My Ten Favorite Books of 2019

I am running late, posting this blog post a full 4 1/2 months into 2020? Yes. Am I not going to post it simply for that reason? No way. In 2019, I read a total of 141 books, from a variety of genres. I branched out of my comfort zone and began reading A LOT of adult romance, but also read a lot of books that I missed out on reading while I was in high school. I discovered a lot of new favorites, and a lot of tropes and subjects that I know aren't for me. But I managed to narrow down those 141 books into a list of my 10 favorite. So, without further ado, my favorite books from last year, in ascending order:

Celine Rousseau has fled Paris after a terrible accident, and travels to New Orleans to start a new life. Seeking refuge in a convent in the French Quarter, Celine's ability as an exceptional seamstress quickly catches the attention from Odette and the rest of La Cour des Lions, and finds herself infatuated with the group's leader, Sebastian Saint Germain. But when young girls are found murdered throughout the French Quarter, and clues are pointed to The Court of Lions, and Sebastian particularly, as being responsible for these murders, Celine decides to take matters into her own hands to solve the murders. And she quickly discovers that not only could a mythical creature be real and responsible for these murders, but that he has her in his sights as his next victim.

Renee Ahdieh wrote The Wrath and the Dawn, which is one of my favorite books ever, and I've picked up every one of her books on release day since. The Beautiful was one of my most anticipated books of 2019 and it certainly did not disappoint. Renee does such an amazing job of building these lush, beautiful worlds. I would definitely caution that this book is more slow-burn than the others on this list, but it's so worth it to push through. 

Love & Gelato follows Lina, who has just lost her mother and is spending the summer in Italy to get to know her father, her mom's dying wish. Lina is pretty upset that she's being forced to stay with an absentee father that she's never met, and is just trying to get through the summer so she can go home. However, Lina ends up getting ahold of her mother's diary, the one she kept while SHE was living in Italy, and Lina enlists her new friend Ren to follow in her mother's footsteps, and learn more about her parents, and herself. 

Love & Gelato made me want to eat Italian food and galavant across the Italian countryside (and also kinda made me want to rewatch The Lizzie McGuire Movie). It was one of those books that made my heart grow. Watching Lina learn about her mom, and the life she led in Italy, and also learn to love the people that her mom loved so much. This is also such a great story to read during the summer, so I highly recommend giving it a go while you're stuck inside thanks to Coronavirus. 

In the world of Vampire Academy, there are 3 types of vampires: Moroi (The "purebred" vampires), Dhampir (half human, half vampire hybrids), and Strigoi (the evil, bloodthirsty vampires). Rose is a dhampir, and is tasked with protecting her best friend Lissa, who is a Moroi princess. After 2 years of fending for themselves, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, an all vampire school, where they are promised to be kept safe. But as Rose learns more about her world, she fears for Lissa's safety, and starts falling for her trainer, Dimitri. 

This is one of those books that, had I read it as a teenager, would've been an instant favorite for me. And even as an almost-25-year-old reading this for the first time, I absolutely adored it. I loved how strong and independent Rose was, but I also love that we got to see her feeling insecure and nervous. Mostly, I loved that while so many YA Books (and, no shade, a lot of these I love) portray their main characters as older, more mature, but these characters legitimately felt and acted like teenagers. Also, the 2014 movie was the perfect cheesy adaptation.

Callie is a Siren, and the bad luck that follows Sirens has struck her ten-fold. When her bad luck comes to a head just before her 16th birthday, Callie enlists the help of The Bargainer, a man who can provide you with anything that you want, for a price. 7 years later, The Bargainer, a Fae King named Desmond Flynn, comes back into Callie's life to collect on the hundreds of favors she owes him. And though Des needs help saving his people in the other realm, he has a few more personal favors from Callie as well. 

This was one of the the first Adult Romances that I read in 2019, and this really started my romance binge of last year. Full disclosure, this isn't an objectively good book. There are a lot of problematic elements, and plenty of content-trigger warnings. But subjectively, this was wonderful. I devoured this series, and each one was entertaining, compelling, and really got me into Fae romance novels. This is available on Kindle Unlimited, so if any of you have access to that, give it a go.

Lara is a princess, who has been trained alongside her sisters to become a lethal spy. After being promised in marriage to the king of a neighboring land, Lara knows that it is her job to take down the wealthy kingdom so that her homeland isn't restricted by The Bridge Kingdom anymore. But once she settles into her new life, and gets to know Aren, her new husband, she sees that the picture her father has painted of The Bridge Kingdom, isn't accurate at all. Lara struggles to understand the loyalty Aren feels for his people, the lies her father has told her about the surrounding kingdoms, and her feelings for her new husband. 

This book was featured in the first BaeCrate I ever purchased, and it was everything I ever wanted. Hate to love, assassin princess, broody hero, badass heroine. I always craved a hate-to-love, arranged marriage book exactly like this, and until this, I couldn't find anything to fit that. The Bridge Kingdom is a really good one if you like political intrigue, plotting, and a solid supporting cast. Also, book 2 is due to release later this year, so you should definitely read before it comes out!

Evie Greene has it all; an attentive boyfriend, great friends, and a loving mother. But as she heads into her junior year, she is also keeping a secret; that she spent her summer institutionalized after having visions about the apocalypse. Evie soon realizes that her visions weren't just visions, they were PROPHECIES, and she has to fight through the end of the world with her insufferable former classmate, Jack. As Evie and Jack race to find the source of her visions, they soon meet other teenagers who hear the same calls she does, and they discover that they are all human personifications of The Major Arcana, the main characters from the tarot deck, fighting to survive through the apocalypse. But not only does Evie have to fight the Major Arcana she's already met, she's being visited in her thoughts by Death, who seems to have serious beef with her. 

This is another series that, objectively, isn't great, and has problematic elements and content warnings. This series is Kresley Cole's first foray into YA, having already made a name for herself as an adult romance author. And, though these characters are teenagers, I would classify the series as more New Adult, because of the NSFW content. But, this series was one I couldn't put down. There was so much going on, between the apocalypse and the supernatural powers that the Major Arcana have, and a serial killer introduced in the first chapter, I didn't think Kresley could pull it all together and have it make sense. But she totally did it. This series, I feel, definitely went on a few books too long (the final book comes out this year, but the last 2 were just kinda meh), but Kresley really focused on making everything make sense in the world that she created. This book also got me started on her Adult Paranormal Romance Series, Immortals After Dark, and I'm forever grateful for that. 

Recently dumped Emily has uprooted her life to move in with her sister while she is recovering from a car accident. When her teenage niece tells her she wants to volunteer for the local Renaissance Faire, and needs an adult to volunteer with her, Emily finds herself as the newest tavern maid of the Faire, and is constantly being scrutinized by the man in charge of it all, Simon. But while in real life, Simon and Emily can't seem to get along, their Faire characters- the Pirate Captain Ian Blackthorn and the Tavern Wench Emma- are very much attracted to each other. Emily struggles to determine whether these feelings real, or if it's just another part of Faire magic.

You ever read one of those books that, as soon as you finish, it stays at the forefront of your mind for days and days? Well Met did that for me. As I'm sure you guys can tell my many of the books on this list, I am a sucker for a solid enemies-to-lovers romance. And the interactions between Simon and Emily, both as themselves and as Captain Blackthorn and Emma, are so cute, and filled with so much chemistry. I've already reread this book this year, and honestly, I'll probably read it again before December. 

In this world, there are the Valorians, the Colonizers, and the Herrani, the indigenous people who were made slaves by the Valorians. Kestral is the daughter of a ruthless Valorian general, who purchases Arin, a Herrani slave, after finding a kindred spirit in him. However, Arin is a spy for the Herrani rebellion, who intentionally got himself into Kestral's home to gather intel on the general. After awhile, Kestral and Arin become unlikely friends, and she learns about the terrors that her people have inflicted on his, and eventually fall in love.

I love star-crossed lovers, and Kestral and Arin are at the top of my list of favorites. This whole series was a favorite of last year, and was one that I literally texted my friend about so she could read it with me. Please, PLEASE give this series a shot.

Olive has a history of being unlucky. She was recently laid off, is unlucky in love, and whose first Google search result is a video of her stuck in a claw machine as a child. Her twin, Ami, got all of the luck, and that was proven by her getting pretty much her entire wedding financed by winning internet contests. But after everyone at the wedding gets food poisoning from bad seafood, Ami begs Olive to go on her honeymoon to Maui, now that she can't. The problem? Ami's husband promised the honeymoon to his brother, Ethan, who also happens to be Olive's sworn nemesis. Neither Olive nor Ethan are willing to give away an all-exclusive trip to Hawaii, so they agree to go together, pretending to be newlyweds so they can claim the trip that Aimee won. But things get hairy when Olive runs into her new boss, and Ethan runs into an ex girlfriend. Pretending to be newlyweds starts to feel like more of a necessity, and they quickly discover that their mutual hatred is transforming into something very, very different.

Again, I love enemies-to-lovers romances. I read this over 4th of July weekend last year, and I think I killed it in a matter of hours. This also got me started reading all of Christina Lauren's backlist, and I have loved all of their other books just as much. I loved seeing Olive and Ethan's relationship progress, but I especially loved that they each valued their families so much. Olive and Ami's huge Latinx family reminded me a lot of mine, in the sense that everyone sticks together, no matter what. 

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman have been enemies ever since their companies merged, and as assistants to the 2 CEOs, they spend almost all of their time together. When the CEOs announce that they are wanting to promote one of them, Lucy knows she can't lose to Joshua, so she sets her sights on being his new boss. The problem? Lucy has started thinking about Joshua in verrry NSFW ways, and after a surprise kiss in an elevator, she finds herself wondering if he actually cares about her, or if he's planning to get under her skin to get the promotion. 

Just thinking about this book makes me feel all warm and tingly. I read The Hating Game for the first time last August, and immediately after finishing it, I restarted. And since then, I've read it probably 4 times. Joshua is the love interest that all men get compared to from now on, because he's like a cactus: prickly outside, but soft inside. They are the perfect example of opposites attract, but it just works. I'll probably reread this another 6 times this year, because I just can't get enough. 

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And those were my 10 favorite books from 2019! It was really hard to narrow this list down, but these are definitely the 10 books I think about most. What are some of your favorite books that you read in 2019? If you want to see some of my other favorites from 2019, feel free to follow me on Goodreads and go through my "Read" books. And you can always chat with me in the comments, or over Facebook or Twitter. Thanks so much for reading, and we'll see you guys soon!