Hello!

In taking a photo for my bookstagram account the other day, I realised that in this just-past-midway point of the year, I’ve read 10 books that I’ve rated 5 stars and I thought it would be fun to rank them. I’m actually pleasantly surprised with how broad they are in genre and how they’re all rated the same but for very different reasons.

I’m not very good at speaking concisely about books, so I’m just going to dive straight in!

10. Things We Never Got Over – Lucy Score

The first in the Knockemout series had me in a bit of a chokehold – I really felt the tension between the protagonists, I thought the spicy scenes were brilliantly written and really well paced and the slow burn was just wonderful. The surprise twist from small-town romance to action movie was surprising but I quite liked it. For such a long book, I expected it to feel like a drag but by the time I got to the two epilogues, I was eating up every last word I could get about Naomi and Knox. When reading the sequel, ‘Things We Hide From The Light’, I started to wonder if I was perhaps too enthusiastic about this one as I rated it’s follow up 2 stars, but I’m going to hang on to my 5 star glow and make final judgement when I read the third instalment, ‘Things We Left Behind’ in September.

9. The Butterfly Lion – Michael Morpurgo

My book club pick for the month of July that I read in less than 24 hours (would have been one sitting but I was really tired). A modern classic for a very solid reason in that it’s beautiful – a really sweet story, with gorgeous illustrations and a wonderful message of love. It’s the kind of book I’d love to share with my children one day if I have them. And fun bonus, it was published in the year I was born!

8. Alex Rider: Nightshade – Anthony Horowitz

The thirteenth and final (for now) instalment in the Alex Rider series that I embarked on in 2022 that I finally finished in January. Honestly, by this point I was really bored of this series – which makes sense, it was the thirteenth book – but Nightshade totally sucked me in. The organisation that Alex is sent to investigate were incredibly clever and the whole story probably could have entertained an adult crime audience as much as the middle-grade/YA audience is technically targeted at. There’s a very open gap left for further sequels, which I will probably read because I’m a completionist (the ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ Pokemon mentality), but I genuinely really enjoyed Nightshade.

7. The Bride Test – Helen Hoang

From YA mystery to adult contemporary romance – I finally listened to the sequel to ‘The Kiss Quotient’ on Audible this year and whilst the concept of an arranged marriage and a mother who really doesn’t understand her autistic son kind of gave me the ick, Hoang’s writing style is ultimately one of my favourites and Kai and Esme were really sweet. Although the autism representation was less explicit, the presentation of a man who was clearly diagnosed as a boy presenting with the stereotypical symptoms was actually really interesting, I thought the way that this was shown in a grown man was really cleverly done. Kai still felt human and had a real depth of character, when a lot of autistic characters (generally written by neurotypical people) are presented as robots. I adore Helen Hoang and I am eagerly anticipating the day she announces her next book.

6. Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge

In an endeavour to get through my physical tbr, I’m not sure if I used one of my credits or if it was included in the Audible Plus catalogue, but I thought listening to this non-fiction book might make it easier to digest for me as the chapters are quite long and the subject matter is quite heavy. But I found listening to it so engaging and Eddo-Lodge as a narrator was fantastic. It was one of those books that I don’t think was designed to be ‘enjoyed’, as such, but it was incredibly insightful and important.

Despite not being designed as an ‘enjoyable’ read, part of the reason I love reading is seeing different perspectives and learning. Listening to this book made me realise I need to make an effort to read more books like this and audiobooks are a fantastic way for my brain to engage with them properly. Once my unread tbr is a little bit smaller, I’m really looking forward to reading more books that challenge the way I’ve been conditioned to think.

5. It Starts With Us – Colleen Hoover

Whenever I talked about enjoying this series it feels like I’m being controversial, as a lot of people view ‘It Ends With Us’ as a trivial representation of domestic abuse. I realise I’m in a position of privilege to not have experienced that scenario, but I personally didn’t see it as trivial at all. It was definitely not a representation of the more extreme cases of abuse, but I thought it was still incredibly powerful. But that’s not the book on my list, the sequel is!

I loved the focus on Atlas and Lily and how the conflict and plot complications didn’t come from them or any kind of miscommunication – getting more of an insight into Atlas in this dual-narrative story was amazing and the subplot of the Corrigan family was so wholesome it made me squeal. I adored reading this story and I’m trying not to let other people’s criticism squash that!

4. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson

The fact that one non-fiction book is on my 5 star list is one thing, but two?? This version of me that reads non-fiction and is working on herself is someone I like!

Another book club pick from earlier in the year, I was dubious about this one as ‘not giving a fuck’ doesn’t really mix with my worrier mentality but honestly, this book made so many wonderful life observations that I wanted to annotate it. I want to go back with a highlighter and find the quotes that really resonate with me. I want to design posters and put them up around my house. I want the words burned into my brain because the subtle art in question isn’t about not caring, but caring about the right things; about putting your energy into what is going to benefit you, in whatever capacity.

The writing style is incredibly engaging and easy to read and I genuinely think reading this book has taught me life lessons I otherwise wouldn’t have had. Give this to all the anxious people you know, because I really think it’ll help.

3. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

The book club picks have been really good – my partner chose this for his first contribution back in February and I was skeptical. Instead, what happened was I was entirely immersed in one of the best examples of world building I’ve ever read, I rediscovered my love for sci-fi and dystopian genres and I ate it up. I’ve still not watched the film just cos I don’t know if it’ll live up to the book.

(and the sequel isn’t worth it, that’s all I’ll say)

2. The Heart Principle – Helen Hoang

My one true love. Considering the glowing review I gave of ‘The Bride Test’ and only ranked it at number 7 – ‘The Heart Principle’ is why. The autistic representation in the whole series is absolutely fantastic, but the female main character in this one doesn’t realise she is autistic until her therapist diagnoses her and then she has to learn about what autism is and how it explains so much of what she’s been struggling with, it’s just so authentic. The romantic relationship between the protagonists was really sweet and I love how Quan is so honest with Ana, especially about the way her family are treating her and I wish every person who doesn’t get their autism diagnosis until they’re adults had someone like Quan who not only has experience with autism through a family member, but loves the autistic person exactly as they are. This is now one of my favourite books of all time and just writing this has made me want to reread it.

1. The Innocent’s Story – Nicky Singer

Putting this book at number one feels a little bit like cheating because it’s been my go-to answer of my favourite book for over a decade and I reread it this year to check I still enjoyed it as much and I absolutely did. It’s still my favourite book of all time and I seriously considered not including it in the running for my favourite books for the year because it is a reread… but it’s my favourite book and considering it was published 18 years ago and I read it probably 14 years ago and I still loved it as much as I did the first time I read it (and noticed and understood new things!) is hugely telling and I really need more people to read it because it’s never met anyone else who’s read it. It’s a bit dark but totally engaging – I think I’m going to treat myself to a new copy for my birthday because my copy is falling apart!

I meant it when I said I can’t talk about books concisely. I also appear to not be able to talk coherently about the books I love enough to rate 5 stars but I hope that comes across as passion and not bad writing on my part!

Have you read any of these books? Is there any that are on your tbr? I’d love to hear!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx