With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, the team at Forge wanted to take the time to celebrate some books our team has felt lucky to read. Check out our recommendations of books we’ve loved that hopefully you’ll feel lucky to read too!
My Brilliant Life by Ae-ran Kim; translated by Chi-Young Kim
My Brilliant Life is one of those books that wholly absorbs you before you know it. I picked it up before bed one night expecting to get through the first few chapters, and the next thing I knew, it was 2AM and I had almost finished the book. Wanting to extend my experience with our main character Aerum and the rest of his family, I managed to wait until the next night to wrap it up, and I’m so glad I did. After going on a journey with these unforgettable characters, the end of this book has a moment so utterly gut-wrenching and uplifting, it wraps its arms around you and won’t let go. I am so thankful to have read it.
Jennifer, Marketing Manager
To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne
I am a huge Lauren Layne fan, and have read so many of her books, so recently I was able to read a copy of To Sir, With Love by her, and, of course, jumped at the chance. It’s marked as a standalone, so I was a little nervous I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as her series, but I shouldn’t have worried – this is her absolute best book yet! I was planning to read it for just a few hours before bed, but instead, I found myself staying up until three in the morning just so I could finish it! It’s an absolutely swoon-fest of a book (I found myself sighing out loud more than once), and is a modern take on the movie You’ve Got Mail – what if the man you’ve been texting for months is actually the guy trying to buy out your failing wine shop business? I simply cannot wait until it comes out on June 29th, because then I can throw the physical copy of it at my friends.
Lizzy, Marketing Intern
Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
I’m a massive fan of podcasts, so I feel extremely lucky to have read Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered, the book co-written by the powerhouse podcasting pair Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. If you’ve listened to their podcast My Favorite Murder, you know how hilarious they are, how great they are at telling stories, and how they are big advocates of taking care of your mental health. I listened to the audiobook, and the experience felt like my best friends were giving me advice, telling me stories that made me laugh (and cry, and laugh some more), and giving me great nuggets of wisdom that I want to make into posters and hang all over my wall. This memoir is so many things, but at its heart, it’s a humor-filled guide to getting through life and learning to love the process.
Sarah, Digital Marketing Coordinator
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
There are many books I’ve felt lucky to read, but one in particular is The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. This book hit shelves towards the beginning of the pandemic when I was looking for uplifting, wholesome things to read that would help provide a safe haven from what was going on in the world. The House in the Cerulean Sea truly delivered. The main character, Linus Baker, leads a rather lonely life. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends most of his time determining the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is assigned a peculiar and top-secret assignment—to travel to the Marsyas Island Orphanage where six dangerous children live—he must set aside his solidarity in order to determine whether or not these particular children are going to bring about the end of everything. Their caretaker, the wildly charming and ever-mysterious Arthur Parnassus, will do anything to keep the kids in his care safe. as Arthur and Linus grow closer, secrets are exposed and Linus must make a decision: destroy their home or risk the world burning. If you’re looking for a book that’s just as feel-good as it is cute, then look no further! This is easily the sweetest, most enchanting story I’ve ever read and I’m so happy that this novel exists.
Ariana, Assistant to VP. Marketing & Publicity
In 2013 I was a marketing assistant at Hachette Book Group. Every year, they had a day when everyone put out their galleys they didn’t want anymore, and you could take whatever you wanted. Kind of like Book Christmas. Shifting through galleys looking for new homes, I found Cinder, by Marissa Meyer. It wasn’t an HBG book (Marissa Meyer is published by Macmillan’s own MCPG), so I’m not even sure how it got there. I had never heard of the author or series before, but the cover looked interesting so I picked it up. I started reading it during my lunch break, then stayed up late into the night because I couldn’t stop reading it. I remember the feeling of heartbreak when I got to the end, and realized I would have to wait until the sequel came out to read more. Then, I discovered that the sequel came out in a week, so I was doubly lucky!
Julia, Associate Marketing Manager
