more than just words

Genre: Fantasy/Romance Reading age: 16+ Rating: 7/10 You’ll like this if you liked The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes or Wicked The Musical. I love a prequel and I love seeing the human side to a villain, so when I found out that this book was a prequel to Alice in Wonderland, and the Queen of Hearts was the main character, I knew it would be right up my street. That being said if you’ve watched or read Alice in Wonderland, you know that the story sort of makes you feel like you’re going mad - Or that you’re reading a 10 year old ‘but it was all a dream’ school essay. Well, the prequel is no different. It's extremely creative and the world building is very patiently curated but it's also by no means an easy read. I kind of felt like Marissa Meyers wanted me to be confused. And although she did capture the magic of the story really well, it sometimes felt so far fetched that it was difficult to properly immerse myself into the plot. That being said once you reach the half way po

Genre: Romance /Coming of Age /Drama Reading age: 18+ Rating: 7/10 You’ll like this if you’ve watched or read End of the F***ing World, It’s Kind of a Funny Story or anything which blends love and mental health. One of my favourite booktokkers always raves about this book, and as it’s black history month, it felt wrong not to read a book by a black author… so I picked up Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. The first thing that must be mentioned is that this story should be plastered with trigger warnings - self harm, substance abuse, suicide, sexual abuse, physical harm, death. You name it, the book has it - which I wasn’t too keen on, I know real life can be shit but I do feel like the story could have been just as powerful without so many different types of traumatic experiences. It almost diminishes the individual experiences in isolation and makes it seem like they must have a culmination of trauma to be worthy of our empathy. That being said it was really well written, very poetic

one day I got tired of complaining then my heart stopped aching to be loved and desired by you my attachment disintegrated as our dreams went up in flames a future cremated a present in purgatory and you did not even notice that your world was crumbling too preoccupied to have me on your mind you never saw it coming and it was happening right in front of you you ignored the signs and continued to take me for a ride but your ride has an end your vehicle only has space for one an incomplete journey caused by a dead end and instead of turning around it is time for me to get off no longer a passenger taken for granted by you

the thought of an existence without you  would shatter me into a million pieces  a million pieces which would solely exist to destroy the world for unravelling the threads that hold my heart together and fracturing my only chance at happiness you ignite the world i live in with you my faith in humanity is restored no longer a shadow of myself defying my instincts to reveal only the parts of me which people imagine to be true to the world you are formidable to me you are the world you make me believe in love

Genre: Romance Reading age: 16+ Rating: 8/10 You’ll like this if you’ve ever experienced a long term romantic relationship. They say third times a charm, so I decided to pick up another Taylor Jenkins Reid book, and let’s just say I truly think she might be becoming one of my favourite authors. Every book I’ve read by Miss Jenkins Reid is so different, from the themes to the way it’s formatted. If it wasn’t for the same quality of writing, you’d think that the books were all written by different people. After I Do is a love story in its core but more than that, I think it’s a story of self love and self discovery. Like most of us, I usually read to escape my reality, so I don’t like reading things that hit too close to home. But in a way it was refreshing to read about different approaches to love and the different journeys relationships can take. There is a real beauty in realism, and knowing that you’re not alone. The story follows the lives of Lauren and Ryan who were college (unive

we are eggs in your basket filled to the brim perfectly identical so you never have to choose you never have to lose out on what could have been you let us be chosen by you and to be chosen by you feels like a dream a basket so full but still you cater to the team you make us feel like we are the only one chosen by you but when you take us out the basket and juggle us all at once you may get a fun party trick a tick of our approval or your hand may slip and just one may fall because you wanted us all but we all wanted to be the one chosen by you

the pressure of the day ahead my mind is already filled with dread i am stuck in an open box easy to find but constantly lost and i can leave but i am scared of the commitment scared to die but struggling to live in a world where i am separated from the best scenario because optimists always fall and i would rather jump to my demise be in control of my own destruction at least it wont be a surprise that it did not work out and even if it would have i will never know because prevention is better than cure a life collaterally damaged by anxiety a life wondering why i have not achieved happiness

Genre: Romance, Coming of Age, Mystery Reading age: 11+ Rating: 6.5/10 You’ll like this if you’ve read: The Sun is Also A Star and any high school coming of age book ever! I didn’t have many expectations of this book, I just knew that I wanted to read a light hearted romance and support a black author, and to be fair, it gave what it needed to give. There’s not really much to unpack with this book. It’s largely about the intersectionality of class and race. The class element was interesting to me because I feel like the story shows that even through social mobility, you can’t run from your race… but more positively, you can always find comfort from people experiencing the same race struggles as you. You might hate this concept if you’re a passionate Marxist though! The story follows Quinn Jackson who is a compulsive list maker, like myself, that loses her journal full of lists. These lists contain very private information about herself but also bring her a lot of comfort… and without t

every time you try to connect the signal fails you find something to agree on but reality tells you that you are too different a bond that should be effortless requiring more effort to maintain not enough water to aid its development a tug of war between nature and nurture a product of an environment where nature cannot thrive a flower grown in a dark room where time had to suffice an unfortunate predicament and they wonder why the harvest they produced was dry and limited the intention was there but the actions were not visible and although nature shows that you may be the same nurture proves that that similarities is not enough to sustain a signal that constantly fails you are just too different

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Reading age: 16+ Rating: 8.5/10 You’ll like this if you’ve read: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I read this book shortly after watching the recent Elvis movie, which at the time didn’t feel very significant to me as I didn’t know what Daisy Jones & The Six was about, I just knew I wanted to read another Taylor Jenkins Reid book. And after reading this, I can truly say I have become mesmerised by the world of old school rock and roll. Jenkins Reid has this amazing way of writing historical fictions that feel so real, you almost don’t want to believe the characters never existed. I didn’t know much about 70’s rock but I feel like Jenkins Reid did it justice, for how well rounded the story was. You get an insight into the world from all angles, those steering, those spectating and those escaping. The good, the bad and the ugly, or in rock and roll terms - love, sex and drugs, although I’d add ‘fame’ as an honorary fourth adject

they say trauma causes memory loss a way to cope with the pain the vision is fragmented yet the feeling remains but you do not remember why so you wear your heart on your sleeve covering the scars carved by a past clouded with rain  but the truth lies in her eyes  yet you just choose not see  you feel guilty that you love him  when hate should precede  she’s an extension of you  but so is he  and when he hurts her he hurts you  and he hurts himself too  so the memory fades  a way to cope with the shame  your vision is fragmented but her feelings remain and deep down yours do too  still you wear your heart on your sleeve  covering scars carved by a past filled with pain

Genre: Romance/Drama Reading age: 13+ Rating: 4/10 I loved Ugly Love and didn't really like It Ends With Us, so I decided I needed a tie breaker to see whether or not I could pledge allegiance to the CoHo fan club... and now I feel like I need another tie breaker. Like all of Colleen Hoover's books, this was super easy to read and kept me engaged throughout but when I finished the story, I didn't really feel anything. And I'm an empath, so I connect with everyone but I guess I wasn't able to connect with the characters enough. The story follows Kenna Rowan's release from prison and her subsequent pursuit to reconnect with her four year old daughter, a daughter she gave birth to whilst incarcerated. As the story progresses, her past unravels through letters and memories which makes us understand her current circumstance. The story tries to shape a moral battle for the reader but I think it's safe to assume that no one reading this would crucify Kenna for her

when the ship is about to sink and you let go of your fear when you let your mind be here in this very moment acceptance will allow you to feel peace in a time of before for just one second a time of endless hope a time when you believed that there was no possibility of a time like this a life that didn’t exist to you a life that is now yours by force of nature by choice of failure to grow in the same direction two trees sowed from the same seed sowed because they were meant to be a solid foundation but when the roots aren’t strong enough and the waves come crashing all you have is the fading memories the ones you never made and this moment

Genre: Fantasy Reading age: 13+ Rating: 7/10 Another Tiktok sensation ticked off my list… I’m a big fan of the legend of King Arthur and attended a school which had a lot of influences from the legend, so once I heard it was reimagined with an element of black girl magic, this book immediately joined by TBR list. However I have mixed emotions about the story itself. For me it was hard to get stuck into and it took me much longer than usual to finish, but that being said I definitely added the second instalment of the series into my Amazon cart, once I finished this one. Even though the story is rooted in black girl magic, it doesn’t really feel that way. I think this comes from the fact that book is about a secret society with powerful white kids and for the majority of the story, the black girl is the outsider. Despite this, race is a central theme within the story, which is why I would go as far to say there’s an element of historical fiction to it with recurring references to slaver

Genre: Historical Fiction Reading age: 13+ Rating: 7/10 You’ll like this if you’ve read: Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton Since Barack Obama said Vanishing Half was one of his favourite books, I’ve had my eye on the story of the Vignes twins and when I finally entered their world, I wasn’t disappointed. It was refreshing to read a historical fiction about race in America that didn’t feel too familiar to me. Although we’re all very aware of the context in which these characters lived, it was interesting to learn about the act of passing over which I hadn’t come across much before. The story touches on various depths of race struggles post slavery, most notably colourism existing within black communities.  In a small Louisianan town called Mallard, all its residents have fair skin, and the town remains that way as the town people only mix with other light skinned black people. The main storyline follows the lives of twin sisters Desiree and Stella Vignes who grew up in this town, traum

  you are in every relationship quote that i see every romance book that i read every love song that i scream from the motorway when i have to leave you for another week you are in every dream when i sleep without you next to me wishing my reality was not separate from yours wishing the air i breathe was not different from yours wishing i could fill the void of a life without you but there is no life without you the sun rises and sets with your eyes the moon follows you on your late night drive from me you control time and the world stops when we are together there is nothing out there but our paradise a garden of eden blessed beyond measure because within our hearts is where the treasure lies you are in every decision that I make any future that i envision you are the main character in my story and my love for you is the villain

Genre: Romance Reading age: 16+ Rating: 8/10 You’ll like this if you’ve read: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks If I could describe this book in one word it would be… poetic. If you have watched moonlight or avatar, it’s knowing you’re watching a movie, or in this case, reading a book but feeling like you’re staring at a piece of moving art. Rebecca Yarros does a great job of describing the indescribable and although it may not be realistic for a character to break out into ballad-like form during everyday conversation, you understand because this book isn’t about realism, it’s about explaining the human emotions our hearts cannot articulate. The book is split into two story’s, the story of Scarlett Stanton and the story of Georgia Stanton, two generations apart but connected by love… and a book that was left unfinished. Between the alternating chapters and eras it can become tempting to read one story over the other at times but by the end of it all you underst