A book that stands out: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens #WhereTheCrawdadsSing #BookLovers #Books

Where the Crawdads Sing by Dalie Owns Book Cover US edition

Recently I have read a book that completely blew my mind with it’s brilliance and I want to talk about it. Where the Crawdads Sing first published in 2018, on August 14th. I purchased my own copy, Croatian edition. It was the first time that I have read something in my first language after years of reading exclusively in English.

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

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Review:

As a reader, you come across good and bad books, some of them stand out, some of them touch you irreversibly, some even change your life in a way, and few you dare to call a masterpiece. And there are only few books you read in your life that stand out from others with it’s brilliance, quality and the feeling they gave you. You know you read a book that will stay with you forever, has find it’s place on your “favourite shelf” before you even finish, and you can’t find anything that can be compared to it.
For me, Where the Crawdads Sing was that book.

This novel was on my tbr list for what feels like years now, and although I expected to like it, with so many amazing reviews it also intimidated me.
With the movie coming out in theaters, I decided that it was finally a time to give it a shot, and I also called my friend Amanda to join me on this reading journey.

And what a journey it was! The one, if it was happening in real life, Ben Fogle wouldn’t miss a chance to witness.

The story follows Kya who, ever since she was a little girl, survives on her own, surrounded with nature near the marsh.

Observing the nature, she also compares it to life and people she is familiar with.
I learned so many new things from this book, and I am very grateful for it.

The beautiful writing style is astonishing and incomparable to anything I’ve read before.
The writer captured nature in all it’s rawness and beauty and she also managed to show the beauty and the ugliness of people.
This book touched me dearly, made me care for some characters and hate some too, and what I appreciate the most, it opened my mind to new things and also made me laugh out loud while I was reading a science article about frogs.

One of my friends said this is maybe the best book she has read in her life. Now, when I also read it, I umderstand her statement and couldn’t agree more.

5 hearts rating

The most beautiful book about love and loss: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silber (BookReview) #BookLovers #WomensFiction #LoveStory

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver book cover, UK edition, penguin

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about the book the I read in 2019, the one that has stolen my heart. When I read it in November it was my absolutely favourite read of 2019 and I hope my words will make you give this beautiful novel a try.
The Two Lives of Lydia Brid should be published as an e-book today, on January 30th 2020, and the paperback comes out on March 5th 2020. It is published by Penguin and it has 432 pages.
I want to say thank you to lovely people from Penguin for sending me an invitation to read this book via Netgalley.

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They’ve been together for almost a decade, and Lydia thinks their love is indestructible.

But she’s wrong. Because on her 27th birthday, Freddie dies in a car accident.

So now it’s just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob ’til her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to live her life well. So, enlisting the help of his best friend and her sister Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world and starts to live – perhaps even to love – again.

But then something inexplicable happens, which gives her another chance at her old life with Freddie. A life where none of the tragic events of the past few months have happened. But what if there’s someone in in her new life who wants her to stay?

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Review:

Perfection. That is the one word I would use to describe The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.

This novel has stolen my heart with it’s beautiful storyline, with the intensity of emotions it awoke in me.
I honestly can’t even remember when was the last time I fell in love with the book so hard…

If I’m not mistaken, it was back in 2018 when I read One Day in December, that was one of my favourite reads that year.

If nothing (but it’s not nothing, it’s everything) this book showed just how amazing Josie Silver of a writer is.
She wrote two novels, and they both were stunningly written with emotional, heart shaking but beautiful plots, and characters one can’t help but get attached to.
I now am sure I don’t want to ever miss a piece of work written by this incredible author! I want to support her as long as my eyes can see, as long as my brain can recognize the sentences…

I loved the magical element that is the foundation of the story, but also how it affected the main character and the way the story developed.

The story is written in first person, with Lydia as a narrator.
It is beautifully written and even though the book has more than 400 pages it didn’t feel like it.
I wished it was longer, so I could spend more time in this world, with these wonderful characters.

I rarely cry while reading, but this book made me shed some tears.
That one scene, with lighting up candles, was especially emotional. It was my favourite scene in the whole story.

The story wrapped up in the most satisfying way. I hoped it would end up that way, and when it did, I was overwhelmed in a good way. I approve it 100%.

I will mention only one more thing: I want to praise Josie Silver for mentioning my county, Croatia. I was in Makarska many times in my life and I loved reading about it in one of the most beautiful books.

In the end, if I could make you want to read one book from my recommendations list, I would chose this one, because I am sure it will touch many hearts and I hope it will move yours too.
I am so thankful I had an opportunity to read this wonderful novel and I truly believe I will carry it in that part of my heart reserved only for favourite stories, for the rest of my life.

5 hearts rating