paula hawkins – chicnerdreads

It’s been so long since I’ve spoken about books on this page. I had briefly spoken about why I’ve been in a long reading slump on Twitter. However, I wanted to share it here and please be advised that word vomit will now commence: I’m no longer in love with YA (young adult). For a very long time I didn’t want to accept it. I didn’t want to accept that I had fallen out of love with a genre that made me fall in love with reading in the first place. This is not to say that I’ve completely cut off YA. However, it’s to say that my reading taste has changed. I forced myself for over a year trying to read YA and found myself constantly bored. Alongside this huge year long reading slump, being an author and dedicating time to my books/deadlines has become a priority. Also life but life always happens right? And yeah, letting go of YA has been very freeing. I accepted that letting go of a particular genre does not mean I’m letting go of the book community and that’s okay.

Any-who, I know I’m super late but these are books that I would like to read this year. I’m so excited to get to these. I’m not sure if I’ll post reviews for them because I’m still slowly figuring out what I want to do with this blog and I’m also not sure if I’ll get to all these books but I think I can do this. *crosses fingers*

The books are not in order of what I want to read, I did try to group them by genre though. The titles of the books will link you straight to Goodreads.

The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
Genre: New Adult Romance
City girl Calla Fletcher attempts to reconnect with her estranged father, and unwittingly finds herself torn between her desire to return to the bustle of Toronto and a budding relationship with a rugged Alaskan pilot. (full synopsis on goodreads)
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Genre: Romance, Fiction
After a decade apart, childhood sweethearts reconnect by chance in New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren’s touching, romantic novel Love and Other Words…how many words will it take for them to figure out where it all went wrong? The story of the heart can never be unwritten. (full synopsis on goodreads)
Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker
Genre: New Adult Romance
And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed attempt at a relationship, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling. Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works. For a time. (full synopsis on goodreads)
Crown of Lies (Truth and Lies Duet #1) by Pepper Winters
Genre: Dark Romance
THREE YEARS
Since I ran away for the night, danced in New York streets, and almost got killed in an alley by two thieves. Until he showed up and saved me.
THREE DAYS
Since I threw a drink at the man my father expected me to marry, then found myself slammed against a wall with Penn Everett’s seductive voice whispering a proposal I couldn’t refuse. (full synopsis on goodreads)

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller
In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .
Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller
In this explosive psychological thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger, a young woman’s mysterious gift forces her into the middle of a dangerous investigation of a little girl’s disappearance. (full synopsis on goodreads)
Sadie by Courtney Summers
Genre: YA Mystery
Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late. (full synopsis on goodreads)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? (full synopsis on goodreads)
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction, Music
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.
Book is told in interview format. (full synopsis on goodreads)
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatolv Pass Incident by Donnie Eicher
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Mystery
In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened. This gripping work of literary nonfiction delves into the mystery through unprecedented access to the hikers’ own journals and photographs, rarely seen government records, dozens of interviews, and the author’s retracing of the hikers’ fateful journey in the Russian winter. A fascinating portrait of the young hikers in the Soviet era, and a skillful interweaving of the hikers narrative, the investigators’ efforts, and the author’s investigations, here for the first time is the real story of what happened that night on Dead Mountain.

The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege. Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.
King of Scars (Nikolai #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA Fantasy
Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.
Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy
In the wake of tragedy, neither Lazlo nor Sarai are who they were before. One a god, the other a ghost, they struggle to grasp the new boundaries of their selves as dark-minded Minya holds them hostage, intent on vengeance against Weep. Lazlo faces an unthinkable choice—save the woman he loves, or everyone else?—while Sarai feels more helpless than ever. But is she? Sometimes, only the direst need can teach us our own depths, and Sarai, the Muse of Nightmares, has not yet discovered what she’s capable of. (full synopsis on goodreads)