If there is one thing I, as a person with over 50 unread books on her TBR, should never do, it’s allow myself to be seduced by the shiny lure of bookstagram. All those glossy pictures of amazing books, posted by people who are fiercely passionate about the stories they’re reading, it’s enough to make a bookworm weep. And purchase far more books than she rightfully should. Bookstagram has definitely persuaded me to buy some particularly appealing books more than once, even though my shelves are filled to bursting with novels I haven’t yet read. Today, I thought I would share four books in particular that Instagram bullied me into buying.
Dust | Kara Swanson
Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire’s desperate search points to London… and a boy who shouldn’t exist.
Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.
The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.
I discovered this gem during the cover reveal for its sequel ‘Shadow’. Every book account I followed had at least one picture of ‘Dust’, or its sequel, so I couldn’t help but take notice. Not to mention this cover is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so shiny and pretty, who could see it and not be tempted? Then I saw it was a Peter Pan retelling. I’ve read only a few of those, but I do love them so much, so I simply had to have this one. I think the only other really memorable Peter Pan retelling I’ve read is ‘Peter and the Starcatchers’ way back, and I’ve had a hankering to read another ever since. ‘Dust’ is definitely filling that hole for me. I’m in the middle of it at the moment, and I am spell bound.
Dear Hero | Hope Bollinger and Alyssa Roat
Cortex and V need a new nemesis. Cortex’s last villain dumped him, and V got a little overeager and took out her hero prematurely. They meet on Meta-Match, a nemesis pairing site for heroes and villains. After throwing punches at each other behind coffee shops and hiring henchman to do their bidding (mostly just getting them coffee), they realize they have a lot more in common than meets the eye. And they may have a lot more hero and villain inside than they realize.
I didn’t know anything about this book until one of the authors DM’d me on Instagram to ask whether I would be interested in helping with the cover reveal for the sequel, ‘Dear Henchman’. I love supporting other writers on Instagram, so of course I said yes. And through this interaction, I ended up checking out ‘Dear Hero’ as well. I’ve read so few good superhero novels recently, and the idea of a story told entirely through chat messages was intriguing, so I acquired a copy, and oh, I am so glad I did. This book is hilarious, heartfelt, and everything I needed in a superhero novel right now. The current trend in superhero fiction seems to be darker and grittier, which I do enjoy, but this book was just the relief I needed from all that grit.
The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue | V. E. Schwab
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
I’ve not read any V. E. Schwab before, though she’s been on my list of authors to buy and read for far longer than I’m comfortable admitting. The hype around the release of ‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ was so huge that I couldn’t possibly not take notice of it. Everyone was so excited, and enthusiastic, and the pictures were so pretty, it was too contagious. I went out and bought a copy the week it released. I haven’t read it yet, thanks to the crushing weight of other books on my TBR, but every time I look at it, I get excited all over again about reading it.
A Thousand Perfect Notes | C. G. Drews
Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music – because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?
I’ve been following C. G. Drews literally for years, first on her blog, and later on Instagram. Hers is one of my favourite bookstagrams. It’s so colourful, with such a variety of amazing books to geek out over. When I heard she was releasing a book, and a book about music no less, which is one of my own passions, well, you know I had to have it. No regrets here at all. ‘A Thousand Perfect Notes’ is so beautiful, and so heart wrenching at the same time. This is one of the books that I recommend over and over to people. I’ve bought copies as gifts, and forced my whole family to read it. Thankfully they loved it almost as much as I did.
Many thanks to Instagram for introducing me to so many amazing books. There are other books of course, that didn’t make it onto this list, but I would love to hear from you. Has Instagram ever convinced you to buy a book? If you don’t use Instagram, do you get book recommendations from other social medias, or from blogs? Have you read any of these? Let’s chat in the comments down below!
Looking for another new book to add to your TBR pile? Why not check out my own novel, ‘The Crystal Tree’? It’s the first part of a YA fantasy duology about a young magician on a quest to save her kidnapped sister. It’s got music, magic, sisters, escaped princes and so much more. Check it out on Amazon!
