There’s nothing like a good emotional book, one that puts you through it with a good story and characters that you root for (or villains that just get to you). While these are all so different, they share the commonality of being emotional books that focus on themes I enjoy! All of the stories here are ARCS I’ve been lucky to receive and wanted to share them here! You can read the individual reviews here:

• The Republic of Memory

• The Girl with a Thousand Faces

• Letters from the Last Apothecary

• Honeysuckle

Both The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El-Sayed (Arab-Futurism) and The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean are stories impacted by historical events or political movements. They show the impact of colonialism, the way it changes people long after it’s over and how it influences the way we live, the languages we speak and leaves ever-lasting pain

Letters from the Last Apothecary is definitely the lightest read from the options here and it dives into the themes of being part of marginalised communities. It is inspired by the 1900s Chicago and is a semi-epistolary novel (think Emily Wilde x Divine Rivals)! It was such a lovely read and touched on so many important themes

And the last pick is Honeysuckle, which is a mixture of Botanical Horror with Welsh Mythology, or more specifically a reimagining of Blodeuwedd! This is a DARK story so definitely look at the TW before reading it but it is so lyrical with beautiful prose while being both creepy and making you uncomfortable (it is a horror story after all!)

It’s been a good reading year and these are just some of the lovely books I’ve read this year! Let me know if you’ve read any of them and what you thought 👀

Thank you to the publishers/authors for the ARC copies 🤎🤎