I cannot believe it is the last day of the year! What?! This year has flown by. I’m noticing the years are going faster since I joined book battle and since having Mylzs!
Here I am going to tell you my top reads of 2019. There were some great ones!
Ninth House was my top read of the year! Yes, Leigh is my most favorite, but man this book was good. It was dark, it was creepy, there was romance. Let me tell ya, I’m ready to go to Hell! In book 2, that is.
So Verity was my first CoHo book and honestly, I’m not sure I want to read her others! I know this wasn’t her normal genre, but it was SO.GOOD. I was thinking about the ending for weeks after.
Girl power seemed to be a theme with me this year. I think because I have found some amazing friends in Words & Whimsy! This was another powerful tale of what happens when girls stick together.
Last but certainly not least, is Over the Top. I love JVN. He’s a self care QUEEN. I loved learning from him and learning about him. Still hoping he’ll be my bff one day.
Well guys, there’s my top 5! What were your top 5 reads this year? Did you like any of these? Let me know in the comments below! I would love to discuss!
Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture!
SURVIVE THE YEAR.
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
– Goodreads
Oh man. This book. Top 5 reads of 2019 for sure. It blew me away with all the emotions and feels and I just loved it. I have recommended it to everyone.
The Grace Year was a beautiful, tragic and desperate tale of female empowerment and fighting back when you know the way you are living is wrong.
Each year when girls turn 16, they are released in the wild to let out their ‘magic’. They only have each other and have to find a way to live this long, long year. The girls’ magic makes men do terrible things – or so they say. Not all the girls will make it home alive, and those that do are forever changed.
This is a story about sticking together, building women up, and the knowledge that female friendships are the strongest bonds. The girls went through a lot during their Grace Year. They were tricked, manipulated, turned against one another. No one expected them to turn toward each other. Bit by bit they try to change the way of life and make it better for their future girls.
There was romance involved, but it was really the backdrop. The story had twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. The ending had twist after twist after twist. It was wrapped up in a beautifully tragic way.
There is no happy ending here, however, there is hope that there might one day be.
I recommend every girl and woman read this. It really rings true in times like these.
Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
If you’re going through hell…keep going.
Seventeen-year-old coder Jinx Marshall grew up spending weekends drilling with her paranoid dad for a doomsday she’s sure will never come. She’s an expert on self-heating meal rations, Krav Maga and extracting water from a barrel cactus. Now that her parents are divorced, she’s ready to relax. Her big plans include making it to level 99 in her favorite MMORPG and spending the weekend with her new hunky stepbrother, Toby.
But all that disaster training comes in handy when an explosion traps her in a burning building. Stuck leading her headstrong stepsister, MacKenna, and her precocious little brother, Charles, to safety, Jinx gets them out alive only to discover the explosion is part of a pattern of violence erupting all over the country. Even worse, Jinx’s dad stands accused of triggering the chaos.
In a desperate attempt to evade paramilitary forces and vigilantes, Jinx and her siblings find Toby and make a break for Mexico. With seemingly the whole world working against them, they’ve got to get along and search for the truth about the attacks—and about each other. But if they can survive, will there be anything left worth surviving for?
– Goodreads
Four stars for this doomsday YA adventure!
Jinx is trying to navigate life with her mom’s new husband and her new step siblings. Most important though, she’s just trying to get her guild to defeat the newest raid. This is when I knew I loved Jinx. She reminded me of me in highschool. My only thoughts were about playing WoW and I wanted to be the best! Raiding was my favorite time of the week.
The day of the raid, disaster strikes. Five of the biggest banks get blown up and her dad And stepdad are to blame. Thankfully her dad was a doomsday prepper, so she knows how to survive.
Jinx was my favorite character. Her emotions and reactions just seemed so real. Plus, she’s a female raid leader, so major points in my book. She takes care of her baby brother, who is a type 1 diabetic. It was nice to see that rep too! All of the supporting characters were great, too. I loved the relationship between Jinx and her stepsister, MacKenna.
The action was great. I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. Despite the 432 pages, I got through this book pretty quickly.
I would definitely recommend. I haven’t read a ya book like this one before! It was a unique concept that had great execution. Can’t wait for book #2!
This book wasn’t what I thought it would be. I keep reading dark romance, hoping it’ll be like Verity. None of them have been yet. Have recs? Let me know!
This is one of our club reads over at Book Battle, and it got voted in as the discussion book of the month! I’ll be diving in and discussing starting today! Come join us here!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
A girl searches for a killer on an island where deadly sirens lurk just beneath the waves in this gripping, atmospheric debut novel.
The sea holds many secrets.
Moira Alexander has always been fascinated by the deadly sirens who lurk along the shores of her island town. Even though their haunting songs can lure anyone to a swift and watery grave, she gets as close to them as she can, playing her violin on the edge of the enchanted sea. When a young boy is found dead on the beach, the islanders assume that he’s one of the sirens’ victims. Moira isn’t so sure.
Certain that someone has framed the boy’s death as a siren attack, Moira convinces her childhood friend, the lighthouse keeper Jude Osric, to help her find the real killer, rekindling their friendship in the process. With townspeople itching to hunt the sirens down, and their own secrets threatening to unravel their fragile new alliance, Moira and Jude must race against time to stop the killer before it’s too late—for humans and sirens alike.
– Goodreads
“Twillengyle is a place to be embraced with one arm, with a dagger ready in the other hand.”
What an atmospheric, beautifully detailed novel. Twillengyle is dark, gloomy, cold. It is the perfect backdrop to the events in a novel. A small boy is dead. Sirens are to blame. They have one champion, Moira, who knows the sirens couldn’t have done it. Will she be enough to bring them justice?
Very, very seldom do I see images in my mind as I read. Usually I’m just reading the words. The characters have voices, sure, but no faces. Nothing that makes them stick out. I could never do fan art. However, as I was reading I saw a movie playing in my mind. I could probably fan cast it. This is SO unusual for me, but I loved it!
The mystery was intriguing. I didn’t guess who did it. The ending was so shocking! All the events leading up had my guessing. My guesses were all wrong, of course. In addition to the mystery, there was also a love interest! It was a will-they-won’t-they, which is honestly my favorite kind. I love to see the back and forth!
I would recommend this to anyone who loves mysteries or crime books. It sucks you in and you won’t want to put it down!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A haunting thriller about a woman who attempts to save her brother’s life by making a dangerous pact with a network of vigilantes who’ve been hunting down the predators of Los Angeles.
Jazz can’t let her younger brother die.
Their foster mother Carol has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens thirteen-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time.
Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her, people the law has failed. They’ve formed an underground network of “helpers,” each agreeing to murder the abuser of another. They’re taking back their power and leaving a trail of bodies throughout Los Angeles—dubbed the Blackbird Killings. If Jazz joins them, they’ll take care of Carol for good.
All she has to do is kill a stranger.
Jazz soon learns there’s more to fear than getting caught carrying out her assignment. The leader of the club has a zero tolerance policy for mistakes.
And the punishment for disobeying orders is death.
Yall, Harlequin Trade has some GREAT thrillers coming out this winter! I’ve been in a thriller mood and these have not disappointed!
This twisty murder-for-hire had a unique take that I loved. Let’s say you need to be rid of someone. Easy. This secret group contacts you, offers to take them out while you have a rock solid alibi. The only thing you have to do is take someone out for someone else.
Jazz is willing to risk this to save her brother from the evil foster mom. Her journey takes her through so many twists and turns, in the end I didn’t know who I was rooting for.
The characters were all very believable. From Jazz, who had some legal issues but will do anything to save her brother. To her kid brother, Joaquin, who is a Type 1 Diabetic. To Carol, the crazy, snake-charming-religion-following foster mom who isn’t doing what’s best for Joaquin. I felt like I had met all of these people before in my life. The actions, words and feelings seemed to jump right off the page to play a movie in my mind.
The story was fast paced. I didn’t want to put it down. I had to know what would happen. Would she save her brother? Would she get the girl? Would the secret program find her and kill her?
This is a must read for ever thriller lover! I’ve already recommended it to my friends! It will be a perfect Christmas gift!
Wendy Heard, author of Hunting Annabelle, was born in San Francisco and has lived most of her life in Los Angeles. When not writing, she can be found hiking the Griffith Park trails, taking the Metro and then questioning this decision, and haunting local bookstores.
Special thanks to Harlequin Trade for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour! I am so grateful for the opportunity. Look for my next stop on the blog tour featuring Good Girls Lie on December 23!
As far as Ami’s concerned, invisibility is good for three things: bank vaults, men’s locker rooms, and saving the world.
For Ami and her partner, Luke, becoming invisible is part of their job. Their mysterious employer assigns them to make “coincidences” happen, from reuniting long lost lovers to toppling empires. For their next job, they must stop a bio-terrorism attack on San Francisco. To pull it off, they’ll have to break into illegal labs and federal buildings that make bank vaults seem easy.
Working side by side to arrange the coincidence, Ami hopes for a chance to finally push their relationship past the friend-zone. Her telepathic link with Luke has made it hard to keep her feelings secret for so many years. But just when things start to heat up between them, they accidentally alert the FBI to their existence. Now agents are chasing them down hilly streets and invading their homes in the middle of the night.
With three days until the attack, Ami and Luke must escape their FBI tail while keeping their own emotions from getting in the way. That’s not an easy task when their telepathy goes on the fritz and their only lead for who’s behind the plague just might be the one who releases it. With millions of lives hanging in the balance, they’re going to need more than a coincidence to pull it all off.
– Goodreads
Thank you to Netgalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
Four stars for this action-packed story that was way out of my comfort zone!
Imagine that coincidences weren’t coincidences. You didn’t just happen to get your dream job or meet your soul mate on the train. There are invisible people working behind the scenes to make this happen. What if they also did even crazier things – like save the world?
That’s what Ami and Luke have been tasked to do. They are used to little coincidences, nothing like this. I quickly fell in love with them and their will-they-won’t-they love story. I love friends to lovers, and this did not disappoint!
The Coincidence Makers had me guessing from the get-go. I didn’t know who was good or bad. There were a ton of twists and turns. The action scenes were written wonderfully and had my heart racing. I didn’t want to put this book down because I had to know what happened next.
The only thing that kept me from a 5 star rating was the ending. I felt like the book could have ended at 80% and then the sequel could begin from there. I liked staying in their world longer, but it felt a little long-winded. However, Meradeth has confirmed there is a sequel in the works so I can’t wait to jump back into Ami and Luke’s story!
I’ve been wanting to read this for a while. It’s a club read this month over at Book Battle so it was the perfect chance! Not what I was expecting, but still good. Should finish tomorrow!
I’m also listening to the audio. I love books read by the celebrity authors!
Honestly, I looked at kindle unlimited’s Christmas selection and saw this was a dark romance. I was thinking Verity-esque, but it’s not really. I’m a little over halfway done and still unsure about how I feel.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a new fantasy series reimagining the Arthurian legend, set in the magical world of Camelot.
There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.
Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.
To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.
Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?
-Goodreads
Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was the first King Arthur retelling I’ve read, and I enjoyed it. I don’t know why it took me so.long. to read this. 10 days! Parts were a little slow, but not slow enough to take me 10 days to read. I don’t know what was going on.
This was an interesting story. Guinevere was sent to Camelot to marry Arthur and protect him at all costs. She knew that was her goal, and that’s what she was going to do. She took some risks to protect him. Some worked, some didn’t. She was strong and level-headed. I loved her!
The supporting characters were also great! I loved her maid-turned-friend and also Arthur’s cousin. At points Arthur was a little flat for me.
Some of the writing seemed almost childish. That could have just been me though. From the start, I read Guinevere’s voice in a childish manner. Very simple speech, almost? I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. I loved her actions, her dialogue not so much.
This was book 1 of the Camelot Rising Trilogy and I can’t wait to read book two! I would recommend this to anyone who loves King Arthur or just a good ole YA Fantasy!
Gwen Landon—poster woman for perfect wife, mother, and suburban bliss—is found brutally bludgeoned to death behind her Floridian McMansion. Beautiful and beloved by her community, Gwen makes an unlikely victim. But just a scratch below the surface of her perfectly curated world reveals one far more sinister. When looking back over the six months leading up to her death, the question of, “who would do this?” quickly shifts to, “who wouldn’t?”
Commercially successful food blogger and mother of three, Nora Holliday never imagined she would have the nerve, let alone time, to get involved an affair. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, she does whatever it takes to keep it all together. But when Nora runs into Gwen Landon’s husband at a hotel in Orlando, his easy kindness and warmth proves too tempting to resist. As their affair spirals dangerously out of control, it seems things can’t get more complicated—until Gwen turns up dead.
Thank you to Netgalley and MIRA for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I was so excited and honored to be a part of this blog tour! I read Margot’s first book, Best Friends Forever, last year and LOVED it! The Last Affair was no different!
So, an interesting thing about The Last Affair is that you find out who died in the first chapter. You then go back 6 months to find out what events lead up to the murder. Everyone was suspect. Everyone was sketchy. There were so.many. possibilities about who could have been the killer. I thought everyone did at one point, except the person who actually did the killing!
Another thing that made this novel so great was that all the characters were real. They were believable. The actions/conversations were true to the characters. You liked the “good guys” and hated the “bad guys”. But did you really know who was good or bad?I didn’t.
The plot was fast paced and interesting. I could not put this novel down. I was so glad for the four hour car ride to Alabama so I could read! I’m sure my husband hated it though. Sorry, babe! I had to know the killer!
I’ve already recommended this novel to my thriller loving family and friends. It is definitely one of my favorites that I have read!
Margot Hunt is a critically acclaimed author of psychological suspense. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.
Mithah Reads 