Hello!

Last week I turned 28 and as I have somewhat inadvertently (maybe completely intentionally) made reading my entire personality, almost all of my gifts were related to books – my mum sent me a bookshop scented candle, a friend gave me a polished thumb stone (a kind of fidget thing that’s meant to be good for anxiety and I can confirm, I love it) that I love holding while I’m reading and my husband wrote in his card that he’s given me a £25 charity book shop budget so I feel all round very spoilt!

But I also received four books as gifts and a very generous Waterstones voucher which I’ve spent a little bit of and I’m totally counting those books too. So here are those!

Gild – Raven Kennedy (plus bookmark and book tote!)

One of my husband’s oldest friends from school is also a book girlie and obviously we’ve bonded because of it. I really wasn’t expecting anything from her but opening her gifts made me feel so loved. I have already read Gild as an audiobook but this means I will absolutely be donating the battered copy I got from a Waterstones sale for the pristine, pretty one.

It always feels like a bonus win when I get a new book but my tbr doesn’t get any longer!

Daydream – Hannah Grace (The Works ombre sprayed edge edition)

My husband is very much a last minute present shopper, but having started reading my Kindle edition of this book and literally giggling and kicking my feet, as well as the gorgeous sprayed edge Waterstones edition, I had already said I would like The Works edition to match my Works edition of the previous book in the series Wildfire.

Again, another book that doesn’t add to my tbr and I’ve now finished this book and it’s one of my favourites of all time so having two physical editions is absolutely justifiable (and I won’t listen to anyone who says otherwise).

Solitaire – Alice Oseman (10 Year Special Edition)

My husband knows how much I love Heartstopper and he’s been pointing out this edition to me ever since it came out and I have been very good and said I wasn’t allowing myself to buy it until I’d read the paperback edition I already have! But he bought it for me anyway cos he’s a good boy 🥰

The tbr so far has not got longer but that ends here, don’t you worry.

Long Live Evil – Sarah Rees Brennan

To end the wonderful trilogy of books my husband bought me, this one came with a story! He was perusing our local Waterstones and he got into two separate conversations with a random member of the public and one of the booksellers about this book and they all collectively decided that I would probably like it.

It’s a very new release, coincidentally, but it’s about a woman who ends up in her favourite book’s fictional universe but rather than being the protagonist, she’s the Villainess and honestly, it sounds so much fun. I was reading through the blurb with ‘ooh’s of increasing enthusiasm because it sounds amazing and I can’t wait to get round to reading it.

He also bought me a beautiful blue sweater from Joanie that says ‘Reading For Pleasure’ and I’m obsessed. He makes me feel incredibly lucky ❤️

Then we have the two books I’ve bought with my Waterstones voucher so far:

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – Heather Fawcett

Immediately on my birthday I went and picked up this book because I’ve had my eye on it for so long, it feels like the perfect time of year to read a book like this and as it’s now out in paperback, it didn’t take as much of the budget as I thought it would!

This absolutely fills the seasonal mood of reading fantasy academia that accompanies the ‘back to school’ feeling I get every year and and I’ve seen a lot of people saying this is a cosy story that still has a bit of a plot and I can’t wait to read it.

Slow Dance – Rainbow Rowell

And last but by no means least, this is a book that I took a couple more days to think about but inevitably felt compelled to buy – Rainbow Rowell is the author of ‘Fangirl’ which has been one of my favourite books since I was a teenager, but I’ve been meaning to reread it to see if I still love it as much as I did then. I reread one of their other books, ‘Eleanor and Park’, last year and didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much so I was a bit dubious.

But I believe this is an adult rather than a YA book and I’m hoping that everything I loved about this author’s YA work will translate into her adult fiction. I’ve seen some incredible reviews but generally this release appears to have flown under the radar so I’m quietly confident that this book will latch onto my heart and not let go.

And (so far) that’s it!

I still have a little bit left on my Waterstones voucher and I haven’t seen my sibling yet and I have no doubt that I’ll be receiving a book or two from them, but all round it was a very successful birthday.

I’m a very nostalgic person so the passing of time can make me feel a bit sad, but this birthday I honestly felt so cherished, so loved and so happy and I’m carrying that through this year – I am very, very lucky and I felt that so much this birthday.

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx