Book Lovers Day is on August 9th
If you’re stuck in a reading rut, then I have scoured my bookshelves for five perfect books to get you out of a reading slump.
As someone who has read hundreds of books, I pride myself on finding the perfect book to get you out of a rut. Some of the books on this list are new releases, but others are long-term favourites that I’ll happily re-read time and time again.
The Lies Between Us by Jennifer Bray
This crime thriller swiftly became one of my favourite reads of 2026. Jennifer Bray has penned a tense and thrilling story with complex female characters that you won’t be able to stop thinking about.
The warring Brown sisters. Lucy. Susannah. Tara. Each is haunted – by disgrace (Lucy), vanity (Susannah) and envy (Tara). Most of all they are haunted by secrets.
Just before a dinner at their mother’s idyllic holiday cottage, Susannah disappears. That same night a young woman is killed violently on a nearby beach.
Amid the confusion the next morning, Lucy discovers a link between Susannah and the murder victim. Lucy must summon all she knows from her short-lived policing career to figure out the connection and find her sister.
But tracking down Susannah means Lucy confronting her own shame. It also means resurrecting ghosts that Susannah, Tara – and their mother – desperately want to keep buried.
Even if Lucy finds Susannah, will the truth destroy them all?
If you loved Big Little Lies, then this is one for you.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Nobody writes a rom-com quite as well as Emily Henry. Book Lovers is one of her best books and a love story that’ll solve any reading rut. One holiday. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming…
Nora is a cut-throat literary agent at the top of her game. Her whole life is books.
Charlie is an editor with a gift for creating bestsellers. And he’s Nora’s work nemesis.
Nora has been through enough break-ups to know she’s the one men date before finding their happy-ever-after. To prevent another dating dud, Nora’s sister has persuaded her to swap her city desk for a month’s holiday in Sunshine Falls.
It’s a small town straight out of a romance novel, but instead of meeting sexy lumberjacks, handsome doctors or cute bartenders, Nora keeps bumping into…Charlie.
She’s no heroine. He’s no hero. So can they take a page out of an entirely different book?
If you love 2000s rom-coms then this is the book for you.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
The most-talked about book of the year, and one everybody needs on their reading list.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.
Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape by any means possible.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of my all time favourite books. It will capture you from the moment you open the book, and will linger in your heart long after you’ve finished reading.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ’80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
One of the greatest Irish books of all time, and one many people haven’t heard of.
Dublin, 1918. In a country doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar flu are quarantined together. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.
In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over the course of three days, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.
