Book Haul – January 2019

Hey guys! I’m back with another book haul this month where, once again, I bought way more books that I read 😂 I got my own discount card at work recently and just had to make use of it so picked up a load of books that I’ve had my eye on for a while!

This month I bought:

• Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

I’ve had my eye on this book for the LONGEST time as a lot of my friends have read it and loved it. When I saw the hardback version I knew I just had to have it!

Blurb:
this is the journey of
surviving through poetry
this is the blood sweat tears
of twenty-one years
this is my heart
in your hands
this is
the hurting
the loving
the breaking
the healing

Genre: Poetry

• The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

I couldn’t help but pick this book up alongside the first, partly because they’re both such gorgeous editions but also because of all of the brilliant reviews I’ve seen.

Blurb:
this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom

Genre: Poetry

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• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

After reading The Bear and the Nightingale just before Christmas (which I loved!), I couldn’t wait to pick up the next instalment of the series and see what Vasya gets up to next.

Blurb: For a young woman in medieval Russia, the choices are stark: marriage or life in a convent. Vasya will choose a third way: magic…
When Vasya encounters the Grand Prince of Moscow, she is dressed as a boy for safety’s sake. This is a dangerous country with a court plagued by power struggles and bandits roaming the countryside.
One of the Prince’s advisers, Sasha, recognises this ‘boy’ as his younger sister and must keep her secret. For Vasya has remarkable gifts and may be the only one who can save the city from threats both human and fantastical…

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

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• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

For 2019, I’m trying to broaden my reading horizons and so am asking my bookseller colleagues to recommend me a book every month. This was my first recommendation and I’m so excited to get started!

Blurb: On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a wealthy, handsome widower. But as they arrive at Manderley, his Cornish mansion, a change comes over Max and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated house, she realises that she barely knows the man she has married, and in every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca.

Genre: Fiction, Classic Literature, Gothic, Suspense, Romance, Mystery

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• One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I bought this book a few years ago as a birthday present for a friend who loved it so, with the release of McManus’ newest book, I thought now was a good time to read it myself!

Blurb: Five students walk into detention. Only four leave alive. Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule. Sports star Cooper only knows what he’s doing in the baseball diamond. Bad boy Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime. Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life. And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won’t ever talk about any of them again. He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude it’s no accident. All of them are suspects. Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you’ll go to protect them.

Genre: Fiction, YA, Mystery

• Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

My main thought behind picking this book up was so that I could devour both of them 😂 Other than that, it’s been super popular at work and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!

Blurb: Echo Ridge is reeling. This picturesque town, nestled near the Canadian border, experienced its first tragic loss in 1995 when high-school senior Sarah Corcoran vanished while walking home from the library. Then five years ago, homecoming queen Lacey Kilduff was found dead in the aptly named Murderland Halloween park. Now, the killer claims to be back. A small town that keeps losing its homecoming queens. Two murders, still unsolved. Echo Ridge is not a good place to be popular.

Genre: Fiction, YA, Mystery

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These next few books I picked up because I absolutely loved the first two in the series. You’ve probably heard me raving about Once already so I just had to get the rest!

• Now by Morris Gleitzman

Blurb: Sometimes facing the past is the bravest act of all… Once I didn’t know about my grandfather Felix’s scary childhood. Then I found out what the Nazis did to his best friend Zelda. Now I understand why Felix does the things he does. At least he’s got me. My name is Zelda too. This is our story.

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Children’s

• After by Morris Gletizman

Blurb: So much was lost – can hope survive? After the Nazis took my parents I was scared. After they killed my best friend I was angry. After they ruined my thirteenth birthday I was determined. To get to the forest. To join forces with Gabriek and Yuli. To be a family. To defeat the Nazis after all.

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Children’s

• Soon by Morris Gletizman

Blurb: Sometimes it takes the worst of times to bring out the best in people. I hoped the Nazis would be defeated. And they were. I hoped the war would be over. And it was. I hoped we would be safe. But we aren’t. My name is Felix. Her name is Anya. This is our story.

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Children’s

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• Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami

I’d never read any Murakami before despite his popularity, and since this book is really short I thought this was a good place to start!

Blurb: She waited on tables as usual that day, her twentieth birthday. She always worked Fridays, but if things had gone according to plan on that particular Friday, she would have taken the night off. One rainy Tokyo night, a waitress’s uneventful twentieth birthday takes a strange and fateful turn when she’s asked to deliver dinner to the restaurant’s reclusive owner.

Genre: Fiction, Literary fiction

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• The Language of Kindness by Christie Watson

This was the non-fiction book of the month for January at work and every time I’d get into a conversation about it, the reviews I heard were wonderful!

Blurb: Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death, from A&E to the mortuary, here is her astonishing, heartwarming account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness.

Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

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What books did you purchase this month? Did you pick up any of these books too? Or maybe you’ve already read these books! What did you think? I’d love to know! 📚

You can always find me over on Instagram and Twitter if you’d like to discuss any of these books (or any others that I’ve featured) in more detail 😌