I’ve spent so much time over the last few years reading standalones, which is really showing how short my attention span has been. I’ve read a couple of series, but I used to be a pure series reader. My shift to loving romance books has not helped with this. Anyway, that is not what this post is about, onto the standalones!
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power
Another slightly older read, this was one of my last reads of 2020 (what a year) and it definitely had a lasting impact. It starts out pretty slow, but the twists are so gripping. I wasn’t much of a thriller reader before starting this, but it definitely got me interested. I’d now say it’s one of my favourite genres.
Synopsis: Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.
But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.
Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Apparently, every single book in today’s post is an older read and this one is the oldest. I read this almost ten years ago and I still think about it often. I will always recommend this book to people and I’m hoping to do a re-read of it at some point.
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.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Organising My Goodreads #15
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