Favourite Books This Year

I'm sat in bed on a dreary Sunday afternoon listening to the rain pour outside. Rain makes for perfect reading snuggled under a duvet. There's something soooo cosy about reading inside whilst it's raining. It's like there's nothing else to do except transport yourself to another world through a book. It's the best thing ever!

I'm currently reading The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, which is fantastically rich and funny, but this post is going to be about some of my favourite books this year so far.

My reading challenge for 2018 is set for 50 and I've read 35 so far. Now it's September (Yay Autumn) I need to get a wiggle on.

1. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

A book must be excellent if I devour it in a day! The Loneliest Girl is about Romy Silvers (Amazing name) who is the only surviving crew member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet. She was born on the spaceship and knows nothing of the outside world, only of what her parents told her before their deaths and from the communication systems back on Earth. What I loved about Romy was how strong she was, we all need those characters in our lives to remind us we too can conquer the world (or in Romy's case, conquer space). I loved that Romy was the sole character, you could get to know her personally. I loved how smart she was and how she knew what to do in most situations. It's about loneliness and getting to know yourself better than anyone else could. It's also very scary. Imagine being a young girl existing in outer space alone? If you like space, science and strong female characters, give this book a try, bonus is that it's quite short!

2. Floored - A collaborative novel

Now this is written by seven best-selling and award winning YA authors, including Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Melinda Salisbury and Non Pratt. Six characters who are unlikely to ever be friends if they had met in the real world, meet in a lift where tragedy happens. It brings the six together although with some reluctance. Each character is written by one of the authors so they have all very different distinct voices. Hugo, for example, is an arrogant rich boy who believes he's superior to everyone else. Dawson, a famous child TV star. Velvet, a working class girl trying her best. Kaitlyn who's losing her sight. Sasha who happened to be helping her dad deliver a parcel when she got stuck in the lift. And Joe who was never supposed to be in the lift in the first place. The six of them begin to meet up on the anniversary of the lift situ, there's parties, arguments and fights, but also some super lovely moments. By the end of Floored how I felt about the characters was vastly different from the beginning, each character surprises me, especially Hugo! Read Floored if you want some true teenage experiences.

3. Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

A fantastic middle grade children's book full of magic, mischief and mayhem. Morrigan Crow is a cursed girl who escapes death to then find herself in a world completely unlike her own with many peculiar things going on. The world of Nevermoor has some very fascinating characters and funny ways of doing things. Morrigan is entered into a set of trials to win a place in The Wundrous Society and the excitement begins. This reminded me a lot of Harry Potter, some of the imagery mirrored that of the HP world, although the magic is different. There's no wands or spells as such, just majestic happenings! My favourite magical element was the brolly rail ride which takes riders over and through the city, you simply attach your umbrella to the wire and off you go! Nevermoor is fun, exciting and utterly brilliant. Morrigan is funny and has a mischievous side to her, as do many of the residents of Nevermoor. Some parts are dark and serious, but some parts have buckets of toads. Once you read this I don't think you'll want to leave the enchanting world, which isn't too much of an issue because Townsend is publishing another instalment of magic this year!

I hope you're reading plenty of wonderful books too!