This is always a fun post to put together; I love going back over what I read over the year and briefly revisiting the ones I loved the best - also it's fun to put together what is essentially a little list of 5 star book recs.
I read 69 books in 2019 and gave 12 of them 5 stars. 17%. 17% of my reading in 2019 was 5 star reading. That's not too shabby is it? It would be so good though wouldn't it, if that was 100%. Imagine if every book you ever read was that level of incredible. I would never leave my house.
Anyhow.
HERE WE GO. Make yourself comfortable because this is a 12 book post, it might take a while....
I thought this was so much better than The Miniaturist if I'm honest. Loved it. I love how the story unfolds, the dual timeline, the link between past and present. It's fabulous and is about Elise, in 1980, who falls in love with writer Constance Holden and Rose, three decades later who is looking for answers about the Mother who left her as a baby.
'Verity' - arrested by the Gestapo and telling her story to the officers interrogating her, this book is a feat of storytelling and I loved it. I love a good bit of historical fiction and this, is absolutely, that. Also, we should all be here for all the strong female lead characters and again, this is that.
I've talked about this before, but I read it again at Christmas. It's dark and twisty and magical and beautiful. A real fairytale. I really need to read the others in the trilogy. This year, defo. In the winter because these are such wintry books.
Miracle Creek is a unique kind of thriller / courtroom drama centering around a group of people who meet in a hyperbaric chamber that promises to cure all kinds of things. When the chamber explodes killing two people and it becomes clear it wasn't an accident, nobody knows who to trust. This is so well-woven and wonderfully character driven and I really really liked it. So very very good.
I listened to the audiobook of this, which Michelle narrates, and by the end of it I felt like she was my friend. A really really good read - and I defo recommend the audio.
Oh my but I loved this book. This is a novel about friendship and I thought it was wonderful. It follows three friends in their late teens / early twenties and picks up with them again ten years later and it's gorgeous and sensitive and so so relatable. I'm still thinking about how much I loved this now which is a sure sign of a hit.
This was just lovely. It's about Phoebe and James, and their Dad, Robert, who is getting on a bit, and the carer they hire for him - Mandy and it's a really lovely look at ageing and familial relationships and learning that your parents are more than just that: parents. It's a lovely read.
I've heard really mixed reviews about this one, but I loved it. I thought it was quirky and clever and insightful and I couldn't put it down.
The second book in the duology that started with Vicious and I loved it. So here for all the anti-heroes with superpowers. Loved this so much.
If you haven't heard me going on and on about how much I loved this look into the real lives of this fictional band then where were you for all of 2019? This book, guys, if I am to recommend one book to you from 2019 then let it be this one. I was captivated. And it sent me on a hunt for all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's back catalogue and here's a thing: I love her. This though, I think is my favourite so far.
And last but not least, this, from Patrick Ness, which is so beautifully written it made my hands hurt. I absolutely loved it, so so much. SO MUCH. Be right back, I have to go and cry over it for a small while.
