Chill Vibes

Taking a step back from all the chaos of duties and responsibilities at work and as well as at home is essential for everyone. We require some untouched space to breathe, to be free, and to be ourselves away from a world where we are constantly watched and judged for every decision we make. As we drift off into vacation mode, prepared for a getaway with or without our loved ones, a good read can always assure us our time is well spent. Whether you find yourself breathing the ocean air along the coastal shores of Maldives or tucked under a cozy blanket accompanied by a toasty drink in a luxurious ski resort in New Zealand, here is a selection of books to silence your racing thoughts and transport you far from all your worries. Pick a read that suits you the best.
(1) Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
Clara Lucas, a soft and inquisitive sixteen-year-old girl, has always wanted to be a council-certified witch. The only issue would be that her magic is absolutely unique and unpredictable. Usually, her magic results in property damage but under one unfortunate circumstance, Clara’s magic sprouts a poisonous flower inside her father’s body. Her father can be cured from this curse, but it requires a complex spell work which she knows she is not capable of producing. Desperately, Clara runs to the one person she knew who could help her. Xavier Morwyn, a councilmember as well as her childhood best friend, who grew into a mysterious and silent person through the years. He helps Clara tame her powers as well as figure out a way to save her father. As she gains control over her powers, Clara learns about Xavier’s curious past and simultaneously figures out the gruelling secret behind the darkness that plagues their land. Dive into this refreshing cottagecore tale about Clara and the magic in her world as she rescues her father and herself from her own magic, a beautiful story authored by Catherine Bakewell.

(2) Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
Set in the 1473, a fourteen-year-old girl, Blanca dies an unfortunate death at a hilltop monastery at Mallorca. She spends her ghostly years from then on haunting the halls of the monastery, keeping an eye on the monks and the future generations, just not as grudgingly as one would hope for a ghost to be. With a little humor, this spirited ghost finds her drifting and invisible life turn into a colorful one when a french writer and her sick partner arrive at the abandoned monastery with their two kids in 1838 to spend their winter. George Sand arrives with her smoking cigars and clad in trousers, both even though completely unconventional, definitely caught Blanca’s attention. Even though Sand had no way to see or hear Blanca’s presence, Blanca learned over the years to make herself known by knocking over a few things, or her favourite one was to enter the mind of people and look into their memories. While Blanca struggles with her unrequited love for the new resident of her haunting land, Sand deals with her very own struggles as her family and herself gain no friendly smiles from the villagers. Blanca can only watch this sad story unfolding around her as she reflects on her unfortunate death, which involved a painful love affair with a monk-in-training. Travel back in time with Blanca and view the world through the eyes of a fallen soul who spends her days yearning for the mortal she has fallen in love with, who struggles to find a haven for her family in a place where they are not welcomed. An artistic, and an enthralling story written by Nell Stevens.

(3) The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
We know hell to be the place of misery for sinned souls. In this unheard version of hell there exists a neutral realm where unfinished books are preserved. The head librarian of the Unwritten wing is Claire. Her responsibilities consist of maintaining order in the library, organizing the books and repairing them if required. But, most importantly, her significant job is to keep the stories from materializing their characters, potentially escaping the library. The story begins when a hero escapes from the library to find his author. Claire must find this hero and bring him back as she is accompanied by her assistant and a former muse, Brevity, as well as a nervous teenage demon, Leto. Mid pursuit, they are faced with yet another danger. The fallen angel Ramiel is consumed with hunger for power and he believes his answers can be found in Claire’s Library in a book called the Devil’s Bible. The book beholds a great weapon that can create a clash between the heaven and hell and it’s up to Claire and her team to restore balance between heaven, hell and earth. Embark on a time sensitive-perilous mission with the heroic librarians of the Unwritten wing, a remarkable story written by A. J. Hackwith.

(4) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
I’d like to start off by saying that this book is quite the read. Every single page keeps you on the edge and you will never expect what plot twist awaits you at the end of a paragraph. This story casts light into the life and choices of six specific students at the Hampden College in Vermont after a certain trip to South America. Richard Papen, Henry Winter, Francis Abernathy, Edmund ‘Bunny’ Corcoran, Camilla and Charles MacAulay, are the six main characters of this story. After the Winter break, when the lot returns for the classes, Richard senses something odd about his fellow students. Soon he is revealed to the secret behind how Bunny is gone for good. Even though exceptionally wild and absolutely twisted to process, everything spirals out of hands from there on. ‘The Secret History’ takes you through a rollercoaster of dark academia filtered literature, mystery, scholar students, murder and above all, incomprehensible madness. Fasten your seat belts as you settle in for a gripping ride through an exceptional book authored by Donna Tartt.

(5) The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan
Flora doesn’t regret her decision to move to the bustling and noisy city rather than having to live her life back in her hometown in a Scottish village, her past would never be left to die. She wanted to feel anonymous and invisible. She wanted to be in a place where no one knew her, her entire life. But most importantly, only in the city she could hopelessly crush over her ruthless, cold and jaw-dropping-gorgeous boss Joel. Her life in the city goes smooth until one of her clients insists her presence in her hometown, Mure. Flora is thrust back at home amongst her noisy brothers and her father. But as Flora starts to restore an old, pink-fronted kitchen on the harbour and give way to her new-found love for cooking, staying at Mure doesn’t sound all that bad. From magical northern lights, storms to selkies, Mure is a mystical place where magic meets reality. Sit back and immerse yourself into the imaginary island of Mure, somewhere in the Scottish North where Flora finds the time to make her decisions, a delicious and a lovely novel written by Jenny Colgan.

(6) The Stargazer’s Sister by Carrie Brown
Caroline Herschel, a desperate twenty-two-year-old, who barely survived the smallpox in her village in Germany, can no longer tolerate her mother’s wrathful nature. She writes to her brother, William, to rescue her from her misery and he does. He arrives at Hanover and takes Caroline with him back to England to a whole new world of astronomy and fascinations. Out of sheer gratitude and love, not just for rescuing her from her horrible circumstances but to allow her to live the life among the stars in the sky, she pledges herself to William along his studies, resolutely helping him focus on his work. This meant to her that, she would be deprived of romance, marriage, children and all the things a woman wants in her life at some point, but it meant nothing to her compared to her love for her brother and the ever-expanding sky filled with stars. In this historic novel about the German Astronomer, Caroline Herschel, we have a variety of intricate details that chain up the beauty of the story. The bond between Lina and Willaim and Lina’s love for the stars paints a beautiful picture as we flip through the pages. An elegant and an astronomy-appreciative novel written by Carrie Brown.