November 9 - Colleen Hoover

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Enjoyed this book a lot, there was good humour, romance, and an interesting plot twist at the end. 

The story follows Fallon and Ben, Fallon is a child actress who was seriously injured at the height of her career. She is learning how to cope with her injuries and plans to move cross country to New York. Ben is an aspiring writer, he and Fallon meet on November 9.

They agree to meet up each year on the same date, no contact in between, and that Ben will use their story to write his novel. Of course nothing stays simple for long and Fallon isn’t sure if Ben is telling the truth or if he is making everything up for the ultimate plot twist for his novel.

This book was difficult for me to get into, it dragged on at the beginning, but once things started getting into swing it was fast paced. A sweet romance between the two main characters with lots of twists and turns in the plot. Very enjoyable. 

PS... You're Mine - Alexa Riley

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I was actually disappointed when I realised this was only a novella. The story was beautiful and I could easily have read a 500 page book with these characters.

Katie Lovely is a teacher who enters her class in the write a marine project. There is one name left after all the children have gotten someone to write to, so Katie decides to write to her marine, Sergeant Major Mark Gunner, the two starts a beautiful relationship, where they both realise they can’t live without each other.

The sweet letters they write each other is inspiring, and makes you dream about writing letters to someone special. I had a silly smile on my face the whole time I read this.

The book also contained Snow & Mistletoe, yet another very quick read.

Me Before you - Jojo Moyes

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This was one of those books, that crept into my heart and nestled there, it will probably stay with me for the rest of my life.

This is my first Jojo Moyes book, and after some friends have been asking that I read it for a while now, and the trailer for the movie came out, I decided it was about time. I still can’t believe it took me so long to get to it. The writing is beautiful, the characters are lovable and the story, the story just about broke me.

It follows Lou Clark, a 26 year old, who after losing her job and trying a number of opportunities at new careers ends up being the carer of Will, a 35 year old quadriplegic. At first Will pushes her away by being rude and uncommunicative, but Lou kept being her bubbly self and then they start a friendship of sorts.

You can’t help but hope that Lou can get through to Will in time, that she can convince him that this type of life isn’t the end of the world.

It’s a heart wrenching story that had me sobbing into my pillow when I finished it. 

Room – Emma Donoghue

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Reading this book is truly one of the best things I could’ve done this year, it was one of those books where you would stop reading, just to reread or even just sit and take it all in.

It follows Jack a 5-year-old boy who was born in an 11 by 11 foot room where his mother has been held captive for the past 7 years. Jack and Ma has a very special relationship, and she tried her best to make him believe that the way they were living was normal, so he wouldn’t miss the outside. After he turned 5, she came up with a plan to help them escape from their prison.

The way Donoghue paints the world through Jack’s eyes is breath-taking, from the way he loves everything in Room, and finds them fascinating and interesting, to his fear when they entered the outside space.

This is one of those books that I know is going to be haunting me for a while, and I can’t wait to see the movie, to see if they did the book justice. 

The Silver Suitcase – Terrie Todd

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I received an ARC from Net Galley and this book just captivated me from the beginning, I couldn’t put it down.

The book tells the story of Cornelia, jumping between her life on the farm in 1939 and her life afterwards. I loved the aspect of Cornelia telling her story, and then her granddaughter, Benita, reading the diaries. I liked the aspect where Benita got to know her grandmother better through reading these diaries. How the diaries helped Benita to cope through her own personal crisis.

The book is an emotional rollercoaster, and you could see the growth of all the characters. From Cornelia as a young girl who experience a lot of tragedies, and how she coped with everything to Benita, who had to learn to let go of some control.

Terri Todd really knows how to capture your heart and make you fall in love with the characters and root for them. Todd also wove in the silver suitcase and how it all connected with each other. Even the reveal at the end was amazing, something I did not see coming. Definitely a must read.