After making a big deal about coming back to blogging, you’d think it’d have lasted longer than two posts, and at the time I had every intention of it doing so. However, I’ve been away the last couple of weeks and after being reassured by the mention of wifi, looked forward to creating and uploading whilst on holiday, what I didn’t take into account was the rubbish quality that would barely let me open a web page let alone save and publish a post.
Nevertheless, it did give me time to enjoy the surroundings, enjoy relaxing in the sun, swimming and not doing too much with my day. It also enabled me to rekindle my love of reading and power through more books than I thought possible in 2 weeks (my average is probably about 3/4 but I managed a grand total of 7- what!?!). I’m always a huge book lover but life sometimes gets in the way and I only manage reading a chapter before falling asleep, or can’t motivate myself to start knowing the lack of free time I have available. So, arguably one of my favourite things about holidays, is being able to sit on a sun lounger intermittently reading and swimming!
With this in mind, there are a few books I recommend, both for those venturing off on holiday (lucky you), and for those back home in need of a new book.
Wilde Like Me by Louise Pentland
Any regular readers may be familiar with my love of Louise, as a blogger, a YouTuber, a comedic character and now even more so, an author. Having loved ‘Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter’ and the love poured into that book, I was looking forward to giving her new novel a read. Despite Louise’s rebrand which enables her to cover more adult topics, part of me expected the novel to fit more into the former image, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it filled with more serious, real and mature subjects.
Following the struggles and highs of single mum, Robin Wilde, it’s hard not to love the characters and even harder not to relate on some level… despite the significant differences between myself and the main character! Whilst Robin got on my nerves at times, I soon fell back in love with her as I understood her intentions, her insecurities and where they came from… relating them to my own.
One scene, in particular, angered me, inwardly yelling at Robin to walk away, to shout back and to ignore the comments but putting myself in that position, I can’t imagine I’d do anything different and I would certainly have had a similar reaction afterwards, like it or not. Although this point seems like the ultimate low for Robin, her journey out of it and realisations afterwards, help readers see their own way out and motivate themselves to follow suit.
Not only is the book great for highlighting and challenging issues with mental well-being, (although this isn’t explicitly stated in the book… merely my own interpretation, which I think makes it all the better!), it has elements of humour fed in throughout and had me laughing out loud at frequent intervals, which is a difficult skill to achieve through writing.
All in all, it’s a wonderful, real, funny and relatable story, beautifully written with a great selection of characters. I would love to read more about Robin Wilde and where life takes her next!
The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell
What I would describe as a true holiday book, it's an easy read that can't help but grip you. The main character did get on my nerves quite a lot (this seems to be a common theme in books!) but I loved the story as a whole and the humour fed in throughout. It's a true romcom novel, with a fun story line. Although the ending is fairly predictable (would it be a rom com if it wasn't), it's enjoyable nonetheless and is still a good read.
Don't Tell The Groom by Anna Bell
Another book with a somewhat frustrating main character but I found the story really intriguing and exciting to see how it all pans out. I love the discoveries the main character makes throughout the book and the fact things do start to come together. The hiccup in the relationship is exactly the sort of thing I imagined in a book like this but it didn't stop me enjoying it and was still great to read, especially as a holiday book.
My (not so) Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
I'm so glad I ended up waiting to read this book, as Majorca was the perfect place to enjoy it. The story had me hooked from the go and was a great story in terms of characters and the general plot, which wasn't as predictable as I expected it to be, and once again Kinsella fed humour in nicely. I love the successes of the main character and the way she handles the situations, which made me laugh a great deal. I think the concept of 'not so perfect', particularly in regards to Instagram feeds, is an interesting and somewhat important topic to include in the book and simply made me love it even more.
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
So that concludes my recommendations, if you have read or read any of these, let me know your thoughts. If you have any recommendations for me, leave them in the comments. I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did and you want to see more from me, you can follow my social media in the top right-hand corner to see when I next upload. Thank you for reading this post.
Love, Steph x
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