February Book Haul

Hello! Recently I’ve been reading a lot of books, and after finishing them I always feel like I need someone to talk to about them, or at least have a place to write down any thoughts and feelings I might have about them. After discovering that not everybody I know wants to hear what I have to say about a book they probably haven’t read, I decided that it might be a good idea to start my own blog dedicated to reading! And so here we are, my very first post!

It seems that this month I’ve gone a little bit crazy with buying/reading books. Me personally cannot complain, but my bank account on the other hand… Despite the cost, I’m really excited about the books I’ve picked up, and cannot wait to start reading them!

• The first book I got this month is not included on the photo above as I read it as an e-book, and that was Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I finished this book about a week ago, and I LOVED it. I want to do a full post about how amazing it was, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but oh my, it was great. The general premise of the book is 26 year old Louisa (Lou for short) loses her comfortable job working in her local cafe, so ends up finding herself at the Job Centre looking for a new one. After a string of unsuitable jobs, she eventually gets one working for a young paralysed man named Will Traynor. They don’t exactly like eachother at first, but as the novel progresses so does their relationship. It’s so beautiful, heartwarming and heartwrenching. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night dreaming about this book, and even a week later it still keeps playing on my mind. There’s also a trailer out for the film (it’s due to be released later this year), so be sure to give it a watch!

• The second book I got this month, and the one I’m currently reading, is The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simmons. I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages but was always put off by the size of it (it’s over 600 pages long with very tiny font!!) and the fact it’s historical fiction. Now don’t get me wrong, I love reading books about the past, but sometimes I find they can take a bit more work than a contemporary. But I suddenly found myself in the mood for an epic love story, which this certainly is! It follows the lives of 17 year old Tatiana and 22 year old soldier Alexander, both living in Soviet Russia during WW2. Since I’m only 100 pages in I don’t know too much about it, but I’m really enjoying it so far and really hope it lives up to the hype!
• Another book I picked up was Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I got this book for my friend as a christmas present, and I secretly wanted to keep it for myself because I’ve heard so much good stuff about it, and it just sounded really cute. After finishing Me Before You I found myself wanting to read something happy, so I went out to buy this and can’t wait to start it! I seem like the only person who hasn’t read this book, but just in case you’re like me and are behind the times, it’s about a girl who gets send to boarding school in Paris, where she meets a load of new people, including a super attractive boy called Etienne St. Clair. Many people have put Etienne in their lists of top book boyfriends, so hopefully I’ll love it enough to add him to mine!

• Next book is Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I have pretty much all of Rainbow’s novels, and everybody seems to love her. What appealed to me about this book is that it sounded more adult than her other books, so I was really eager to add it to my collection. It’s about an IT guy working at a company who finds himself reading an email exchange between two of his colleagues, Beth and Jennifer, and over time he develops feelings for one of them. I’m not sure why, but reading the synopsis I found myself getting some Jim and Pam vibes (if you know, you know), so given they’re one of my favourite fictional couples ever I just had to get this book!

• After hearing so much hype about this book, I finally decided to pick up Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover. Now I’m fine with admitting that every once in a while I find myself craving some more adult, easy to read fiction, and this seems to fit into that category. It’s about a girl named Tate who meets an airline pilot, Miles, and the two strike up a friends with benefits type situation, except they aren’t really friends. As with most books in this genre, one of them will most likely have a difficult past that effects the way they are, and we all know that friends with benefits type situations rarely work out in fiction!

• Now the next book is one that I’d heard a lot about but didn’t have much interest in reading until really recently, and that is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I actually haven’t read any of her other novels, so this book wasn’t really on my radar, but after hearing multiple times how fantastic it was, I decided to go for it. I’ve heard that it’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which is one of my favourite fairytales, so I am actually really looking forward to reading this at some point soon!

• Finally on my list is actually a book I have to read for uni, because I guess I have to do work related reading at some point. As you might have guessed from the picture, it is of course Jane Austen’s final complete novel Persuasion. Despite it being for uni, I am actually really looking forward to reading this book, as the synopsis sounds really interesting, and I always love Jane’s writing. It’s about a girl called Anne Elliot who broke off an engagement with the handsome, yet poor, naval captain Frederick Wentworth. The two meet again several years later, and I’m presuming there’ll be some romance and angst (my favourite things) to keep me entertained.

And that’s everything I have gotten so far this month. I don’t think I can allow myself to buy any more, because that has certainly given me enough to be getting on with! I’m planning on writing a review for most of them, so do keep an eye out!