I was shocked to realize that another month had gone by! I think I spent half of the month still thinking that it was June, only to realize that it was nearly August. I didn’t feel like I had added very many books to my TBR, and a handful of them were upcoming releases by authors that I tried for the first time, that don’t even have a title or a cover yet. In total, I added 56 books to my Goodreads TBR in July, which was a lot more than I expected. The majority of the books that I added were thrillers that came up on my Goodreads feed, adding to my ever-expanding list of thrillers that I mean to try but haven’t picked up. To be honest, I don’t even remember finding the majority of these books and was a bit surprised to realize that I’d added so many to my list, even though it is far from the highest number I’ve ever added in a single month.
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week. It is hosted by TyngaReviewsand ReadingReality.
1) House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
I added this one to my TBR because I recognized the author’s name as someone I’ve been meaning to try. Krystal Sutherland has previously written two YA contemporary books, both of which have been on my TBR for way too long. This one is described as a modern, dark fairytale, and it focuses on Iris Hollow and her two older sisters, Grey and Vivi, who disappeared for a month, only to return with no memory of what happened to them. Since their return, strange things seem to follow them, and they have been slowly changing physically. Ten years later, Iris is doing all she can to fit in during her senior year of high school, but when one of her sisters goes missing again, Iris and Vivi are left with only a bizarre trail of clues to find out what happened to her. In the course of their search, they realize that the story they’d been told about what happened to them may not have been the whole story, and the world that they visited then might be calling them to come back now. This book sounds really creepy, but also so fascinating! I love any kind of dark fairy tale-inspired story so this sounds like something I’d really enjoy.
2) Sorry I Missed You by Suzy Krause
I have no idea where I originally saw this one, but I would guess it was on a list of new and upcoming 2020 releases since it just came out at the beginning of June. This book is about three strangers, Mackenzie, Sunna, and Maude who move into a converted rental house together. The only thing they have in common is that each of them has an important person in their lives who have “ghosted” them. When a strange letter appears in their mailbox hinting at an explanation, each of the women assumes it is for them, and they decide to stake out the coffee shop mentioned in the letter to find out who it was from. The more the women learn about each other, the more questions they begin to have. At the same time, creepy things start happening around their house, which suggests that they may have a ghost for real. I have no memory of finding this book at all, but it seems like it will be such an interesting one!
3) Wench by Maxine Kaplan
This one immediately caught my attention because of the title. There have been a few books lately that have to do with this kind of Medieval or Medieval-themed setting, but this one seems a bit different since it is actually a fantasy setting. It is about a girl named Tanya who has worked at the tavern since she was young, but she is at risk of losing it all when her guardian dies. Tanya sets out on a quest to petition the queen to help her keep the tavern, facing a variety of obstacles in the process. I think I initially thought this was more along the lines of Well Met or The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly, although I haven’t read either of those yet. This book is not out until next January, so there is not too much detail about it yet, but the early reviews seem quite mixed. I’m definitely curious to find out more about it closer to the release date, and I’m especially interested in seeing more reviews. I don’t think I’ve ever read a fantasy book that has been based on this kind of premise, and it sounds so intriguing.
4) The Guest by Cathryn Grant
This is one of the many thrillers that I added to my TBR, and I think I discovered it because it came up on my Goodreads feed. This one is about a woman named Ellie, who owns a successful art gallery, and is happily married to Seth, with whom she has two children, Brandon and Simone. Ellie starts to notice that Seth seems distracted and distant lately, and it doesn’t help when he invites a mysterious stranger named Ace to stay with them. Ellie soon finds herself attracted to Ace, while also suspecting he has some kind of strange agenda. When a student at her son’s school is murdered, Ellie is devastated to learn that the police think Brandon may have been involved, and decides to search for the truth and clear her son’s name. I tend to love thrillers that have this kind of storyline, involving a parent trying to come to terms with the idea that their child may have done something horrible. Some of my favourite thrillers (Defending Jacob, for example) have followed this premise, and I’m curious to see how this one will play out. This one is a little on the shorter side, at only 270 pages, so I’m a little worried that it will not be enough time for the plot to really develop.
5) The Dream Job by Kiersten Modglin
I’ve been really interested in reading books that deal with office politics, and I think it is such a fascinating backdrop for a thriller. It is about a woman named Autumn, who has changed her name to Lark to distance herself from her former life. Desperate for a job, she interviews at a mysterious company and jumps at the chance to work for them when she is offered an excellent salary. Lark soon learns that this company has a bizarre hiring process, where she must be locked in a luxury cabin with five strangers, known only by codenames, and led by a cryptic figure called Mr. X. Lark has to compete with the others for the job through a series of challenges, and none of them are allowed to keep their phones. When Lark sees something that she shouldn’t, she begins to ask questions that may put her in grave danger, if she decides to continue pursuing the truth. I have a few thrillers by this author on my TBR already, but I have not tried any of them yet. This one sounds particularly intriguing because I tend to love this kind of locked-door setting for a mystery/thriller. I guess this isn’t quite the “office politics” story that I originally thought, but it sounds just as interesting.
6) 4 Riverside Close by Diana Wilkinson
This one, predictably, caught my attention because of the creepy-looking houses on the cover. I still don’t know why these covers always draw me in! The Goodreads synopsis was pretty vague, so I ended up garnering a bit more information from some of the reviewers instead. The book focuses on the residents of a North London neighbourhood who have signed up to be part of a social network called Join Me, which is run by a couple named Caroline and Jason. The aim of the network is to match people of the opposite sex and offer opportunities for them to meet in-person and visit tourist attractions around London together. When Jason’s body is discovered in a house, everyone in the neighbourhood becomes a suspect, as does his wife. It is a bit of a difficult one to describe because I found the descriptions a bit confusing, but I’m very interested in trying it because I love thrillers that focus on social media. I’m hoping this will make more sense when I actually pick it up, but I’m sure it will!
7) A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser
I may need to add Jessica Strawser to my list of priority authors to try next year, since I have all of her books on my TBR already! This one is her upcoming 2021 release, due out in March, so it may be a little early to add this one, but I wanted to keep it in mind. This book is about a woman named Caroline who is living a happy life with her husband and children, but soon finds it turned upside down when she is contacted by Sela, who claims to be her half-sister who found her due to a DNA test for an ancestry site. Sela needs a kidney transplant and, with the rest of her life crumbling, she worries about what will happen to her young son if she cannot find a donor in time. If Caroline really is her blood relative, she might be her best option to find a match, but it is also a big thing to ask someone she has never met, and Sela is hesitant to even bring it up. As her health begins to deteriorate, she is left with little choice, but at the same time, Caroline begins to uncover hidden secrets about her parents and her newfound sister. This is the first of Jessica Strawser’s books that is not tagged as a thriller, but it brings up the same kind of ethical dilemma kind of plotline that I love in Jodi Picoult’s books, so I’m very intrigued to try it.
8) The Long Shadow by Anne Buist
This is another one that drew me in because of the cover art, and especially once I saw that the main character was a psychologist. It is about a woman named Isabel who has come to a town called Riley because her husband is assessing the hospital, which might close down. Isabel, a mother to a toddler herself, is running a mother-baby therapy group, but on her first day, she finds an anonymous note from one of the mothers warning her that “the baby killer” will soon strike again. A child had been murdered in this town once before, and Isabel wonders whether the note is a serious threat or if it is an attempt to scare her husband off of closing down the hospital. As Isabel begins to learn more about the women in her group, she starts to believe that the murder that took place in the past might be the key to preventing any further harm. This sounds like such an intriguing premise, and I love the group therapy setting! As someone who studied psychology myself, I love seeing characters who are in that field. It’s not a thriller that I’d heard much about, possibly because it is from Australia, but it sounds very good. Also, another fun fact that I just discovered is that the author is married to Graeme Simsion, who wrote The Rosie Project!
9) The Mothers by Sarah J. Naughton
I added this one to my TBR because it has been compared to Big Little Lies, which I loved, and several other thrillers that are pretty high on my list. It’s another case where the Goodreads synopsis was so vague, so I had to dig a bit to find out more. It is about a group of women who met at a group for expecting mothers, and their friendship endures. When Bella’s husband Ewan goes missing, the police begin to ask questions, and soon realize that the stories they are getting from Bella and from her friends don’t quite add up. The story is told in dual timeline, focusing on the present-day investigations of Ewan’s disappearance, and flashbacks to the past where we find out more about Bella and the other women. I found it a little frustrating that I couldn’t get a clearer idea of what the book was really about. I didn’t want to delve too far into the reviews because I’ve had a lot of bad luck lately with accidentally spoiling myself for books by doing that, and it’s especially irritating when it is a thriller. Given the comparisons to Big Little Lies, I’m expecting to really enjoy this one too.
10) The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor
Aside from thrillers, I also added a handful of YA and contemporary romances to my TBR. I can’t remember exactly where I saw this one either, but it looks so cute! This book is about a math genius named Emma, who is tasked with creating a matchmaking app with George, her Coding Club co-president. Emma aims to use algorithms to calculate people’s compatibility, but George hates the idea of meddling in other people’s lives. At first, the app seems to be a huge success but when the couples who are supposed to be perfectly matched start breaking up, Emma is at a loss and can’t figure out why her math has failed, especially when her own feelings defy any calculations. This book has been pitched as a modernized version of Jane Austen’s Emma, which I haven’t read, but I feel like I’m going to have to pick up sometime soon. I keep seeing so many books compared to Emma, and it would probably help to have some familiarity with the original, although it doesn’t seem necessary. This book reminds me a bit of The Rosie Project in terms of its concept, which is one of my favourite books, and I’m looking forward to giving this one a try.
11) Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle
I added this one to my TBR immediately upon seeing it, even though I haven’t read Sarah Hogle’s debut yet! I keep hearing great things about it though, but I’m pretty confident I’m going to like it. This book is due out next April, and it is about a woman named Maybell, who inherits an old manor from her eccentric Great Aunt Violet, and decides that it is the perfect chance to get a fresh start. When she arrives at her new home, she is surprised to see that the building is falling apart, and the groundskeeper Wesley seems to want nothing to do with her. Great Aunt Violet has also left Maybell with a list of tasks that she must complete within six months if she wants to keep control of the estate, and she needs Wesley’s help to accomplish them all. The more she gets to know Wesley, the more Maybell begins to realize that his avoidance may be the result of anxiety even worse than her own panic attacks, and she starts to think they have more in common than they realized. I’m not the most interested in “bucket list” kind of plots, but this one just sounds too good to pass up! I may need to add both of Sarah Hogle’s books to my TBR for next year.
12) Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss
I only discovered this one within the past couple of days, and the title immediately caught my attention. This one is about Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen (or possibly Brendan? The synopsis says Brezzen, but the reviews all say Brendan), who have little in common except for the fact that they all hid together during a school shooting that took the lives of several classmates. Each of them copes with the trauma as best as they can as the world keeps moving on around them. I was especially intrigued by this one because the synopsis referred to it as a “the story of what happens after the reporters leave and the news cycle moves on to the next tragedy.” That sounds like such an intriguing perspective, and one that I really have not seen before. I have read a few books that deal with school shootings, usually from the perspective of a survivor in the immediate aftermath, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a story that follows the long-term impact. It sounds like such an interesting and unique book, and I’m very interested in trying it.
This iconic book was the first thing that immediately jumped to mind when I thought of books that involved trains or planes. I read this one back in 2017, and it was the second Agatha Christie book that I had ever read, after absolutely loving And Then There Were None. That one is still my favourite, but I really enjoyed this one too. This book features Detective Hercule Poirot, who is investigating the case of a passenger on the Orient Express train who was murdered while the train got stuck during a snowstorm. It’s been so long since I read this one that I really don’t remember much detail about it by now, but I remember thinking that it had an interesting cast of characters, and I had no idea what the final twist would be! I thought the investigations and interviews with the suspects were very well-done, and left me just as confused as the investigators about what had happened. I love these kind of locked-door mysteries where everything takes place in one confined setting, and this was such an interesting one.
I have not read this one yet, but I’m hoping to pick it up before the end of the year! This book is about a private school student named Isabelle who meets Alex on the train downtown. Over the course of several encounters over the next three years, the two of them get to know each other, including the issues each of them are having with their parents. Isabelle and Alex are from different economic classes, and different cultural backgrounds, and from what I have heard about it, the book tackles a variety of topics including mental illness, racism/prejudice, privilege and more. I’m intrigued to pick this one up because it seems like such a slow-burn romance, which is quite rare in YA, and I’m very intrigued to see a YA romance that stretches over such a long period. I actually had this book on my list to read last year for my reading challenge, only to learn that it had been pushed back to February 2020. I’m hoping to be able to get a copy soon so I can finally read it.
I first heard of this book a few years ago when it came up as a recommendation in my local newspaper’s book section. It is about a woman named Juliette who is obsessed with her ex-boyfriend Nate, and is hoping to win him back. Juliette decides to become a flight attendant for his airline so she can keep watch over him, and ensure that no one else gets in her way. I’m pretty sure that I initially thought that this book primarily took place on the plane, but I’m not actually sure if that’s the case. Given that Nate is a pilot and Juliette becomes a flight attendant, I would assume that at least some of the book revolves around planes or the airport at least. I’ve also seen comparisons of this one to You by Caroline Kepnes, which I really enjoyed. As creepy as You was, I can only imagine how much worse it would be if they characters were stuck together on a flight, if that’s how the story plays out. This is another book that I’ve been meaning to try for way too long, and I’ll have to make sure to actually pick it up at some point.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to think of this book, even though it is such a clear fit for this week’s theme. I know there has been a lot of mixed reviews for this one, but I absolutely loved it! It is about a woman named Rachel who takes the same commuter train to work every day, and she begins to feel attached to a couple she sees through the window each day. She names them Jess and Jason, and imagines that they have the perfect life until one day, when she sees something shocking happen in the brief moments before her train moves on. When “Jess” goes missing shortly afterwards, Rachel takes it upon herself to investigate and find out what really happened to her. I read this one right at the height of its hype when it came out 5 years ago, and although I don’t remember too much of it by now, I remember that I devoured it very quickly! I think it was one of a few books I read that year that really got me hooked on reading thrillers.
This might be a bit of a random choice, but I specifically wanted to mention one more book that involved planes, and this is one that I remembered that I had read. This book is the third in the Pendragon series, about a boy named Bobby who is a Traveler, responsible for visiting different worlds during their “Turning Point” and helping to push things in the right direction. In this book, Bobby and some of his friends travel back in time to New York in 1937, where they discover that the infamous Hindenburg disaster is the turning point that they are supposed to deal with, forcing them to make the difficult decision of whether to stop the crash or allow history to play out to prevent further disaster in the future. In general, the Pendragon series is an incredibly underrated YA fantasy series, and I’m so glad my school librarian recommended it to me. It came out around the same time as Harry Potter really became popular here, so it got lost in the shuffle a bit. I especially enjoyed this one, even though I really have no interest in planes and knew nothing about the Hindenburg before going into, and I think the whole series is worth picking up.
I purposely made a point of reading these books very early on in the year because I was so intimidated by the idea of picking them up! I’d meant to read this duology for a couple of years now, and I kept putting them off. Part of the reason I was hesitant is because I had very little understanding of what the books were actually about, and partly because they were longer books and Laini Taylor’s writing tends to be quite dense. I am so glad that I finally picked these up because they were incredible! The only downside of reading them so early in the year is that by now, it’s become a bit harder to remember the specifics of them. This duology is about a man named Lazlo Strange, who is fascinated with a mythic lost city known as Weep, and he gets an opportunity to join a delegation set to visit this city, which is now overrun by a mysterious citadel, which secretly houses the last remaining survivors of a slaughter. This duology was absolutely incredible. The writing was a little dense, but I thought it was beautifully written. I also thought all of the characters were amazing, including the side characters, and I immediately connected with Lazlo specifically. It is definitely a series that you need to pay attention while reading, but it is well worth it!
I was very excited to receive this book as my Secret Santa gift from my coworker over the holidays, because it was one of my most anticipated books to pick up this year! It was the first book that I ever read by this author, and it was such a great place to start. This book is about a woman named Libby Jones who returns home to a letter telling her that she is the sole inheritor of her birth parents’ mansion, which was the site of a disturbing scene from which she was rescued as an infant. It’s a tough book to summarize without risking any spoilers, but it is definitely one of the stronger thrillers I’ve read in quite a while. I was immediately drawn in by the writing style and I flew through the majority of it in just one day. I especially loved that this one involved a cult, which is a topic I always find fascinating and rarely see in thrillers. I thought the entire premise was so intriguing, and I loved the use of multiple perspectives from Libby as well as several other characters. It’s another case where I don’t remember as much detail because I read it so early on in the year, but I do remember that I loved it.
I picked up this book in the first place because I saw a lot of online hype around it, and it got me very excited to try it. This book is about a woman named Tiffy, who takes an opportunity to share a flat with Leon, a nurse who only works nights. Tiffy will have the apartment during the evenings/overnight and on weekends while Leon is at work, and Leon occupies it during the day while Tiffy works. Although they rarely, if ever, are in the apartment at the same time, they quickly connect through the notes they leave each other around the apartment. I absolutely loved the entire concept of this book, and thought it was so fun to see Tiffy and Leon learning to live “together” without actually living together. I was also surprised to realize that this book had a lot more depth to it than I expected, especially with the storyline about Tiffy’s emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend. I loved both Tiffy and Leon and especially enjoyed their interactions with each other. I also especially loved the development of their relationship, which seemed believable and realistic. It was by far one of the best contemporary romances that I’ve read, and I’m so glad that I listened to the hype.
Marissa Meyer has become one of my favourite YA fantasy authors, thanks to the Lunar Chronicles. I was very excited to pick up her next series, especially when I saw that it was about superheroes and villains, which is something I always tend to love. This series is set in a world where some people, known as prodigies, have developed superpowers. After a period of chaos, the Renegades stepped in to re-restablish order and stop the Anarchists. The series focuses on Nova, an Anarchist who blames the Renegades for the death of her family and decides to infiltrate their organization to seek revenge, and Adrian, the son of prominent Renegades, who is investigating a mysterious Anarchist who he believes has connections to his mother’s death. I absolutely loved the characters in this series, and especially loved the dynamic between Nova and Adrian. I also loved the way the series addressed superhero politics and what it means to be a hero, particularly how the presence of heroes may make other people lazy and complacent. I also loved the side characters, and how much development many of them got throughout the series. This is a series that I can easily see myself rereading.
I think if I had to pick just one favourite book of everything that I read in the first half of the year, it would be this one. This was one of my most anticipated books to pick up this year, and I was very excited to try something by Leigh Bardugo outside of the Grisha-verse. This book is the start of a new series about a young woman named Alex Stern who gets an unexpected opportunity to attend Yale on a full-ride scholarship, but she must take on a role within Lethe, an organization that monitors the activities of Yale’s secret societies and their occult activities. The book follows Alex as she begins to investigate the death of a local girl named Tara, who appeared to have connections to multiple of these secret societies. I was immediately drawn into the book from the first pages because of the writing style, and I loved the backstory that was given between chapters about each of the societies. I was actually surprised to see so many reviews that commented that the book was “slow” or had too many “info-dumps” since I found it all so fascinating. I loved how the book is told in alternating perspectives between Alex in the present, and Daniel Arlington in the recent past. The book also gave me some pretty strong Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes, which was great since that is one of my favourite shows. I found this book so engrossing and I can’t wait for the next one.
This was another book that I was so intimidated to pick up at all, because, much like Strange the Dreamer, I had very little understanding of what it was about, and I knew that the writing would be on the denser side. I actually found that this book was comparable to Strange the Dreamer in a lot of ways, and I mean that as a great thing! This book is about a man named Zachary Ezra Rawlins who discovers a book that mentions a specific event from his own childhood, and he decides to investigate where the book came from. I have never related to a character more strongly than I did with Zachary, from the very first pages where he was introduced because of his introversion, and his strong interests in reading and gaming. I was immediately drawn into the story and especially loved Zachary’s investigations about the book, and the literary-themed party that he attended was a huge highlight. I also thought it was interesting to see the other fairy tale-like stories interspersed throughout, and seeing how they all tied together although it did get a little confusing at times. The book reminded me of a combination of a long-form version of the Wayward Children series and Alice in Wonderland. I thought this book was so beautifully written and I’m so glad that I gave it a chance!
This is a series that I’ve been meaning to try for such a long time, and I’m so glad I finally picked it up! This series is about a man named Kell who is one of the last remaining magicians, and has the ability to travel between parallel versions of London. He is also a smuggler who finds himself in trouble after a deal goes wrong, leaving him in possession of a dangerous item that he must return to Black London, with the help of a young woman named Lila who is searching for adventure. I really loved the world-building in this series and thought that the parallel Londons were so interesting. I also especially loved all of the major characters in the series, and was surprised to find that I even genuinely cared about several of the side characters, including Calla, Master Tieren, and Hastra. I also really enjoyed how we got more backstory for several of the main characters as the series progressed, and especially enjoyed the two main romances. I also was surprised to find that this series was a lot more “accessible” than I expected, by which I mean that the world-building and the plot were both very rich without being too complicated or difficult to understand. I was very late to the party with this series, but I’m so glad that I finally read it.
I was on the fence about whether I was going to pick up this book at all this year, because it is a massive tome! I decided to make use of all the spare time I had during the pandemic to really focus on this one, and I was so glad that I did. I think it comes in a very close second to Ninth House as my favourite book of the year so far. This book is about a young woman named Bryce, who is enjoying her life until one horrible night where her best friends are murdered by a demon. Bryce soon finds herself in the middle of the investigation, and must team up with Hunt Athalar, a Fallen angel who has been enslaved and forced to work as an assassin. Hunt has been offered the chance at freedom if he helps Bryce find the killer, and the two of them soon begin to dig deeper into their city’s darker side. For such a long book, I was very surprised by how quickly I progressed through it and I was very easily invested into the story. I especially loved the amazing, complex characters, including a very well-developed cast of side characters, and I adored the dynamic between Bryce and Hunt. I thought the world-building was very interesting, and I loved that a book of this size was very well-paced.
This was another of my most anticipated books to pick up this year, and it was such an intriguing mystery. This book is about a man named Aiden who is trapped in a place called Blackheath until he can identify the person responsible for murdering Evelyn Hardcastle, the daughter of the family who owns the estate. The day will repeat itself until he solves it, and each day, he will embody a different person. I thought this was such a fascinating concept for a mystery, and a great use of this kind of time travel/Groundhog Day kind of trope. I thought it was so interesting to see how Aiden was able to piece together the information that he gathered as each new character. This book really kept me guessing all the way utnil the end, and I also loved how Aiden had to learn to work with (or against) the traits of the person he embodied each time to keep gathering information. I absolutely loved the setting and the older-fashioned style of the writing and the characters. It was such an amazing mystery, and I can’t wait for this author’s next book this year!
This was another book that I was a little intimidated to pick up because I didn’t fully understand what it would be about, and I had originally planned on picking it up quite a bit later in the year. I decided to pick it up so soon after seeing a flood of hype for it on Twitter, and decided that it was best to read it before going back to work so I could give it the proper attention. This book is about twins Roger and Dodger who were created as part of an alchemical experiment to create a living incarnation of the Doctrine of Ethos, using their abilities to help the man who created them gain power. Roger has a talent for languages and Dodger has a talent for numbers. I absolutely loved both Roger and Dodger as characters, and especially the way the connection between them was first introduced and then evolved over the years. I found the overall plot about James Reed’s plans to embody the Doctrine using Roger and Dodger a little confusing, but also really liked the chapters devoted to his work because it gave such a dark undertone to the rest of the plot. I also thought the time jumps throughout the story were very interesting. Like always with Seanan McGuire’s books, I loved the writing style and the humour. This was such a fascinating, character-driven book and I absolutely loved it.
One of my goals for this year was to re-read 
Another goal of mine was to make sure I picked up 
I had to start with this book because I just finished it this week, and it was easily one of the most adorable YA romances I’ve ever read! This book is about Pepper and Jack, two teeangers who are in charge of their rival family restaurants’ Twitter pages, and end up in a Tweet war with each other over accusations of a stolen recipe. At the same time, the two of them have also bonded with each other on an anonymous chat app, without knowing who they are speaking to. This book has so many of my favourite elements — academic pressure, social media, hate-to-love romance, and delicious desserts! I picked up this book in the first place because I saw a lot of online hype for it, and it’s immediately become one of my favourite books of the year so far. I absolutely loved all of the interactions between Pepper and Jack, and their friendship/relationship was absolutely adorable! This book made me so happy.
I read this book early on this year, and feel like I haven’t talked about it nearly enough given how much I loved it. This book is about a teenage girl named Zayneb, who is sent to stay with relatives in Qatar after a confronting a teacher for Islamophobic comments. While there, she crosses paths with Adam, who was recently diagnosed with MS and is intent on keeping his diagnosis secret from his family. Both Adam and Zayneb also keep a “marvels and oddities” journal to document their lives, inspired by a Muslim artist’s work. First of all, I loved the unique angle of this story, both in terms of the characters and the setting. Adam was one of the most engaging male protagonists that I’ve read in a while (aside from Jack in Tweet Cute). I loved the romance that developed between Zayneb and Adam, who were both Muslim, and really enjoyed that it was a little different from the typical YA dynamic. I was very surprised by how much I loved this one, and it was definitely a book that made me smile.
This was a book that I connected with immediately because I saw a lot of myself in Cath. I’m sure most people are familiar with this book by now, but for those who don’t know, it is about a college freshmen named Cath, who has social anxiety and who is trying to navigate her first year at college, without the help of her twin sister, Wren, who wants some space. Cath is also the author of a popular fanfiction webseries for the Simon Snow books, which is this world’s version of Harry Potter. I related so strongly to Cath and there were so many moments that I easily could have seen happening for myself if I had gone away to college, such as Cath’s anxiety about eating in the cafeteria because she didn’t know exactly how it works. This book made me so happy because I loved Cath’s friendship with her roommate and her romance with Levi, which was absolutely adorable! I also loved the whole fanfiction element. This was another of my favourite YA books over the past few years.
I am long overdue for a re-read of this one! It was another book that I picked up initially because of the online hype, and I ended up loving it. This book is about a 16-year-old boy named Simon who is gay, but has not come out yet at school. Simon has been chatting online with another guy who calls himself Blue, and the two of them have become very close. When his e-mail falls into the wrong hands, Simon finds himself blackmailed into becoming a classmate’s wingman, or else he will be publicly out-ed. This book made me so happy because Simon was such a fun character to follow! I loved his conversations with Blue, as well as his interactions with his best friends and family. I loved that the characters all felt so realistic and it was great to see such positive bonds between Simon and the people around him. I love Becky Albertalli’s writing style, and it was a huge part in why I loved the book so much. This was another YA romance that was just so cute!
This another book that I read very recently, and it made me so happy. This one is a graphic novel about a boy named Ari, who is looking for someone to replace him at his family’s bakery so he can pursue his dream of making it with his band in the big city. He soon meets Hector, a guy who seems to genuinely love baking, and the two of them bond as Ari starts to train Hector to take his place. I am so glad that I picked this book up because it was another one that I ended up loving. I was immediately drawn into both of the characters’ stories, and I loved the montages we got throughout of Hector and Ari baking together. I also loved that Hector was not afraid to stand up for himself and call Ari out on his hurtful behaviour. I was also impressed with how well many of the side characters were developed, given their limited roles. This book did touch on some more serious topics, but the overall story was so fluffy and sweet.
I really enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi, so I was looking forward to reading the next book in this “series.” This one follows Rishi’s younger brother, Ashish, who challenges his parents to set him up with someone after his previous relationship failed. His parents want to set him up with Sweetie, a plus-size Indian-American girl who is frustrated by the amount of focus others, especially her mother, put on her weight. When Sweetie’s mother refuses to let her date Ashish due to concerns that people might make fun of Sweetie for her weight, Sweetie decides to take it upon herself to reach out to Ashish and secretly date him anyway. One of the things I loved most about this book was Sweetie’s attitude about her size, and her commentary about the way others view plus-sized women. As a plus-sized woman myself, I could definitely relate and appreciated her comments. I thought the relationship that developed between the two of them was so cute, and I loved the added twist of Ashish’s parents involvement in choosing their dates to make sure the relationship would still be appropriate by the time it would be revealed to Sweetie’s parents. This was such a fun book to read, and definitely made me smile.
At the time that I first read this, I wasn’t a huge fan of graphic novels in general, but this one really changed my mind. Nimona is a shapeshifter who teams up with Lord Ballister Blackheart to prove to the kingdom that the heroes aren’t really as heroic as everyone thinks they are, especially Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin. I think the main reason this book made me smile was because of the incredible humour in it. Nimona herself was just so funny, and I loved her dynamic with Blackheart. She was absolutely hilarious, and I especially loved one particular scene where Blackheart and Nimona watch a scary movie together. I had to send a photo of that page to my boyfriend at the time because it sounded exactly like a conversation we would have! I really wish this had been turned into a series since I’d love to see more of these characters. This book was so much fun to read, and it’s one of the few graphic novels that I actually decided to buy so I could have my own copy because I loved it so much.
I’m just realizing now that including this book means I have two books by the same author on this list, but it’s worth it because they made me smile for such different reasons. I read Pumpkinheads late last year and ended up loving it a lot more than I expected! This one is about two friends, Deja and Josiah, who work together in the pumpkin patch every fall. Now that they are high school seniors, this year is supposed to be their last season and Halloween will be their last shift together. Deja plans to taste all of the snacks available at the pumpkin patch, while also helping Josiah finally speak to the girl he’s had a crush on for years. To be honest, I went into this book not expecting very much, and I ended up absolutely loving it! Both Deja and Josiah were such great characters and I loved the many montages of their running around the pumpkin patch to find Josiah’s crush (and stop for snacks). I thought the artwork was the perfect fit for this story, and especially loved the very realistic way Josiah’s first real interaction with his crush was handled. This book was absolutely adorable, and it’s another graphic novel that I’d love to have a copy to keep.
Technically, any of the books in this series would fit but I think the first one is still my favourite of the three. This book is about a man named Don Tillman, who decides to take on a project the “Wife Project,” in an attempt to find an ideal partner using science and statistics. In the process, he meets a woman named Rosie who is looking for her biological father, and wants Don’s help because he is a genetics expert. Even though Rosie is technically none of the things that Don is looking for, they soon develop a surprisingly strong connection. I absolutely loved the “opposites attract” relationship between them, and their dynamic was so much fun to read. This is a series that I definitely need to re-read in the near future. Don reminds me so strongly of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, and I loved trying to follow his logic of his Wife Project. It actually made a lot of sense in theory even though it’s no surprise that it didn’t really work the way he expected. I know a lot of people didn’t really care for the other two books in the series, but I really enjoyed them both as well.
I’m grouping these two together because I chose both series for similar reasons. These are both books that I picked up because I found these comic series through Facebook. I absolutely loved them both because the cartoons were so cute and so much fun to read. Sarah’s Scribbles covers a variety of topics, including anxiety and social awkwardness, the struggles of adult responsibilities, self-image, and much more. The Fowl Language series is a collection of comics about parenting, with the entire family illustrated as adorable ducks. I’m not a parent, but I’ve worked with kids and heard enough stories from co-workers who are parents to see how relatable these are! These books are so quick and fun to read, and they always make me smile.