I’ve wanted to start this series for the longest time but I wasn’t aware of which books I’d read were debuts. Well, I stopped being lazy and finally went through my Goodreads and collated a fairly sizable list.
If you have any incredible debuts that you think I should check out, please let me know!
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
When I first started reading The Night Circus I really did not know what to think of it. At the time I did not realise that it was a non-linear story, something which I had never read before. But do not be put off by this fact, I know a lot of people do not like non-linear books however The Night Circus is fantastically beautiful. The descriptions are like poetry and the world-building is immense. If you are looking for a book where you can lose yourself in the setting then this is definitely for you.
Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
This book will always have a special place in my heart as it was the very first ARC I received. It is also a very good book and I think a lot of you will agree with me on that.
It’s such an inventive retelling of Romeo and Juliet and I think the worldbuilding is incredible. I’m yet to read the second book, I do own it but keep putting it off. However, I have read another of Chloe Gong’s books and she’s a great writer.
Synopsis: The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.
But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Haul: October 2023
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