Hello my lovely readers. Who am I, is this another post in 2 days?! Ha. I have this renewed energy for blogging and I love it! This is also down to the lovely Steph from BooksLoveReaders as we’ve been chatting about blog ideas for the next month, including today’s post. So back in the original lockdown I created the Booked-In series of posts, as we are once again in a similar situation we wanted to expand it. We are going to be doing a Top 5 series every week, so do let us know if you would like to take part and we will send the prompts in advance.

Today is all about the books that everyone NEEDS to read! Not should, but really need to bump them up to the top of your TBRs! Like now! 😂 If you know me, then you may know some of these books already but I’ve really tried to peruse my books to bring some books that I don’t often talk about or ones we’ve forgotten.

I kicking off my Top 5 with my favourite author…

The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting by Holly Bourne
Published by Usborne Publishing on August 1, 2014
Goodreads

Apparently I'm boring. A nobody.But that's all about to change.Because I am starting a project.Here. Now. For myself.And if you want to come along for the ride then you're very welcome.
Bree is by no means popular. Most of the time, she hates her life, her school, her never-there-parents. So she writes.
But when Bree is told she needs to stop shutting the world out and start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is born. A manifesto that will change everything...
...but the question is, at what cost?

The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting by Holly Bourne | The one I don’t think many talk about a hidden gem of her YA books. This one really impacted me on the deeper level that Holly got me as a person, not just a reader.

 

One of my ultimate favourite reads of the year without a doubt is…

Thorn (Dauntless Path, #1) by Intisar Khanani
Published by Hot Key Books on March 24, 2020
Genres: Fantasy & Magic
Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones
Goodreads

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own
Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.
When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.
But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.
With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.
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Includes The Bone Knife, a bonus short story set in the world of Thorn.

Thorn by Intisar Khanani | I fangirled about this book on Instagram so badly and I can’t wait for the sequel. It’s a book that you couldn’t put down, the writing was sensational and it was inspired by the fairytale, Goose Girl, which I hadn’t heard of until this book.

A series I will never forget… 

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, #1) by Katherine Arden
Published by Del Rey on October 5, 2017
Goodreads

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.
After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.
And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.
As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden | A book my mum picked for me in Waterstones, a book at the time was outside the realm of YA and I was utterly entranced by the storytelling of these books.

A forgotten series…

The Jewel (The Lone City, #1) by Amy Ewing
Published by Walker Books Ltd. on September 4, 2014
Goodreads

Today is my last day as Violet Lasting. Tomorrow I become Lot 197.
Sold for six million diamantes, Violet is now Surrogate of the House of the Lake in the centre of the Lone City, the Jewel. Her sole purpose is to produce a healthy heir for the Duchess – a woman Violet fears and despises.
Violet is trapped in a living death, her name and body no longer her own. She fights to hold on to her own identity and sanity, uncertain of the fate of her friends, isolated and at the mercy of the Duchess.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing | This is a book that definitely doesn’t get talked about anymore. I always recommend it to my students. It wasn’t until much later and even now that it’s a YA like Handmaid’s Tale, being a vessel, surrogate for the Lone’s City’s founding families, throw in some magical powers and overthrowing the society and you got yourself an unputtadownable series.

Last but no means least…

Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield
Published by Electric Monkey on June 30, 2016
Genres: Contemporary, UKYA
Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones
Goodreads

June's life at home with her stepmother and stepsister is a dark one—and a secret one. She is trapped like a butterfly in a net.
But then June meets Blister, a boy in the woods. In him she recognises the tiniest glimmer of hope that perhaps she can find a way to fly far, far away from her home and be free. Because every creature in this world deserves their freedom... But at what price?

Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield | Whilst this book deals with some really hard topics, abuse mainly, this is very poignantly written, that you can’t stop but want to know what happens next. Since that book, I’ve read all of Lisa’s books. It’s one of those that stays with you, and it was hard not to choke back the tears, so make sure you grab that tissue box.

Have you read these? Or have you added these to your TBR? Let me know!