Best Books of 2018

It's the last day of 2018, we made it! WHOO!

Below is a list of my top ten favorite books from 2018. They're not in any particular order, and they will only be ones that I read in 2018. I'm only numbering them to make sure I stop myself at ten, ha... ha.... I like books.

Rather than recap the entire book summary, I'm going to include the book title, author, location for my book review, and why it made the list.

Pardon any formatting weirdness, my struggles were very, very real today. Anywho, here's the list!

1.  Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

My book review is HERE.

This has become my new book to recommend all the time when people ask me for a book to read. I find myself thinking back to how much that world lent itself to the story of Nan, Toby, and Char. I still appreciate how well the story was told while not shying away from the tragedies of the world. Marvelous.

2. The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas

My book review is HERE.

I tend to run away from creepy books, and while this book is pretty chilling, I ran right to it. The depth of the character, the magic of the world, and having that sensation of is this character really their friend, or are they a foe, as the whole thing is a mystery slowly being uncovered.

3. Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

My book review is HERE.

Previously, I had tended to shy away from books that were only told in poetry. Sometimes I find the nuances of poetry to be a little tedious, but after a friend strongly recommended reading this book, I find myself considering books of poetry more often. Plus, the story told in this one is heart wrenching and kept me cheering for Xiomara the entire story.

4. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

My book review is HERE.

I loved this book so much. The world building is so fantastic, the character development, plot development, and interactions between all the characters felt so authentic in such a different world than what we know. I also frequently recommend this book to people.

5. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

My book review is HERE.

Where did all these giant robot statues come from? How does the world stay connected through social media, the news, and online communities? It's a little suspenseful but in the best ways, and I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel.

6. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

My book review is HERE.

I normally go out of my way to avoid reading a mystery novel, but I tend to make exceptions when my favorite authors tackle the genre. I was very glad I made that exception, and the sequel is coming out for this soon, and I loved the main character as she felt very flawed and realistic, like a real person.

7. The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas

My book review is  HERE.

I read a lot of comic books, I usually prefer reading superhero stories in that format. This book was another exception, and I have no regrets. I loved the exploration of the gray area in this book between heroes and villains while Abby (main character) didn't have any powers but still played a very important role in all of the chaos. It was pretty great.

8. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

My book review is HERE.

I'll always consider the fantasy genre to be my 'home zone' of favorite books. That being said, I tend to be very hypercritical about which ones I recommend or allow to be my favorites because there are just so many. This one definitely makes the cut since it's such a sympathetic telling of sirens who eat people. ...right!?!?

9. The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones

My book review is HERE.

This book does deal with the sensitive subject matter of abuse and different themes within abuse. However, I think it covers the topic well while giving it the gravitas it deserves, and still balances it with a story about daemons. It's also an interesting coming of age story in the middle of a daemon war. 

10. Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner

My book review is HERE.

A break down of nerd culture, female struggles within nerd culture, and struggles in general with the online, internet community. I really liked this story because the main character goes through hell, and then some, while also trying to figure out how girls act versus how guys act. In retrospect, it is kind of a gender breakdown, and there is a point in the book where Cam is just herself, with some tweaks to be a 'boy' when she's in her disguise. I also recommend this book to people. 

Happy reading, and I hope you find wonderful books to read next year!

The Brilliant Death

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta

Quick funny story; I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to stop reading this book, then I tried to explain it to a book buddy, and I couldn't do it. Nothing I said about the book made sense, and we both knew I had to give up.

On that note, an amazon summary, "Teodora di Sangro is used to hiding her magical ability to transform enemies into music boxes and mirrors. Nobody knows she’s a strega—and she aims to keep it that way.

The she meets Cielo—and everything changes.
A strega who can switch outward form as effortlessly as turning a page in a book, Cielo shows Teodora what her life could be like if she masters the power she’s been keeping secret. And not a moment too soon:  the ruler of Vinalia has poisoned the patriarchs of the country’s five controlling families, including Teodora’s father, and demands that each family send a son to the palace. 
If she wants to save her family, Teodora must travel to the capital—not disguised as a boy, but transformed into one. But the road to the capital, and to bridling her powers, is full of enemies and complications, including the one she least expects: falling in love." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Let's recap why I picked this book up in the first place. It has a sweet cover, it promises to discuss themes of gender, and also involves magic. Which, it does have a sweet cover, it does involve magic, but ....I don't know if it really discusses themes of gender.

Alright, so Teodora is the second daughter in the di Sangro family; one of the five ruling families of Vinalia. As the second daughter, she's not really expected to be married off to another family for alliances, or be a leader like her brothers. However, she does help the family in the way of taking out people who are a hazard to the family with her magic. Teodora or "Teo" as her family calls her, transforms people into objects, so the people go 'missing'.

One day, her father receives a letter that carries the spell of death. He's immediately bed-ridden, barely alive, and the letter demands that the di Sangro family to send the next head of the family to the capital. I need to rewind a little bit. No one really knows that Teo has magic, that she is a strega. Before her father received the letter, she met the messenger for the letter, a strega. The strega can shape shift into what's inside a book that they carry around. One thing leads to Teo turning her older brother into an owl when he tries to hurt the second brother. Then the second brother, Teo, and the strega start venturing to the capital together. ...but the older brother as an owl comes back and kills the second brother. So Teo and the strega still venture on to the capital... but one big problem. The head of the family is supposed to be a boy. So Teo has to turn herself into a boy.

I'm going to stop there. I did make it halfway through the book before giving up. However, I found there was too much going on within the book. You had the power struggles between the families, the internal power struggle within the di Sangro family, the other family members didn't feel like fully formed people so when they suddenly had to matter for a plot point it didn't seem believably significant, you also had the strega being a secretive yet magical people who are thought to not exist but are being prosecuted by the church, and then you also have Teo standing up for women's equality? It was an overwhelming amount of stuff in such a compact space that it didn't seem like any particular plot had any time to really breathe. PLUS, one of the weird things about Teo, when she does magic, she's randomly able to speak an old language? Also, her magic kind of talks to her? It seems sentient, like Teo can ask for it to turn someone into something vague, and then it completes the request in whatever way it wants to? Eh? I also don't think there was anything strongly in favor of discussing gender. I can see that it may have been going towards being able to love an individual regardless of gender and that it could have been breaking down how physical characteristics don't define a person? But I probably would have had to read the entire book to get there.

The book was a little too chaotic with not enough detail at the right moments, and I was trying very hard to get it, but it wasn't meant to be.

Happy reading!

Carols and Chaos

Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey

I've previously read SUITORS AND SABOTAGE by Cindy Anstey. I guess these two books are actually in kind of a series of sorts? But, I really don't think you have to read these in order. I read book 3 (Suitors and Sabotage) and didn't miss anything? I also think in Carols and Chaos, that there are some familiar characters from the previous book, but I easily could have read this without reading any of the other books.

An amazon summary, "1817. The happy chaos of the Yuletide season has descended upon the country estate of Shackleford Park in full force, but lady's maid Kate Darby barely has the time to notice. Between her household duties, caring for her ailing mother, and saving up money to someday own a dress shop, her hands are quite full. Matt Harlow is also rather busy. He's performing double-duty, acting as valet for both of the Steeple brothers, two of the estate's holiday guests.

Falling in love would be a disaster for either of them. But staving off their feelings for each other becomes the least of their problems when a devious counterfeiting scheme reaches the gates of Shackleford Park, and Kate and Matt are unwittingly swept up in the intrigue.

Full of sweetness, charm, and holiday mischief, Carols and Chaos―a standalone companion novel to Suitors and Sabotage―is perfect for readers who like their historical fiction with a side of romance and danger." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Kate is a lady's maid at Shackleford Park and Matt is the valet for the Steeple brothers (the stars of last book). Kate and Matt enter a flirtation of sorts, where they both know it shouldn't go past flirtation, but they find each other very tempting. ...and by tempting, I mean like people gossip over a kiss, and there are lots of things in their world that are very defined by etiquette and their roles within a situation define how they act.

Anyways, as Kate and Matt have a flirtation, Matt's friend Johnny gets swept up in a flirtation of his own. He's trying to woo Camille, and he's desperately trying to find gifts to give to her younger sisters to stay within the confine of their roles without being too forward. However, Johnny sold a tin ring to a fellow in town, and it turns out the schilling he received was fake. So Johnny sets off into town to find the 'thief' who traded him a fake schilling for his ring.

...but Johnny doesn't come back in the morning.

Matt being concerned for his friend, and Kate being a local who knows everyone, set off into town to find Johnny, or really, what happened to Johnny.

Carols and chaos indeed.

That's enough summary.

I enjoyed this story; it was a fun romantic romp but also tons of like scooby doo levels of "I hope we solve this mystery!". It was in the same vein of Suitors and Sabotage, the world building was still great, the tone was still good, and I loved the romance even more in this book. The end kind of wrap up was simply adorably and I liked it. I liked it better than Suitors and Sabotage and it also felt more realistic? I don't know, I really liked Kate's mother for reasons I still don't understand. ... yeah, that's all I got!

Happy reading!

The Shadow Queen

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

Did you want another re-imagining of a classic fairy tale? No?
TOO BAD.

An amazon summary, "Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

This is a re-imagining of Snow White. As such, it comes with that weird sense of "I know how this story should go" and the constant looking for clues as to how it's similar to the original tale, but, really, I feel like this book could have easily been it's own book without the premise of being a re-imagining of Snow White. There were enough original/unique elements, and a few that were largely ignored about the original tale, that this really could have been it's own story.

That being said, Lorelai is Snow White in this case. The whole turmoil starts when Lorelai's stepmother takes over the kingdom when Lorelai was a small child. She manages to escape the castle with her younger brother with the help of the Captain of the Guard and unfortunately her father, the king, dies. The other thing about Lorelai, she's one of two magic users in the kingdom (they have a funky name of them but I'm not going through the pages to dig it out). The other magic user is her stepmother. Her stepmother uses her magic to gain control and keep control of the kingdom.

Lorelai, her brother, and the captain of the guard are doing small rebellions around the kingdom to fight back for the people. To work on crafting the best plan to take back the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Kol is the prince of a neighboring kingdom, who has been kicked out of school...again. He's throwing parties in the castle, making the most of his time before his parents come back from their tour of the war front with his older brother (heir to the throne), and he's punished again. ...but that changes when his parents and older brother are killed on the war front. The war front is their kingdom of people who can turn into dragons, against armies of ogres who wield magic. One of the first things Kol does as King, is determine he needs the help of a magic user to vanquish the ogres. He goes to Lorelai's kingdom to seek the help of the queen to get rid of the ogres, but the queen's help comes at a terrible cost, one that Kol agrees to pay.

That's enough summary.

The story is told from Lorelai and Kol's points of view. The dual narration plays really well off of each other, and offer unique enough views of the world that I didn't get bored reading either of them. I also enjoyed Kol's two-hearted nature of having of dragon's and human's heart. I was upset about Lorelai and her stepmother having the only magic in the world... but it also played it out okay? I wish there had been more magic users though, not to add a third huge power, but just to offer further perspective on the magic of the world.

I also really loved how Lorelai was compassionate, and that plays through every page she graces. The story was well written, but, because it's a re-imagining of Snow White, I also don't want to make it a recommended book. I think it changed the original story too much, there was no themes of dwarves, and it wasn't dark enough for the content presented. There were some seriously bad things going on and happening, and yes there was horror, but there was still almost too much hope. The tone didn't match with the contents of the story. It was a nice book.

Happy reading!

Courtney Crumrin

Courtney Crumrin Series by Ted Naifeh

I own all seven of these books. The photo is something I set up to take. Pretty sweet, RIGHTTTT 

I read a couple of these books back when I was in school (10+ years ago). I'd always been curious as to how they ended, so I took the plunge and bought all seven of them. No regrets.

An amazon summary of book 1, "Courtney Crumrin grumbles about everything, but now she's really got something to grumble over. Having run out of credit cards, her parents are moving to the wealthy suburb of Hillsborough, to live rent-free with their creepy old uncle Aloysius. Courtney is now an outcast among her rich, snobby classmates. And if that weren't bad enough, the musty, decrepit old mansion that she now calls home is occupied by stranger creatures than just her parents or Uncle Aloysius. They crawl about the house, just out of sight. They crunch bones in the corner. They climb up on the bed and watch Courtney while she sleeps. Mom and Dad don't notice them, but Uncle Aloysius calls them the Night Things." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

I love Courtney Crumrin. She's a quintessential badass who takes on the world, and the night things, with a rough demeanor, but a compassionate heart. Her parents are drowning in a bit of credit card debt, and move their family to live with their Uncle Aloysius. The house is huge, and Courtney has difficulty sleeping the first couple nights until her Uncle comforts her. She doesn't take to the school where the teachers are mean and the kids are all the spoiled brats of the rich. She makes a new friend, but they escape some bullies into the haunted woods, and her new friend doesn't make it out due a being eaten by a night thing.

That's enough summary. The whole series takes on these dark situations with gritty and real consequences while featuring Courtney at the heart of it all. It leads into the discovery that Courtney is not the only witch, and her Uncle is not the only warlock, as Courtney begins to learn about the coven. Dun dun dunnnnn

But really. These books are all graphic novels, they're all very gorgeous, the tone is kind of like hopeful yet morose, and the world/character building are top notch.

I've already reread these books several times, I adore them.

Happy reading!