Hello all! Welcome to 2019 on Mostly YA Lit. Happy New Year and thanks for sticking with me through all the hiatuses.
It’s been a long time, I know. Mommying is friggin hard and busy, and I thought I would have more time for blogging, but alas.
But I’m back for a bit and trying to get my blogging legs in order. There may be some changes here – fewer reviews, more quick thoughts – as I try to make this blog work for me.
And in the spirit of that, I decided to do a top 5 books of the last year, because I only read about 45 books, and it didn’t seem fair to post a whole top 10. Nevertheless, these are the books that really SPOKE to me over 2018, and I hope you’ll check them out at some point. I’ve included some keywords for each one so you can get a quick idea of what they’re about and add to your list if you need to.
- Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian (YA, summer, girl bosses, ice cream, sorta historical) – Stay Sweet did not get NEARLY enough praise or readers last year. It deserves so many more people’s eyes and hearts. I mean, not only is it about my favorite food, ice cream, it’s also about girl friendship, learning to stand up for yourself, and finding your passion. Oh, and also, there’s a pretty great romance. READ IT NOW.
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (romance, diversity, autism, swoony) – I mean, you’ve probably already read this if you’re a romance fan, but MAN, did Helen Hoang deliver a fantastic debut. It’s as smart as it is swoony, and you will fall in love with Stella and Michael instantly.
- I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman (YA, connections, New York, romance, self-discovery, family, feels) – it’s hard for me to be unbiased about Gayle Forman’s work, because she just understands so much what it means to be human and to care about people. This is a book about that, about being lost, and about finding yourself and your people.
- Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (YA, sci-fi, space, series ending, kick-arse girls, mind-blowing) – every single one of Kaufman and Kristoff’s Illuminae series books have ended up on my best of lists, and that’s because they’ve taken the source document format and basically made it into their own genre. This is swash-buckling sci-fi that will leave you breathless and swoony. I can’t wait for their next book.
- Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu (graphic novel, hockey, romance, LGBTQ, funny, cute, university) – I had SO MUCH FUN reading this graphic novel, and I guarantee that if you’re into sweet cinnamon rolls of characters, Eric “Bitty” Bittle will jump into your heart and stay there forever. Also, the comic is still ongoing, so there will be MORE TO LOVE.
There it is, my top 5 of 2018! Are any of these books on your list? Let me know what you read and loved last year that I absolutely MUST get to. And stay tuned – I’m planning a list of my most anticipated 2019 reads, too!
I actually read and loved all of these. TKQ made my best of the best, but Stay Sweet and I Have Lost My Way made one of my other Top 10 of 2018 lists. Great choices!
Yay, hi, Sam! I’m so glad someone else really loved Stay Sweet, I feel like no one was talking about it. TKQ is on a lot of best-of lists this year, it really made an impact, and I can’t wait to see what happens in The Bride Test. I noticed you put Josh & Hazel on your best of list – I loved it up until the ending. What was up with that ending?!
Momming is sooo hard and time-consuming! Just do what you can and don’t stress about it! I’ve been known to take a few hiatuses in the last few years myself for momming reasons! I’ve heard great things about The Kiss Quotient and am looking forward to reading it myself! Great picks!
Thanks so much for the encouragement. Love your post on your toddler’s fave board books – I might have to pick up that Thomas book for my kid.
Definitely get to The Kiss Quotient, I have friends who don’t read romance at all and absolutely loved it. =)
I love your blog! I am so happy to see you back! The mommy struggle is real! I saw that Stay Sweet wasn’t as overly hyped also! I didn’t get to read last summer but I intend to read it this summer!
Hey, hello! Thanks so much for stopping by – definitely read Stay Sweet when you get a chance, it’s fantastic. =)
The Kiss Quotient is one I started but got bored with. However so many people loved it, and the person I loaned it to said she really got into it right after the part I stopped at, so I’ll have to give it another try. You can check out my top picks for 2018 HERE.
Aww, man, I’m sorry you got bored with TKQ. It definitely starts a bit slow, but ends up really steamy and amazing.
Wonderful, I haven’t read any of these. Thanks 🙂
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