2021'S TOP TEN BOOKS I READ

 

Here we are at last, at the end of another year. And this one was particularly trying. With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting quarantine, 2021 has felt long. It wasn’t as hard for me as for other people (I’m an introvert) but I wouldn’t call the year a pleasant experience. 2020 was quite the tough start of a new decade. I’m with everyone hoping for a better 2022.

Even without a pandemic or home isolation, I read every day. The number of books I finished this year wasn’t that much higher than usual. Some of them were really good, which made it a hard choice to pick between them. As I’ve done before, I ended up with 10 picks. These are the books I enjoyed reading the most this year. The list starts after the jump:

BOOK REVIEW: AN INFINITE LOOP BY DAN RIX

Title: An Infinite Loop

Author: Dan Rix

Genre: Science Fiction

Published on: May 7, 2015, self-published

Time travel sucks.

You have to squeeze inside this fridge-sized quantum computer and suffer hours of mind-numbing boredom while it loops back in time. No light, barely enough air, total solitude. All the time in the world.

It’s also like a drug.

After her first nine-hour timeloop, teenage loner Iris Strasser craves another loop, if only for the rush. Determined to one up her, pretty boy Cory Holland ignores the warning signs that they’re meddling with something dangerous and programs in his own timeloop, daring Iris to make increasingly reckless trips into the past.

But when Iris steps into a timeloop and never steps out, leaving Cory with an empty time machine and an ache in his heart, he must come to grips with the unthinkable truth—he’s lost her inside an infinite loop from which she can’t escape. He’s trapped her in the past, and this time, time travel can’t reach far enough back to save her.

Young geniuses Cory Holland, Iris Strasser, and Noah Wright are back for another adventure. It didn’t seem like they’d be up to more time shenanigans, though. In the previous book, the trio clashed against the creator of the Chronos. Edgard Faye didn’t like that they discovered his machine’s secret. He tried scaring them into leaving the Chronos alone. But the huge cliffhanger means Cory and his friends must use the machine yet again. An Infinite Loop starts right where book two left off. Iris gets a strange call, but Cory isn't sure she should answer, lest they open another can of worms.

The trio resume classes the week after their retreat. They’ve resolved to stay away from the Chronos. Of course, the temptation is too great. Cory is stung that Iris one-upped him by getting to time travel before he did. He doesn’t care that she did it out of need rather than fun. Cory wants a go as well. He comes up with a way to use the Chronos without Faye knowing about it. Iris had secretly wanted to sneak into the machine as well. Time traveling left her with an itch, an urge to do it again.

BOOK REVIEW: HUNTER'S TRAIL BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Hunter's Trail

Author: Melissa F. Olson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Published on: September 2, 2014 by 47North

Actions have consequences--a lesson Scarlett Bernard is learning the hard way. As a "null," Scarlett has always been able to negate the powers of the supernatural beings that surround her. But now her reckless decision to permanently change Eli from a werewolf to a human has left the Los Angeles werewolf pack in shambles, and upset the balance of power among the city's supernatural factions. To make matters worse, Scarlett's employers discover that a newly changed werewolf is running amok in the city. To catch the rogue werewolf, Scarlett will need help from both Eli and Detective Jesse Cruz of the LAPD...a situation that will force her to finally choose between them.

However, Scarlett and her friends aren't the only ones on the hunt--someone else is chasing the wolf. Someone with no reservations about collateral damage. Now Scarlett and her allies must stop both the rogue wolf and the deadly hunter before the full moon rises and all hell breaks loose.

Filled with the same suspense and wit readers loved in Dead Spots and Trail of Dead, this may be Scarlett Bernard's most harrowing adventure yet....

Here is the latest book in Melissa F. Olson’s Scarlett Bernard trilogy. The previous one ended with a doozy of a cliffhanger, so Hunter’s Trail picks up almost right afterward. Scarlett, the protagonist, is a “null”, a human capable of negating magic within a radius around her. She lives in a fictional LA where other supernatural beings live in relative peace. The three factions (witches, vampires, and werewolves) rule with equal power. Scarlett uses her ability to erase magical traces from crime scenes, keeping the Old World secret from humans.

Scarlett Bernard has solved two major Old World-related cases so far. She was injured in the last one, after a showdown with the main villain. There were major casualties in the struggle. Some of them were because of Eli—the beta werewolf of LA’s pack and a love interest of Scarlett’s. Eli fell under the influence of wolfberry, a plant that causes werewolves to go berserk. He ended up killing people before Scarlett showed up to handle the situation. The experience leaves Eli angry with himself. Scarlett, who wasn’t thinking clearly after so much stress, made a reckless decision. She turned Eli back into a human, thinking it would make his life easier.

BOOK REVIEW: BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS BY KIMBERLY LAUREN

Title: Beautiful Broken Mess
Author: Kimberly Lauren
Genre: Romance, New Adult
Published on: April 7, 2015 by Montlake Romance (first self-published in 2013)

Jace Riley and Audrey Mills had a tender and irresistibly passionate romance…until Audrey shattered his heart. Years later, she still can’t stop thinking about him. They shared kisses that she’ll never forget, and one brief, explosive encounter that she wishes she could. But no boy could rescue Audrey from her nightmarish home life, so she rescued herself, got through college and got into graduate school…only to find herself at the same school as Jace and his identical twin brother, Jaxon, who has his own complicated history with her.

It takes only one glimpse of Audrey’s long legs and brown eyes for Jace to ache for her once more. Yet he’s determined not to fall for her again. She ripped apart his heart and betrayed his brother…or so he thought. But what if Jace made a terrible mistake about Audrey? And what if he has one last chance to fix it?

After a few sporadic appearances in Beautiful Broken Rules, a minor character returns as a protagonist. She’s Audrey Mills, a young woman attending college. Beautiful Broken Mess takes place after book one, but the beginning is from an earlier time. It introduces readers to twins Jace and Jaxon Riley before they met Emerson Moore. The Riley brothers are from a wealthy Texas family. In contrast, Audrey lived in a trailer park with a seriously abusive father.

One day, Audrey meets Jace Riley by chance. The two quickly hit it off and agree to stay in touch. Later, Audrey goes to a party Jace invited her to. Things become an absolute mess that day. Audrey makes an inadvertent mistake she’ll regret for years to come. She distances herself from the Riley family and goes on to become a model college student. Audrey hasn’t forgotten Jace, though. Despite having known each other for a few hours, they left a lasting impression on the other.