Good morning, folks! It’s time again for my annual list of the 10 best books that I read. This year was my most prolific yet. I’ve finished 84 books as of the time I’m writing this post. It could increase slightly, but I’m pretty much done for the year. And though I read so many books, there weren’t that many to choose from to pick my top 10. It seems the…likability of the books I read this year wasn’t as high as usual. Despite that, there were still plenty of books that I greatly enjoyed.
One of my picks this year was a huge surprise. This book was so good I added it to this list at the very last minute. Usually, December is a wind-down month for me; I either read less books or pick only books that I’ve read before. But this last-minute book is part of a series I didn’t want to postpone until next year. And boy, was that a good choice. The book is Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. It was absolutely earth-shattering in my opinion. I liked it so much I couldn’t not include it in this list. And it damn near beat all my other picks. Here’s the full list:
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Genre: Thriller
Initial release year: 2018
My rating: 4 stars
There aren’t many authors whose books I’d consider ‘automatic reads’ for me, but Minka Kent is one of them. I’ve read a few of her novels and liked them all. This one is downright compelling. The protagonist is Meadow Cupples, a college student who just moved into a new apartment with another girl. This sounds mundane, but Meadow has no idea of what awaits her. There’s a mystery surrounding the roommate—Lauren—and the professor for whom Meadow works on behalf of her employer. This mystery is layered and has lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I look forward to reading more of Minka Kent’s novels.
Genre: Fantasy
Initial release year: 2015
My rating: 4.5 stars
Initial release year: 2015
My rating: 4.5 stars
This is one of those books I’d heard of but hadn’t had the chance to read until this year. The premise is compelling; I’m almost always down for a book about one or more characters with special powers/abilities. In this case, it’s Mare Barrow, a ‘regular’ girl from a poor family who turns out to have great power. In her world, people with Silver blood (which gives them powers) rule the land. Mare happens to be Red-blooded. This makes her having a power all the more remarkable. It also could lead Mare to becoming part of a rebellion seeking to free Reds from Silver oppression.
Genre: Romance
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4 stars
When it comes to a synopsis, this book’s example is one of the most compelling I came across this year. It’s a love story about two people who meet by chance. They’re Nadia and Daniel, two strangers who take the same London train at the same time every morning. Daniel notices Nadia, but isn’t sure how to best get her attention. So he decides to write a message to her in the paper. The way he goes about it is inspiring; there was nothing creepy about any of Daniel’s actions or behavior. It makes for a cute story.
Genre: Thriller, Dark Academia
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4.5 stars
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4.5 stars
This book intrigued me when I came across it in the Kindle store. I’d never read anything in the “dark academia” genre before. The story focuses on November Adley, a girl whose father hastily sends her to a boarding school with little explanation. The school is called the Academy Absconditi, whose students are enigmatic and rather closed-off. It turns out that the school trains future spies and assassins. November has no idea what she’s doing there, as she’s just a normal girl. Finding out what’s going on and how November’s going to outsmart her better-trained classmates are among the biggest draws of this novel.
Genre: Contemporary, literary
Initial release year: 2020
My rating: 4.5 stars
Of all the books I read this year, The Midnight Library has perhaps the most intriguing premise. It’s about Nora Seed, a character who stumbles upon a very special library. Inside are endless books, but that’s not the most amazing thing: each book contains an alternate life. Nora has many regrets, so she doesn’t pass up the chance to see how her life would have been if she’d made different decisions. It’s a question I’m pretty sure everyone has asked themselves at least once. I found it interesting to learn which life Nora would end up picking.
Genre: Science Fiction
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4.5 stars
As a big fan of space operas, Rules of Redemption caught my eye when I came across it. Part of the appeal was the cover art. It’s well-designed and the girl’s interesting-looking (and she also resembles Cher Lloyd). She’s Kira Forrest, a war veteran turned salvager. She travels the galaxy with no company but Jin, an AI who inhabits a small military drone. One day, Kira stumbles upon a group of alien people who are going to change the course of her life. It turns out that Kira isn’t what or who she thought she was. Kira will also have to come to terms with a future she never saw coming…much less wanted.
Genre: Fantasy
Initial release year: 2007
My rating: 4.5 stars
Yeah, I finally got around to reading this book. I wish I hadn’t had to wait so long to get my own copy. The Vampire Academy series is so acclaimed it needs no introduction, right? The story follows two characters, Rose Hathaway and Vasilisa Dragomir. Lissa is a vampire princess, and Rose is her demi-vamp (termed Dhampir in this series) bodyguard. The two are very close, quite more than sisters but not in a romantic way. In this first book, Rose must protect Lissa from the Strigoi, an evil race of vampires bent on taking power from the “good” vampires, the Moroi.
Genre: Mystery
Initial release year: 2017
My rating: 4.5 stars
Since I enjoyed this author’s Lizzy Gardner series, I looked forward to reading her other books. I started Furious but didn’t quite grab me. Her Last Day absolutely did. It’s the first book in a new series centering on Jessie Cole, a private investigator. Yes, there are similarities to the LG books, but also enough differences to make this series fresh. The second main character is Ben Morrison. He’s an amnesiac crime reporter who’s recently had flashes of memories involving Jessie’s sister, who vanished a decade ago. Together, they will team up to learn what happened to Sophie Cole, and hopefully find her.
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult
Initial release year: 2020
My rating: 5 stars
I got a copy of AGGGTM after learning it would be adapted for a TV show. It was really good, so I continued the series. The main character is Pippa Fitz-Amobi, a high school student who decides to investigate a cold murder case as part of an academic project. Pip turns her investigation into a podcast, which makes her famous. In this second book, she’s compelled to investigate a close friend’s disappearance. Good Girl, Bad Blood blew me away so much I added it to this list at the last minute. The final twist…boy, I’m still floored.
Genre: Science Fiction
Initial release year: 2021
My rating: 5 stars
This is the book I most enjoyed reading this year. It only just beat the above pick, but not because it’s not good. Project Hail Mary was more extraordinary than I expected. For a book with so few characters, it’s unputdownable. The protagonist is Ryland Grace, a man who finds himself the only survivor of a deep-space expedition he remembers nothing about. Being in stasis left Ryland with amnesia, but he slowly recovers his memories as the story progresses. He learns why he’s in a spaceship and what he’s supposed to do. It’s an incredible yet extremely difficult mission. This is definitely a must-read.
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