I read a lot of books and feel the need to recommend all of them all of the time. So here are 10 books I loved that you need to read.
Only For the Week – Natasha Bishop
Janelle has somehow found herself as the maid of honour at the destination wedding between her sister and her ex-boyfriend. She doesn’t really want to be there and it’s not even really because she still likes her ex, she is fully over him and was never really that much invested in the relationship!
But, to cope with a whole week of wedding activities, she begins hooking up with the hot best man but promises herself that it will only last a week.
This is a super fun romance with a pretty quick timeline but, honestly, that doesn’t take away from the story. It has a really fantastic male main character and is just the perfect book to read in the summer.
Night Shift – Annie Crown
Kendall spends every Friday night exactly where she wants to be: working the night shift at her university’s library getting lost in the pages of fictional love stories.
But everything changes when the captain of the basketball team, Vincent Knight, shows up looking for poetry recommendations. He challenges her and she quickly finds herself doing something she never would’ve expected – hooking up with him in the library stacks.
This is a short and quick read. It’s a bit of a sports romance. I mean, the male love interest is a basketball player but it doesn’t focus too much on the sports. It has one of my favourite tropes ever that you usually only find in high school books – popular guy vs. nerdy girl. And, this one started as a Wattpad book so if you know you’re not gonna like that then maybe give it a miss.
Out on a Limb – Hannah Bonam-Young
Despite her limb difference, Win has always been incredibly independent. Until she has a one night stand with a guy she’s just met called Bo at her friend’s Halloween party and her life changes. She finds out she’s pregnant and when she becomes unsure whether she can do this alone, she and Bo agree to remain just friends so that they can do their best for their baby.
This romance features 2 disabled main characters in the lead roles. It also, obviously, features the pregnancy trope which I know isn’t for everyone. But if you don’t like that trope then I’d still recommend giving this book a go because I usually hate that trope and I still enjoyed this book. The book starts at a Halloween party as well, so it could be the perfect book to save for the autumn!
If Cats Disappeared From the World – Genki Kawamura
The main character of If Cats Disappeared From the World is estranged from his family, he liveds alone and he’s just found out that he’s going to die. Before he can plan what he’s going to do before this happens, the Devil appears and offers a deal. In exchange for making one thing disappear in the world, he can live an extra day.
This is a pretty short magical realism book that kind of focuses on loss.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty
Amina al-Sirafi had a great career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, but now she’s retired to a quiet life with her family. But one day she’s tracked down by the wealthy family of a former crewman and offered a job to rescue his kidnapped daughter in exchange for a fortune that will secure her family’s future.
Amina gets her old crew back together but as they dive deeper into the mystery of where this girl is, it becomes clear that there is more to this job than Amina was led to believe.
This is a really great fantasy adventure that’s all about a pirate kind of getting the old gang back together. It also features an older protagonist that has a child which I really loved! The first half of this book feels like a classic pirate adventure and then the second half of the book reminds you that this is, in fact, a fantasy.
The Husbands – Holly Gramazio
Lauren returns home one night to find a strange man in her flat and he’s claiming to be her husband. But she didn’t have a husband when she left earlier that day.
But then he heads up into the attic and a different man comes down, also claiming to be her husband. Lauren quickly realises that she can get a new husband simply by sending him up into the attic, but how can you choose just one when you know how easy it is to get another one?
The Husbands is a super unique literary, magical realism book. The entire book I was just wondering where it was gonna go and I didn’t actually guess what was gonna happen! Also, there’s a character called Zach Ephron.
Where He Can’t Find You – Darcy Coates
Abby Ward lives in a town haunted by disappearances. People disappear and turn up with their bodies stitched back together in unnatural ways. Every time this happens the police investigate but find no evidence.
Abby lives by a strict set of rules that she believes will keep herself and her family safe… but one day her younger sister is taken and the police do nothing, so Abby and her friends take it into their own hands and decide to investigate the mysterious Stitcher for themselves.
Set in a creepy small town, this book follows teenagers attempting to investigate a creepy local mystery. It honestly feels a bit like Stranger Things in that way. It’s very unsettling, kinda gross, kinda creepy, and it has some horrible body horror so you might want to skip it if that’s not your thing.
Private Rites – Julia Armfield
Isla, Irene and Agnes are sisters who haven’t spoken in a while when they hear of their father’s death. They live in a flooded world and their dad was a famed architect who created homes made for this new world that they live in.
The three sisters come together in their dad’s grand glass house where something sinister seems to be unfolding.
Although this is set in a really interesting post-apocalyptic world, this is a book that focuses on grief and the relationship between the sisters more than anything else. It’s obviously very sapphic as all Julia Armfield books are, but romantic relationships are not the focus. I read that it was a King Lear retelling but, unfortunately, that’s something I’m not familiar with so I can’t compare it.
Long Shot – Kennedy Ryan
Iris has great plans for her life, but they’re all put on hold when she becomes pregnant with the baby of her college boyfriend, Caleb. Caleb has just been drafted for the NBA and quickly begins to isolate Iris and manipulate and abuse her.
Caleb is insanely jealous and this is only made worse when his rival, August West, shows an interest in Iris.
This book feels like It Ends With Us if that was a good book. So, if you liked the idea of that book then maybe give this one a go. Obviously, this is a book about abuse and moving on from abusive relationships so keep that in mind when you’re reading.
A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik
El is a student at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death. This is a school with no teachers, no holidays, and no way of leaving until you graduate… or die.
El has a dark power that she does her best to keep secret, but that’s easier said than done when the hallways are full of monsters and students that are your enemy.
A Deadly Education is a book that kind of has a lot of infodumping which won’t be for everyone but it worked for me in this particular book. It’s set at a deadly magical boarding school and kinda feels like Harry Potter for when you’ve outgrown that (or don’t wanna support JKR anymore). Also the main character lived in Wales growing up which is important to me as a Welsh person.
