My Favorite Books from 2019

Favorite Reads from 2019

The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard – Really enjoyed this series much more than I thought I would #thehypeisreal. Can’t wait for the next installment!
Reviews: Truthwitch, Windwitch, Bloodwitch

The Library Book by Susan Orlean – This was an amazing read! A must for every book lover.
Review

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill – A middle grade I read for book club and LOVED. It’s definitely middle grade, but I feel like I never would have understood its depths as a kid.
Review

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley – Sometimes graphic, but a REAL portrayal of conception, pregnancy, labor, and what it’s like to face impending parenthood.

Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab – Blown away by this series and can’t believe I didn’t start it sooner.
Reviews: ADSoM, AGoS, ACoL

Vicious/Vengeful by V.E. Schwab – I’m very impressed by V.E. Schwab at this point. This is the best depiction of an antihero that I’ve ever read.
Reviews: Vicious, Vengeful

The Big Year by Mark Obmascik – I read this after rewatching the movie. Just as delightful.
Review

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – I’d been meaning to read this book forever and I finally did it. Amazing. I understand why it has the reputation it does. Zusak is a masterful author.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (reread) – For some reason I started doubting whether this book was as good as I remembered it being. After an audio book reread, I can confirm that it is for sure.

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn – I didn’t expect much from this book, but was hit hard with unexpected emotion and characters with a surprising amount of depth.
Review

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno – THIS IS WHAT HISPANIC CULTURE IS. The timing of when I read this book could not have been more perfect.
Review

First & Then by Emma Mills – I love the relationship between the main character and her cousin and that it doesn’t take a backseat to the romance.
Review

Def thought this was the last book in the series (it’s not) | Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard [ARC]

Note: This is the third book in The Witchlands series and may contain spoilers for the first two books.

BloodwitchI’m not going to write a summary for this book. I tried and just couldn’t do it so I’ll just get into the review. To address the title, when I picked this book up, I was under the impression that the series was just a trilogy. It didn’t take long, however, for me to realize that there are actually going to be two more books AFTER this one. My plan to binge the entire series was frustrated, but I’m not too mad at it. I’ve really loved this series much more than I thought I would, so I’m happy.

Something I really love about this series is that it’s diverse without trying too hard or feeling like it’s trying to check every box. It does a good job of not being overly obvious and I think that’s the ultimate goal when people are asking for diverse characters and books. Referring to a character’s skin color or sexuality every other chapter almost creates this otherness about them. Specific traits for them are being singled out and consciously brought to our attention. I don’t want an author to tell me about how a character’s diverse, I want them to show me.

The characters in this series are all pretty much equally enjoyable for me. I’ve been surprised at how sympathetic a character Vivia has become. I really liked the sections from her POV and the struggle she’s having to be the leader that her father wants her to be while also reconciling who she actually is and her family’s history of mental illness. I knew from the beginning of this series that I would really enjoy Prince Leopold as a character, so I was THRILLED when he made a reappearance. It was really great to get to know Aeduan a little more in this book and I love him and Iseult together. Safi and Iseult continue to be utterly delightful and I absolutely love that their relationship continues to feel so strong when they haven’t even been together for two books. They’re constantly thinking about each other and ultimately, I think their goal throughout these books is just to get back with each other.

This book really moves the overall plot of the series forward. We’ve kind of thought that the plot was one thing this whole time, but later in the book, we start to realize that there is much more going on. Some hints have been dropped along the way throughout the series, but now we’re seeing bit and pieces of the larger plot start to form. Now, maybe I would know some of this stuff if I’d read Sightwitch? But as I’ve stated in an earlier post, I don’t believe in these supplemental short stories and novellas and prequels. So I’m just going to continue on and see where that takes me. One last minor plot point that I thought was interesting is how Safi and Iseult always seem to be in danger at the same time. Why is that? Because they’re the Cahr Awen? I just really hope that gets explained in a later book.

While I absolutely loved this book, I do have some questions:

  • Iseult says that animals don’t have threads, but mountain bats and sea foxes do. Why is that?
  • I wish we had some kind of background or explanation as to why everyone hates Nomatsis. Maybe in a future book?
  • I feel like deceit is an emotion or something that Iseult should be able to see in someone’s threads.
  • Why do some people have Threadsiblings and others don’t?

I have a couple other questions too, but they’re kind of spoilery, so I won’t ask them here.

Overall, this was a great third installment. I hear fans of the series had to wait a REALLY long time for the third book, so I’ll just be over hear hoping the fourth book gets here a little quicker than the third. If you haven’t already started this series, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

eBook | Hardcover

Overall Rating: 5
Language: Moderate
Violence: Heavy
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: None

Note: An ARC of this book was sent to the library where I work.

February Wrap-Up & TBR Update

This month went better than I expected it to even if I didn’t stick to my TBR so religiously. My book club ended up going to a library event instead of discussing a book, so The Girl Who Drank the Moon will go back on my TBR for another time. I found that I read more non-fiction and graphic novels this month than usual and I hope that trend continues. Lastly, another observation is that I really need to get better at reading digital ARCs…my bad.

monthly tbr

Also read/reading:

Books finished this month: 8
Books currently reading: 2

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 383
TBR at the beginning of February = 411
Books added to TBR = 39
Books completed/deleted from TBR = 6
Total on TBR now = 444

How did your reading go this month?

TTT | Hidden Gems

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Top Ten Tuesday Blog

Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads
The Geography of Lost Things by Jessica Brody – 522 ratings

I really enjoyed the “trading up” aspect of this book.

My Review | eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy – 1,000 ratings

Almost every chapter was a different format (regular text, graphic novel, graffiti) and I really liked that about it.

My Review | eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Trusting You and Other Lies by Nicole Williams – 1,007 ratings

So many summer camp feels!

My Review | eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson – 1,287 ratings

This is such a satisfying travel/wanderlust type book.

My Review | eBook | Paperback

We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun & Susan Mullen – 1,320 ratings

I don’t read a ton of epistolary novels and I didn’t know this was one when I picked it up, but I really liked that format!

My Review | eBook | Hardcover

Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan – 1,322 ratings

This was an interesting fantasy book–I still need to pick up the rest of the series.

My Review | eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E Smith – 1,520 ratings

This is probably my favorite Jennifer E Smith book! It’s a cute romance and it features baseball, the Cubs, and Wrigley Field!

My Review | eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

The Last Forever by Deb Caletti – 1,578 ratings

Deb Caletti is an underrated author imo. I love the retirement home group.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – 1,608 ratings

Sneaky debutantes and secret contracts!

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria – 1,836 ratings

Such a great female friendship story!

My Review | eBook | Hardcover

Bonus: Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard – 650 ratings

Okay, this is kind of cheating because there are only so few ratings because it just came out. But it still has less than 2,000 ratings!

eBook | Hardcover

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TTT Underrated Books

 

11 Best Book Deals for 2/9/19: This Savage Song, Longbourn, Bloodwitch, and more

Book Deals

As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!
Less than $1

Haven by A.R. Ivanovich

Less than $2

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Longbourn by Jo Baker

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Less than $3

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Bonus Deal

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard – Preorder the hardcover for $12.91! I just finished this last night and if you liked the first two books, this is completely WORTH IT.

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Book Deals 2/9

January Wrap-Up & TBR Update

I did an okay job sticking to my TBR. Not fantastic (I should have known I couldn’t stop at the first book in a series) but I did alright. And I even did a good job of posting reviews for the books I read this month!

monthly tbr

Also read/reading:

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 383
TBR at the beginning of January = 383
Books added to TBR = 31
Books deleted from TBR = 0 (I didn’t keep track, but I hope to track this stat in the future)
Total on TBR now = 411
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