I don’t like “Best Of” lists. Reading is so subjective and a book that one person disliked is likely the favorite book of someone else. So instead, I wanted to share all the books I really liked this year. I do have favorites that stood out for one reason or another from the best, but this is by no means a “best of” list (especially since I can’t read EVERY book out there, though that would be helpful).

Nor is it a list by rating. My favorites list isn’t just composed of 5-star reads. It’s more about the story and my overall enjoyment, and less about my actual review/critique (and in no particular order either beyond grouping by firsts in series, standalones, etc.).

Now, with all the disclaimers out of the way, let’s talk books!

Favorite 2019 Releases

This year featured a lot of fabulous new series starters. I wasn’t so sure about Kiersten White’s Slayer, a spin-off of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer stories, but it managed to both take me back to binge-watching the show while also creating something entirely new that I really enjoyed. I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel, Chosen, in 2020!

We also got three new YA fantasy series that make me want sequels right now. Elizabeth Lim’s Spin the Dawn features the perfect balance of a competition combined with a magical quest. Plus it gave me major Tamora Pierce Daine & Numair vibes which was just the icing on the cake. Its sequel, Unravel the Dusk, is one of my most anticipated reads in 2020.

I read The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen around that same time and WOW was it fun. Not only did I find the world unique and intriguing but the characters suck you in immediately. Action-packed with plenty of emotion behind it, it’s one to get on your TBR for the new year along with its sequel The Faithless Hawk!

And taking its place as one of my favorite multi-PoV fantasies is There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool! This book gave me ancient Greece/Rome feels mixed with a prophecy, unusual magic, and five unlikely characters coming together in a race against the clock. I can’t wait to see where the story goes in As the Shadow Rises.

Now there’s one other fantasy series starter that killed it for me and no pun intended because it’s Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! This book was all sorts of weird fantast/sci-fi/murdery goodness and Gideon is literally so precious (in as much as a mercenary guard can be). The sequel, Harrow the Ninth, will likely destroy me.

In addition to all these fantasies, I have a new romance series to add to my list. Jen DeLuca’s Well Met, a Ren Faire meet-cute, released this year and while I initially thought it was a standalone, I just saw there’s a sequel planned for one of the side characters this coming year! I’ve already added it to my TBR and highly recommend getting both books on yours!

And while there were great series starters, I’d be remiss to not mention some of the series sequels making my list this year. I started 2019 off strong with Imprison the Sky by A.C. Gaughen, sequel to Reign the Earth which I also loved. It tells the story of a new Elementae character in the world and was just as riveting as the first book. If you’re looking for a fantastic elemental magic series, then check these books out.

Then we got the sequel/companion to Geekerella, Ashley Poston’s The Princess and the Fangirl, a YA contemporary re-telling of the Prince and the Pauper. Though the story falls after the first book in the timeline and features some cameos, it can be read on its own and has just as much fandom loves as the first one. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to get my hands on the third book (which I believe it a Beauty and the Beast re-telling???).

This year I also came across Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean, sequel to Wicked and the Wallflower which released last year. Both books made this list though I think I loved Brazen even more than the first book! I can’t recommend this series enough for fans of historical romances.

And finally, we have Finale by Stephanie Garber (see what I did there?), the end of the Caraval series. If you’ve been following me on social media, you know how much I love these books and I think they came to a satisfying conclusion in the third and final book. Now is the perfect time to read them if you haven’t already. You don’t have to wait on any releases!

But wait, there’s more! While this year was great for series, I also have a couple standalones to add. Up first is Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. I adored her first book, An Enchantment of Ravens (another standalone) but I loved this one even more. I SO so wish it will get a sequel or companion novel in the future because I couldn’t get enough of grimoires and demon magic.

Alongside Sorcery, I’m dying for a sequel to Jenn Bennett’s The Lady Rogue, which was like the perfect blend of The Mummy (Brendan Fraser edition, of course) and Hunting Prince Dracula. It was a fully complete story on its own but I could definitely see room to expand the story into another book and I’d be all over that if it happens!

And you didn’t think I’d leave The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern off this list, did you? After all, The Night Circus is one of my all-time favorite books so it makes sense that the author’s latest book would make this list too. I’ll say this: The Starless Sea is a book you savor. There’s no other way around it. It’s an odd book, but in all the best ways.

Now this list wouldn’t be truly complete without including some of the amazing novellas I read this year. This is the first time I really started diving into shorter fiction and I enjoyed all the ones I read (but a few stood out).

Kerstin Hall’s The Border Keeper was quite the trip through worlds. Half the time I didn’t even understand what was going on and I found I didn’t care. How that much world-building fit into such a short book, I couldn’t tell you.

The same goes for Desdemona and the Deep by C.S.E. Cooney which is the twisted trip down a rabbit hole (well, into the faerie underworld as it were). While the real world has a 1920’s feel, the world beneath and further still is its own era entirely.

And getting darker still is Jennifer Giesbrecht’s The Monster of Elendhaven. This book is not for the faint of heart and likely not for every reader but if you love a superbly dark fantasy that gives twisted a whole new meaning, you may enjoy this horrific tale.

2020 Releases Read in 2019

I’m still working through some of the early 2020 titles I have for review but a few I’ve read are definitely making my favorites list so I wanted to quickly mention them here, especially when all the previous books in each respective series have made my favorites lists in the past.

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A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer is the sequel to A Curse So Dark and Lonely and despite my love for the first book, I actually loved it even more! You can read my review now and make sure to pre-order AHSFAB!

My reviews for both Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost and Scot Under the Covers by Suzanne Enoch are both coming later in January but I can say now that they’re each strong follow-ups to the first in each series. For paranormal romance fans, I highly recommend all of Jeaniene Frost’s books but especially this newest Night Rebel series. And historical romance fans, you’ll definitely want to check out the Wild Wicked Highlanders series where the Scottish Highlands come to London!

Honorable Mentions

Now while not EVERY book can make my favorites list for the year, there were still a bunch of books that I thoroughly enjoyed for one reason or another and they deserve to be mentioned too.

2019 Releases

The Cold Is In Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale proved to be an unusual but intriguing take on Medusa. Not quite the tale I expected as a big fan of Greek mythology but I liked it nonetheless.

And I can’t NOT include Vortex Visions by Elise Kova, the first in a new spin-off series from the Air Awakens world. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first because I loved the characters from the original series, but I enjoyed seeing a few return along with the new ones in this series. I can’t wait to catch up on the rest of the books.

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh was one of the earlier novellas I read this year, my first leap into shorter fiction, and I loved how it wove both a fairy tale and story all in one.

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho was such an interesting read and gave me hope for more paranormal/urban fantasy in YA again. I miss those days (what was that, 2007? 2008? when they seemed to be SUPER popular?). I’ll be interested to see where the sequel takes this particular story.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is definitely my new favorite Beauty and the Beast re-telling and a must-read for the new year, especially with the release of the sequel so close!

This year was pretty great for romances too, I have to say. I rarely rate them more than 3 stars but this year I had several 4 stars and even a few 5-star reads!

Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas is the fifth in the series and I actually read the whole series to date back-to-back. They’re all inter-connected and highly enjoyable historical romances that challenge a woman’s role in society which I really enjoyed.

It’s Getting Scot in Here by Suzanne Enoch is another historical romance (okay, this whole section is historical if you couldn’t guess by the titles and covers). Not only is the title fantastic, but I love the chaotic combination of a rough Scottish Highlander with the refined English society in London. Its sequel made my list for 2020 releases too!

Another series I stuck with, the Wildes of Lindow Castle, got book #4 in Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James. I’ve had my ups and downs with this series but I found this book a lot of fun and I love that its cover sticks to the Wilde family and features Betsy which is a change from the three men featured on the previous three book covers.

Anything But a Duke by Christy Carlyle was a fun read featuring a female inventor as one of the protagonists. It’s not something I usually see so I remember this book in particular standing out, especially with her creation of what I believe was a vacuum (??? it’s been a while and I’ve read a lot of books since…).

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No Other Duke But You by Valerie Bowman was such a fun read and perfect end to the Playful Brides series. Each book has taken a (sometimes far-fetched) approach at a re-telling and ends with this version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which happens to be one of my favorite plays.

And I definitely need to mention both Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson and Smitten by the Brit by Melonie Johnson, the first two books in the Sometimes in Love series. I was hesitant to start these as I generally don’t do well with contemporary books unless they’re adult small town romances (yes, that specific) but these were so much fun, very much the perfect escape. I also read the third in the series, Once Upon a Bad Boy, though it didn’t quite make this list.

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Releases Before 2019

For years I was told time and again that I should read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller but I never got around to it until this year, well after I’d read the author’s other re-telling, Circe, actually, and if my library hadn’t had the audio for this one it would have likely been longer still. But wow was this book as good as everyone claims, and I can definitely recommend the audiobook on top of that.

More recently, I read the Wayward Children series with the second book, Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire, being one of my favorites. This is a series of novellas that’s perfect for the readers who never found the doorway to Narnia in their wardrobes, who never got their Hogwarts letter, and who still hold a belief for the fictional and fantastical.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman was an unplanned read, at least for this year. I generally don’t read many dystopian books anymore because I haven’t been enjoying them but I liked Scythe… though I didn’t love it. But it made this list for having a really interesting concept. But also because of it’s sequel.

And I actually just finished listening to the audiobook for Thunderhead by Shusterman yesterday and WOW. This book. I think it had some of the biggest plot twists I’ve read in a long time, and one in particular is going to stick with me for sure. I can’t wait to read the last book, The Toll. Review to come in the new year!

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When I received Devil’s Daughter (which also made this list), I knew I wanted to read the rest of the books in the series first and so I did! And book 2, Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas, and book 4, Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas, happened to make my favorites list of the year. Both were engaging romances that allowed their leading ladies to challenge society and be themselves which was both refreshing and kept me hooked to the end as a reader.

I also decided to pick up Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean off my shelf finally when I first saw the reviews come out for its sequel (Brazen and the Beast, which also made my list above). This is one of the very few historical romances I’ve read that I can’t recommend enough. Both books are amazing and I can’t wait to see where the series goes next!

Clearly I’m not very good at picking just a few favorites… In any case, I hope 2019 was a good reading year for you and maybe some of these will show up on your TBR in the coming year!

What were some of your favorite reads of 2019?