Books of 2019

And back to wrapping up the end of the previous year with book related content! I regret to say that I really have not read as much as I would have liked to in 2019, but I have written plenty of book reviews! I have made a list of books that I have read for two years now, so here is the post for 2019! Please find my Books of 2017 list here and my Books of 2018 list here if they are of interest!

Playing a part

By Daria Wilke

I feel like this is a story that focuses more on the characters than story itself. I really enjoyed reading it, it was a little short and I do think there may have been a couple of errors in translation as some of the phrases sounded very strange, but it was a lovely read! It was very all over the place in terms of plot, but I do think this may have been to do with the length of the book, and had it been a little bit longer there may have been more time to expand on the story lines and character arcs.

Hunted

By Megan Spooner

I really enjoyed reading Hunted. I really liked how it was a retelling but tried to be different to the story that we already know. Yeva used to go hunting with her father in the wood as a child, but then when she grows up, she stops since it is something that a young lady shouldn't do. When their father is forced to sell his home and move to his hunting cottage with his three children, Yeva begins hunting again. Her father goes missing and Yeva goes into the forest to see what has happened to him, which is where she encountered the Beast. I liked how the relationship built up between Yeva and the Beast, but overall I was not a huge fan of the romance as I felt like that element of the relationship was very rushed into the story. It was great that you could see that they began to understand each other, and a sort of friendship formed between them. It was a fun book to read, not the best but every book has its flaws and I personally really enjoyed reading this book. It was a very easy to get through and took me three days to finish. I'd say if you were looking for a more romantic book or a book with intensive world building, then this book may not be for you since as mentioned before, the romance feels very rushed, and there is little to no world building in the book.

Click Here to read my Full Review!

The Surface Breaks

By Louise O'Neil

A book that has been on my to read list for quite some time HAS FINALLY BEEN READ! This was definitely a 50% cover buy 50% book buy because the artwork on the cover of this book is beautiful! The story is a retelling of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, and when reading a synopsis before purchasing the book it was clear that this would not be the sugar coated Disney tale that most people are familiar with. Having said that, the story was much darker than I expected it would be.

The store clearly sold this book as a feminist retelling, which is exactly what the story is, and is something that I have never come across before for the story of the Little Mermaid. The Story starts out when the youngest daughter of the Sea King turns fifteen years old. We are taught how the monarchy works underneath the surface and are introduced to all of his daughters. The royal family live in a rather sinister way and it is clear that there is definitely a corrupt side to the king. The Women are basically seen as pawns that are only good to be sold to a potential suitor. They have no voices of their own and are told to smile whenever it is necessary. Gaia is just a girl with her head in the clouds who is willing to risk everything. She is searching for someone who will adore her for who she is and not because of her looks and her royal status.

 This book definitely captures the dark essence of the original book. It brings into the play the question: is it truly love at first sight or is is lust at first sight? It is a tragic tale for Gaia, but it is understandable why she desires to leave home. This is one of the best fairy tale retelling stories that I have read. The author managed to capture the devastation and gruesome tale that we are familiar with, and added a modern twist to it which made it such a unique read. The feminism arc in this story is very important and it shows that women aren't as weak as men may perceive them to be, they have their own voices and demand to be heard.

Click Here to read my Full Review!

Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical

By Stacy Wolf

This is a book that I was originally going to skim for information to help with my essay, but I ended up reading the entire book. This book allows you to see the shows that you are familiar with and may even love through fresh eyes and explores how the role of women changed over the last few years. It is highly informative and explores the history of women in musical theatre.

A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical

By Stacy Wolf

 So I was given an essay to do at university on misogyny in musical theatre, and that lead me to reading the entire book. I found this book fascinating to read, I was only going to make some notes on what I needed but I found what it said very interesting. It explores how different women throughout periods of musical theatre were treated at the time and looks at many different characters and shows.

On The Other Side

By Carrie Hope Fletcher

This may be a little late to the party, but I finally read Carrie Hope Fletcher's first book! I really enjoyed this story, I thought that the concept was an original idea. Something I think that lets this book down is the names of some of the characters, like "Evie Snow" and "Vincent Winters". Not that there is anything particularly wrong with the names, I just feel like they sound like Carrie couldn't think of any other surname to give to her two main characters, and they took me out of the story sometimes by thinking "These names sound a bit silly". Nonetheless, the book is written very nicely, and it is a lovely feel good book. 

Click Here to read my Full Review!

Things A Bright Girl Can Do

By Sally Nicholls

I don't usually purchase books based on their covers alone, but this book was one of those exceptions. I first came across this book in February of this year, when I was looking for a mother's Day present for my mum. It's not the sort of book she would go far, but the title and the cover stayed in my mind and I was forever debating buying it from my love bookshop. Eventually I gave in a bought it as my holiday book, and I do not regret it!

The story is based in 1914 England and revolves around the character Nell, May and Evelyn.These girls encounter many struggles in their lives, such as having to fight to attend university, fighting for the right to vote for what they believed in and not being given a job because they were a girl. This is a struggle that many girls at this time went through and although this is a fictional story, their worldly encounters were very life like and true to facts. 

This story offers a historical snapshot of a society in turmoil, following strong themes of feminism, equality, social class, divisions and the massive impacts of World War One.

The novel is great for teaching readers about historical events and important issues, with the romance stopping it from becoming overly hard-hitting or political. It is a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Click Here to read my Full Review!

Alex in Wonderland

By Simon James Green

A Sweet gay romance is how I would describe this book, and that definitely is not a bad thing! This is the story about 16 year old Alex, who is a helplessly awkward protagonist, who is joined by a diverse and three dimensional cast, with a bit of a mystery thrown in and lots of comedic moments. It is the perfect YA book to read during the summer!

A mysterious person is threatening Wonderland - the local arcade - and this is interesting enough to keep the story interesting, but it definitely does not overshadow the romantic aspects of the story - the pizza moment, the lake...need I go on? (keeping it vague so there's no actual spoilers involved!)

This book is a very funny book, and what is great about the humor is the fact that it is mostly British Humour! Many of the YA books I have read in my time have all had American style humor, so it was very refreshing to see someone try a different style, even though I love a lot of the YA books I have read. There is just something about British humour that Americans don't understand!

I absolutely loved this book, but I believe that it is perfect as a stand alone. Not saying that Simon James Green shouldn't ever write another book again, since I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would happily read any new material from him! It's just that I believe how it ended was perfect and that there's not really much more that you could add to the story. I would definitely read a sequel if one was written though! This book would also be fantastic as a TV adaption, I believe it would be a hybrid of Pretty Little Liars and Love Simon, and I would definitely watch it if Netflix decides to pick it up!

Click Here to read my Full Review!

A Good Girls Guide to Murder

By Holly Jackson

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is a straight A* student, good hearted and very intelligent with an inquisitive mind. Pippa chooses to study a closed murder case from 5 years ago for her EPQ project while she is in her final year at college, and she believes that now is the perfect time to investigate and find out the truth about what truly happened to ex-pupil Andie Bell; she is determined to prove that Andie's boyfriend, Sal Singh, was actually innocent. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Sal committed suicide a few days after the murder, with his final words being a text to his family saying that he killed her. But did he? Pip doesn't think so.

Pip soon realizes that her school project is slowly turning into her own investigation and notices that some of the people that she has known and loves are not as innocent as she has always seen them as.

Usually when I have read thrillers, I have an idea in my head of who the culprit is really early on, but Holly kept me guessing throughout the story with plot twists that sent me around in circles with me suspecting one person, but then finding out that it could have been a different person. Also, Pip is such an inspirational character, with a no nonsense attitude and out of the box thinking. Her characterisation and the format the book was written in made me wish I could go back to my EPQ Project and do it all differently. 

In my opinion, it was the characters that truly made this book great. They were the reason I became so invested in the story; I didn't just want to find out the truth about Andie Bell's disappearance, I needed it to be the truth so the characters I cared about could have a better life.

Click Here to read my Full Review!

All That She Can See 

By Carrie Hope Fletcher

It's no surprise that Carrie Hope Fletcher's genre of choice when writing books is magical realism, especially seeing that she is a devout fan of Disney, music and theatre. All That She Can See is Fletcher's second book after the success of On the Other Side. Set in Plymouth, the plot focuses on the lovable Cherry Redgrave and a very special gift she possesses...

Cherry has a hidden talent. She can see things other people can't and she decided a long time ago to use this skill to help others. According to the town, she is simply the kind-hearted young woman who runs a local bakery, but in private, she uses her gift to add something special to her cakes. This gift impacts the townspeople, and they start to feel better about their lives.

They don't know why they are drawn to Cherry's bakery - they just know that they're safe there and that's how Cherry likes it. No one will ever need to know the truth behind her gift; she can help them in secret. It turns out she's not the only one who can see what she sees, since everything starts to change when Chase arrives in town and threatens to undo all the good that Cherry has done...

All That She Can See has a whimsical yet grown up and contemporary fairy tale vibe, which has carried over from her debut novel On The Other Side. Carrie clearly has a fantastic imagination and a beautiful way with words, which results in a modern story that contains themes of morals, humanity and issues (such as mental health), but written in a reasonably simplified and easy to comprehend style. 

Click Here to read my Full Review!

And those are the books that I read and reviewed in 2019! Apologies that it is not a lot, I have been incredibly busy the past year and things won't be slowing down for quite some time (which I am not complaining about!). I will try my best to read much more in 2020, but with all the exciting things going on I am again unsure of how many books I will realistically read. Unlike previous years, I have not set a personal goal for myself this year as anything over 5 books will probably be unrealistic for me! Thank you for reading and please check back for future updates!