New year, new books. Is there anything more exciting than starting a new TBR pile?
We’re excited to get stuck into plot twists, coming of age tales, speculative fiction and Parent Trap vibes with our first three Zoella book club reads of 2021.
Here’s what we’ll be reading for January, February and March…
January – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The master of empathy once again demonstrates why he is the most celebrated and inspirational writers on mental health of our age. This beguiling novel about the power of books, second chances and learning how to live will warm your heart this January. Being stuck at home gets infinitely better when you’ve got a membership to The Midnight Library.
The Blurb
Between life and death there is a library.
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?
February – Untamed by Glennon Doyle
The original publication date for our February book club pick, You Have A Match by Emma Lord has been pushed back, so we’ve had a reshuffle to make sure we’re all on the same page and reading along together. We’ll look forward to reading Lord’s hilarious and heartfelt novel as soon as it lands but for now, we’re going to be inhaling the uproarious and tender best-seller, Untamed by Glennon Doyle.
Ever since it hit the bookshelves last year, Untamed has become the book everyone is reading, recommending, quoting and sharing on their Instagram feed. Part self-help guide, part memoir, Untamed explores how to find your wild and start living life on your terms.
The Blurb
Who were you before the world told you who to be?
Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us. From the beloved New York Times bestselling author, speaker and activist Glennon Doyle.
For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There. She. Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high but soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world’s expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self.
Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts.
March – You Have A Match by Emma Lord
From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord’s, You Have a Match, a hilarious and heartfelt YA novel of romance, sisterhood, and friendship. We could all do with a serotonin boost in these gloomy Winter months and something tells us this wholesome tale of camp shenanigans and Parent Trap revelations will deliver just that.
The Blurb
When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.
But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.
When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents — especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.
The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby’s growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.
But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones.
April – The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
Nancy Johnson’s debut novel, The Kindest Lie, is already making waves ahead of its release in February. Set to be a searing page-turner about race, class, identity and the pursuit of the American Dream, we can’t wait to uncover this nuanced and soul-stirring story.
The Blurb
A promise could betray you.
It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to-and was forced to leave behind-when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past.
Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a traumatic incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.
Powerful and revealing, The Kindest Lie captures the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and offers both an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.
