Recent Reads #6: Something a bit different.

I've had a whole lot of book mail in the last few weeks, guys. I've also gone a bit nuts spending in bookshops, after months of being so good and abstaining...oops.

And despite my reading schedule, which is still on the Harry Potter re-read (I'm up to 'Goblet of Fire' and the feels are intense), I've managed to deviate slightly and get some others in there recently...

'Undercover Princess', the first in 'The Rosewood Chronicles' series, is the kind of book I loved and yearned for as a teen – and yet I am also totally content now, reading it as an young adult. The writing style is so beautifully descriptive, and the characters are precious. Also, kind of irrelevant but I love Connie Glynn, aka Noodlerella's Instagram insane amounts.

2 girls are put together in a dorm room at the prestigious Rosewood Hall school; one is a princess yearning for an ordinary life, one is quite ordinary but dreams of being a princess. They soon swap identities, and that turns out to be a recipe for disaster...

Published 2^nd November, with Penguin.

'The Nowhere Girls' by Amy Reed is the story of girls who unite in an effort to help a disgraced peer. It's told in alternating perspectives - something that when done right, can be amazing (it was, in this case). There have been a lot of 'girl power' reads coming out recently, at last, and I am here for it now and forever. 

'Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school, transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.'

I received a proof of this from Atom, and am now holding a giveaway for 1 finished copy on my Twitter! 

'The Sun and Her Flowers', the very intensely anticipated second poetry collection from Rupi Kaur, is now in pride of place on my poetry shelf beside my bed, having only been out less than a fortnight but already well-thumbed. Every bit as beautiful as her debut. Didn't have as much of an effect on me, however, maybe because it wasn't a magical enormous revelation like 'Milk and Honey' was. I've come to expect magic from Rupi. As we all should.

'this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you...'

I put my £10 book token from Books Are My Bag towards this beauty from Simon & Schuster, in Waterstones, of course.

'Grave Matter' is a fantastic novella by the incomparable Juno Dawson, illustrated most spookily by Alex Smith. Created with Barrington Stoke, one of my favourite publishers who specialise in books designed with those who have a harder time reading in mind. 

The story begins with Samuel, drunk and devastated at his beloved girlfriend's funeral after a freak accident took her away from him. He'd do anything to get her back. 
Anything...

“All energy is connected. If one drinks greedily from one pool, a thirst is keenly felt in another. Where there is life there must also be death – for every gift a sacrifice.”

I'm so happy to be bringing back my Recent Reads series right now – somehow this year, with all the reading scheduling, these posts have fallen by the wayside. But now I'm re-reading the Potters probably until November at least, I'm finding room between them for quick flirtations with other books and genres; poetry, YA, adult and even a few picture books...yes, my reading is going swimmingly, these days. Long may it last – and may I stave off the slumps!