The 10 Best Books I Read in 2019 // Me Being a Basic Book Blogger, But For A Good Reason

2019 was a lot of things, and one of those things was a good reading year.

I discovered many new favorites, went out of my comfort zone with books (a little), experienced book hype, and found new authors I love. Yes, there were slumps and disappointing books, but at the end of the day, I look back on what I read over the last twelves months and feel satisfied and happy with it.

So even though this is a very typical book blogger move, today I’m going to be talking about the ten best books I read. My hope is that this post can give you a few recommendations (because don’t we all need our TBRs to grow larger) and allow me to scream one more time about the books I loved in 2019.

There are a lot of books I wish I could include on this list, but I only reread them in 2019, so I don’t feel as if I can count them here. I also wish I could pick an exact order and rank the books accordingly, but I genuinely can’t pick an order, so this post is not necessarily in an order of how good I felt the book was.

Enough of me rambling, on to the books!

Girls of Paper and Fire, by Natasha Ngan

Is this the perfect example of me conforming to the hype surrounding a book? Yes. Do I mind? Not really, because I truly believe this book deserves all the hype it gets. I don’t know what hasn’t been said yet about Girls of Paper and Fire, but I do know that I found it captivating, empowering, and incredibly beautiful. It’s only fitting that it makes my list, and I’m sure it will be appearing in many other posts like this (as well as posts like this last year, since it was published at the end of 2018).

{My full review}

Famous in a Small Town, by Emma Mills

Emma Mills is one of my favorite authors, so I knew Famous in a Small Town was destined for greatness right away. Did anyone catch my small Raven Cycle reference here. It didn’t disappoint me. I’ve already talked about this book way too many times, but it ultimately made this list because it’s the perfect Hufflepuff Book™, has wholesome friendships, a wholesome romance, wholesome family vibes, and felt like a warm hug the entire time. I’m obsessed, and you can be too if you read it! I promise you don’t want to miss out on this masterpiece.

{My full review}

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Oh, look, another book with immeasurable hype surrounding it! I did not expect to love this book as much as I did (especially after I realized it was adult fiction), but I was absolutely entranced by it. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was beautiful and meaningful and shockingly real and explored things I’d never thought about before. It was glitz and glamour, but also raw and emotional. I hope the fact that this has made my list of favorites and the infinite glowing reviews this book has received will convince you to read it.

 

Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo

I had so many expectations for this book, and they were so blown out of the park that I wrote an entire post dedicated solely to my love for Six of Crows. I’m immensely grateful for the constant nagging from the bookish community to read this, because the characters (and their dynamics!! also my favorite is Jesper in case you were curious), the world-building, the moral greyness, and messages of belonging, acceptance, and loss have my entire heart. I am now complete trash for this book, and I hope that never changes.

{My full review}

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, by Trenton Lee Stewart

This book gave me the rare and lovely pleasure of returning to my childhood in the sweetest way possible- through the new addition to a series that I’ve loved for years. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages has made this list because it truly made me heart so, so happy. Getting to reunite with my beloved Kate, Sticky, Constance, and Reynie (Reynie still has my heart after all these years), seeing them a little more grown-up but still with all the quirks that I fell in love with, was a reading highlight of the year.

 

My Life Next Door, by Huntley Fitzpatrick

I love when a book absolutely blows your expectations out of the water, and that’s exactly what happened with My Life Next Door. The reason why this was one of my favorite books was because it managed to be an adorable, sweet, enjoyable YA contemporary without being a YA contemporary full of nothing but fluff. Did that only make sense in my head. I fell in love with the main character, the love interest (he was a really good big brother and it was so sweet), the family dynamics, and the plot that definitely twisted in a way I wasn’t expecting. I want to read this again for sure, and I remember completely devouring it.

Goodbye Perfect, by Sara Barnard

This was another book that had no hype surrounding it but ended up being amazing. Goodbye, Perfect completely enthralled me with its interesting premise, characters that felt like they could come alive because they were that real, a healthy relationship (in a YA novel?? what is this sorcery??), and powerful messages. Wow. I never would have thought this book would end up on this list, but when I was looking through Goodreads to write this post, it was an obvious choice. I will not be forgetting about this read anytime soon!

{My full review}

Radio Silence, by Alice Oseman

I didn’t know what I was getting into with Radio Silence, and it hit me way harder than I expected it to. What a genuinely real, beautiful book that captivated me and held on tight. The important thoughts on education (finally, someone talks about the true stress put on students), the platonic love (I’m never going to stop crying at, “I platonically love you”), and an incredibly diverse cast of characters really made this read excellent. I remember crying my eyes out during this book, and yet I still want to reread it, so that should highlight its greatness.

{My full review}

Emmy & Oliver, by Robin Benway

Emmy & Oliver was so sweet that my teeth hurt just thinking about it. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but seriously, this book was utterly adorable and everything my Hufflepuff heart ever desired in a contemporary novel. Its quiet nature spoke to me, and I cannot properly express how much this beautiful story of friendship and love meant to me. Sometimes you feel like a book is written for you, and that’s how this book was for me. I’m so happy I read it, and I know it will always be a favorite in years to come.

{My full review}

The How and the Why, by Cynthia Hand

I’m convinced it’s fate that I read this book. I never, ever read books that I pick out randomly in the library. But this one time, I got this off the shelf, thought it looked good and proceeded to read the entire (450 page) book in one sitting because I could not put it down. I’m planning to do a review on The How and the Why soon, but ultimately, this book is making this list (though I finished it only a few days ago) because it had the unique ability to completely draw me in and make me care about characters instantly. The plot was interesting, kept moving, and I fell in love with the story. Utterly beautiful, that’s all I have to say for now.

There we have it, my top ten books of the year! Some of these are books I’ve known for ages would make it on my list, but there were others that I didn’t realize had such an impact on me until I was looking through everything I read in 2019.

Also, I apologize for the fact that I disappeared for two weeks right after returning from my hiatus. School just got crazy, but thankfully I’m on break now. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate, and a magical holiday season.✨ This post is a little off schedule, but I decided it was better to just post it since the year will be ending before we know it.

I’m planning to do a more comprehensive 2019 wrap-up in a few days, and then I’m also hoping to get content planned out for the next month or so while I’m still on break from school and dance! I hope you all enjoyed this post, and thank you very much for reading. Here’s to wishing you all the best 2020 reading-wise and life-wise!

Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts? What are the best books you read this year? How was your Christmas? I’d love to talk with you in the comments.

 

Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash