MY FAVOURITE BOOKS SO FAR THIS YEAR

At writing this blog post, I have read 40 books towards my reading goal of 52 books. I set it at 52 because in previous years I was putting too much pressure on myself to get to my goal and therefore sacrificed books that I wanted to read that were longer in favour of books that I could read quickly and stay on track. This year has already been a great reading year and I'm going to share with you my favourites out of those 40 books. 

JACKDAWS - KEN FOLLETT

I loved how dark this book went when characters were in the clutches of Nazi interrogators. I loved the characters and how fallible they were. Usually, historical fiction books and films tend to make everything work out perfectly and as planned. This book does not work like that; everything goes wrong and so our protagonists have to think up new strategies on the spot and the characters are not perfect loyal, tight-lipped people either. I loved it. (Plus, Emilia Fox does an amazing job as the audiobook narrator.)

FALLING KINGDOMS - MORGAN RHODES

A princess called Emilia? You better believe that I loved that. I loved this book for purely fangirl reasons. I got a lot more out of this book than anyone else. The lead characters read like Morgause and Morgana (Emilia and Clio) to me and so I loved them all the more. There were characters called Magnus (I then linked that to Sanctuary), Nikolo (again, Sanctuary), a goddess called 'Valora' and I had a character in an old Role-Play Game called 'Vanora' and 'Valeria' so it felt like such a brilliant coincidence. As I said, I got more out of it than most people because I had those little imaginary connections. 

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - JANE AUSTEN

I read this (finally) mostly because Emilia Fox played Georgiana Darcy opposite Colin Firth. I never had to read this for school (and I did English at University) and so I only read it for the first time this year and I loved it. I thought that the language would trip me up and it did not which I was pleasantly surprised by. I adored the characters (I hated Lydia with the fire of a sun) and I felt for Georgiana and Mr. Darcy. 

REBECCA - DAPHNE DU MAURIER

Again, I read this because Emilia Fox played the heroine opposite Charles Dance in an adaptation. I loved it. For about two-thirds of the book, I couldn't understand why the heroine stood by Maxim and his staff and then it really started to get interesting. I read the last 200 pages in no time at all. I could see where a lot of popular things are influenced by this book; I could see O'Brien from Downton Abbey in Mrs. Danvers. I would've loved a sequel. As far as I'm aware, there is an unofficial sequel. I'm not 100% certain of that but still, it would've been fun to have an adaptation to see our characters living happily afterwards.  

SUPERNOVA - MARISSA MEYER

This was the conclusion to the Renegades trilogy and it was everything that I wanted. It was packed to the brim with twists and turns. I could not put this book down and even when I had to, it felt like I was going cold turkey. I loved every page. Admittedly, I was apprehensive about it because the middle book in the series, 'Archenemies' was quite disappointing and more of a 'set up the romance' book. Meyer DELIVERED in Supernova. So..Damn. Good. 

HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD - SARAH J. MAAS

This one was a shocker for me. I loved the premise of this book and just downloaded the audiobook simply to have something to listen to at work during night shifts and oh my goodness, did I fall in love with this book. I had heard all of the hype surrounding this book. I bought it in Waterstone's. I bought it a lot earlier than I had anticipated - mostly because Waterstone's enticed me with a £5 off sticker. In the beginning, I wasn't sure about the audiobook but after a few hours and when the plot really started to kick off, I was hooked. This is probably one of the only books to have the title of book that nearly made me cry. I cannot wait to see what happens next. 

BEFORE THE DEVIL BREAKS YOU and THE KING OF CROWS - LIBBA BRAY

These books are the last books in The Diviners series. *Chef's kiss* This series is incredible. I cannot sing its praises enough. The characters are all amazing and multi-faceted. I loved how Libba Bray is unafraid to take her characters to dark places or put her characters in dangerous situations. I loved being on this entire adventure with them. I cannot pick a favourite book in the series, they are all amazing for their own reasons. I lost myself in the audiobooks for all of these. This series is perfection.

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE - SAMANTHA SHANNON

The spine of this book has been looking at me on my bookcase for the better part of a year before I decided to pick it up in May. It's a hefty book and it simply intimidated me. I finally bit the bullet to read it. I kicked myself for waiting so long because it was just wonderful. I loved all of the characters. They were all fearless, brave, and imperfect. I love characters like that. Samantha Shannon created a beautifully diverse world which characters and landscapes that I would vividly see in my imagination. It's not as intimidating as it looks. It's wonderful. It's exciting. it's dark. It's magical. It's brilliant.