Tag: top five books

• Top Five Books of 2019

  Posted at 3:47 pm by Laura, on December 30, 2019

  Though I want to participate in the End of Year Book Survey, I frankly don’t have the time this year to answer the questions, provide links, add images, and be silly with Ron Swanson gifs (that was my plan––I’ve recently started watching Parks & Rec for the very first time and ohmygosh Ron is my spirit animal). So instead I thought I’d highlight my favorite books read this year and point out some honorable mentions.

  Top Five Books of 2019

  

  

  

  

  

  The following books received big fat five stars from me as standout favorites.

  KINGDOM OF COPPER by SA CHAKRABORTY

  THE FLATSHARE by BETH O’LEARY

  AYESHA AT LAST by UZMA JALALUDDIN

  CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC by SOPHIE KINSELLA [review to come!]

  DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME by MHAIRI MCFARLANE [review to come!]

  And of course, my clients…

  If you haven’t already, you need to pick up the books by my clients that came out in 2019: Bear No Malice by Clarissa Harwood, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, and Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri.

  Get a head start on your 2020 reading list by adding Shielded by KayLynn Flanders, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, and The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice by Lisa DeSelm to your Goodreads TBR!

  ~~~

  What were your top favorites of 2019?

   

  Posted in books, Update Post | 2 Comments | Tagged books, personal, top five books

• Top Five Books of 2016

  Posted at 3:25 am by Laura, on December 30, 2016

  

  LEAVE ME by Gayle Forman || I fell in love with Forman’s writing all over again, and every step of Maribeth’s journey felt sure, raw, and honest. I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of all her decisions, and simultaneously relaxed, like I was leisurely catching up with an old friend.

  SALT TO THE SEA by Ruta Sepetys || I cannot stress enough how important it is to read Salt to the Sea, to read Between Shades of Gray, to reflect on your life and the lives lost after reading. Sepetys understands the nature of humanity on such a deep level. I trust her completely.

  ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes || Me Before You isn’t a full-blown romance. It’s about two individuals from very different worlds, experiencing life in very different ways, coming together and finding love in the most unlikely circumstances, and, belatedly, navigating the effects of that love and their diverging life plans. It’s not sudden and sweeping, but slow, heartbreaking, tense.

  TRAITOR ANGELS by Anne Blankman || I am astonished, and I want nothing more than to roam Oxford again and picnic by the river and revisit my studies on the English Civil War, with a copy of Milton by my side and Renaissance historians gushing about the Italian progress. When an author can make me miss academia at this level, I promise you the book they wrote is excellent. And Blankman’s is exactly that.

  THE LIE TREE by Frances Hardinge || First, this is proper gothic literature. The muffled, dark atmosphere — a never-ending sense of foreboding, a constant feeling that one is being watched, hair-raising, spine-chilling — is all you need to develop the urgency in Faith’s quest, to really paint the unstable time in history and fluctuating dynamics of the household. While there’s a death, a creepy plant, and some bumps in the night, this isn’t blood and gore. This is proper horror, proper suspense, proper uncanny, and thus creates proper gothic.

  Which books made your Top Five for the year?

  Posted in books, Update Post | 3 Comments | Tagged books, personal, top five books

• Top Five Books of 2015

  Posted at 5:05 am by Laura, on December 20, 2015

  

  The most difficult post: selecting five fantastic books from the 66, as of December 20th, I read this year! Thankfully, the season rewind helped me narrow down my favorites from the year even further.

  

  

  

  A Madness So Discreet || Daughter of the Forest || Into the Dim

  A MADNESS SO DISCREET by Mindy McGinnis is, by far, the best YA book I read this year. Historically set, a close analyzation of mental illness and suffrage, and a thrilling mystery throughout. Also? No romance. YA can be successful without romance, folks.

  DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST by Juliet Marillier because I can’t get enough of Marillier and she needs to be on every top list ever ever ever.

  INTO THE DIM by Janet B Taylor is not available to the public yet (not till March!), nor have I posted a review for it yet (not till February!), but wow. This was the answer to a YA Outlander, with a more scientific/less-fantasy spin.

  

  

  Under a Painted Sky || The Royal We

  UNDER A PAINTED SKY by Stacey Lee grabbed me from the very first line. Simply written, an unusual (“unusual” in that it’s rarely written about) point in American history, with a variety of characters and backgrounds. An absolute joy to read — and I can’t wait to read Lee’s future work!

  THE ROYAL WE by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan is purely my candy choice. It’s fun, it’s funny, and it was an immediate winner for this royal-phile. You could call it my guilty pleasure, if you want. I loved it.

  Honorable mentions: The Lake House by Kate Morton, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.

  Which books made it to your Top Books of 2015 list?

  Posted in books, Update Post | 9 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, genre: fantasy, genre: historical fiction, genre: romance, genre: young adult, top five books

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• Hello, I’m Laura!

  I'm a bookish bookworm and book hoarder. By day I'm a literary agent and librarian, and by night I'm forever rearranging my bookshelves. I have a passion for Victorian culture, Gothic lit, and music. I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to knit, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm obsessed with popcorn. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!

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