Thursday 17 September 2015

So you're looking for book recommendations...?


People assume that because I am an author, I love books. I'm brimming with the knowledge of wonderful works of literary art. Well...

They are correct.

MY personal taste in book however is varied. I can enjoy fiction, non fiction, fantasy, historical... Literally (pun intended) any genre. My favorite obviously is romance. I love a good story about a girl and a guy coming together, doing the dirty, and then living happily ever after. I DESPISE books where the main character dies. Especially if said book is one in a trilogy or more. I kind of feel like if they die, it was all for naught. Am I right?

With that being said, here are some of my favorite books.

  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

     
I'll be honest. Historical romances aren't really my thing. The long haired, brooding, bare-chested man and the helpless female.

Barf.

Outlander is nothing like that. Jamie is real and vulnerable (And a ginger...yumm). Claire has a filthy mouth and is as stubborn as a mule. This book was pushed on me by many fans of the series. I swear, when I said I hadn't read it, they would be pissed! It was really a matter of life and death that made me read this. I was scared. Another bonus for this book (Besides the men in kilts), is that its now a TV show! My days are ruined. I'm supposed to be homeschooling my daughter but all I want to do, is binge watch the show.

  • The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
This one doesn't fit the mold either. There is no love interest. Its actually pretty sad now  that I think about it (Don't worry, it has a happy ending!).

It's set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth’s father walked out. When she turned twelve, her mother sold her as a servant to a wealthy woman, with no intention of ever seeing her again.
These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, where eventually she meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as “The Infant School.” Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are “willing and clean,” and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth.
Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her, where her new friends are falling prey to the myth of the “virgin cure”–that deflowering a “fresh maid” can heal the incurable and tainted. She knows the law will not protect her, that polite society ignores her, and still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There’s a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.

  • The girl you left behind by Jojo Moyes
Swoon. My favorite. I've fallen in love with Jojo Moyes because of this book. If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll already know this. Her characters aren't described as uber sexy, hunky, or gorgeous. They are real.

It takes place in Paris, 1916 (I think I may be lying about my stance on historical romances...). Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born, one that will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision.
Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.

  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
In this mesmerizing debut, a competition between two magicians becomes a star-crossed love story.

The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic.

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway - a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.