Favorite New-to-Me Books from 2019

Hello! Today’s my 3rd Blogoversary for this web site (I’ve had a blog somewhere for about 20 years now), and it’s also time for one of my favorite posts of the year: my annual list of favorite books from the previous year. I count down my top 10 books that I read for the first time in the previous year, regardless of its release date. I also combine any series I read, if I think all the books in the series deserve favorite status.

Here’s last year’s list:

10. When Dimple Met Rishi/There’s Something About Sweetie – Sandhya Menon. Early last year, I went to the Colorado Teen Literature conference, where Sandhya Menon was one of the keynote speakers. Although I had heard of her before, I hadn’t read any of her books before. I read three of her books this year, and I get to be on her street team! These books were hilarious. I haven’t had the chance to read 10 Things I Hate About Pinky yet, otherwise that one might have been included on this list too.

9. Rebel – Beverly Jenkins. This list has some overlap with the top books of 2019 (which I posted yesterday), especially since I read a lot of new releases last year. I loved Rebel and would read more books from this author.

8. The Guinevere Deception – Kiersten White. This was one of two books that I read from Kiersten White this year. This is a King Arthur retelling with a strong and magical female lead. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

7. Spectacle – Jodie Lynn Zdrock. I think this book was one of the hidden gems from last year. It kept me up late into the night, because I didn’t want to put it down.

6. Ghosts of the Shadow Market – Cassandra Clare. One of the most anticipated books of 2020 for many people is Chain of Gold, the new book in The Last Hours series, which details the story of Will and Tess’s children, along with the other shadowhunters of their generation. Ghosts of the Shadow Market contains several short stories from Jem’s point of view.

5. The Grishaverse Books – Leigh Bardugo. One of the authors I really wanted to read last year was Leigh Bardugo. I liked the Grishaverse books so much that they ended up on my list this year. I also had the chance to read Ninth House and the Six of Crows duology.

4. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo. I’m guessing that there won’t be too many people in the blogosphere with Les Misérables on their top 10 list for the year. I read it for the first time last year though, and it was an excellent book, so it deserves a place on this list.

3. The Wicked King/The Queen of Nothing – Holly Black. 2019 was a year that was bookended with two great Holly Black releases: The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing. After I read the first book at the beginning of January, I really wanted to read the second (which was originally supposed to be released this year). They both came out this year, and both made my list.

2. Sky Without Stars – Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell. This was probably my surprise favorite of the year. It didn’t get a lot of hype, but when I read it, I absolutely adored it. I can’t wait until Between Burning Worlds comes out later this year, and I’m looking forward to rereading this book before it comes out.

1. Rebel – Marie Lu. This was not a surprise favorite, as Legend is one of my favorite books and I always wanted some closure for Day and June. I reread this book already. This was the ending to the series I was waiting for.

So there is the list of my favorite books that I read for the first time last year.