I am SO excited to share today’s post with y’all because it’s filled with my favorite reads from 2019. (You can also see my top 10 from 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015) This year was not my best reading year. Between moving out of my old house, moving in with my mom, building a new house, selling my old house, moving into my new house, and changing grade levels, reading fell by the wayside and sadly I was just too busy to read as much as I normally do. I usually read around 90 books a year, but as of today I have only read 73. I’m still really happy with what I read-especially these 10 books.
Out of my top 10 favorite books:
1 is YA (young adult)
5 are romance
2 are mystery/thriller
1 is historical fiction
1 is general/women’s fiction
2019 was the year of rom coms, and I am LOVING it! I read so many great romantic comedies this year, so it’s no surprise that 5 of them appear on my top 10 list. 2 of the books on my lists are all consuming, obsessive, unputdownable books that made me neglect ALL my work. 1 was a complete shocker because I thought I would hate it. 2 are written by some of my favorite authors and 1 made me want to pick up more books from that genre.
Let’s chat about my top 10 favorite books of 2019.
I read Waiting for Tom Hanks back in February and for the longest time it held my number one spot. This is the cutest, sweet, funniest story about a girl who is obsessed with romantic comedies featuring Tom Hanks. A film company moves into town to film a movie starring a big actor and the girl falls in love with him-such a swoon worthy story! I LOVED it!
In April I picked up Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest book, Daisy Jones and the Six, for two reasons:
1) Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote it
2) Reese Witherspoon is making a movie/mini series/show about it.
I *really* didn’t think I would like this book because it was about a 70’s rock band-something I’m not really interested in. Plus, I haven’t loved TJR’s last two books-One True Loves, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Oh man, was I wrong about not liking this book. I LOVE this book. It was the biggest surprise hit for me for 2019. I was transported to a time period and subject matter that I thought I had absolutely no interest in, but I couldn’t put it down. I was also completely shocked by a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. I do wish there was an epilogue because it kind of left on a bit of a cliffhanger, but other than that, this book was perfection. If you’re hesitant about picking this one up, READ IT!
Another rom com to add to the list, but I am SO thankful for this book. In August I was in the middle of the biggest, worst reading slump of my life. I could not find anything that would hold my attention. I picked up and tried 4 or 5 books, read 150 or 200 pages in each one, and then put them down because I couldn’t care less what was happening in those stories. I desperately wanted to find something to read that I loved, but I was having the worst time. I had been hearing about this book all over bookstagram, and then when I discovered it was a Book of the Month selection, I knew I had to try it.
Sidenote: if you don’t know what Book of the Month is, it’s like a subscription service for books. Like Ipsy or Birchbox-but for books! You can skip a month if you don’t like the choices or you can pick from 5-6 books. You can use my referral code for a discount on your first book.
I don’t know what it is about this book, but it just has something that makes it wonderful. It’s like The Hating Game. There’s just something magical about that book, and this one has the same “extraness.” It’s full of witty banter. It’s swoon worthy. It’s wonderful. It’s also the first book that I finished and loved after an awful 2 months of a reading slump. I will forever be grateful for that!
Y’all know my favorite romance author is hands down Lauren Layne. I’ve raved about her since I first read her Wedding Belles series in 2016. Her books never fail. They are just sweet, funny stories filled with romance. I was so excited about her new series that came out in paperback this year (most of her books are e-books.) The Central Park Pact series follows three women who discover each other at a funeral. There are three books in this series and each book follows one of the women and tells her story of finding love. Passion on Park Avenue is the first one. My favorite in the series is actually the third one, Marriage on Madison Avenue, but it doesn’t come out until January. You will love LL books for many different reasons, but one of the things I love the most is how “New York” her stories are. All of them are set in NYC, and they are just so atmospheric. Every single time I read a Lauren Layne, I start planning out a trip to Manhattan in my mind. 🙂
And then we have the After series. If you follow my bookstagram account, you know this one had to be included on the list. Oh y’all. So many thoughts on the After series. It actually could have gone on the worst books of 2019 list too-just as much as it earned its place on my favorites list. Oh, this book.
In October, I randomly decided to pick up the book After. It had been on my shelf for several years, and I had just discovered there was a movie on Netflix. I wanted to read the book before watching the movie, so I decided to give it a go. I highly suggest watching my highlights tab on this book on my profile on Instagram to fully understand my thoughts on this series.
It is by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.
I’ve never gotten so mad and so frustrated at fictional characters as I did when I read this book.
I was ashamed of myself for reading it. And for continuing to read it.
But I LOVED it.
I mean, this series consumed my life for a good week. I read 2,587 pages in a week. I could not think about anything else. I came home from work and read until bedtime. I mean it when I say I was fully consumed with this series. It was complete trash, but so addictive. I still don’t know if I recommend it or not, but the fact that I could not put it down and truly missed these characters once I had finished earns this book a spot on my favorites list. It’s awful, but good at the same time.
I feel like I know a good bit about books because I love to research upcoming books and discover new authors and their backlist titles, but this one slipped by me. I had never even heard of this book until another bookstagrammer posted about it. It didn’t sound like anything I would like. It’s about a 39 year old woman who enters into a relationship with a 20 year boy band member that she meets when she takes her 11 year old daughter to see. That just sounds completely stupid to me. BUT after reading Kailey’s caption about the book, I was intrigued and curious to see what all the fuss was about.
I read this book in one afternoon in November. When I finished it, I almost felt physically sick I was so gutted over this book. In fact, I don’t know if I have ever felt so invested in a storyline and so devastated over an ending. What an amazing book to be able to do that to the reader. If you aren’t reading this book because it doesn’t sound like something you think you would like, pick it up anyways. It will suck you in and leave you with so many emotions.
I have just finished reading American Royals and after about 50 pages, I knew it would end up in my top 10. This is a young adult fantasy book that follows the royal Washingtons. It’s basically a reimagining of how America would be if we had a royal family instead of a president. This book follows several different characters/storylines, which normally I’m not a fan of, but I absolutely love each storyline and couldn’t put it down. It’s actually a series. I didn’t know that when I started reading the book, but the second one is suppose to be out next year. I highly, highly recommend this one! If you teach high school English, your students would love American Royals!
My first of two thrillers on the list! I love Shari Lapena’s first two books, The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House, but I was a little worried about this one when I read in back in September because I really didn’t like her 2018 release, An Unwanted Guest. As soon as I started reading Someone We Know, I knew it was good. I had SO many theories throughout this book. It’s about a neighborhood that’s shaken up when they start experiencing several break ins and then one woman ends up dead. I kept trying to figure out how everything was connected, but I was still surprised at the end!
My favorite thriller of the year has to be My Lovely Wife. I read this one back in April when I was so busy moving, but it held my attention and made me want to unpack as quickly as possible so I could sit down and read. I’m not exaggerating when I say this is a jaw dropping thriller that is very unique. The last line is SOOOOO good! I remember closing the book and just sitting for a minute in shock and then laughed to myself. Anytime someone asks for a thriller, I give them this one. It’s beyond good.
And my number one favorite book of the year is On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this one back in February (it was released in August) and I’m kicking myself for not reading it until September. I remember browsing my bookshelves one afternoon, trying to find something to read and picking this one up and thinking how I should try and read it since it had been on my shelf for the longest time.
I don’t know what it is about this book, but I adore every single thing about it. It’s about two people who have known each other their entire lives. The live in a small town that reads just like Stars Hollow and the male lead, Cooper, is running for mayor. His childhood/lifelong friend, Emma, agrees to help him run his campaign. They of course fall in love. I just love stories that have a small town feel to them and the fact that this was a political romance (not in a serious issues, Democratic/Republican way-just a small town mayoral election) made it right up my alley. This story was exactly what I was in the mood for when I read it and it helped me fall back in love with reading after having such a rough time with the reading slump of the summer. This is actually the first book in a series (just like the Central Park Pact series) and the second book is called Meet Me on Love Lane. The third comes out in April and you better believe I’m counting down the days!
Okay, there you have it! Those are my top 10 favorite books of 2019. Be sure and follow my bookstagram account because I’m giving away one copy of each of these 10 books.
To see all of the books I’ve read this year, check out my monthly book review posts or click the ‘books’ tab at the top of my blog:
