Book Recommendations: Part Five

 Happy November! Anyone else been streaming Red Taylor’s Version all day? Everyone say thank you Miss Swift for providing November’s soundtrack! I truly can’t believe how close we are to the end of the year. Which means this blog post is the penultimate entry in my Book Recommendation Series for this year. I really am enjoying doing them, so they’ll definitely carry on into next year. Now for some recommendations this month…

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

I read ‘Cinderella is Dead’ at the beginning of the year and immediately fell in love. So, when I heard that Kalynn Bayron was releasing another book – I was so excited. And she did not disappoint. ‘This Poison Heart’ is most definitely one of my favourite reads of this year. The story follows Briseis and her powerful, magical and sometimes deadly plant power. Briseis is left a huge estate in her late aunt’s will so along with her mothers, Bri leaves Brooklyn behind and heads to the estate in rural New York for the Summer. It’s here, surrounded by a walled garden containing deadly plants, that Briseis discovers more about her gift and the sinister secrets that characters in this town hold. Bri must learn to control her power to protect the one she loves whilst also facing deadly consequences. The book features literal Black girl magic, is unapologetically queer and there are plants – what more could you want from a book? There’s also a sequel in the works; coming out next year… (Trigger/Content Warnings: Minor violence, Death)

Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall

I’m going to be honest and say this book took me a while to read. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it’s a heavy and emotional book so you definitely need to be in the right headspace to read it. Corinne Parker has a secret. She’s bisexual and in love with Maggie – who is the captain of her rival high school’s cross-country team. Maggie has been Corinne’s secret girlfriend for a year when Maggie suddenly dies. Corinne is now faced with intense, secret grief as well as struggling to know and accept who she is and trying to figure out her post high school choices. Corinne feels isolated and the only person she can find solace and consolation in is Maggie’s ex-girlfriend. The book easily time jumps between ‘before’ and ‘after’ Maggie’s death and is a good way of showing us Corinne’s relationship with Maggie as well as emphasising her struggle with her sexuality as well as family problems and life struggles. It’s an important read in capturing the messiness of grief and the nonlinear path of coming out – to yourself and to anyone else. (Trigger/Content Warnings: Death, biphobia, Homophobia, Alcoholism)

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

YA mystery/thriller books are always fun to get sucked into and this definitely falls into the category of those ones that have you hooked. The story follows Pippa and her final year project in school. She chooses the case of Andie Bell who, five years ago, was murdered by Sal Singh. The whole town says he did it so it must be true, right? Pippa doesn’t think so – hence why she chooses to look into the case for a project. However, the deeper Pippa delves into this rabbit hole, the more dark secrets she starts to uncover. And someone in the town will go to desperate and extreme measures to make sure those secrets stay secret and will make sure that Pippa pays the price in one way or another. This was definitely a rollercoaster of a read and is packed full of secrets that, like Pippa, you are desperate to uncover… (Trigger/Content Warnings: Animal death, Mention of self-harm and Disordered Eating, Drug Abuse, Murder, Racism)