I can’t wait for the second book to come out.

REVIEW: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City #1)

Title: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 803
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 3rd March 2020
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Hardback
Amazon UK – Waterstones

Synopsis:

Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Bryce Quinlan used to light up Crescent City, partying all night in the clubs where the strict classes of angel, shifter, human and Fan merge into a sea of beautiful bodies.

And then a demon murdered her closest friends.

Two years later, when the supposed killer is behind bars but the crimes start up again, the city’s leaders command Bryce to help investigate. They assign an enslaved fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, to make sure she does. But as Bryce fights to uncover the truth – and resist her attraction to the brooding angel who shadows her every step – she finds herself following a trail that leads deep into her own dark past.

Books I Want to Read While Working From Home

Hey guys! I hope you’re all well and safe! I am working from home now for the foreseeable future and since I’m going to be spending a lot more time at home, I thought I would try and find something good in this scary situation: reading! I have a lot of heavy hardbacks that are difficult to carry to and from work and while I’m not going to be travelling anywhere anytime soon, I thought I could actually read all these massive books! Here’s what I’d like to read in the coming weeks:

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor: I got these books as soon as they were published but I have struggled to find time to read them because they’re so heavy and thick! I’ve heard lots of great things about the first book, not so much the second one though so this should be interesting. I’ve not read any of Laini’s books before but I’ve heard that her writing is very whimsical and poetic. I don’t know too much about these. I believe the first one is about Lazlo Strange who is a dreamer and is obsessed with the lost city of Weep. Fingers crossed I fall in love with Laini’s writing!

Top 5 Wednesday: Books featuring Mental Health

Hey guys! Today I am bringing you a post about books featuring mental health. Admittedly, I haven’t read many books that revolve around mental health but the few I’ve read I’ve really enjoyed and they have been some of my favourite reads. So I definitely need to find more books with this topic. Here’s my picks:

A World Without You by Beth Revis:

This was the first YA book I read about mental illness and I completely fell in love with the story. I thought it was such a captivating read and was told beautifully. I loved how the author combined mental illness with time travel and if you didn’t know Bo had a mental illness, you’d actually believe he really was a time traveller. That’s probably one thing I’d changed about this book because I think it would have had a bigger impact if it was revealed at the end that he is actually seriously ill and suffers from delusions. It’s heartbreaking how the girl he loves suffered from severe depression and committed suicide but he’s acting like she is still alive because he couldn’t live in a world without her. We also got to see how Bo’s illness affects his family, his sister in particular. Her whole life becomes overshadowed by her brother and everything revolves around him. But then his parents shut out his illness pretend he’s fine. It’s an incredibly moving story and I really can’t recommend it enough.

The Spring Cleaning Book Tag!

Hey guys! Today I am bringing you another book tag, yay! My lovely friend Kate tagged me to do this and I haven’t seen it before so I’m really excited to give it a go! Also it’s the perfect time to do it before summer starts, although we have already been having heatwaves so it feels like summer has already started!

The struggle of getting started: A book or series you struggle to begin because of its size

I really want to read this series because dragons (I honestly love them) but damn these books are so thick. They are actually the books on my TBR with the most pages according to Goodreads so that’s not scary at all! So many people have told me to read them but I just take one look at them and I’m like maybe one day but today is not that day.

Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Thought You’d Hate But Ended Up Loving

Hey guys! I can’t remember the last time I did a Top 5 Wednesday post as I don’t really take part in them that often anymore but this topic looked like a lot of fun! There’s so many books that sprung to mind for this as they took me by complete surprise and I’m so excited to write another post gushing about them! So without any further ado, lets get into it! These are my top 5 picks:

Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart: I have said many, many times that I do not like books about Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, royalty, thrones etc. so when this came in a Fairyloot box I fully expected to hate it. But I ended up being completely sucked into this world. I loved the plot, the sisters and how both of them ended up two completely different but equally terrifying situations. There was amazing character development as the story progresses which I was not expecting but I was fully on board with it! This book took me by complete surprise and I’m excited for the second book which comes out in July!

Top 5 Wednesday: Largest Books On TBR

Hey guys! I recently added all of my unread books on Goodreads so I am fully prepared for this weeks Top 5 Wednesday topic! It’s not going to be a very exciting post I’m afraid as I have only just realised that a lot of my largest books are by the same author! Those authors apparently love writing massive books that intimidate me! Here’s my largest books:

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and The Fireman by Joe Hill

At number one we have Inheritance with 860 pages (help!), followed by The Fireman with 768 so Inheritance has quite a lot more pages! I have heard really great things about both books so I really think I’m just intimidated by the size of them! They are probably both some of my longest owned books too as I’m pretty sure I bought these nearly three years ago (yikes!). Please don’t judge me!

August Book Haul!

Hey guys! Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks August has gone by really fast?? I can’t believe I’m posting my book haul already! I hope you have all had a fantastic month of reading and book buying! Here’s what I purchased this month:

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas: I have such a great story to tell on this! I pre-ordered both of these from Waterstones and the paperback version arrived fine (I love the purple sprayed edges, so beautiful!) but the hardback that was also signed arrived damaged. I’m always in my local shop and sadly this isn’t the first time one of my books has arrived damaged. I complained to them and they said since I’m a regular they will refund me and give me a brand new copy for free! So I actually didn’t even pay for my hardback copy in the end! I love the staff there so much, they are always so nice and cheery. Very grateful to them for giving me a copy for free! Saved me £12.99 to spend on another book!