The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly challenge post previously hosted by The Broke and Bookish and now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. You can follow along for each weekly post here. This week’s post, to close out the year, is all about my top ten favorite books that I’ve read this year. They aren’t all necessarily released this year! Keep that in mind. Also, because its so hard to choose, I also have a post coming for my favorite read for each month of the year coming later today!

Side Note – all of these covers are totally gorgeous!

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Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Abdi wrote an incredible story about coming out in the 1980s, a time when the AIDs epidemic was prominent and in the minds in all gay men, whether out or not. Its a personal story that isn’t exactly Abdi’s story but still feels real and authentic and emotional. It is easily one of my favorites of the year and my favorites of all time.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

This was one of my most anticipated novels of the year – I love everything that Marissa does and I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended because, honestly, I had no guesses. I couldn’t even begin to figure out who was good and who was bad or how it was going to end. It was SUCH a satisfying end. It was full of surprises and I honestly just felt so happy and incredibly satisfied at the end. I just wish I didn’t have say goodbye to that world.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

American Royals by Katherine McGee

I can’t even begin to describe my absolute love for this book. I did not expect what I got out of this book – I love any story with modern day royalty in it and the cover was fun so I decided I had to read it and I’m so so glad that I did. Its absolutely incredible. The alternate history of the United States becoming a monarchy and the way that Katherine is able to make the history we know change to fit her world was just so impressive. I’m DYING for the next book. This book blew my mind.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young

I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to read this novel but I’m so glad I did and I am counting down the days until I can read the sequel because I thoroughly enjoyed book one. It was thrilling and exciting but also frightening and horrifying and it kept me glued from page one to the last page. I loved that the love story was there but played such a small part to the love that was between the main character and her sisters. It felt emotional and strong and hopeful and I loved that.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Nikolai was my favorite character in the Grisha trilogy and I was beyond excited when I heard he was getting his own series. I absolutely loved this book – it was so great to be back in that universe and I think Leigh did such a wonderful job of meshing together the stories of the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. I loved that there were new characters and so many familiar characters and I loved that we got to see Leigh’s beautiful fantasy world yet again.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

Maybe This Time by Kasie West

I adore Kasie West because her books always make me feel happy and hopeful and romantic and Maybe This Time was definitely a novel that accomplished all of the above. I really loved that it took place in  series of events like Four Weddings and a Funeral and that the main character worked for a florist. That was one of my first jobs and it was a chaotic and fun time and I really connected to the character through it. But I also just loved the build up of the romance. Kasie’s books always make me feel…bright and light.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

Rebel by Marie Lu

I had never expected to go back in the Legend world – it has been YEARS since the last book came out and even though it ended…hopeful but kind of sad, it left me feeling like there could be more. Well, we definitely got more! I was so glad to be back with Day – now going by his given name, Daniel – and June and getting to know Eden a bit more now that he’s older. Its interesting to see how this world influenced her Warcross world. It felt so damn good to be back and to feel familiar. I’ve had a hard time with new authors lately and I loved that I got to be back in my favorite dystopian world.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst

I don’t normally read adult fantasy – I tend to find it long, drawn out, boring and predominantly written by white male authors who like to hear themselves talk. I took a chance on this one because it was on sale and it sounded really intriguing and I am so glad I bought it. This was such a rich world with incredible characters and a story that I couldn’t stop reading. I never read adult fantasy but I blew through this book faster than I normally would. I already can’t wait to read the second book because truly, what an amazing book.

I haven’t written a full review of it as I finished it a day or so before Christmas but it should be coming soon!

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

It feels like its been ages since I got my hands on a Rainbow Rowell contemporary and I love that this one is told in graphic novel form – it just makes it that much better. It takes everything that I love about fall and puts it on the page. Faith Erin Hicks has incredibly awesome artwork and Rainbow tells a story that only she can tell, the story of two best friends working at the pumpkin patch every year until this last one, they use it both to say goodbye but also to start something quite new. I LOVED this book and it made me realize that maybe I should give more graphic novels a shot.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

The more lesbian stories that are told in literature, the happier I am. Straight up. Its so amazing that more gay stories are ending up in literature, especially YA, but there still seems to be a shortage of F/F stories and I’m so glad Aminah wrote one. I loved that it was, at its core, a Rory and Paris fan fiction.  I love that its an enemies to lovers story – that’s one of my favorite tropes of all time and I will go down with that trope. And I love that its partially a love story to Los Angeles, which I love from the bottom of my heart. This stands out as one of the BEST contemporary novels of the year, hands down.

You can read my full spoiler free review here.

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