FIVE STAR BOOKS OF 2021

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How often do you rate a book five stars?

I don’t know how you feel about five star books, but I collect them like rare gems. They are rarely seen throughout the year. Most often my five star books are books that blew me away, and I would want to read again. And I’m rather picky when it comes to books that I want to read again. They have to be close to perfection.

So getting a FIVE STAR BOOK is like winning the lottery for me – lol.

Also, I always remember the first or last five star book of the year. The first of 2020 was Where the Lost Wander, and the last five star of 2019 was Regretting You.

This year it’s a fantasy book, and honestly I couldn’t have picked a better one, since I’m a HUGE fan of fantasy romance.

MY FIVE STAR BOOKS OF 2021

The Turncoat King by Michelle Diener

(The Rising Wave #1)

OMG this book was fabulous!!!!

If you love fantasy romance like me. And if you devoured The Four Horsemen by Laura Thalassa, Chronicles of the Warlands by Elizabeth Vaughan, or the Wraith Kings Series by Grace Draven then you’ll love this book.

I’ve ben on a quest to find more fantasy romance last year, and will continue this quest in 2021. And having a brand-new series to look forward to with an amazing heroine with really unique skills, and a hero devoted to her, made my romantic heart go BOOM!! I’m so down for it. And I can’t wait to read the second book. If you have KU, you might want to start with the novella THE RISING WAVE, it’s a prequel and the story about how the couple got together. I would suggest you read it first.

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A thirst for revenge . . . Ava is committed to vengeance against the man responsible for the death of her parents. The same man, the Queen’s Herald, who kept her prisoner for two years, until she escaped with Luc, a warlord bent on vengeance just as fierce as her own. He’s forged a powerful army of people from all through the region, called the Rising Wave, to march on the Kassian royal family and smash its corrupt power under the weight of their anger. But for Luc, just as for Ava, his true motive is a lot more personal.

A hidden magic . . . Luc suspects Ava has magical powers, suspects he’s benefited greatly from them, but he’s no stranger to the burdens of power, and he’s prepared to let her tell him in her own time—after all, she’s his heart’s choice and he will give her all the time she needs. Except time is running out for both of them. As they near the Kassian stronghold, forces from within their own camp and without will use every trick they have to stop both Luc and Ava and tear them apart.

A secret laid bare . . . Luc knows Ava has a secret she’s keeping from him—but what he doesn’t realize is she has many. And when those secrets are exposed, everyone will have to grapple with the consequences. Ava is prepared to sacrifice her happiness and even her life to save the Rising Wave and Luc—but she would prefer to use her heart and her head to outwit her enemies instead.

A Million Things by Emily Spurr

This book was one of the biggest surprised of 2021. I was blown away by this debut novel. The book is original, different, and heartbreakingly beautiful. It’s a book I still think about, months after reading. Because of a story that is compelling, heartbreaking, and touching. I can’t stress enough how much this book needs to be read. If you are looking for something DIFFERENT, a book that you’ll want to talk about – you need to read this novel!!

AUGUST RELEASE

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A bursting, heartfelt, debut following fifty-five days in the life of ten-year-old Rae, who must look after herself and her dog when her mother disappears.

For as long as Rae can remember, it’s been her and Mum, and their dog, Splinter; a small, deliberately unremarkable, family. They have their walks, their cooking routines, their home. Sometimes Mum disappears for a while to clear her head but Rae is okay with this, because Mum always comes back.

So, when Rae wakes to Splinter’s nose in her face, the back door open, and no Mum, she does as she’s always done and carries on. She takes care of the house, goes to school, walks Splinter, and minds her own business—all the while pushing down the truth she isn’t ready to face.

That is, until her grumpy, lonely neighbor Lettie—with her own secrets and sadness—falls one night and needs Rae’s help. As the two begin to rely on each other, Rae’s anxiety intensifies as she wonders what will happen to her when her mother’s absence is finally noticed and her fragile world bursts open.

A Million Things transforms a gut-wrenching story of abandonment and what it’s like to grow up in a house that doesn’t feel safe into an astonishing portrait of resilience, mental health, and the families we make and how they make us in return.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

OMG I loved this book with all my romantic heart. It’s one of the BEST romance books I read in a long time. And it was everything I love about this genre. It was refreshingly different, and had wonderful representation of females in STEM. Also just loved how the main characters, both scientists, fell in love in a nerdy, funny, but also touching way. But most of all the debut novel was sweet, with wonderful banter, a wonderful supporting cast, and an amazing love story. ALL THE STARS!!!

SEPTEMBER RELEASE

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When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. 

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding…six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. 

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Loved this book so much!!! I fell in love with this couple and their story in 2018 and ever since I hoped for a sequel. Lucky me, in the end we got two more books. But I must say ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS is my most favorite of them all. And if you love audiobooks as much as I do, you must listen to the books. The narration is just amazing and brings the characters to live. All the stars for this one!!!

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In ‘Carry On’, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in ‘Wayward Son’, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In ‘ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS’, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages – and if he doesn’t, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she’s smuggled a cursed American Normal into London, and now she isn’t sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

‘ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS’ takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

‘Carry On’ was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; ‘ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS’ is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.

TO BE CONTINUED…

FIVE STAR BOOKS OF 2021