I recently included Elena from The Bibliotheque Blog on my Five Favourite Bookstagrammers feature, and so was thrilled when she agreed to take part in my Desert Island Books series. A twenty-something bookworm who loves to devour both young adult and new adult fiction during her free time, Elena is a self-confessed hopeless romantic, and blogs about everything from literature to lifestyle and travel. From her favourite book of the year so far to the first classic she ever fell in love with, read on to find out which books she’d pack with her for a trip to the sandy shores of a desert island.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

This one is probably my favourite read this year so far, and I’m sort of amazed by how quickly it’s becoming one of my all time faves. My enamourment is such that this title was the first one that came to mind when I started thinking what books I would bring to a desert island. As you will very soon discover by reading my list, I am a die-hard romantic. So I had to start this list with the most refreshing, diverse, addictive, tender, surprisingly sexy, heartwarming and hands down perfect book I have read. Otherwise, I don’t think I would last one day on that island.

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

I can’t think of a better way of escaping the reality of being stuck on a desert island than by reading magical realism. The Rules of Magic is nostalgic, whimsical and emotional. It does feel like Alice Hoffman is casting a spell on the you that only gets more and more powerful with every page turned. I may be biased as this book is the prequel of one of my favourite books and childhood movies, Practical Magic, but I can tell you that The Rules of Magic is surely something I didn’t know I needed and that now I will never be able to forget. Magic does pour between the pages of this book.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book… thinking of this book brings back a waterfall of overwhelming emotions. One True Loves is real, raw and beautifully painful. I recommend it to everyone, always. Even if you are not that into love stories or romance, this book is about love, but it’s also about learning to live  and embracing change. Is there romance? Yes, but in the most organic and natural way that it could have been written. The premise? Emma’s husband is on a helicopter over the Pacific when he goes missing, gone forever. Years later, once her life is finally pieced back together and she’s now engaged to Sam, her long lost husband is found. He’s alive and now Emma sees herself between the two loves of her life: a husband that has been fighting to come back to her for years, and her fiancé, the man that put back  together all the broken pieces of her soul. As you see, this book follows the journey of a woman that thought had lost her chance at happiness, promising a rollercoaster of emotions and the realization that one may love more than one person truly.

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

If you wind up stuck on a desert island, you absolutely require at least one classic at hand. It is a truth universally acknowledged. Same applies to single men in possession of good fortunes in want of wives. As you may have guessed, I would most certainly always pick Jane Austen above any other classic writer. Not that I am overly educated in classics, but being the hopeless romantic I am I just have to go with Austen. Pride and Prejudice is the first English classic I ever fell in love with, and I must confess, even though I initially crushed hard on Mr Bingley, Mr Darcy will always be my literary husband. And not even a desert island will do us part.

Any series by Cassandra Clare

Is it really cheating if I can’t pick one single book by Cassandra Clare? Not even one single series over any of the others? Well, asking to choose to a true bookworm is some sort of torture. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare was the equivalent to my first love in the young adult literature. In the same way that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was my first ever read book with no drawings and the book that made me discover my passion for fictional worlds, Cassandra Clare was the one that made me fall head over heels in love with a fictional world, to the point of rereading a series 3 times on a row. Since then, I just cannot bring myself to ignore any of the books she releases to the world. So no, I am certain I would not survive a desert island without at least one of her series.

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

November 9 made me forget about the time, the day, the train I was sitting on reading and probably my name if anyone would have asked. So it does sound like the perfect fit for a stuck on a island situation. It’s no secret Colleen Hoover is one of my favourite authors. She releases one book per year and guys, I anticipate that date each and every of those 365 days. Her latest books have been drifting in a different and more complex direction, dealing with harrowing and painful emotions that somehow have made me love her newest releases not less, but in a different way. This is why, I still stick to one of her earlier books: November 9. A book about overcoming insecurities, escaping from love and hiding behind it, the weight of guilt and ultimately, how we need to learn to hold on to the most unexpected things in life before we lose them for not being brave enough to do so.

Titan Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

My love for this series was completely unexpected. It caught me off guard, given that this is a new adult spin-off series of one of Armentrout’s most popular young adult series: Covenant. I thoroughly enjoyed the first and as I said, my love for the spin-off was absolutely unexpected. Fantasy that drinks from Greek mythology and heavy on the romance, the Titan series by Jennifer L. Armentrout is one of my most reread series to date. Well, now that I think of it, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise, given that I would always read anything Armentrout writes. Even her uneventful grocery shopping list would make my afternoon.

Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata

Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burn romance. I confess I was not the biggest fan of this particular romance trope, but that was until Zapata came around. With book beasts over 600 pages and a romantic build up that spans throughout the first 80% of the book, Mariana Zapata quickly stole a place on my auto buy authors. Dear Aaron was my first, so it holds a special place in my heart. Starts with a write a soldier overseas program, follows with months of emails and an unexpected connection and leads to the sweetest love story between a girl that needed to break free and get out of her shell and a soldier that fell in love with his best friend when he needed to the most.

Image credit: Elena from The Bibliotheque Blog

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