I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

This is one of those books that I had sitting on my shelf for years on end and I never really thought about picking it up. As a teen I was very much only into fantasy or paranormal books so this wasn’t really on my radar. I don’t even remember when it was bought for me. Must have been a classic supermarket 2 for X deal. Remember how cheap those used to be? I swear you could get two books for like £5 when I was younger. Wild.

Anyway, this has incredible reviews and ratings on Goodreads so maybe I’m missing out on the best book I’d ever read, but I don’t think this is the book for me. I’d tried one of this author’s previous books a very long time ago and I didn’t get on with the writing style.

Synopsis: At first, Jude and her twin brother Noah, are inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.

Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways… but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

I attempted to read this book, firstly when I was far too young to be picking up something like it. I remember my mom letting me pick a book in the Waterstones buy one get one half price, but from the adult section because I was reading at such a high level as a kid (humble brag – this is 100% a joke, who else was “gifted and talented” as a kid and then found out they’re neurodivergent as an adult?). I chose this book because of its cover and also the fact that I’ve always been into books about magic. I actually didn’t read a certain series about a magical boy until my teens and that’s all I say on that because we all know how much that author sucks.

Anyway, I tried reading it back then and the older style of language was too difficult to grasp. To this day I don’t enjoy books written in older English. I quickly gave up on it, but somehow it made its way to university with me and then beyond to my first home with my partner, which we moved into in our second year of university. I gave this book another chance and still found that it wasn’t for me. Fast-forward to 2024, my partner and I are first time buyers packing up everything we own to move into a new home and this book finally gets culled from my shelves. Surprisingly, I think I got a decent amount of money for it. Well not as much as its base value is worth, but decent for a book selling site.

Synopsis: Magic and mayhem collide with the British elite in this whimsical and sparkling debut.

At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…

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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Graphic Novel Review: The Tales of Exandria Volume 1-The Bright Queen by Darcy Van Poelgeest