Happy Friday!
Seeing as it’s June now, I thought a summer-themed tag would be appropriate today. I found this one on KristinKravesBooks (again), and I loved the fun, summery prompts. So here we are!
The purpose? To find books that fit various summer themes and activities, such as hiking, swimming, and fireworks. I’m interested to see what we come up with!
The Rules:
– Link back to the original creator in your post.
– Feel free to use any of the tag graphics in your post, or create your own!
– Tag 5 other people at the end of your post, and let them know you’ve tagged them.
And now onto the questions!
Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk.
This book is so beautiful. I mean look at that cover. And in addition, it’s such a sweet story, with charming prose, a vivid and quaint setting, and a tense plot with twists and turns I didn’t expect. I especially loved the characters, and how genuine they felt. And the rich descriptions of the sea and the characters interacting with it feel very summery.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.
This is too good to pass up. Katniss and Peeta had a pretty fiery romance, I would say, and not just because Katniss was the girl on fire. Especially in book two, I felt like they had such an on again off again relationship, and there was always a lot of tension mixed in with their care for one another. They didn’t have the healthiest relationship, but they had one.
A Wilted Willow by Julia Witmer.
I love books that use the ‘going on a journey’ trope, and this is one that did it very well. The characters were fun to watch as they traveled, and there was a lot of intrigue and mystery on the way. Few plot twists catch me by surprise as much as this one did, and the ending both impressed and infuriated me (in a good way). I wish it were a longer story!
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.
When I started this book, I had to stop for a minute and process, as the writing style is simultaneously 1) one of the closest to mine that I’ve ever read, and 2) so much more beautiful, rich, flowing, and sharp than mine. The story, characters, themes, and world were amazing, but what made me star-struck was reading the prose and hoping that mine gets there eventually!
What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan.
This was a step outside my usual genres – a story about a mother searching for her abducted eight-year-old son – and I couldn’t put it down! It held my interest and kept me turning pages to find out what happened. While the ending wasn’t my favorite, the rest of the book was very well done to me, with real-feeling characters and a twisting plot.
Romanov by Nadine Brandes.
This remains one of my favorite books containing romance. As someone who doesn’t read much romance, I liked the very sweet one here, mixed with plenty of action and mystery in the main plot. The characters were cute together, treated each other well, but still had enough tension and suffering to deal with that it never seemed too easy. Not at all.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
This has been a fun book to me, with a imaginative mix of middle-grade prose, interesting and unique characters, a creative premise, and plenty of real action and tension. It reads like a sweet fairytale-esque story that makes me smile, but then packs in so much actual mystery and plot that I’m not left bored. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
Wonder by R. J. Palacio.
August conquered some pretty big obstacles in this book, as did many of the people who knew him. This is another middle-grade find (like Beyond the Bright Sea) that pleasantly surprised me with its depth. The lessons it teaches while still being an engaging, entertaining, and well-told story makes it a very worthwhile read. It’s a sweet book.
The Nine Lessons by Kevin Alan Milne.
This may be pushing it, but turns out, I don’t have a great ‘food’ book for this prompt. So I’m saying this one, because the protagonist and his father have lunch together numerous times throughout the story, when they meet to have their lessons. Besides sparse food, this book is full of golf, reading journals, and relationship trouble – marital and parental.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
This feels like an odd choice, as it doesn’t end all sunshine and rainbows. But it inspired me to think more deeply about our relationships with others, even those we don’t understand or agree with. I know there are plenty of complaints with this book, but I enjoyed it, and found it to be full of very deep themes and I appreciated that. The characters were also very vivid and real.
Because I’ve been doing so many of these tags lately, I haven’t been tagging specific people, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see your answers! If you’d like to hop in, please feel free to – either on your own blog, or in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!
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