Last summer I gave you my top 5 books to get into and with more than 1 million new books published each year, I thought I’d help you narrow it down and do it again! In this post I will share some of my new favourites from this year.
Heartstopper – Alice Oseman
Having recently been turned into a series for Netflix, this heart warming series of graphic novels has been thrust back into popularity. Heartstopper follows the stories of a group of friends at a high school tackling love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. Being an LGBTQ+ story set in high school really made me think about how I wish I had done my high school experience differently. Some scenes within the book are tough to read but it is important to open up the conversation about being who we truly are.
I must admit that I was sceptical at first as graphic novels are not usually my thing but the illustrations really do at to the story and help you get a greater feel of the characters emotions. The fact they are graphic novels means that all 4 books in the series can be read fairly quickly so if you are looking for a speedy book (or 4) to take on your holiday then this could be for you.
It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover
Although released in 2016 It Ends With Us is another book that has recently found its way back into the hands of many readers to become the January 2022 New York- Times #1 best seller, thanks to the #booktok community on TikTok. The romance book follows the story of Lilly as she falls in love with a surgeon but when her first love comes back, she has to come to terms with the trauma of her past and present in this rollercoaster of a book.
This book does cover some challenging areas and I would recommend that you check out the section at the end of this post about book trigger warnings before reading this book. If you enjoyed People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry, that I mentioned in my summer reads last year then you are likely to LOVE this! The 2nd book to this one is due to be released in October 2022 and can be preordered on Amazon.
The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood
In a society that can often be extremely sexist it is great to see a book that has a women in STEMM as the main character. Once again, the #booktok community on tiktok loved this book and made it a New York Times #1 bestseller! It was also nominated for a Goodreads choice award and won Amazon’s best romance novel of 2021. The book tells the story of Ph.D candidate Olive on her journey through the love, loss and friendship.
I haven’t actually read this one yet but its been on my reading pile for a while and I can’t wait to get stuck into it in the summer. This book may be of particular interest of science students and fans of the shows sex education and to All the boys I’ve loved before but with nearly 250,000 5* reviews, it really is a great book for everyone.
Red White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Words cannot describe how much I love this book, it has to be the best book I have ever read! As the cover somewhat suggests, this book is about the complex love-hate relationship between the prince of the United Kingdome and the first son of the United States of America. What I love so much about this book is how it tackles real situations and feelings that LGBTQ+ people experience, from coming out to family challenges, and feeling the need to hide relationships.
There were so many feelings and experiences that I have had in my life that I had never before seen in a book until now and it made the whole thing feel so much more personal and allowed you to connect with the characters on a very deep level. I would recommend Red White and Royal Blue to anyone who wants a feel good LGBTQ+ story done right.
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
This books is very different from the rest on this list and is actually a non-fiction science based book. Don’t think you need to have a science background to understand this book as you don’t. Bryson’s way of explaining complex ideas and theories using accessible easy to understand language is one of the things that makes this book so great! It really explains how science underpins a lot of what we see in out day to day lives. If you are even just slightly interested in the sciences, this book could be for you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If there are certain topics that would trigger you if you read them, I would recommend going to this website where you can put in the title of any book and it will give you all the topics that are covered that some readers may find triggering so that you can avoid reading yourself into a situation that might hurt you. Find books that fill you with joy. Happy reading!
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies”
George. R. R. Martin
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