Summer holiday TBR

Hello, hello! I haven’t done a TBR for a while so I thought I’d share with you all what I’m planning to read on my upcoming family holiday in Southeast Asia. I’m off to the Singapore Formula One and a cruise round Thailand and Malaysia with my mum, stepdad and two brothers – sadly my husband couldn’t get the time off work, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me!

If you’ve been here before, you’ll know I’m a huge fantasy fan, so it might surprise you to see the stack of contemporaries I plan to take away with me. I’ve been desperate to read more YA contemporary as so many amazing sounding books have been released this year.

Here are the books I’ll be packing next month for my holiday…

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I’m dying to read this and will probably start at the airport or on the drive down, light permitting. I ordered it a few months ago but I’ve been trying to catch up with library books so it’s still sitting on my shelf giving me the eye.

If you haven’t read, or even heard of THUG, firstly, where have you been?! Secondly, it’s inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and has been on the NY Times best seller list for 22 weeks. Twenty two! Everyone I know who’s read it absolutely raves about it, so I need to catch up and read this pronto.

It’s about a teenage girl called Starr who’s in the car when her friend is pulled over and then shot and killed by police. It’s a pretty heartbreaking, gut-wrenching read by all accounts so I’ll read this one first and then follow it up with some lighter, more easy-reading style novels to ease the pain. Oh, the joys of reading for pleasure!

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

I see this book everywhere online and it sounds like such a fun, thrilling mystery that I picked it up as soon as I saw it in Waterstones. It’s billed as a cross between The Breakfast Club and Gossip Girl, with a good, old-fashioned murder mystery thrown in – how awesome does that sound?

I’m hoping this will break me out of the THUG book hangover and give me a good whodunnit to mull over while I’m sunning on the beach with a cocktail.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

I bought this book for my best friend’s birthday and with the movie coming out soon she let me borrow it when she was done (I’ll give it back soon, I promise!).

It sounds like a nice light-hearted read, even with the heavy subject matter of living life in a bubble, allergic to everything. I get the impression it’s more about the budding romance between the MC and her cute, new next-door neighbour, and learning to live life to the full even when the odds are against you.

The Scarecrow Queen by Melinda Salisbury

OK, so I couldn’t go away and not take at least one fantasy book… This is the last in the Sin Eater’s Daughter trilogy and it’s been sitting on my bookcase for months waiting for it’s moment to shine.

This series incorporates a few fairy tales, including the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the Sleeping Prince (both German in origin, funnily enough), but it gives them a fresh spin and sets them in a new fantasy world where the people have all but forgotten that fairy tales are real. This is one series where the second book was just as good, if not better than the first, so I’m really excited to see where book three takes us.

And that’s it for my holiday reading list, four books might not seem like many to some of you, or it might seem like a lot! I’m a pretty slow reader, but they’re all relatively slim and I can get through a book in two or three days on holiday, especially as the flights to Singapore will be about 16 hours in total!

What’s on your TBR this summer? Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought in the comments, and recommend any other YA contemporaries you think I’ll love!

Lyndsey

I am a member of the Book Depository affiliate program, so if you click through and buy any of the books mentioned in this blog I might make a little commission, but I am not paid to review books and all reviews are my own opinions!

My Summer TBR

It’s been a few months since I shared what I’ve got on my to-be-read pile, so I thought I’d give you all a little insight into what I’ll be reading and listening to over the next couple of months.

King of Thorns & Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

I picked these up from the library today after putting them on hold pretty much as soon as I finished reading Prince of Thorns. I can’t wait to get lost in Jorg’s deliciously dark and bloody world again. If you love adult fantasy like Game of Thrones then you’ll love the Broken Empires series by Mark Lawrence. I think I’ll move onto Red Sister once I’ve finished this series, and then jump back to The Red Queen’s War series.

Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

I also grabbed this from the kids’ section of my library while I was there (all the best books seem to end up in the children’s section – this, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Ness, Terry Pratchett…). I got the Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them companion books when they originally came out, so this is the only one I never got my hands on and as soon as I saw it I had to bring it home. It’ll be a nice, heart-warming read after the Broken Empires series. Or, if the Deathly Hallows tale is anything to go by, it won’t be.

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

I bought this book on Amazon after coming across it whilst researching similar titles to my current WIP, The Fair Queen. I figured I should give it a read now I’m almost finished so I can use it as a comparable title in my query if it really is similar. I’m excited to read it and see how Pierce has done it – here’s hoping it doesn’t make me hate my own work, either for being too similar or painfully inferior!

On the other hand, I’m always keen to read fantasy authors I’ve never come across before, so I’m looking forward to discovering a potential new favourite!

The Scarecrow Queen by Melinda Salisbury

I cannot wait to read the conclusion of The Sin Eater’s Daughter trilogy! I’ve seen some great reviews online, and this has really become one of my favourite series, so I know it’s going to be a great read. I’ve also seen that there’s a new e-book collection of companion stories so I’ll be getting my hands on that as soon as possible when I finish this one.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

No TBR list is complete without at least one Stiefvater book. I’ve just finished listening to the audio book of The Dream Thieves (review to come) and I’m still absolutely adoring this series, so as soon as I’m done listening to A Court of Wings and Ruin by S.J. Maas I’ll be diving into the third book in the Raven Cycle series.

There you have it, those are the books I’ve added to my towering TBR and am hoping to read by the end of this summer. I’m sure my pile will continue to grow (I’ve still got a couple of others on hold at the library that haven’t come in yet) and I’m still trying to catch up with some of the books I already had, but I’ve almost finished my second draft and will soon be shipping my novel off to beta readers which will give me more time for reading.

What’s on your list for summer reading? I’m dreaming of reading more YA contemporary, but I keep being sucked back in by fantasy books! There have been so many incredible new releases this year, I’m spoilt for choice, but leave your recommendations in the comments!

Lyndsey

Feeding my book addiction

I did it. I joined my local library. I was popping to Tesco, and the library is just round the corner, and I had something with my name and address on it in my handbag. Basically, the stars aligned, and I am now the proud owner of a library card and three – yes, three more! – books.

I can hear you shaking your head at me. It’s an addiction, I can’t help it. Fortunately, I get to borrow books for 3 weeks, and renew up to 3 times online, so I could technically keep them for 3 months and that’s plenty of time to read them…

Want to know what I got? It’s a pretty eclectic selection. To be honest, I was disappointed with the small YA section, but being a tiny, rural village library, I can’t really complain. Plus, I can order any book I want them to get in, reserve any book that is already on loan, and do everything online except picking up the actual physical book. But, they also have e-books and audiobooks for rent! So I could borrow books without every leaving my house! Winner.

Here’s what I picked up.

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

If you saw my post about My growing TBR, you’ll know I recently acquired and ARC of Red Sister. Having never read anything by Mark Lawrence, I wanted to start at the beginning with Prince of Thorns. I saw the second book in the series on the shelf as well, so I’ll pick that up when I return this.

So, the book is about Jorg Ancrath, the titular Prince of Thorns, who sounds almost like a dark and murderous version of Robin Hood. He leads a band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities, and has the ability to master the living and the dead. But, he will have to face his nightmares and the ghosts of his past when he returns to his father’s castle.

It sounds like it’s set in the future, but after an unsubscribed catastrophe the world has regressed to a medieval style society. Similar to The Queen of the Tearling, perhaps, which I really enjoyed. Either way, this one should be good!

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

This one is by the author of the Hush, Hush saga, which I loved, so I’ve had this on my radar for a while. It’s got very mixed reviews on Goodreads, it’s got almost 4 stars, but the top reviews are all very negative, so I’m going to give it a chance, but I don’t have the highest hopes. I think I’m less critical than some, so I’ll probably end up enjoying it.

It’s billed as a YA thriller, and I don’t think I’ve read many of those, plus it’s a standalone, and I definitely don’t read many of those (in YA) so it’ll be interesting.

It seems to be about a girl who has been training to climb a mountain, and before she sets off her ex-boyfriend asks if he can join her. They get separated by a blizzard and she takes refuge in a cabin, where two fugitives hold her hostage. She discovers evidence of a series of murders, and starts to wonder if she is next, but one of the fugitives shows her kindness. Could he be an ally?

I do love a good thriller, so I’ll let you know how I like this one.

The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey

I remember hearing about this one a while ago, it has a really fascinating premise and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Mark Lawrence (of Prince of Thorns fame) has actually given if 5 stars on Goodreads, so I’m looking forward to this one.

I’m not sure if this is a spoiler, but I read a review that says it’s a zombie book, the little girl, Melanie, is infected and kept in a prison/science lab to be tested as they hope her blood will lead to a cure. I don’t know how far into the book you find this out, so I might have completely spoiled you – sorry! I’ll pop a review up of this one as well when I’m done, I have high hopes for it as it was quite widely publicised when it was released and has lots of positive reviews.

So, there you have it – my library book haul. Increasing my current TBR to 9 paperbacks and five audiobooks…excuse me while I go and build a fort in my spare bedroom and not come out for six months. I’m sure my husband will bring me food, and the dog will probably keep me company.

Have you read any of these? Loved them? Loathed them? Tell me in the comments, and I’ll be back with some reviews soon!

Lyndsey

Current word count (second draft): 28,954