The summer heat has gone, the autumn winds are here in full force. It’s the season for fairy lights, hot chocolate and a good book to curl up with under a blanket.
By Gemma Mathers
If We Were Villains
by M.L Rio
An elite drama school. A Shakespearian murder. And the one man with all the answers is finally telling the tale of the fateful night that catapulted him from the stage and into a prison cell. M.L Rio perfectly encapsulates the heart of a literature student while crafting the perfect on-stage murder mystery novel. If We Were Villains is beautiful. The connections between these characters and the complicated nature of their relationships feel completey believable. M.L Rio beautifully entwines the past and the present to create, in true Shakespearian fashion, the perfect tragedy.
Ninth House
by Leigh Bardugo
Alex Stern has made a mess of things. Threw herself from the right path and into the lane of drug-dealer boyfriends and dead-end jobs. At age twenty she finds herself the sole survivor of an unsolved multiple homicide and staring down the barrel of a second chance. One last shot – admission to Yale with a terrifying catch: spying on Yale’s secret societies and their strange occult activities-which are far more dangerous than Alex is prepared for.
Leigh Bardugo, yet again, creates a beautifully complicated world for the reader to fall into and takes her first dive into New Adult fiction with a smash hit. Ninth House is the perfect contemporary dark fantasy with strong, complex characters and an undeniably compelling plot.
The Last Time I Lied
by Riley Sager
Fifteen years after the disappearance of her three closest friends, a young woman returns to her summer camp to uncover the truth of the tragedy that changed her life forever. Riley Sager creates such a perfect crime in this novel. The mystery surrounding the girls’ disappearance and the awful events unfold to create a tale that is deeply intriguing. The reader almost becomes a third detective during the course of the book in which two truths and lie tilts the scales of what is real and what is deceit. It’s fun and intriguing to throw yourself into a narrative like this and work out the kinks and flaws of a great mystery.
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
Rooted in Greek mythology, Miller tells the tale of the Trojan war through the eyes of Patroclus. A tale of love and friendship and the circumstances that threaten to break Patroclus and Achilles – Miller’s tale perfectly encompasses the power of love. A heart-breaking rendition of a tale told a thousand times in the history books but this one feels entirely intimate, emotionally empowered and completely heart-wrenching. This book might be the greatest thing to have blessed my TikTok page since the banana bread trend of 2020. Intimidatingly romantic, the love in this book has raised the bar so high that 21st century romance should be trembling. I swooned for Patroclus and Achilles as much as they did for each other. It’s an incredible thing Miller did, making the reader feel like a fly on the wall but also feel completely entwined with their romance
The Silent Patient
by Alex Michaelides
Michaelides’ debut novel The Silent Patient follows the tale of Alicia Berenson, a woman whose seemingly perfect life fell apart the day she shot her husband six times and never spoke again. Six years of silence until a new therapist begins to unravel the threads that lead Alicia Berenson to snap. The Silent Patient is a perfect thriller novel, with a plot twist you’ll never see coming and characters so tantalisingly complex it’s almost frustrating. A compelling page turner and an absolute must read for anyone who loves a daring psychological thriller.