alxxms

cr: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

cr: TBC

Books Read 2026 (in order):

1984 by George Orwell

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Galatea by Madeline Miller

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Release Me by Tahereh Mafi

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

⭐⭐⭐.999999

I needed this I can't lie. Nora Stephens is very relateable I fear. I identified a lot with her overwhelming moments and I feel like Emily Henry got her emotions down to a T. The way I felt everything she felt at all times was so good.

This review is so bad but it's because I'm not sure what to say other than I really enjoyed this book! I saw someone say this is a sisterhood main plot and a romance subplot, and whilst I can see how that may be an issue for people who wanted to read a romance, I am just not mad about it. If you have a sister, you know what it's like 😭 so seeing their sister dynamic was interesting and watching it all unfold was very entertaining for me.

One thing I would say is I did feel Libby as a character may not have been fleshed out as much? It's not really a critique, more just something I felt, but that's because I really liked observing Nora and Libby's relationship. I also called the ending plot twist thing sooooo

To be fair, I liked Nora and Charlie together, they just seemed to work? So, all in all, a lot of fun!

spoiler ahead...

It’s common knowledge to most people that my full-time hobby is reading. I’ve been told that my reading preferences are tricky to pinpoint, and, though I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment, insult or a simple observation, I’m taking it as a compliment to say that I have range.

So, here’s a list of 5 books that I hope to read this summer…

1. Katabasis

BY R. F. KUANG

“Katabasis follows Alice Law, a driven Cambridge magician-in-training, whose mentor dies in a spell gone wrong — possibly her fault. Joining unwillingly with rival Peter Murdoch, she descends into a Hell that mirrors academia’s perils, confronting twisted landscapes, old wounds, and dangerous bargains.” - Goodreads/Wikipedia

Coming in hot at number 1, this book is one my friend was so lovely as to gift me this for my birthday last year, and I have been meaning to read it for a while now. I read my first R. F. Kuang novel this year and I had so much fun reading her work. Katabasis is not a novel I would usually gravitate towards, but I fell into the trap of hearing so much about it that I just have to read it now. I’m really hoping it’s worth the hype, but I’m also trying to be nonchalant about it so I don’t get my hopes obliterated.

2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

BY V. E. SCHWAB

“France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus, begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.” - GoodBookFairy

This one has been on my tbr for a good few years now. Another book gifted to me by a friend (it’s not what it looks like, I promise I don’t just get my friends to buy me books…), this book was recommended to me by another friend who raved about how good it was.

So, naturally, I had to want to read it too.

3. Intermezzo

BY SALLY ROONEY

“Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined. For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.” - Goodreads

The only Sally Rooney book I’ve read is Normal People and I approached that with much trepidation. I had heard a lot about Rooney’s writing style that was supposedly… intimidating? I’m not sure, but the controversy over her speech mark game was enough to make me proceed with hesitance. However, I found that I really enjoyed Normal People (in a way one enjoys the sound of nails against a blackboard because what was that Connell and Marianne?? iykyk).

Intermezzo is Rooney’s newest book and so, when I saw it in the shop, as I was on the prowl (yes, prowl because that is what it takes these days) for a good book for a friend, I bought one for her and one for myself. We were going to read it together, but we have another book to do that with first, and time is, unfortunately, of the essence. So, I’m hoping this book will be a good read this summer…

4. The Stolen Heir

BY HOLLY BLACK

“Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge. Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years. Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.” - Goodreads

Spin-off duology, The Stolen Heir has also been on my tbr for years (maybe this should just be called the-summer-where-I-read-all-the-books-I’ve-been-meaning-to-for-years). Other than being completely and utterly obsessed with The Folk of the Air trilogy, the thought of reading the duology, centred around a side character afterwards, made me somewhat uncomfortable so I think that’s why I may have put it off. I've been putting it off for too long now though so I feel it may be time to crack it open and give it a go...

5. Great Big Beautiful Life

BY EMILY HENRY

“When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication. The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing. The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she’ll choose who’ll tell her story. The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can’t put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story – just like the tale Margaret’s spinning – could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad … depending on who’s telling it.” - Penguin Books UK

It’s summer, so there has to be an Emily Henry book involved. Though I knew of her presence in the romance novel department, I introduced myself to her writing in the autumn of 2025. Having now read most of her work, I can safely say that, she is a go-to for when I may need to be whisked out of a reading slump. Also, her comedic execution is great, (if you don’t like it, you may just hate fun) she’s had me smiling on more than one occasion. I believe this is her newest book, and whilst I’ve heard mixed opinions on it, I’m hoping to give it a try this summer.

That concludes my reading list, though, I have a feeling I may go off-track once I see something else that piques my interest. What I have learnt from this is that I’m clearly an easy person to get a gift for…

does anyone actually tell people about their tumblr account? I kinda just like having it as my only form of social media that no-one (irl) knows about? is that weird?