Top Ten Reads of 2019 (Part Two)

Hey all, Dani here.

I tend to read a lot of books each year, and this year I’ve read a great deal more than I have the past several years, so obviously I find it very difficult to narrow down everything I’ve read into a top ten list. My solution is to do a top ten for the first half of the year and a top ten for the second half of the year. You can find my Top Ten Reads of 2019 So Far post at that link, and today I’m going to talk about my favorites from July to December.

So the rules for my top ten lists are pretty simple. It has to be a book that I read during the six months I’m covering–so for today’s post that is July-December 2019. I cannot include re-reads on this list, because obviously if I’m reading it again then I really liked it. Also, I tend to read quite a few ARCs, so I can only include an ARC in the top ten if it has been released by the time the list goes up.

You can check out my past lists by going to these links: 2016-1, 2016-2, 2017-1, 2017-2, 2018-1, 2018-2, 2019-1. There were a lot of books to consider for today’s post, because I was at 111 books read at the time of my first Top Ten list for 2019, and I’m finishing up the year with 232 books read, so that’s 121 books to consider for this six-month period.

Oh, and as always, if I’ve written up a review for the book, I will also include a link back to that post. These books are in order of date read, not any sort of hierarchy of favorite to least favorite or anything.

First up, let’s start with honorable mentions. These are books that don’t meet the qualifications but I still want to talk about them, or these are books where I ran out of space on the top ten, so they are amazing and I want to talk about them, but they didn’t quite beat out the actual winners on the list.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord – I will have a review for this book up on January 21, 2020, which is the official release day of the book. I am part of the blog tour, and I’m so glad I read this book. It was cute and fun and I had a great time reading it, but it will be released in 2020 so it doesn’t completely qualify for my favorites list.

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey also makes my honorable mentions list for this post. I really enjoyed this book, and it was a really good read, but it didn’t quite rank high enough to make it to the top ten for this half of the year.

My final honorable mention is Waterworld Vol 3: Xavier by Rachel E Kelly, which may be a shock to some people as Rachel is a friend of mine and I’m one of her copy editors, and I rave about this series all the time. This was a great installment to the series, but it took a good chunk of the book for me to really connect with Xavier, so while I love this book/author/series, it doesn’t quite make my top ten this time around.

Okay, now it’s actually time to talk about the books that did make my list. As with all the other times I’ve done this post, this books are in chronological order of when I read them, and not in a worst-to-best or best-to-worst type of list.

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen. I just thought the magic system in this one was so unique. Plus the tone felt very Wild West to me. The characters and their journey was great and I’m looking forward to reading this one again before the sequel comes out next year.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. Okay, yes, it has taken me way too long to jump on the bandwagon for this series, and I blame me being judgmental of the covers. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Great Goddesses: Life Lessons From Myths and Monsters by Nikita Gill. Hey look, a poetry collection makes it on my list again. I greatly enjoy Gill’s writing and subject matter. This modern take on classic characters from myth was really good.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca. A Renaissance Festival romance book that very quickly grabbed my attention and did not want to let go. I flew through this book, and I’m super excited to know there are at least a few more installments coming in the series.

Suggested Reading by David Connis. This take on censorship, particularly following one student who decides to fight back by creating a Banned Books Library in her locker was such an important read, and I was hooked on the story.

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day. This one definitely had to make my favorites list. I love Felicia Day and having this book with inspirational motivation, as well as practical lessons is perfect for anyone who wants to follow any path of creativity. I ended up buying two copies so I can have my signed copy and the copy I’ll write in and follow Felicia’s instructions in.

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith. Of course the book about one of the libraries in Hell had to make it on my list. I thought the premise of a library full of unwritten projects was utterly fascinating. Add in demons and angels and the possibility of war, and this book had all the ingredients it needed to be amazing and end up on my list.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. It has been so long since I have been able to experience a book by Morgenstern for the first time. This one definitely transported me away into a surreal and whimsical set of interconnected tales, and it was a wonderful journey to figure out exactly how all the stories connected together.

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams. The concept of this one was certainly an original one, and I’m glad that it ended up living up to the hype. A group of men forming a book club to read romance and improve their love lives was everything I wanted it to be and more. I can’t wait for the sequel.

Crier’s War by Nina Varela. Yes, I did want a little bit of a deeper and more complex plot with this one, but I still feel that it was outstanding, and I was definitely hooked on the characters and the story. I flew through it.

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Okay, well that is all from me for today. I’m going to get back to reading, because I’m still hoping to finish another book or two before midnight. I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.