Hello everyone! Last year, I was inspired by one of my favorite book-tubers, Mercedes from Mercy’s Bookish Musings who posted a brilliant video where she went through her TBR and tried to predict which five books would be five star reads for her. She then did a wrap up video after she had read the books to see how many she had got right. I thought this was a fantastic idea and immediately wanted to do the same as a blog post rather than a video. Honestly, none of you need to see me stammering away in front of a camera – it’s not a pretty sight. I’ll leave it to the experts!
The five books I chose were:
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
The Bear And The Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Girls Will Be Girls by Emer O’Toole
The Book Of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The Clay Girl by Heather Tucker
I’ve now read all five books and let’s see how I did with my five star predictions shall we? I will be giving these five books full reviews in the next few weeks but for now I’ll let you know my rating and a quick summing up of how I felt about each one.
Star rating (out of 5):
Hooray! My first prediction was correct! I gave Stay With Me the full FIVE STARS. It was a gorgeous, heart-breaking read that really touched me personally and I couldn’t give it any less.
Star rating (out of 5):
This was a really, really close one but I had to be honest with myself in the end and it wasn’t the full five. I was seduced initially by the gorgeous cover and the story inside was just as fairy-tale like and magical as I could have hoped for but not quite a “fiver.”
Star rating (out of 5):
I’m very particular about my non fiction and a good feminist tome is precisely my cup of tea. This was an excellent book and I thought Emer O’Toole made some very fascinating points which I fully agreed with. Again, not quite five but a damned good read which I would recommend to those interested in gender studies.
Star rating (out of 5):
Hooray! Another five star! I’m so glad Michel Faber didn’t let me down. I adored his novel The Crimson Petal And The White and this one didn’t disappoint in the slightest, it was all kinds of wonderful. I’m now on a quest to read everything he’s written.
Star rating (out of 5):
I have such mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was so beautiful and the style of writing was simply gorgeous. On the other hand, it left me feeling a little unsure and I’m still working out how to express all my thoughts in a coherent review. For the parts I loved though, I’d definitely recommend it!
So, I thought I’d be disappointed by the fact that I only managed to predict TWO five star reads out of a total of five however I’m really not worried at all. I managed to read some of those books that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time and I found two gems of books that I’m not going to forget easily. I’m also really pleased that I didn’t read a single book that was lower than a four star which is still an excellent rating for me and I would urge everyone to read ALL of these books, they were all great reads.
As I mentioned before, I’m looking forward to fully reviewing these books and getting down to the nitty-gritty about why I loved them so much in the next few weeks so look out for those reviews coming your way soon. After I’ve completed those, I will be sharing with you my next Five Star TBR Predictions – Round Two. I’ve already chosen the books and think I’ve picked some absolute blinders. Will I predict more than two five stars next time around? I’m very excited to find out!
Again, if you’ve done a Five Star TBR Predictions post I’d love to see it so please leave your link in the comments or for fun, if you want to just write what you think your next five star books will be from your shelves in the comments, I’d love to read that too.
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