Recent Reads: new favourites by excellent ladies.

The Recent Reads thing is always fun to do; I love sharing my latest bookish obsessions with you gorgeous readers, and I hope you check out a few titles I bring up now and again...not that I wanna force you...
...but then these books I'll be talking about today are very, very good. 

They just so happen to be written by some lovely individuals I have had the pleasure and downright honour of meeting, hugging and at times drinking a fair bit with. I'll be seeing a couple of them soon, too, as I am writing this while on my train into London for an exciting book panel event at Waterstones Piccadilly!

Right, let's crack on. We have a lot of gushing to get through, here.

The Graces, by Laure Eve.

I have mentioned this book before on here, and I believe it was just a short paragraph giving a synopsis and a touch of insane excitement about someday reading it.

Well, friends, I've read it. And let me tell you, it is truly wicked, magical and...addictive. I read it in a couple of days. I wouldn't let myself stay up late reading it lest I fall prey to the dark forces – or ruin it by rushing. It needed to be savoured.

The Graces are a family on the coast of Cornwall, known by everyone in the town and the surrounding areas as a 'special' family...possibly as witches.
River, our MC, makes it her mission to befriend them, to become one of them. She gets her wish - but is it all it seems? Pretty soon she's in too deep. 

Goddamn Laure, this was tasty. Every character was 100% 3D. Each relationship had its hardships and rewards. And every description - of scenery, objects, people and spells - dripped with delicious detail. 
I am so grateful to have been sent a copy by the lovelies at Faber, and receiving a bookseller advance copy at my workplace too was great as it meant I could bequeath the spare copy unto a lucky/unsuspecting Twitter follower! (Congrats Rachel!)
Yeah, it's safe to say my excitement for the sequel is already unreal. 

(Can we just appreciate the glowing spine, here? Yeah? Cool.)

(Also my special signature from Laure - it took a while, but she finally admitted the extent of my inspiration.)

Wing Jones, by Katherine Webber. 

I obtained this book through questionable means *taps nose* as it's not released until January 2017 and so proofs cannot be expected to go out until possibly Bonfire Night/Christmas time. I am so so grateful to have received it early (thank you, my secret source!), because ever since learning that the awesome Katie had a book coming out I was desperate to have it. Katie is an angelic presence at events; a superhero in organising and a killer chair of panels. I wonder how it'll feel after the book release when she is talking on a panel, rather than talking to it...

'Wing Jones' is the story of a biracial girl growing up in Atlanta in 1995. She worships her older brother and is close with his long-term girlfriend. She also fancies his best friend. Her family struggle financially, and have had a hideous loss in the past. Wing is a bit of a misfit, in that she is bullied a little and doesn't exactly have her own group, her squad, her place. She is in her footballer brother's shadow, really. Then everything changes. And suddenly she is stepping up, into the spotlight...on the race track. 

This novel is the most gorgeous debut. I was messaging Katie at times while reading with photos of pages, paragraphs, words, I'd loved.

She described significant moments as 'drenched in honey'; playful words a character would say were 'the frosting on the edges of a gingerbread house'; syllables when speaking fell like 'a pit in the middle of a plum'; guilt is a tick, gorging and burrowing. I mean, wow.

It ended perfectly, too. It made so much sense and it was the perfect climax mixed with reckoning. Y'know?
Sorry, I'll stop teasing now. Basically y'all, get this on the TBR and treat yourself to it after Christmas. 

Unboxed, by Non Pratt. 

The only (!) book I bought at YALC 2016. I know, shocker right? 
I actually learned after reading it, from a recent video made by the gorgeous Amber on The Mile-Long Bookshelf, that this book was written in a certain way at a certain length and printed in a certain font to work well for those who struggle reading. That is rad and awesome. Just like Non... *sighs happily* 

'Unboxed' is a short story of 4 teens, friends who went their separate ways some time ago, all of them now with their own secrets and dramas happening, brought back together by their missing group member Millie who sadly passed away before this story began. 
This book is one of precious few that I have ensured are 'face out' on the shelf at work and have written a teeny review card to go beneath it. This book's card simply says 'a perfect burst of gorgeousness and truth'. That's what it feels like - a burst of loveliness and madness and excitement. Because somehow in just 140 pages Non Pratt has managed to form solid and serious friendships, rip a group dynamic apart and piece it back together, uncover secrets and lies of omission and even pour in some good old heartache due to the death of a character we didn't even know but somehow care about immensely. 
This book also made me desperate to make a time capsule. Who's in? 


Right, so now you all have an extra 3 books to add to the TBR, or tbh it should be the MIR (Must Immediately Read). Get on it and we can comment/tweet excitedly about each one. Okay? Cool.