Recent Reads – a bit of a recap from 2015

I go through phases of reading. Reading lots. Reading very little. I think it’s all related to how much time I spend on Instagram or googling random crap.
In 2015 I read a lot, and I think 2016 will be along the same lines. I’m not saying what I read is any good (a lot of the time I read whatever is 99p on Amazon) but I like reading. And I love reading the posts people write about their reading lists too so I thought it might be fun to start my own series of posts with a bit of a recap of what I enjoyed reading in late 2015. Going forwards I’ll post as I have a few things to talk about. 
The Mermaid Sisters – I bought this during a Kindle download frenzy because it was on cheap and I liked the front cover. This says a lot about my reading habits I think. But despite the questionable start to it’s life on my kindle, I loved this book. It’s a little bit magical and a lot beautiful. The book centres around two sisters Maren and Clara who are growing up on a mountain in Pennsylvania with their aunt. Clara believes she will one day become a stork and her sister a mermaid, and when Clara starts growing scales the two, and their best friend O’Neill must figure out how to save her. 
It’s classed as a YA book but it’s just a really lovely read that will make you smile! 

Mrs Hemmingway – This book takes us through Earnest Hemmingway’s adult life from the point of view of his four wives. We see him first as a young man married to his first wife Hadley with his young son, living in Paris and summering in Antibes. The story then follows him, jumping backwards and forwards in his life, from Europe to America, as hemoves between his four wives Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gellhorn and Mary Welsh. The book is purely fictional but it’s beautifully written and so well researched and follows Hemminway’s life events that drags you into the world of these four ladies and how this one man has bound them together. 

Carry On – I am a big fan of Rainbow Rowell so this was high on my to read list as soon as it came out. It’s sort of a follow on from Fangirl, but totally stands alone as a book itself. The book follows the lives of teenage magicians Simon and Baz. Simon is the worst Greatest Mage as his room mate Baz would say, but when one term Baz doesn’t return to their magic boarding school, the two of them and their friend are  at a magic boarding school who are thrown into the midst of battling the Insidious Humdrum, who is stealing magic. There are a lot of nods to Harry Potter, there are some wonderful twists that make you smile and there are as always some beautiful characters. I wouldn’t say this is my favourite RR book but it’s a perfect read! 


The Queen of the Tearling & The invasion of the Tearling – We read The Queen of the Tearling as a book club read late last year. I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy it as I read a review that said it was like GOT and whilst I love the show, I tried to read it but failed. But I have to say I loved the book so much that I immediately downloaded the second book in the series. The series follows the story of Kelsea, the heir to the Tearling throne, who has been brought up in hiding but must return to the capital to take the throne and help the kingdom deal with the Red Queen in the neighbouring kingdom. I don’t want to go into too much details as some of the bits in both books surprised me.  

What I really liked about these books is that they were set in a world that is so futuristic that there is no electricity, little medicine, and few books. There are glimpses to a world that is like ours, but this new world is wonderfully created and revealed to us. 


The Shock of the Fall – I read so much hype about this book that I just assumed that I would like it but I’m just not sure that I did. I found it sad and evocative and it’s an interesting portrayal of mental health issues, but I just didn’t enjoy reading it. 

The story follows Matthew from a child to being a young man. As a child his brother dies and we see his guilt in trying to deal with that death alongside the problems of growing up as his mental health issues worsen.


The End of Everything – This was another of my cheap purchases that worked out wonderfully in the reading department. The End of Everything is a pretty dark book, that tells the story of the disappearance of a 13 year old girl, Evie, from her best friend, Lizzie’s, perspective. Because you’re getting the details of the story from the point of view of a 13 year old, the details can be a bit mixed up, not quite interpreted right and in some cases just wrong. We follow Lizzie’s journey through trying to find out what happened to her friend, and whilst it wasn’t the easiest thing to read in some place, it was gripping and had me questioning the book pretty much all the way through.
What have you read recently? Anything good you can recommend to me to add to my reading list?

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