The Best Books of 2019 | My favorite reads of this year!

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating today!

The days before Christmas are usually very busy. Yesterday I spent most of the day cooking and preparing everything for the Christmas dinner, but TODAY I have no plans whatsoever! Only rest, eat tons of delicious food and start my re-read of the first Harry Potter book. 🙂 

There are not many days left in 2019 and the Christmas day seemed like the perfect day to finally post the list of my favorite books of 2019! 

I had such an incredible reading year. There were so many books that I loved, but only 10 made it to my absolute favorites. To make things easier for myself, I have a “favorites” shelf on Goodreads that I add books to throughout the year. These are in the order I read them this year, as I couldn’t narrow this list down to top 5 or even “the best of the best”.

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1 – An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Before 2019, I was always skeptical about audiobooks. They never capture my attention the same way as reading does, and I usually never feel connected to the characters and the whole story just feels very distant. But that was not the case with «An American Marriage»! The narrators, the story, the characters – everything felt so vivid and real.

I can’t say that I loved Roy and Celestial, the main characters of this story, but that was the purpose to show not only their strength but also flaws and weaknesses. In fact, I hated Celestial but also understood her position in that whole situation.

2 – A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) by John Gwynne

This series is amazing! The first book was good, but the second one was even better! The third and final installment is coming out next year and I can’t wait to see how the story ends. I’m also planning to read John Gwynne’s other series set in the same world – The Faithful and The Fallen. 

I loved this book so much that I even created my own quiz for it 😀 It was a lot of fun!

take the quiz!

3 – To Best the Boys by Mary Weber

This book took me completely by surprise! I was not expecting to love it so much. «To Best the Boys» was supposed to be my OWLs book for Herbology, and one Sunday afternoon I thought I would just read a couple of pages, get the feel of it, and I flew through it in one sitting. I couldn’t stop! 

I haven’t seen this book that much on the blogosphere, and I wish more people would have read it.

my review

4 – Scythe (Arc of Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman

I’m horrible at finishing the series… «Scythe» was one of my favorite books of this year, and I still haven’t read «Thunderhead»! I really loved the world created by Neal Shusterman and the politics in it, as well as the concept of Scythe and what it took to become one. It was very fascinating. 

Hopefully, this will be the first series I finish in 2020.

my review

5 – Limited Wish (Impossible Times #2 by Mark Lawrence)

Surprisingly, I keep preferring the middle books in the trilogies over the first ones, which is… unusual. «One Word Kill», the first book in this trilogy, was very interesting but it took me a while to get used to Mark Lawrence’s writing style. I’m not sure what it is about it that takes me longer to get into the story, and since I read the first two books back to back I loved «Limited Wish» a bit more. I still need to finish this Sci-Fi, time-travel trilogy and read the final book «Dispel Illusion» that came out a few weeks ago!

my review

6 – Circe by Madeline Miller 

Oh my, this book! It took me AGES to finish it! But even though I didn’t fly through it, «Circe» was one of the best books I’ve ever read. From beautiful writing to emotionally-packed moments, Madeline Miller created a true masterpiece. I’ve never read a book where the main protagonist was a goddess. It’s fascinating how time flows in the book since Circe is immortal, and how many characters come and go through this “brief” look into her life. 

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves mythology, fantasy, history and just amazing writing and characters in general!

my review

7 – Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

Yet another ARC and yet another book that took me by surprise. I requested this on NetGalley obviously thinking that I would love it, but at the same time, I kept pushing it, not really wanting to pick it up. But it was such a quick and wonderful read! 

First of all, I love Katy Yocom’s writing, and I want to read more books from her in the future! Secondly, the story was very emotional, the characters well-developed and I fell in love with the main character from the very first pages. 

This is the Literary Fiction that should have won the GoodReads Award!

my review

8 – Saving Fable (Talespinners #1) by Scott Reintgen

One of the best middle-grade stories I’ve ever read by my favorite author, Scott Reintgen. This is a story about book characters BEFORE they become book characters! There is even a school for them to learn all different traits before authors make their pick!

This was by far the most unique story I’ve ever read.

my review

9 – The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

If I had to choose just one favorite book from 2019 it would be «Fountains of Silence» by Ruta Sepetys. This book is perfection! I’ve never read any Ruta Sepetys books before, and I don’t know what I was waiting for?! As soon as I finished this one, I went online and ordered the other two Ruta Sepetys books that I have all the intentions to read ASAP! 

«The Fountains of Silence» is a YA historical fiction set in Spain during Franco’s regime. I learned so many new things about that time period. I loved how real the characters felt, how this book made me want to read more about this subject. Hands down, the best book of 2019!

my review

10 – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The movie is coming out this week I think and I’m so excited to watch it! I fell in love with the four sisters and will be picking up the “sequel” very soon!

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Have you read any of these books? What did you think about them?
Share your favorites in the comments below!

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