Birthday Wishes | Books

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the third instalment in my Birthday Wishes series. This week is all about books! Even though I’ve been doing tons and tons of reading for uni in the past few weeks, there are still other books out there that I would like to read. Obviously, I don’t expect to get all of them for my birthday and, heck, I haven’t even finished reading the books I got for Christmas! I do have a massive break over Christmas time – from the end of November to the end of February – so I’ll get a ton of leisure reading done then. And I’ll probably find more books to want for Christmas this year as well!

The first book on my list is The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. I must say, the first thing I liked about this book was the cover. The deep blue and the bright gold are just so pretty, you know? This book is about a girl name Ava Lavender (shocking, I know) who is normal in every way except that she has bid wings. She goes on a quest to fit in and understand more about herself, and meets someone called Nathaniel Sorrows (very clever name considering the title). That’s all that the synopsis really says, but I really like the sound of this book. I am a massive Potterhead and so love everything fantasy related, so this seems like an obvious choice for me.

The next book on my list also has a feather on the front, weirdly, and also has blue and gold elements. It is called Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley. I guess I have a thing for those colours (there’s nothing wrong with liking something thought, right?). Anyway, this book is about a girl, named Aza Ray, with a strange lung disease that makes living very hard for her. One day she looks up into the sky and sees a ship, and can hear someone calling her name. Only her best friend believes her; everyone else says that it was probably a hallucination caused by her medication. Then somehow (it doesn’t say in the synopsis) she is transported up into the cloudy world full of trading ships: Magonia. She can breathe up there and has powers as well. Aza discovers that Magonia and Earth are on the brink of war and she must decide whether to save Earth or Magonia. This book sounds like an adventure from start to finish and it is safe to say that I would enjoy this one as well.

The third book on my birthday list is Carnivalesque by Neil Jordan. This book is also blue and gold. Dang, I didn’t realise all the books on my list looked the same. At least this one doesn’t also have a feather on the front. This story is about a boy called Andy, who goes to a mysterious carnival with his parents. For all money, it looked like a normal carnival, but it wasn’t at all. Andy went into the hall of mirrors and walked right into the mirror, becoming a reflection. Another boy, who isn’t Andy, went home with Andy’s parents. The reflection of Andy is pulled (literally) by a girl name Mona into a carnival world where anything could happen. Wow, Nicky, what a surprise. A fantasy book again, I would never have picked you liking them. This book sounds really cool. I think all the time that there is a world behind my mirror, and now I can read about it!

The last two books on my list are Incarnate by Jodi Meadows and the 20-year anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. As a proud Hufflepuff, I would like the yellow one, and I think you all probably know how that story goes (if you don’t, then you are missing out!). I had Incarnate on last year’s Christmas list so I won’t go over the synopsis again because I already have. I would really like both of these books and I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series and Incarnate sounds like a really good book.

That is my entire list of books that I would like for my birthday. I do hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for the final instalment of this series next week! Just between you and me, it’ll get a bit random.

Have you read any of the books on my list? Did you enjoy them?

Love, Nicky x