26 Books: A Book Published This Year

So, here we are again with our 26 books for 2015 after a little gap. Lots been going on in the household what with awaiting lambs (!) and organising concerts and other bits and bobs. Poor 26 books got neglected. But here we go, a book published this year (this year being 2015 as we're so late!)

This would have been number five for Bringing up Burns 2015.

'The Honours' by Tim Clare (J):
(read October 2015)
Truly extraordinary. I am still reeling and don't know what to think. It was wild, exhilarating, weird, gruesome and probably very good. I do recommend it, and not to the faint hearted.

'Emma' by Alexander McCall Smith (A):
(just out of 2015, published a few months before:
(read January 2015)
First book of 2015 and I really enjoyed it! It's an extraordinary mix of the 'real' Emma with a modern twist. At times it felt as if it were jane Austen's words and characters and then suddenly modern speech and objects suddenly surfaced.











'Everything Everything' by Nichola Moon (E): 
(read November 2015)

Wow. What a book. There's been a lot of hype about this book, so I bought it ages ago and had forgotten the premise, and actually anything about it! A nice surprise.

I really enjoyed it. It drew me in from the start and even though I sort of guessed the ending, it kept me turning the pages until the end. It was sort of cheesy, sort of predictable, but I gobbled it up (1&1/2 hours straight). A fantastic read. I can't really explain why it was so enjoyable. It's not a masterpiece, and it felt far too short - I could've kept reading for a long time. I think it also could've gone into a bit more depth about Maddy living with SCID, as it felt as though her going outside wasn't actually shocking enough for someone in her position.

Definitely recommend - very, very fast (too fast!) and engaging from the start. Good book for an evening in. The ending was irritating, and cheapened the whole book. It made it much more of a generic YA romance that had stemmed from something different. I seem to be saying a lot of negatives for a book I've given four stars too! Basically, I enjoyed it despite its flaws.

Updated to add: thinking about this further, there are even more flaws in this book. It's actually pretty unsatisfactory and sort of silly. It's odd how perspective can alter your view on a book. I'll leave the stars up, as that was how much I felt on just finishing it, which seems valid.






Hope everyone's reading nice things, and enjoyed this post! Drop us a comment if you've read any of these books.