What I Read on Holiday

I just got back from spending a week on the utterly gorgeous island of Thassos in northern Greece. It’s a quiet, non-touristy island filled with gorgeous beaches and not very built up so I got to spend the entire week chilling out by the pool with a book. And I read 7. I also read a novella and DNFed an eight book. Here they are!

The Lemon Grove, Helen Walsh

My review for this tense and sultry adult novel was posted on Tuesday. It’s received some high praise and some serous criticism, but I loved it. It had surprising emotional depth, a stunning setting and an unusual relationship.

Isla and the Happily Ever After, Stephanie Perkins

The long-awaited final book in Perkins’ companion trilogy was perfect. Sweet, romantic and emotional, Isla and the Happily Ever After was more than worth the wait. I reviewed it on Wednesday.

Belzhar, Meg Wolitzer

Knew virtually nothing about this novel other than that Wolitzer received lots of praise for her previous novel, The Interestings. Belzhar is strange, clever, and thoroughly surprising. I hope this gets lots of attention once it’s published in October.

Heir of Fire, Sarah J Maas

The third book in the epic Throne of Glass trilogy picked up just after Celaena left Adarlan to pursue answers to save her people and work out how to deal with the shock revelations of Crown of Midnight. Fast-paced, shocking and addictive – I love this series.

Calm as a Stupid Feather, Keris Stainton

I laughed more in the half an hour I spent reading Keris’s second collection of ridiculous things her boys have said than I have collectively in months. Absolutely brilliant, but just don’t read it in public...

Virgin, Radhika Sanghani

I hadn’t heard of this until I spotted a review over on Wondrous Reads. And Jenny loved it so I immediately requested it on NetGalley. I read it in a matter of hours and it was brilliant. Feminism, coming-of-age and what I think NA should actually be.

Black Ice, Becca Fitzpatrick

Even though I only managed the first two books in Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush series, I thought this sounded cool and decided to give it a go. I DNFed it after 10%. Britt, the MC, is a spoilt, entitled ass and I just couldn’t bring myself to care so I gave up!

Afterworlds, Scott Westerfeld

I am a huge Scott Westerfeld fan so I was super excited to read this, especially when I heard that it was about an 18 year old publishing her first novel. It’s clever, different and completely compelling – I don’t think many authors other than Westerfeld could pull this off. Huge thumbs up!

Half-Blood, Jennifer L Armentrout

After an unexpected love/hate addiction to the Lux series, I was eager to give this a go. I read the entire thing on the flight home, but I don’t think I liked it that much. It felt like a rip-off of a favourite series of mine and it still held the things about Lux that I disliked. Full review to come soon!

So there you have it! I had a pretty damn good reading week. If I could repeat that for, oh, six months, I might be able to clear my TBR pile...

Have you read any of these? What did you think? Any you can’t wait to dig in to?

Sophie