The books that made us fall in love with reading

It took me a while to get into this novel, with its nineteenth-century language. Plus it's a big commitment at over 800 pages! But I can honestly say Middlemarch is utterly genius. Eliot zooms in and out of the inner workings of a handful of characters' lives with rich emotional insight. I found a new layer of meaning and observation when re-reading the book again a few years later. The ending made me cry and I haven’t done that over a book in years! It’s a book that will stay with me for life.

A masterpiece of candid observation, emotional insight and humour, Middlemarch intricately weaves the intersecting lives of various residents in a provincial nineteenth-century English town, exploring themes of marriage, ambition, and the clash between individual desires and societal constraints. 

I hadn't heard of Carissa Broadbent but I saw people raving about this book on TikTok and the FOMO got to me! I’m so glad I gave it a try as I am now obsessed with the Crowns of Nyaxia series. I never thought I would have an interest in romantasy but I am here to stay!

Vampires meet The Hunger Games in this enemies-to-lovers romance. The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya, is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. To survive, she will be forced to ally with a mysterious rival who she finds herself oddly drawn to. But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari – and nothing more deadly than love . . .

Brooklyn was one of the books that helped me fall back in love with reading after a bit of a drought post-English degree, so I was delighted when Colm Tóibín published its sequel, Long Island (even if I did have to wait fifteen years!) His writing captures the complexity of longing, loss, love and taking a leap of faith, as the lead character Eilis leaves the comfort of Ireland to take a chance on New York. He really knows how to make you feel, which is all I really want from a book, and I hope I don’t have to wait too long for his next novel . . .

Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever.

I found The Seven Sisters series a truly captivating read. The books actually initiated me into my first reading marathon because they were just so good I could not put them down. They follow the story of seven adopted sisters who are reunited after the death of their father, Pa Salt. Each of them get left with a clue that leads them on different journeys of self-discovery. I found the modern take on the mythology of the Pleiades star constellation really interesting and Lucinda Riley really knows how to keep you absorbed across eight incredible novels.

In the first book in the spellbinding Seven Sisters series, we follow Maia in her journey across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Will Maia find the answers she needs to understand who she truly is?

Lovelight Farms is my go to for a guaranteed swoon-worthy romance that gives me that warm cosy feeling and has me smiling as I flip through each page. I loved the community feel of the Inglewood town and the growing connection between Stella and Luca as they worked together to save her Christmas tree farm. I have become a B.K. Borison stan – the whole series is to die for!

To save her Christmas tree farm, Stella lies on a contest application, saying she owns it with her boyfriend . . . who doesn't exist. Enter best friend Luka Peters. Will their fake love affair save Lovelight Farms in time for Christmas?

I believe this book has honestly rewired my brain for the better, to keep calm and positive under pressure and enjoy being present in the moment. This was a great addition to my self care routine and is a must-have for your self-improvement!

Solve for Happy offers the equation for happiness. A startlingly original book about creating and maintaining happiness, written by a top Google executive with an engineer's training and fondness for thoroughly analyzing a problem.

Cathy always knows how to speak to my soul, her books provide real escapism and are a way for me to stay in tune with myself, in the midst of the fast pace of life. Dear Reader felt like a heart-to-heart with my inner bookworm. It is packed with book recommendations and it was a joy to explore just how life-changing reading was for Cathy through her ups and downs. It gave me a newfound appreciation for books. 

A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, Dear Reader is packed with recommendations from one reader to another.

This was the first book that introduced me to the world of mystery, and as an avid romance reader, I was truly surprised with how engrossed I was with this series. I remember the author visiting my school and she honestly sold me on her concept and the writing process; the world building of the characters and the gradual escalation of romance amongst the impending fear of danger was honestly both exhilarating and yet left me angsty throughout the book. I was constantly thinking about who is out to get who and loved the dark academia theme to the series, where nothing is what it seems and no one can be truly trusted. 

This was such a girly comfort read, perfect for fans of Jacqueline Wilson. Each book tells the story of one of the girls in the town of Tanglewood, touching on real life experiences with a romantic chocolate theme throughout that seriously made me want to jump into the book. It is the perfect summer time read and a book to curl up with and get lost in!