This is a little late but oh well! I had planned to do this but got distracted and busy but I waned to share my favorite reads of the year with y’all so I hope you enjoy!
Contemporary:
Fantasy:
LGBT:
Mystery:
Best Books of 2021
Favorites
Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
“A hero does not choose her trials. She steps into the darkness, then she faces what comes next.”
All her life, Spensa dreamed of becoming a pilot. Dreamed of being able to help her people and being able to find the truth of what happened to her father. Now having f those dreams, she is left with the crushing truth with her father but she’s not willing to give up on him and she’s certain there is more to the story and she’s determined to find out. When she makes it out of her protective shell of a planet, she heard the stars and she heard terrified her as everything she had taught as a child turned out to be a lie. Her world shaken by the truth, Spensa must do what is necessary to help her people and if she must travel to end of the galaxy then that’s what she’ll do.
Another terrific story of this series! I absolutely loved this book probably even more so than the first book and a big part of why I enjoyed it so much is the excellent development of Spensa who is a champion of authenticity, courage, and determination which makes her very relatable. Sanderson really knows how to craft well written characters and with Spensa, she’s so real that you find yourself in her. One of the things that I have enjoyed about the series is how Sanderson doesn’t just throw in themes for the take of it. They were important and the way he writes them shows that as the themes in this series are very relevant to real life with personal biases, prejudice, and individualism vs collectivism. How people should hear and listen to others even if they are different from you and that is something that we all need a reminder about. It really added to the story line and made me enjoy this book even more.
Highly recommend this series! I’m checking out the third book now cause it just came out!! I’ll have a review up soon hopefully but until then happy reading!
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
“People need stories, child. They bring us hope, and that hope is real. If that’s the case, what does it matter whether people in them actually lived?”
The remains of the human race have been crushed, defeated, driven to almost extinction on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. One such human, a young girl by the name of Spensa who longs to be a pilot may have found a way to achieve her dream while helping her people in the process. One day, she finds wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this could be her way out but there are more hurdles than she expected and this journey could alter the course of her for better or worse.
This was such a fantastic book! I had heard a lot of good things about this series so I decided to finally check it out and I’m so glad I did. I’m currently reading through the second book right now in anticipation of the third coming out next week. From start to finish, this book was excellent and I loved everything about it. Spensa is such a fantastic main character, with flaws and qualities that make her very relatable and I’ve been loving her character development along the way. It felt very real and I could empathize with her when she was tested with what was the right thing to do and how to go about it. I enjoyed the other characters in addition to Spensa. With the solid worldbuilding, rich and diverse characters, interesting plot and how everything came together to lead up to the second book, I highly recommend it. I am actually checking out his other books because this series reeled me in and I want more! Stayed tuned for my review on Starsight coming up!
No Exit by Taylor Adams
“Don’t fear the pros. The pros know what they’re doing, and do it cleanly. Fear the amateurs.”
On her way home, Darby Thorne gets stuck in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of her mother’s home in Colorado. With the roads impassible, Darby has no choice but to wait it out at a rest stop where inside are four strangers, vending machines, and a coffee maker. Desperate to get home, she heads back to her car where she makes a horrifying discovery, a young girl is locked in an animal cage in the van next to her car. There are more questions than answers as she finds no cell phone reception to call for help, one of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper, and not only find a way to save herself but the little girl before it’s too late.
This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time! From beginning to end, I was hooked and turning the page in anticipation. I’ve been getting into thrillers more and more in the last year or so and it can be hard sometimes to find a great thriller as some can be cliche and predictable. But, this is not one of those books and I was glad that I decided to read it. From the writing, characters, plot development etc., I really enjoyed how they all fleshed together for a really good thriller with smartly creative plot twists that weren’t predictable and they also made sense. This will have you on the edge of your seat begging for more so if you’re in the mood for a good thriller, I would highly recommend this!
Medusa
People think your beauty is their possession. As if it’s there for their pleasure, as if they’ve got something invested in it. They think you owe them for their admiration.
| This was such a beautiful retelling of Medusa that not only gives her a voice but really makes you feel for her. Medusa has been exiled with her two sisters, Stheno and Euyale to a remote island where the only company they have is each other and their dog. They have been on the island for four years and Medusa is feeling lonely and trapped but things change when a Perseus, arrives on the island and she believes he might be able to alleviate her problems but this will lead her on a journey of love, trust and betrayal. While this is a beautifully written retelling of Medusa giving her a voice and sending her on a journey on self-acceptance with owning and acceptance the good and bad and being able to find peace with your past. I think this is something that many people need to see as we all have very different set of unique experiences that led us to where we are and that finding peace with your past is so essential for growth and acceptance of who you are. It’s a message that I myself crave and love and think many others feel the same. It does delve into sexual harassment, in particular with rape culture, victim blaming and slut-shaming even by other women. Which I know that can be uncomfortable to read about especially as a woman myself, but it is very important to understand even though it hard seeing it come from other women. But, that is something that can and will happen even now in our current culture. The story along with the illustrations, which were absolutely stunning rewrote the narrative for Medusa and gave her a story that she could embrace and own. Highly recommend it! |
SteelStriker By Marie Lu
“You live life, certain it will always stay this way, until it doesn’t.”
As a striker, Talin was taught loyalty is life. Loyalty to the shield who watch your back and to the strikers that risk their lives on the battlefield, and most of all to Mara, which was once the last nation free from the Karensa Federation’s tyranny. But, Mara has fallen and it’s destruction has unleashed Talin’s worst nightmare as her friends scattered from combat and her mother has been taken hostage by the premier. Talin does the unthinkable in order to save her friends, family, and her adopted home as she betrays them to become the federation’s most deadly war machine as their newest Skyhunter. A stranger in enemy land, Talin finds herself becoming friends with Red, who knows the cruelty firsthand done by federation but he knows that this isn’t over for Mara or Talin. The link between them may be weak but it might be the only way for them to salvage their past and safeguard their future.
Well, Marie Lu did it again. I’ve been waiting for this book to come out ever since I read the first book with was a rollercoaster journey of emotions and she didn’t dissappoint with the follow up. As it was delightful, fun, emotional, and gripping until the end and I was hoping it would be because I loved the first book. There’s so much that I love about this one but what really stands out to me are the characters and the writing. The characters felt so real, raw, and alive with emotion that you could really feel what they were going through and they were all interesting and unique in their own way. I love how Marie crafts her characters and she spends a lot of time with developing them and it shows in the writing and how they are described. I really love seeing Talin and Red’s perspectives and I found their relationship interesting and real and the dynamics between them throughout the book was great.
Marie really knows how to write really great antagonists as Premier Constantine wasn’t all bad. He had a story and through Talin’s perspective it really shows that he’s human which I loved because it’s interesting to have characters like that. I like that she really does flesh them out and make them complicated because when it’s just one sided, it’s not that interesting. The side characters were just as interesting and complicated as the main characters and that’s always something that I’ve loved with her writing as she really spends time and effort making her characters complicated yet so real with emotion.
I think this was a fantastic conclusion to the series. As much as I’d love to see more, I would prefer if she didn’t write a follow up as I felt everything got wrapped up really well. So if you’re a sci-fi, adventure or fantasy fan, I think you would like this!
Fade Into White
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
On the outside, Thea Fenton’s looks perfect but looks can be deceiving as her life is falling apart and she’s struggling to pick up the pieces. The young girl is wracked with anxiety that no one around her seems to care about or understand so she resorts to self-harm to deflect the pain inside. But, when a local teen commits suicide, Thea’s world completely unravels as her anxiety skyrocket’s and things beginning happening that she can’t explain leaving her trapped in her own chaotic mind. The lines between reality and another world are starting to blur leaving Thea to feel like the world is caving in on her. That is until she meets Khi, a mysterious new boy from a coffee shop that seems to know Thea better than anyone does even herself. She finds herself drawn to him and is able to tell him how she really feels and he listens and tries to help her sort through her own thoughts to make sense of them.
Well this is probably one of the best novels about Mental Health in particular anxiety that is very accurate which made me super happy as it’s hard to find good rep with mental health. Sometimes, I feel like the authors don’t do the research or portray it correctly and it’s more romanticized than it needs to be. As someone who was diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I found Thea extremely relatable and felt for her as she developed throughout the book with character growth. I felt like the author did a very good job at portraying anxiety and how it differs from feeling anxious and how that anxiety can be so exhausting and draining that you don’t even know how to explain it. It was truly well written and I loved the end result of where Thea ended up on her journey with finally coming to accept who she is. She never thought she would get there and she does and I think it was really well done and I enjoyed the book from beginning to end.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace
“People who use guilt trips are trying to get their needs met, but their needs may violate the requirements you have for yourself.”
Boundaries? They so simple and easy, all you have to do set and implement one and you’re good to go. Except that’s not how boundaries work and it is easier said than done as being able to assert your own needs and being able to feel confident with setting the boundary can be tricky as not everyone is going to respectful that the boundary the other person setting. Whether it be family, coworkers, friends, loved ones, toxic people etc., setting boundaries can be a challenge because many people don’t fully understand what healthy boundaries are until much later than in life. The focus on this book talks about a variety of different obstacles that can impact boundaries and how to set them with others in your life.
| As someone who struggles with boundaries, I found this book incredibly helpful and enlightening as it helps things make sense for why I struggle with boundaries so much. I’ve been following Tawwab on Instagram for the last year or so and I have enjoyed her posts and find her words encouraging so I decided to start reading her books. Boundaries are something that many people struggle with and that struggle begins in their environment and how they raised and that follows people in adulthood and comes out in behaviors such as having hard time say no, ignoring your own needs for others, people pleasing among others. Many of of us including myself have grown up in dysfunctional environments and aren’t aware of how the dysfunction impacted the environment and only become aware of it when other issues are brought to light. I found her words, examples, stories that she used throughout the book very relatable and real and I did learn more about myself and how I can do this without feeling guilty. That is something that I’ve been trying to work on my my whole life and all we can do is take one day at a time and embrace growth. |
Hana Khan Carries On
“My father says that trying to stop hate is like trying to stop the tides,” Rashid said. “The best thing you can do is take advantage of it. Don’t stop the tide from flowing. Build a hydroelectric dam and make electricity instead, enough to power ten thousand houses. That’s how you stop hate.”
Sales are slow at Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, the only halal restaurant in the close-knit Golden Crescent neighborhood in Toronto, Canada. Hana, works part time as a waitress while she dreams of making it big with owning her own radio show but for the time being she’s stuck being a waitress and trying outshine her fellow interns at the city radio station. Hana is confident that things will fall into place and she will be able to succeed but all that crumbles when a new Halal restaurant opens in Golden Crescent threatening to shut down Three Sisters for good. Hana finds herself thrown into different directions while trying to figure out who she is and how she can finally use her voice for what really matters.
First, I’m glad that romance wasn’t heavily focused as I was really immersed in Hana’s personal journey and the changes that she went through during the book. I thought she was a very well written main character who had flaws and struggles that many people can relate to especially with trying to find her own voice. I think that’s something that many people can relate to and trying to figure what really matters to them. While this is one of the main theme’s of the book, this book also touches on serious and heartbreaking issues especially dealing with racism that Hana and her family deal with as Brown/Muslims experience in the modern world. This is why I’m glad that romance wasn’t the main focus because I think the way the experiences and Hana’s personal journey was done was more interesting and compelling than the romance.
Even with the serious and heartbreaking issues that were covered, this is a light-hearted novel that was very compelling and interesting from beginning to end and I strongly recommend it others even if romance isn’t your thing.
Come read with me! 