1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
I picked this book up on a trip to the Strand in New York City last November. I'd heard so much about it and one of my favourite booktubers, jessethereader, absolutely adores this series, so I was really excited to get into it. My favourite thing about this book is that the writing is simply outstanding. From the first page, I was in awe of Riggs' writing ability.
The story follows a teenage boy named Jacob who, after the death of his grandfather, decides to visit the children's home in Wales where his grandfather lived as a child. He discovers that it's not an ordinary orphanage. I really think that it's best go into this book blind as that's exactly what I did.
Rating: 5 stars
2. The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson
This is the third and final book in the Remnant Chronicles Trilogy, which is one of my favourite trilogies of all time. I can't write what this book is about due to spoilers, but the first book follows a princess named Lia who runs away from her kingdom because she doesn't want to marry the prince of a neighbouring kingdom. The romance in this series is wonderful and swoon worthy. I just adore it!
Rating: 5 stars
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon
This is the first book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, which is currently ongoing. It was originally written in Spanish and the translator Lucia Graves did an impeccable job with translating it. The writing is beautiful and captivating. The story follows a boy named Daniel. When Daniel was ten years old, his father brought him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in Barcelona, where Daniel could pick any book he liked and take it home. Daniel chose a book named The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. Over the years, the book receives a lot of attention due to the mysterious nature of its author, and the lives of Daniel and those close to him become at risk. Daniel must unravel the mystery surrounding Julian Carax before it's too late.
This is one of the best books I've read all year. It has a huge cast of characters, each of them memorable and interesting. The plot is incredible, with twists and turns that I wasn't expecting at all. There's a cute romance too.
This is a book lover's book at heart. There are so many lovely quotes about reading, such as when Daniel says "I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day". Isn't that a nice line?
Rating: 5 stars
4. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This essay is based on the Ted Talk that the author gave on the topic of feminism, with a focus on feminism in Africa. I found the focus on Africa to be very enlightening because as an Irish teenager I had never learned about feminism in Africa before. I really enjoyed this piece and look forward to reading more feminist literature in the future.
Rating: 5 stars
All images are from Goodreads.
