Since we know how much you fellow bibliophiles love to get ahead with your reading, we thought we’d release our Zoella Book Club picks from now right through until the end of the year. And boy oh boy what an awesome foursome we’ve got for ya! Your TBR stack is about to be shook.
September Book Club
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Following on from our commitment to shake up our old reading habits and make our Book Club a more inclusive community, we are thrilled to announce Queenie as our September pick. After winning book of the year at this year’s British Book Awards, we just know we’re onto a goodun here!
A darkly comic and unflinchingly raw take on life as a young black woman trying to navigate her way in the world, Queenie is about identity, race, independence and carving your own path. This is the kind of heroine 2020 needs – you’ll be rooting for her every step of the way.
October Book Club
From the winner of the YA book prize 2020 – aka Queen of (our) Hearts Juno Dawson, comes this modern-day reworking of a well-loved tale and a searing exploration of gender, mental health and privilege. This is one fictional rabbit hole we don’t mind tumbling down.
Alice lives in a world of stifling privilege and luxury – but none of it means anything when your own head plays tricks on your reality. When her troubled friend Bunny goes missing, Alice becomes obsessed with finding her. On the trail of her last movements, Alice discovers a mysterious invitation to ‘Wonderland’: the party to end all parties – three days of hedonistic excess to which only the elite are welcome.
Will she find Bunny there? Or is this really a case of finding herself? Because Alice has secrets of her own, and ruthless socialite queen Paisley Hart is determined to uncover them, whatever it takes.
Alice is all alone, miles from home and without her essential medication. She can trust no-one, least of all herself, and now she has a new enemy who wants her head…
November Book Club
The Magpie Society: One For Sorrow by Amy McCulloch and Zoe Sugg
Say hello to your new major YA obsession! The Magpie Society is a young adult gothic thriller fiction series, co-written by Zoe and Amy. The first instalment in the murder mystery series will be told via the alternating perspectives of the two lead protagonists, Audrey – written by Amy – and Ivy – written by Zoe, with the narrative jointly plotted by both authors. Prepare to be well and truly gripped. Coming October, 29 and available for pre-order now. Salute at the ready!
A STUDENT FOUND DEAD ON THE BEACH.
A WEB OF UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.
SOMEONE POISED TO STRIKE AGAIN.
Illumen Hall is a boarding school of tradition and achievement.
But tragedy strikes when the body of a student is discovered on the beach – and on her back is an elaborate tattoo of a magpie.
For new student Audrey, it is just another strange and unsettling thing about her new surroundings, along with the secrets the school seems to hide and its weird obsession with magpies. For her roommate Ivy, the death of her friend Lola is just one thing she desperately wants to get past – and having a new student asking questions and cluttering up her personal space is not helping a bit.
But the two girls are forced into an unlikely alliance when a mysterious podcast airs, with one sinister headline:
I KNOW WHO KILLED LOLA. AND ONE OF YOU IS NEXT.
December Book Club
Finding Love At The Christmas Market by Jo Thomas
Come Winter, we like our fiction like we like our pancakes. Fluffy, fluffy, fluffy. Sinking into a snuggly Christmas read is a tradition we all look forward to and we’re not holding back on the cosy festive feels this year, not after the 2020 we’ve all had. One read of the blurb and you’ll feel an uncontrollable urge to curl up under a blanket with a mince pie in tow.
Residential-home caterer Connie has had one online-dating disaster too many. Hurt in the past and with her son to consider, now she’s feeling hesitant. Then one of Connie’s residents sets her up on a date at a beautiful German Christmas market – with the promise she’ll take a mini-bus full of pensioners with her…
Amongst the twinkling lights and smell of warm gingerbread in the old market square, Connie heads off on her date with a check-list of potential partner must-haves. Baker Henrich ticks all the boxes, but when Connie meets Henrich’s rival William, she starts to wonder if ticking boxes is the answer. Will Connie’s wish for love this Christmas come true, and if so – with who?
