Guest Post Archives - Angel Reads

5 Beautiful Books You Could Give As Gifts

Sep 26, 2021

Hi, everyone! It’s Ely back again for my monthly post for you all. This month I thought I would share with you all some beautiful books you might like to get someone as a birthday gift. This is completely inspired by the fact my birthday is coming up in October, and then Angel’s in November.

So I have five here to tell you about and without further ado.

The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
I actually received this one as a gift myself, so I can tell you just how beautiful it really is. If the person you’re buying for is bookish and loves feeling cosy (I mean, who doesn’t?) then this is the perfect gift for them. Hygge refers to the Danish idea that translates into something like cosiness and this book teaches you all about how to get a little hygge into your life. It’s perfect for Christmas as well, especially if you live in the Northern hemisphere when it’s that perfect time of year to sit by the fire with a book.

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This book isn’t going to be for everyone, but there’s a reason it’s one of the book communities darlings, isn’t there? We’ve all been having a pretty shitty year again this year, haven’t we? Well, if your friend or a family member hasn’t read this yet then this is such a perfect pick-me-up book for them. It’s sweet, it’s fun. I’m sure I don’t have to sell you too much on this one.

Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt by Rhiannon Williams
This is my absolute favourite book to gift to people. I think I’ve given it to three or four people now, but it’s just a really lovely book. This is middle grade and fantasy so perfect for your friends who need something like that, it’s also Australian and therefore seriously underrated so the chances they’ve already got this on their shelves is pretty slim. This is such a great gift for both the kids and adults in your life.

Am I There Yet? by Mari Andrew
Along with the shitty time we’ve all been having, I know a lot of us are feeling a little lost right now. This is the perfect book for that—this is filled with adorable illustrations and wonderful short essays by Mari Andrew that deal with feeling lost, grief, love and hope. It makes a beautiful gift and is well worth a read.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
This is another one I personally received as a gift, this time from Angel herself. And again this is another book community darling. I honestly don’t know anyone who hasn’t loved this so I feel like it’s a pretty safe gift to give to someone. There are so many great books you could pair this with if you’re looking to give a few books—Miller’s second book, Circe, any of Stephen Fry’s myth retellings, Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne, the list goes on!

And there it is! What books do you love giving to people? What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?

Ely’s Favourite Novels In Verse

Aug 29, 2021

Hi, everyone! It’s Ely again and today I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite novels in verse. I think these are the perfect kinds of books to pick up towards the end of the year as they are usually quick reads, but also stunning ones. So here we go!

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo: It’s not a list of the best novels in verse without mentioning The Poet X. This is probably the one people are most aware of and for good reason—Acevedo is an absolute master of the genre. So if you’ve somehow missed out on The Poet X so far, I highly recommend picking that one up ASAP. At points, it is a bit of a tough read so be prepared for that.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Another absolute icon of writing novels in verse is Jacqueline Woodson. She’s truly amazing at everything she writes, whether it’s in verse or not, so definitely give her a read if you haven’t already. Brown Girl Reading is probably her most famous work, and it is more of an autobiography in verse but it’s so beautiful that I couldn’t resist.

One by Sarah Crossan
This is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I’ve ever read. It’s the story of two conjoined twins as they make the decision to undergo an operation to disjoin them. Like I said, completely beautiful and heartbreaking. This is one of the ones I picked out for Angel to read this year, so look out for her thoughts on it at some point.

Shout by Laurie Halse Andersen
Going back to the autobiography in verse, Shout is basically Laurie Halse Andersen’s poetry discussing her experience with SA which led her to write Speak, but also talks about her life and writing outside of that as well. After I finished this, I gained a huge amount of respect for Laurie Halse Andersen and her books.

Turtle Under Ice by Juleah del Rosario
This comes out last year and is another book about sisterhood, what that means and why it’s important and finding yourself in life. It’s quite a small little book, but definitely worth your time.

Home Is Not A Country by Safia Elhillo
Finally, another book is also about finding yourself and the importance of family and country. This is also quite a short book. But it gets into some really intense themes and has a dash of something like magical realism to it. Someone on Goodreads said it was like if ‘Elizabeth Acevedo and Nina LaCour wrote a book together. Which I think is a good way to sum it up.

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Have you read any of these? Are any of them on your list?

Ely’s Favourite Reads of 2021 So Far

Aug 8, 2021

Hello, everyone! It’s Ely from Earl Grey Books here again to share another post with you all. Today I’ll be telling you all about five of my favourite reads of 2021 so far. So without further ado, let’s just get into it.

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare: I was extremely hesitant going into this book because it seemed like everyone in the romance community had read and loved Tessa Dare and I was worried it was going to be overhyped. Turns out I should’ve listened to Angel and everyone else who told me to read this because this was incredible. This is just such a sweet and fun book, as well as being sexy as hell. What more could you want in a historical romance? If you haven’t read any Tessa Dare yet, here’s yet another person telling you to do that.

Naked in Death by J.D Robb: 2021 has definitely been a year of me trying new genres and tropes and discovering that I actually like them. It turns out that J.D Robb is one of those new things—I won’t commit and say that I like this genre of futuristic romantic suspense. But I did really love this one. I’m genuinely shocked because I hated my first Nora Roberts book that I tried last year. But as J.D Robb I really enjoyed her writing and this story. This is, of course, is a huge series. I haven’t continued it yet but I’ll definitely be dedicating some time to it very soon.

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh: I’ve thought for years now that Agatha Christie is where my enjoyment of crime fiction pretty much began and ended, but last year I tried Dorothy L. Sayers and enjoyed her writing. Because of that, I decided to test myself and pick up some Ngaio Marsh as well and instantly fell in love. A Man Lay Dead has one of my favourite tropes which is the whole murder game thing. People at a party decide to play basically a real-life game of Cluedo only someone is actually murdered. Shock horror! I thought this was just done really well and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it.

Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh: Here’s another thing Angel has been screaming at me to read…kinda. I’ve been listening to her talk about the Psy-Changeling series by Nalini Singh for months. And so I decided to instead go out and read Singh’s other series so I could torture both of us just a little. Again, this is not my usual genre at all but I was completely in love with this by page 20. I often struggle with the writing in paranormal romances. But this is really well-written and just has this incredibly interesting world and set of characters that I couldn’t help but devour it. It’s made me really excited to get to the Psy-Changeling series as well now.

And that’s it from me today. I hope you’re all doing well and I’ll see you again next month!