The Overflowing Library

The following books are all the books I rated five stars over the last year. I must admit I haven't read as many five star reads this year as I have in previous years but these are all crackers. So in no particular order (mostly because I can't work the list down to a top 10) here are my favourite reads of 2016 Books from my favourite UKYA authors I love UKYA and these were my favourite books from some of my favourite UKYA authors in 2016. London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning Seventeen-year-old Sunny's always been a little bit of a pushover. But when she's sent a picture of her boyfriend kissing another girl, she knows she's got to act. What follows is a mad, twelve-hour dash around London - starting at 8pm in Crystal Palace (so far away from civilisation you can't even get the Tube there) then sweeping through Camden, Shoreditch, Soho, Kensington, Notting Hill . . . and ending up at 8am in Alexandra Palace. Along the way Sunny meets a whole ho

This year I've actively been seeking out picture books and over the last month I've read through a lovely selection which would be awesome for Christmas presents for little people. Snowflake in my pocket by Rachel Bright From highly acclaimed picture book maker, Rachel Bright, comes a visually stunning, feel-good picture book filled with Yu Rong’s distinctive, awe-inspiring papercut artwork. The snow is coming – Bear can smell it! Squirrel is so excited – he’s never seen snow before! But when the snow arrives, Bear suddenly falls sick. Can Squirrel still bring some silvery, sparkly, magical whiteness to his best friend? Featuring a cut-out window in Squirrel's oak tree home, giving readers a sneak-peek to the wintry world outside, this delicately-crafted book captures the cosy, cuddly feeling of sharing a snowy night with a loved one, and is the perfect read for parents and children to treasure together – at Christmas and all year round. I l

This year I've had a tough one reading wise. I've read half the books I normally read in a year and I decided about a month ago that if I didn't do something my reading would fizzle out completely by mid December. I decide that this year I would actively seek out a pile of Christmas themed reads which I really really wanted to read so I had lots of awesome books I was dying to get started on as soon as it got to December. I ended up with this lovely looking pile. There's a nice mix on here of books I have bought myself and a few review titles I've been saving up for December. I've also tried to get a nice mix of adult and YA titles. So where do I start??

Onto the final month of the challenge of 2016. Thanks to all who have participated over the year and stuck with it to the bitter end. I'm close to finishing my 100th book by a British author this month. If you've enjoyed the British Books Challenge this year and want to sign up for more next year I am passing the baton to Michelle from Tales of Yesterday to host in 2017. I'm certain she will do an awesome job and make the challenge bigger and better than before. Head to her sign up page here. First up the winner of November's prize pack is Bibliobeth for her review of Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy. Please email me to claim your prize. As always please link your reviews below and do go and sign up for The British Books Challenge in 2017 over with Chelley.