There are SO MANY great books around at the moment and so I’d like to share a few that I think are particularly exciting. I’m not going to plop them all together in one post but give each the opportunity to shine in it’s own right…
Hold on to your hats… here are my summer 2019 recommendations.
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Recommended for Older Teens/YA and above!
Here’s the synopsis:
Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?
Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.
Their only communication is via email and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love. But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean? Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone…
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The Loneliest Girl in the Universewas published by Walker Books back in 2017 but I only read it this year and oh my how I have fallen in love with Lauren and her stories. You can find more information on where to buy it here (also your local indie will be able to get hold of it too if they don’t already have a copy.). It’s also available on Kindle. This year has seen the publication of her latest novel The Quiet at the End of the World which I adored just as much and have also featured on my Tales. You can find details of that here. Review for Loneliest Girl will follow but just so you know, it’s rather fabulous.
Loneliest Girl ISBN: 9781406375473
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Read it already? Please feel free to let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
Happy reading and I hope you have a fabulous summer!
The brilliant new novel from the author of Hold Back The Stars
Thea and Isaac were close, but they’ve grown apart.
Thea world tirelessly, convinced that she can prove everyone around her wrong – convinced she can prove that time travel is possible. But when her latest attempts goes awry, she finds herself picking up the phone and calling her old friend.
Issac is in New York – it’s the middle of the night, but when he sees who’s calling him, he cannot ignore his phone. At Thea’s request, he travels home, determined to help her in her hour of need.
But neither of them are prepared for what they will discover when he gets there.
The Light Between Usis a story of second chances and time travel. It begs the dangerous question that we all ask ourselves – what could have been? “
Katie’s novels are completely unique. They are love stories that are complex with plots that are smart, thought-provoking and brave. She makes us question the reality that surrounds us and just how far love can take us.
The Light Between Us is a story about love, yes, but it is also about the choices and actions we take and the effect they have on the world around us. There is also a very powerful message about mis-understanding, lack of communication and jumping to conclusions.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about the story as I wouldn’t want to give anything away. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering as I read and I urge you to do the same. This is science fiction slap bang in the here and now, totally relatable and current. The writing as always is brilliantly sharp. Setting, character and place are brought to life wonderfully; there is also adventure, danger and of course a love story.
She feels the thrill of excitement – her skin tingles with the power of the laser, magnified by the glass house; the hairs on her arms stand up and she can’t help but smile.
Is it working? There’s the smell of electricity in the room, and a sound of crackling, underpinned by a thrumming hum. It must be working – she knew it would. She was right all along.
She hopes Rosy’s all right in the glass house, and that it’s not too warm. She should check on her.
Thea shields her eyes with her arm, peering towards the glass house where, inside, Rosy should be standing – is she there. It’s too bright to see. Thea moves gingerly towards the cubicle, protecting herself from the light, when –
‘Fuck!’
A blinding colourless brightness, then the power goes out with a womp as the lab falls into total darkness.
‘Oh, hell.’
They stand at the centre of it all, surrounded by the black.
‘I think we did something bad.’
The Light Between Us by Katie Khan
I love a novel that leaves my mind full of images at the end. This story has certainly stayed with me and the vividness, light and emotion along with it. Katie has the ability to capture the magic, wonder and fragility that encompasses love. As always there is an element of heartbreak, light and darkness but I absolutely love the way Katie ends her novels. This one was particularly memorable and as with Hold Back The Stars, I can see The Light Between Us coming to film or tv.
Katie is an exciting, intelligent author and I have loved both of her novels so far. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Thank you so much to Hannah Bright for sending me a copy of The Light Between Us,it was an absolute joy to read.
Also by Katie Khan…
Hold Back The Stars
Ninety minutes.
A few years from now, not too far in the future, two people meet.
It is a classic story of boy meets girl.
Except that it’s not.
When we find them, they have an hour and a half left.
Unless they can save themselves, they won’t survive.
The clock is ticking.
Bittersweet and life-affirming, Hold Back the Stars is the love story of the year.
Beautifully written, this stunning, unusual debut weaves its way through an intense, all-encompassing first love. A love forbidden by the times in which they live and yet one that they’ll risk everything not to lose.
Hold Back the Starsis set in a future where the world has been ravaged by war and a new society introduced. The earth is now peaceful but this comes at a price. There are rules and one of the rules is that you don’t fall in love until you reach the appropriate age. Yet the heart rarely follows rules and when Carys and Max meet its ten years before either should be thinking of settling down. They are young, rebellious and maybe the system no longer works for their generation.
Throughout the novel Carys and Max are desperately trying to find a way to survive after their ship is damaged and they are stranded in space and rapidly running out of both air and options. I loved discovering their relationship as Khan dips in and out of their past moving us towards the moment that brought them to be being in space and the catastrophic situation they find themselves in. It is intense and Khan conjures up the sheer vastness of space and their desperation as they watch the minute’s tick away taking them closer to death. Yes this is a novel about survival but ultimately it is a unique love story about how true love can turn our world upside down and also, maybe it can be the very thing that saves us too.
Katie Khan
I write books about light and space.”
To find out more about Katie you can visit her website here.
