My Best Books of 2019

Hey everyone!!

Happy blogmas and it is now day 23!!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

(sorry I can’t NOT do it)

Today I am writing about all my favourite books of this year. This is a great post to do as I get to shout about all of my favourite books I have read and I know technically it is not yet the end of the year but I know I don’t read that much around Christmas so it’s fine.

Also I hope you don’t get fed up of me trying to find different ways to say this is perfect because that might be all I am saying!!

So the best books that I’ve read this year are…

All For The Game Series by Nora Sakaiv

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This series includes 3 books which I read together and in a very short space of time because I fell into them fast and hard. This isn’t a perfect series and isn’t for everyone but personally I really enjoyed it and all the disastrous decisions the main character made. The behaviour in this book isn’t good but it wasn’t without explanation and I think by the end of the books there is growth. It is about Neil, who is on the run from his father but then he gets to play for his dream exy team and decides to push his luck really. But in joining the team he finds he doesn’t want to leave, he would rather belong than run. It is a kind of an overly dramatic plot where you can either play or die and the characters constantly choose play but I think the characters are all interesting and at the end you really have this sense of connection as they work through some of their issues together. Like I said this isn’t for everyone but I adore the group dynamic and the complete chaos.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a very popular book and I really enjoyed reading it so I am definitely on the hype train with this one. It is the story of one Evelyn Hugo who is an actress in 1950’s and we get to experience her whole life. I thought it was an interesting story and it was written really well to show many different aspects and cover the complexity of society. I loved how Evelyn navigated people, fame and the media to work for her even if it meant losing things. She was very ambiguous and clever making her an interesting character to follow. I love books which talk about media and fame especially when it shows the dark side of it so that was a massive bonus for me. Plus I loved the characters. It talked about so many things and I thought it talked about them so well. It was brilliant and complex.

I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak/🎧

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

‘I Am The Messenger’ was a really good book and is an unexpected favourite of this year. The reason I love the books so much was because I love Zusak’s writing and it really valued the small things and how to positively impact your life through your actions. It has a really good message and had interesting characters. The plot is really unique and keeps your reading because I needed to know the ending which was a plot twist… seriously. This is definitely a story I will be remembering and the audiobook has a Australian narrator which is AH-MAZING.

Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Saénz

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved this book so much. It was beautiful. In this book we follow Aristotle who is a teenager in Mexico and we get to experience his life. It deals with so many different themes and in such an amazing way. We deal with themes of identity, masculinity, sexuality and I think they were written really well. It is very character driven with lots of dialogue which I adored. It is also told in short chapters which means you will fly through it. I loved the characters and their relationship. I love the supportive families and how the characters grow across the expanse of the book. THIS IS PERFECT. It is emotional and uplifting and just ahh.. please read it.

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I adored this book. I didn’t really know what to expect going in but it exceeded all my expectations. We are following Izzy O’Neill who is a great protagonist with a really unique voice that is so engaging and really quite funny. Despite having a light-hearted voice it is still able to reach these really deep emotional levels. The story is about slut shaming after photos with Izzy and another student are released and it all excels from there. I think Steven was able to create a real good image of present day society and how they would react to photos and looked at the small and big reactions which can shake up your life. It also looked a many other things and had a great cast of characters in the book– there are so many characters which make you angry but so many which make your heart warm. I thought it was a great book with a great voice and lesson. So yeah it was GREAT.

Although there is one joke about bleach which has made readers uncomfortable and it isn’t the best so please beware if you want to read this. 

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had heard a lot about Alice Oseman’s books and I was so glad this book lived up to the hype. I adored the characters, the writing style and the themes of this book. It talked about school pressures and the expectation to go to university as it felt like a very real and authentic voice. I was so glad to see this talked about and in such a good way. The characters were all wonderfully diverse and so easy to love. Also it put an emphasis on friendships as well which was amazing and it was such a beautiful friendship. I adored this book and I highly recommend it.

The Raven Cycle/Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

         

I’ve grouped all these together but The Raven Cycle and Call Down the Hawk are separate series.

I love, loved, LOVED my reread of The Raven Cycle because the characters were wonderful and having the foresight of events allowed be to look deeper at the story. I also wrote lots of notes along with it and I just got a deeper understanding of the stories and why I love it. You can see these thoughts here. I think my favourite one this time was The Raven Boys but I truly loved them all.

Call Down the Hawk was wonderful to read as we got to get some new content with some of my old favourite such as Ronan, Adam, Declan and Matthew. There were some beautiful moments and I really like where the story is heading. I think the magic is so imaginative and the writing is very Maggie which I love. Like I said in my review “Overall I would say it is dreams, loneliness and a hunt. Of course it was good.”

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a non-fictional book so it feels weird including this but I did love it. I think it really captured the modern first-world society that can be obsessed with media and a bunch of other things. I thought the advice was absolutely amazing and I wish I wouldn’t carelessly forget about it at times. This book could help be build a better life from what it says and I think that is a pretty remarkable thing.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern/🎧

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

I have literally just finished this right now and I waited to post this post so I could finish reading this book. That is this book. I always have no words to describe this book so this paragraph won’t be worth the wait at all. But here we go….

I didn’t expect to love this book but I did. It was a story which had stories in it that somehow made one story. I love the writing of the magic and the magic of the writing. There was something so enchanting about this story and I was memorised by the cross over of the stories, all the interwoven details made me heart swell. The characters and writing carried this basis of this stories to new heights making it more than I could have imagined. It is slow and definitely not for everyone but if it is for you, I do think you will fall in love. It is certainly a specific kind of dream to fall into and one I didn’t particularly want to leave.

“The world is magic, honeychild.”

Runner Ups:

• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
• Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

WOW can I even call myself a fantasy lover any more!?!? This was the year for trying out more genres and I was not disappointed.

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What have been some of your favourite books this year? Who had been one of your favourite authors of this year?

Have you got any recommendations for me to read?