The Best Of: Books I Wish I Could Read For The First Time Again

My idea for this series came from a list I happened across on Goodreads. I’d been wanting to talk about these particular books, in this context, for a while, but couldn’t think of what to name the posts. Well, now I have it. Books I wish I could read for the first time again.

I don’t know how long this series will be, as I need to have quite strong feelings for a book for it to be put into that space of my mind, but I definitely have enough to fill a few posts.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I didn’t realise how marmite this book was until the show came out, I thought the entire world was in agreement that it’s incredible. Apparently not. But anyway, this is 100% one of my favourite books of all time, particularly the audiobook.

I’ve recently brought the written book for a re-read as I’m curious to see if I like it just as much in that format. If you haven’t listened to the audiobook of Daisy Jones & The Six, you really need to, it is insanely good. I was completely enraptured from start to finish, the conversational style of it was so easy to follow and made it feel extremely real.

I’d listened to other audiobooks previous to this one, but Daisy Jones & The Six is the ultimate audiobook for me. I’m not great a focusing on them as my mind wanders, but that really does not happen with this. I think it’s because the narrators are talking directly to you.

I spent way longer than I want to admit thinking this was a true story. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books do that to me every time. I adore her writing style and I can’t wait to get started with the next, Carrie Soto is Back.

I could spend all day gushing about this book and why I love it so much, but it would get really rambly and I don’t think anyone wants to read that. If you’ve watched the show and are thinking if it’s worth reading the book, the answer is 100% yes.

Synopsis: For a while, Daisy Jones & The Six were everywhere. Their albums were on every turntable, they sold out arenas from coast to coast, their sound defined an era. And then, on 12 July 1979, they split.

Nobody ever knew why. Until now.

They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn’t believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently.

The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin.

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

This series is the one I constantly say I would love to have wiped from my memory so I could experience it for the first time again. Going into the series I had no idea just how much I would love it and honestly feeling this way about a faerie book is probably weird to some people. But this isn’t tacky faerie romance, it’s a lore-rich world with a heavy focus on politics and relationship dynamics.

For me, The Cruel Prince is the ultimate enemies to lovers as they actually want to kill each other, to begin with. From the get-go, I was super invested in how their hatred would flip to romance (I already knew they’d get together, sorry if that’s a spoiler but this series has been out for ages) and getting witness that journey was incredible.

I think I read The Queen of Nothing (book three) in one sitting as I was desperate to know how it all ended. I’m 100% going to re-read at least the first book in this series this year.

Synopsis: Of course, I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.