With a New Year comes new, if slightly ambitious, Goodread goals and a fresh batch of books to pore over. Pass us the ‘leccy blanket at once.
Following that mellow Betwixmas breather when Netflix often takes over our lives, now’s a great time to get back into your reading rhythm and pick up the momentum again. So if you’re wandering around Waterstones trying to decide what to read next, allow this trio of page-turners to inspire you to put down the remote.
May your intro to 2022 be strong and full of book-loving joy. Shop the Zoella Book Club picks from bookshop.org here!
January – Wahala by Nikki May
Described as Sex and the City with a killer edge (we’re already invested), Wahala is Nikki May’s debut novel and one of the most hotly-anticipated books for 2022.
Nigerian-British author Nikki May said she wanted to write ‘a brown Big Little Lies’. Speaking to iNews she said, “I wanted to read about characters whose lives include Jollof rice and cornrows and carjacking in the same breath as focaccia and Soho House and ski holidays.”
Wahala, meaning trouble in pidgin English, follows the lives of Simi, Boo and Ronke, a trio of British-Nigerian women in their thirties. Simi has a high-flying career in fashion and is married to Martin who wants children but she isn’t ready yet, Ronke wants to settle down but keeps picking the wrong guys and Boo feels suffocated by her role as a wife and mother. Each of them have their personal issues but they always have each other, that is until Simi’s dazzling and devious childhood friend, Isobel, arrives on the scene and threatens to derail their friendship.
February – Reader, I Married Me by Sophie Tanner
The perfect Valentine’s Day read does not exi…
Sophie Tanner’s hilarious portrait of self-love offers immaculate reading vibes for February. If you need any (more) proof that you don’t need a man to make you happy, consider this ode to sologamy all the evidence you shall ever need.
FYI you’ll be pleased to know that Reader, I Married Me is based on real-life experiences. After twenty years of disastrous dates and a string of unfaithful boyfriends, Sophie wed herself in a Brighton ceremony in 2015 and lived happily ever after. Get this woman a Damehood at once.
Here’s a look at the synopsis!
Chloe Usher has had enough of men. After breaking up with the love of her life, Chloe’s friends tell her she needs to get back out there, and find another man before it’s too late. But after a particularly disastrous date and one too many gins, Chloe has a revelation – she doesn’t need a man to make her happy. It’s up to her to do it herself.
Never one to do things by halves, Chloe decides to make the ultimate commitment to self-love – she’ll marry herself! But planning a solo wedding isn’t easy, and soon Chloe finds herself on a bumpy journey of self-discovery. Will she finally get her happy ever after?
March – Breathless by Amy McCulloch
From the Co-Author of The Magpie Society comes the gripping psychological thriller we’ve all been holding our breath for.
Breathless is the story of Cecily Wong, a journalist on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to climb one of the world’s tallest and most dangerous mountains for an exclusive interview. She’s been personally invited by the world-famous mountain man, Charles McVeigh, who wants her to report the final leg of his record-breaking series of summits. It’s a career-defining opportunity she can’t resist but at what cost?
Cecily is by far the least experienced of the group, but she is intent on proving herself and will stop at nothing to reach the summit. So when disturbing questions arise, she becomes concerned. And then people start to die. Trapped on the mountain with a team she barely knows, she must battle more than the elements in an epic fight for survival against one of the world’s most dangerous mountains and an unknown assailant who is picking climbers off one by one.
Thanks to Amy’s own mountaineering experience, Breathless is made all the more chilling for its authenticity. Prepare for the air in your bedroom to feel as icey-cold as the snow-capped mountainside *shiver*
Publication date – 17.02.22
Will you be reading along with the Zoella Book Club this year? Let us know what title takes your fancy from our January – March picks.
