I can’t believe it’s that time of the year again where I share my favourite reads. I’ve had a great reading year for the most part. I’ve been in a slump for about a month which sucks, but I’m still on track to complete my Goodreads challenge! I have read some great books this year and some not so great. In today’s post, I’ve picked out the 5 I’ve enjoyed the most!
You/poet by Rayna Hutchinson and Samuel Blake.
Title – You/poet.
Author(s) – Rayna Hutchinson and Samuel Blake.
Date published – 4th September 2018.
Publisher – Adams Media.
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Offering a variety of advice for tapping into your creative voice, sharing your work online, and honing your writing skills, You/Poet shows you how to express yourself creatively through the art of poetry.
You may think that writing poetry requires a specific set of skills. You may have read books on writing poetry that were stuffy and full of strict rules and regulations. But You/Poetproves that all you need to be a poet is the desire to share your inner thoughts and emotions with the world. Let HerHeartPoetry—an online poetry community, Instagram, digital zine, and poetry press—take you on a journey of self-discovery and surprise, and show you how to embrace the world of writing poetry with arms wide open.
Writing poetry is an act of bravery. It’s just you, your thoughts and feelings, and the words you choose to express them. You/Poet can help you do just that. With encouragement and advice on poetry writing basics, how to identify your unique creative voice, and prompts and exercises to help you channel your thoughts and emotions through writing, this all-in-one guide will help you share your talent with the world.
This year I’ve really been working hard to improve my writing skills. One of the areas I wanted to focus on was my poetry. This book is one of the best books I’ve ever read on writing poetry. It offers up advice on voice and the basics of poetry. However, my favourite part was the prompt section. It’s divided into single-word prompts, word jumble prompts, image prompts, micropoetry prompts and thematic prompts. It’s well worth a read if you’re looking for inspiration or wanting to improve your poetry skills.
Lock Me In by Kate Simants.
Title – Lock Me In.
Author – Kate Simants.
Date published – 3rd October 2019.
Publisher – Killer Reads.
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A debut psychological thriller from a major new talent
Whatever you do, don’t open the door…
By day, Ellie Power has a normal life. She has a stable home, a loving boyfriend, a future.
But at night, she suffers from a sleep disorder. She becomes angry, unpredictable, violent. Her mother locks her in her bedroom every night, to keep them both safe.
Then one morning, Ellie wakes up, horrified to find the lock on her bedroom door smashed from the inside. She is covered in injuries, unable to remember anything about the night before.
And her boyfriend Matt is nowhere to be found…
I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I’ve really been loving psychological thrillers recently, so I requested this on Netgalley and was pleasantly surprised. Look out for a review coming soon!
Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer.
Title – Aphrodite Made Me Do It.
Author – Trista Mateer.
Date published – 1st October 2019.
Publisher – Central Avenue Publishing.
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Bestselling and award-winning author Trista Mateer takes an imaginative approach to self-care in this new poetry and prose collection, Aphrodite Made Me Do It. In this empowering retelling, she uses the mythology of the goddess to weave a common thread through the past and present. By the end of this book, Aphrodite makes you believe in the possibility of your own healing.
This is one of my favourite poetry collections I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It touches on subjects such as mental illness, LGBTQ+, forgiveness, and love. It’s such a beautiful read and I highly recommend it.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.
Title – The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Trilogy Book 1).
Author – Patrick Ness.
Date published – 22nd July 2014.
Publisher – Candlewick Press.
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Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.
Another book I didn’t expect to like as much as I did. I am in love with Patrick Ness’s writing and I am so excited to read his other books. This was such a unique and exciting read.
Finale by Stephanie Garber.
Title – Finale (Caraval Trilogy Book 3).
Author – Stephanie Garber.
Date published – 7th May 2019.
Publisher – Flatiron Books.
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A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.
It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.
With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.
Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.
Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end…
Although I am beyond sad this series has come to an end, I absolutely loved the final book and thought it was a fitting ending. Caraval has become one of my all-time favourite series and I’m so excited to see what the author writes next.
What were your favourite books this year?
Flaca: an honest account of a Latina with an eating disorder
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