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about me! ♡

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Welcome to The Book Hour! My name is Amy Whitaker, I'm an 18 year old bibliophile and this is my bookish blog. Here I review and reflect on the books I read, either in the form of a full review or a monthly wrap-up, as well as record any research I do into a few topics of my personal interest (which often coincide with literature and history). 

Reading is a huge part of my life and my biggest passion; I spend most of my free time thinking about books, buying books, discussing books and, of course, reading books ✨


I like making lists, so here's a quick list of my favourite genres:

     ✫ historical fiction
     ✫ fantasy, paranormal & magical realism
     ✫ contemporary (romance/mental health)
     ✫ dystopian

I read mostly YA fiction, a lot of classics (which I don't review) as well as some adult literary fiction, memoirs and poetry from time to time. I'm don't usually read books in the genres of high-concept science-fiction or mysteries/thrillers of any kind. 

I have …
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books i read in may

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✨ Number of books read:8 ✨ Ratings:1 x ★★ / 1 x ★★★ / 6 x ★★★★✨ Genres: 2 literary fiction, 2 romance, 1 adult contemporary, 2 YA contemporary, 1 fantasy

STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo Rating: ★★★
This was a really enjoyable literary fiction story that vividly captures a woman's desperate attempt to get pregnant, and the subsequent agonies of loss. Adebayo delved into a number of important themes that I love to read about, including love, loyalty, family, jealousy, betrayal, identity, culture and, at the centre of it all, motherhood. I really liked the way the novel was structured, with the majority of the book set in the 1980s and recounting the growing tensions and cracks that begin to emerge in Yejide and Akin's marriage due to Yejide's struggle to conceive, while at the very beginning and very end of the book we see them years later in 2008 as they prepare to see eachother again for the first time after decades have passed. Though none of the characters in the book ar…
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books i read in april ⚘

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I'm really pleased with how my reading went this month! Due to hitting a bit of a reading slump at the beginning of the month, I ended up getting around to two very overdue rereads of some all-time favourite books - We Are The Ants and The Fault In Our Stars - as well as discovering a couple of new favourites too. I also read a book from the library for the first time in ages! (even though I kind of hated it whoops)

I hope you enjoy my reviews! ♡


✨ Number of books read:9  ✨ Ratings:1 x ★★ / 2 x ★★★ / 3 x ★★★★ / 3 x ★★★★★ (including 2 rereads) ✨ Genres: 3 YA contemporary, 1 adult contemporary, 1 NA romance, 2 historical fiction, 1 fantasy, 1 magical realism



THE NOWHERE GIRLS by Amy Reed Rating: ★★★★.5 This book was SO GOOD. The Nowhere Girls is the perfect empowering YA feminist contemporary and it made my heart sing to see this intersectional group of women linking arms and ending the oppression of their gender.
While at the heart of this novel is a beautiful feminist take-down of rap…
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GUEST POST: a danger to herself and others by alyssa sheinmel 🌙

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A Danger to Herself and Others released earlier this month, and I am so excited to have author Alyssa Shienmel on the blog today! After loving Alyssa's earlier work of psychological fiction Faceless, I had high hopes for this one and it did not at all disappoint. Since A Danger to Herself and Others tells the moving story of a young girl struggling to come to terms with her mental illness, I was curious as to what inspired Alyssa to write about the experience of being institutionalized, so I jumped at the opportunity to ask her about some of the research involved in writing the book and the things that inspired her. 

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I don’t always remember exactly when or how I come up with an idea for a new book, but I do remember exactly how A Danger to Herself and Others first made its way into my imagination—the spark for this book began on Twitter. An editor I know tweeted that she was looking for a YA novel where a character is confined to a single room for much of the story. I realized lat…
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books i read in january ☽

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Happy 2019! 🎆
I'm really pleased to say that my reading is off to a great start this year, with a couple of new all-time favourites found already. I've set a goal for myself to read a minimum of 8 books each month in 2019, which I managed to just surpass in January! Another goal is to re-read one of my favourite books every month, although I'm not going to count those in my wrap-ups because I've probably talked about them already elsewhere on my blog. This month I re-read Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, and am pleased to report that it made me cry just as hard second time around. 
So without further ado, here are all the books I read in January! 🌟

❇ No. of books read:9❇ Genres: 2 contemporary, 2 romance, 1 literary fiction, 1 dystopian, 1 fantasy, 1 historical fiction, 1 classic

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
★★★★

When I first started reading this book, I was initially so disappointed. The premise of an epic love story that sweeps generations paired with all the ravin…
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