Hi friends! I’m fully in my watching BookTube era and I’m really loving watching reading vlogs. Some of my favorite reading vlogs are ones where they can’t stop reading until they find a five star book. I think it’s such a fun concept, and since I’m fully obsessed I wanted to try my hand at something similar, so in this blog post I’ll be talking about some books I’ve read recently that I had predicted would be five star reads.
Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong
I think I’ve been really vocal about this being one of my, if not my most, anticipated reads of 2023, so when I got an ARC I truly couldn’t believe it. Now, I will be totally honest, I picked the wrong time to start this book because I started in while in the middle of a reading slump. Therefore, it took me longer to read than I wanted it to. That being said, I absolutely loved this book! Was I a bit worried that it wouldn’t end up being a 5 star read? Yeah, I’m always a bit worried when my favorite authors come out with a new book, especially when it’s starting a new series and new world that we’re not used to. But this one was definitely a 5 star read.
This gave me big The Hunger Games vibes in the absolute best way. I think that there are a lot of similar and important themes in the stories. The government and the dynamics between the haves and the have nots were very reminiscent of The Hunger Games, and I loved that. I absolutely adored The Hunger Games series (still do), and I’ve been looking for a book to give me similar vibes and I think I finally found it!
Chloe Gong writes atmosphere like no other — everything is so detailed and intricate, you feel like you’re there, going through these experiences with the characters and I love that. Just as Shanghai is a character in the These Violent Delights and Foul Lady Fortune series, San-Er is a character in Immortal Longings. And the twist, y’all, the twists. I gasped. I don’t want to go too into detail on this one because Cossette and I will have…some sort of post about it, but if you’ve loved Gong’s previous work, I think you’ll love this one as well.
Links for Immortal Longings: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Happy Place was on my TBR and my 5 star predictions list before it even had a full synopsis — if Emily Henry is writing it, I’m reading it and probably loving it. I had a feeling that Happy Place was going to destroy me emotionally when Cossette said that she thought I would relate to Harriet, spoiler alert, it did destroy me emotionally and I do relate to Harriet. It’s like Cossette knows me or something…
I really do think that Emily Henry books are one of my happy places. Yes, she always makes me cry, but I always feel so touched and seen by her writing and her characters, and isn’t that what we all want literature to do for us? Personally, I am always searching for books and characters that I can relate to in some way and it’s always so wonderful when it happens.
I love Emily Henry’s romance storylines, imo she’s the queen of contemporary romance, and of course I loved Harriet and Wyn’s relationship, but what really got me in this book was the friend group. Henry hasn’t written a large friend group like this before, and I love that she finally did. The importance of platonic love and found family throughout Happy Place really meant a lot to me, and I really appreciated the discussions on how relationships and friendships grow and change as you get older, but that doesn’t change the foundation of your relationship or the importance of these people in your life.
This book made me CRY. I was ugly crying/borderline sobbing for the last 100 pages, which shouldn’t surprise me because Henry’s books always make me cry, but I was very affected by this one! I really understood both Harriet and Wyn’s insecurities and the feeling of not being enough, and hoping that by making others happy and doing what others expect of you, you’ll finally be enough. Emily Henry once again called me out with Happy Place, but I can’t even be mad about it. While I wouldn’t say that Happy Place is on the same scale as my favorite Emily Henry book, Book Lovers, it is still a five star read and I know that I’ll be revisiting it many times!
Links for Happy Place: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas
I first heard about The Mad Women’s Ball from Celina and instantly added it to my TBR, though it took 2 years for me to finally read it — who knew all I needed was to get a physical copy for my birthday!
Set in the Salpêtrière Asylum in 1885 Paris, The Mad Women’s Ball focuses on some of the women inside of the Salpêtrière, including senior nurse Geneviève, and the newest patient, 19-year-old Eugénie. The Mad Women’s Ball may only be 211 pages long, but it packs quite a punch. Truth be told, I didn’t actually know much about this book before I picked it up. I just knew that it took place in an asylum and that there was a ball — since I didn’t do much research before reading it, I was pleasantly surprised by the paranormal element in the book as Eugénie can see spirits. I loved this storyline and Eugénie’s strength throughout the book, even in the face of being shunned by her family and committed to the asylum against her will.
I can’t lie, this book definitely made me think of Taylor Swift’s mad woman, but most specifically the line “no one likes a mad woman, you made her like that” because as you learn throughout the book, many of the women who were “mad” were sent to the Salpêtrière by the men in their life for various reasons, many of which do not include actual madness. In fact, many of the women were locked away for reasons of grief, trauma, or desperation and it was really heartbreaking.
One of the quotes that really stuck out to me was “The Salpêtrière is a dumping ground for women who disturb the peace. An asylum for those whose sensitivities do not tally with what is expected of them. A prison for women guilty of possessing an opinion”
Once committed to the Salpêtrière, the women were no longer seen as people. They become things to be experimented on — Dr. Charcot would use hypnotism on the women which was observed by doctors and scholars (all, unsurprisingly, men) and oftentimes these sessions resulted in seizures. Additionally, there is the annual Lenten ball — the Madwomen’s Ball — where the doors of the asylum are opened to the public and people can come and gawk at the women. It’s heartbreaking to see these women reduced to an experiment or exhibition. Reading about the ways in which these women who had already been abused and assaulted throughout their life completely lost their autonomy was absolutely heartbreaking. This book made me angry and that’s the point. I was so angry at what these women were going through, what they were subjected to — The Mad Women’s Ball definitely stirred intense emotions in me.
Something that I did not know until after I finished The Mad Women’s Ball is that although this story is fictional, it was inspired by true events that took place in 19-Century Paris. This book already had so many heartbreaking moments, but finding out that it was inspired by true events was maybe the most heartbreaking of all.
This book just slightly missed the 5 star mark for me — I think had it been longer it would’ve opened up more opportunities to learn more of the history of the asylum and go deeper into the women’s daily routines it probably would’ve hit 5 stars. However, this book was incredibly captivating and interesting, so it was a solid 4-4.5 star read for me, and I would definitely recommend it. It is important to note that this book deals with topics such as sexual assault, rape, death and self harm. Please keep that in mind if you’re interested in reading it and I’d be happy to provide a more detailed list of trigger warnings to anyone!
Links for The Mad Women’s Ball: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
There were definitely more books that I wanted to get to for this post but I can’t lie, I’ve been slacking a bit with my reading as of late, so I’ll definitely have part 2 of this post coming soon! Have you read any of these? What are some of your 5 star predictions? Until next time!