Four Books to Read
1. If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
"My emotions swirl like leaves caught in the breath of a dust devil, and the only thing I can seem to hold onto is the anger."
Carey is keeping a terrible secret. If she tells, it could destroy her future. If she doesn't, will she ever be free?
For almost as long as she can remember. Carey has lived in the heart of the woods with her drug-addicted mother and six-year-old sister, Jenessa.
Their mother routinely disappears for weeks at a time, leaving the girls to cope alone. Survival is Carey's only priority until strangers arrive and everything changes.
I found this book on display at my local Waterstones by accident. Plucking it from the shelf, I was immediately by the plot and kind of thought it to be a crime novel but it was going to be bought regardless. Turns out I had a good hunch as the book turned out to be amazing. I just loved Murdoch's writing style and how the reader was placed into the storyline so gently. I cried and laughed throughout the novel as I became more and more attached towards the characters.
2. The 100 (The One Hundred #1) by Kass Morgan
"Orange streaks appeared in the blue, like an oboe joing a flute, turning a solo into a duet. That harmony built into a crescendo of colors as yellow and then pink added their voices to the chorus."
In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland.... before it's too late.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.
So I found this by coming across the tv series (something that is quite brilliant.) The novel is down to earth and less about the boys and love, instead it shows how our Earth has evolved. Although the characters introduced are different to the usual dystopian characters that have been introduced to the YA world.
3. The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2) by Michael Crichton
All your life people will tell you things. And most of the time, probably ninety-five percent of the time, what they'll tell you will be wrong.
It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park. Six years since that extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end - the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public.
There are rumours that something has survived.
So I bought this book late last year when filming a project for university. Since then it was hidden underneath my bed in a box just waiting to be read and when the book was devoured, it was a magical thing since I've been a fan of the films forever.
4. Slammed by Colleen Hoover
Sometimes life gets in your way.
Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for bother her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.
Enter Will Cooper; the attractive, 21-year-old neighbour with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humour. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.
I absolutely adore this book and its sequels. They are such amazing pieces of paper with the most beautiful words printed on them that it makes me proud to say that I have read this series. Everyone should read a Colleen Hoover novel in their lifetime. It is life-changing.