Christmas Gift Guide and Best of 2016!

Helloo and Merry Christmas! Here's a merry little top 10 of books that would make great gifts this festive season, and are also some of my best reads of 2016. I've tried to pick books across a few genres to cater to different tastes, but as I've read and enjoyed them all there's a lot of magic, myth, great female leads, and thrilling tales! My bookish gift guide from last year also contains some crackers, which would make equally good gifts this year too. Here they are!

The Comet Seekers- Helen Sedgwick

This beautiful book is full of ghosts, comets, family, incest (!) and snow. The hardback is a truly lovely book that would make a wonderful gift! Perfect for readers who loved The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan.

The Graces- Laure Eve

A story of sort-of-witches, which leaves to guessing at every turn, with the enchanting Grace siblings and their charmed life. I loved this book so much. Lovers of Buffy will be into this story I reckon!

And I Darken- Kiersten White

An amazing piece of historical fiction, inspired by Vlad the Impaler, we instead have the fierce and fearless Lada Dracul, who struggles to balance the love for her homeland and her life as a captive of a neighbouring Ottoman Empire. I adore listening to The History Chicks podcast: listeners will love this book too. Basically if you like a bit of history and amazing women then And I Darken is for you!

Riverkeep- Martin Stewart

Dark and grim and gloomy but full of magic and all set on a epic river journey, Riverkeep is one for lovers of adventure. With an ensemble cast of very different characters there's something for everyone in this tale of a quest to save a life.

The Girl From Everywhere- Heidi Heilig

This is a book of adventure, time travel, romance, mystery, map reading, and loyalty all set on a ship and mostly in Hawaii. Another brilliant ensemble cast with a great female lead.

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged- Ayisha Malik

A different kind of book, no magic here, but instead an awesome story of Sofia Khan's adventures in dating in what has been described as "the muslim Bridget Jones." Full of wit and humour, balancing religion and relationships, marriage-obsessed relatives, racists on the tube, praying at work, writing her book,  and joining a Muslim dating site, Sofia's story is extremely entertaining and engaging. 

The Secret of Nightingale Wood- Lucy Strange

A story of a little girl lost in a family post tragedy, who discovers a 'witch' in the woods by their new country house. This beautiful book make me shed a few tears and I even stopped reading it for a few days because I was so angry at the stupid evil doctor. A wonderful gift for an actual child or for a pretend grown up child like me!

Take it as a Compliment- Maria Stoian

A graphic story collection featuring illustrated tellings of harassment, sexual abuse and other fun things like that. Sounds grim, but it's a beautiful book and a brilliant call for action. Inject a little feminist discourse into your Christmas Day why don't you!

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less- Sarah Glidden

Sarah Glidden's graphic memoir follows her trip through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, across Israel as she struggles to understand her ancestral homeland. Her artwork is beautiful in this reflective travel memoir. A perfect gift of graphic novel lovers!

One Hundred Nights of Hero- Isobel Greenberg

A beautiful giant book from the creator of the equally beautiful Encyclopedia of Early Earth, which I recommended in last year's gift guide. The One Hundred Nights of Hero is set in Early Earth but with new characters Cherry and Hero, referencing The Arabian Nights with 100 nights of storytelling. You will be in the very good books of whoever you gift this too!

Books I read in March!: Rebel of the Sands, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, A Gathering of Shadows

I read and marked like a zillion essays and dissertations in March so my reading brain was very tired, but I did manage to read three whole books! I also read some graphic novels and you can read my round up of the ones I read in February and March in their very own dedicated post. The few books I did manage to read were the wonderful Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, Ayisha Malik's Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, which I loved, and much anticipated sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic- A Gathering of Shadows, by V.E. Schwab. 

Rebel of the Sands

I may have initially judged this book by its beautiful shiny cover, but the contents were no disappointment. Set in a desert land with magical sand beasts and a Rebel Prince uprising against the king, Amani Al'Hiza is determined to leave her tiny dead-end town and head for the bright lights of the big city. Our heroine is particularly skilled with guns, and can definitely fend for herself, although it helps that she can pass for a boy. The world building is brilliant- I had amazing imagery in my head of this Middle Eastern meets cowboy Western land, especially appreciating the train scenes, there's just something about a desert train that I really love. Romance, adventure, mythology, and gun-slinging are all woven together beautifully, in what I was very pleased to learn is the first part of a trilogy. Follow Alwyn on social media too, she's great! 

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged 

I took the recommendation of Leena Norms in her Fresh Reads video, and I regret nothing! I loved this book. It was so much fun and I learned so much about British Muslim culture. Sofia Khan has just broken up with her boyfriend, due to his unwillingness to move out of his parents house after their potential future marriage. Discussing her dating experiences at work, as a publicist at a London publishing house, her boss convinces her to write a Muslim dating book. This book is essentially that, a British Muslim dating book. Full of wit and humour, balancing religion and relationships, marriage-obsessed relatives, racists on the tube, praying at work, writing her book,  and joining a Muslim dating site, Sofia's story is extremely entertaining and engaging. 

A Gathering of Shadows

A Gathering of Shadows is the much anticipated sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic, and I was very excited to see what would happen next after the very fast paced first book. This sequel takes place four months after the events of book one, and spans several months too, so we get a real feel for the wider world. Lila is the more central protagonist this time and she has essentially become a pirate and it's great. She has also been practicing magic under the tuition of her ship's captain, Alucard Emery, and learning as much as she can about Red London. Back in the city itself, Kell and Rhy are under much closer protection after both almost dying to defeat the Dane twins in White London, with Prince Rhy busy planning the massive international event, The Element Games, to be hosted in the city, and Kell essentially just pining after Lila. I really enjoyed the book, it was a great sequel, picking up the pace from the first book, and continuing this great pacing throughout. I loved Lila's new pirating life, and oh! that amazing opening scene. The bustling crowds of the Games really reminded me of the Quidditch World Cup, so that obviously sat very favourably with me. There was an effort throughout to remind the reader of details and events from the first book, which I found to be very elegantly executed and helpful, and that certainly isn't an easy thing to pull off. I found the chapter lengths to be perfect too; there is really just an overall brilliant attention to detail throughout. An amazing sequel- so excited for part three!


I'm currently reading Riverkeep, so far so good, and I have such a big tbr pile right now it's a little overwhelming but as far as problems go, it really could be worse! I just got a copy of The Girl From Everywhere from Hot Key Books and I have a sneaky feeling it's going to jump to the top of the pile...!