Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday! This is also my annual “Best Books I Read for the First time in 20XX” post. I’ve done this for several years now, even though only the last two years have made it to my blog. If you’re interested, here are my lists from 2017 and 2016. Oh, and even though I’ve been blogging on other blogs for a lot longer, and I wasn’t active on this blog for a long time, this is the 2nd year anniversary of this blog (technically).
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
I have specific rules that I follow year after year for this annual list of mine:
- The book can be released any year, but I had to finish reading it for the first time in the year it makes the list.
- Translations of books I already read don’t count (sorry Las Marcas de la Muerte, I read Carve the Mark in 2017).
- Series can be combined together to make one entry, as long as they all were great books (The Fifth Wave‘s sequels didn’t make the list, but the entire Divergent and Legend series did make the list in their respective years). This year, I combined series that were set in the same universe and shared characters, but that’s not normal.
So here’s the list for 2018!
10. Flame in the Mist (Duology) – Renee Ahdieh. I absolutely loved Flame in the Mist. I was very happy that the Smoke in the Sun pre-order gift was a paperback copy of the first book, since I checked it out of the library initially. Smoke in the Sun wasn’t quite as good as the first book, but it was good enough to be combined with the first book to make my end-of-the-year list.
9. Throne of Glass (first 4 books of the series) – Sarah J. Maas. I haven’t read Tower of Dawn, Empire of Storms, or Kingdom of Ash yet, so they’re not eligible for the list this year, but they might make it to next year’s list. These books are massive – and epic. I love the worldbuilding, the fey are fun, and the main character (I don’t want to give away too much if you haven’t read it) is badass. It definitely deserves a spot on the year-end list.
8. The Fates Divide – Veronica Roth. I loved the conclusion to this book (unlike to another conclusion to a Veronica Roth series that I chose to drown my sorrows with fanfiction). I’m sad that I have to wait until 2020 for another book from this author.
7. Strange the Dreamer (duology) – Laini Taylor. Part of me has to wonder whether there’ll be so many full series on my list next year. When I read Strange over the summer I just had to pre-order Muse of Nightmares. If you ever want to read what beautiful prose looks like, take a look at this series. It was wonderful.
6. The Ember Quartet (first three books) – A Reaper at the Gates seemed to be all Twitter talked about in the late spring, and I started the series this year with An Ember in the Ashes. I’m looking forward to reading the final book when it comes out. This series kept me occupied all day for three days in a row, until I finished it. I’ll probably give them all a reread before Ember 4 comes out.
5. The Midnight Star – Marie Lu. I absolutely loved Adelina and Magiano, and I started (but haven’t finished) two fanfics involving them last year. Hopefully I’ll publish both in 2019. I bought the book in Spanish, but I haven’t read the translation yet.
4. The Cruel Prince – Holly Black. Whoever created The Incorrect Cruel Prince Twitter account is a marketing genius and deserves to be paid. It probably moved this book up a few notches on my TBR. Nevertheless, if the book itself wasn’t amazing, it wouldn’t have achieved a spot on my end-of-year list. The Wicked King is on my must-read list for January.
3. Mortal Instruments/The Infernal Devices/The Dark Artifices – Cassandra Clare. I read all three of these series for the first time this year, and rather than have them take up three spots on my end of year list, I just gave them one spot. Although City of Bones didn’t thoroughly impress me, it was good enough for me to continue with the series, and they’re now one of my favorites.
2. Wildcard – Marie Lu. This absolutely was my most anticipated book for 2018. Warcross was my favorite book of 2017, and Marie Lu is one of my favorite authors. I definitely wasn’t surprised to see this book make the number two spot.
1. Enchantée – Gita Trelease. If you had asked me in January what book I thought would make the top spot on the 2018 list, I would have probably guessed the sequel to Warcross. A lot of bookish things happened this year – including my relaunching this blog as a book blog. I didn’t expect to like this book so much, but I think any book where you seriously consider coming in late to work so you can finish it deserves serious consideration for the best book of the year. And so it is.
2018 was an amazing reading year, and it was so hard to limit the books to ten. This year, for the first time ever, I’m also going to put out a list of top 2018 releases. It will have a few repeats from this list, but will have several newcomers as well.
What were your favorite books from 2018?
Great list! I haven’t read many of these, but they certainly do look fabulous. Happy New Year Brooke!
Happy New Year! I’ve been amazed at reading these end-of year lists how many books I haven’t read.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Cruel Prince. I’m glad you liked it! Still need to read it sometime myself.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
It’s on a lot of lists this week. I hope you like it if you can get to it.
You are right about Strange the Dreamer. It’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve read. I love it to pieces. Great list!
Thank you. I want to read some of her other books because her prose is great.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the Throne of Glass series! I’m reading Enchantee at the moment, so it’s great to see that you loved it so much, I’m only 9 chapters in and I have a really great feeling about it already.
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #192
I hope you like it as much as I did!
Wonderful list! Happy reading in 2019!! 🙂
Erica Robyn recently posted…[Top 10 Tuesday] My Favorite Books Published In 2018
Thank you! Let’s hope today is the start of an amazing bookish year! I have a feeling it will be.
Awesome list! So many of these books are on my TBR. Happy New Year! 🙂
Ashley S. recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read in 2018
Happy New Year! There was just not enough time in 2018 to get through my TBR either, LOL.
The Cruel Prince also made it onto my list. I see some other titles on this list that I’d be interested in checking out!
And you have Six of Crows, which I have to read too. After I read the Grisha Verse books. Happy New Year!
Incorrect quotes blogs are one of my favourite things ever to come out of the internet! I have a habit of, whenever I finish a book that has any significant fandom presence, going in search… there’s always one or two.
Kelly @ Wandering Through Books recently posted…Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2018
I haven’t seen any others. The Incorrect Cruel Prince seems to get retweeted a lot. That’s how I found it.
I just finished a reread of The Cruel Prince and it was just as good the second time around. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I only recently read The Cruel Prince, so I guess I’ll be okay reading The Wicked King when it comes out. But those books would make good rereads!
I’ve got to pick up Holly Black’s series. The Cruel Prince seems to be on a lot of lists. Great TTT, Brooke, and thanks for visiting my TTT!
Thank you, and you’re welcome! I hope you like The Cruel Prince if you decide to get it!
ToG is a favorite series of mine, and I pretty much love everything Marie Lu writes.
I plan to start Empire of Storms today after I finish The Gilded Wolves!
I’ve been meaning to read Flame in the Mist and Throne of Glass for so long (both have been languishing on shelves since I bought them)! Enchantée is one of my most anticipated releases of this year so it’s great to hear that you loved it so much!
Empire of Storms has been sitting on my TBR for a while too… I hope to start reading it tonight though. Hope you like Enchantée as much as I do!
I remember wondering what Veronica Roth’s new book was like! And The cruel Prince is high on my list to read soon in 2019. Same with Wildcard actually.
Happy 2019!!
Greg recently posted…Best Books of 2018
I was expecting a sad ending after Allegiant, especially since they used the tagline “He’d Die For Her, She’d Kill For Him.” I kinda guessed what the twist would be, and I’m glad I was right. Anyway, it’s probably a reread for this year. Although my dh is borrowing my copy of book 1. I do have book 1 in Spanish though on my Kindle, so I could reread it in Spanish at any time.
Happy 2019! I’m glad you had an excellent reading year. This year, I’m going to have to read The Cruel Prince and Strange the Dreamer. They’re on all the lists today.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books Of 2018
I hope you like them! They’re on a lot of lists this year, but I’m also surprised at the diversity I’m seeing too. Lots of books I’m not familiar with.
I just read the first Throne of Glass book a couple of weeks ago and thought it was fantastic. I’m really looking forward to continuing the series in 2019. Strange the Dreamer is also a favorite of mine.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read in 2018
I’m starting Empire of Storms tonight!
You’ve read some great books this year! I hope to read them soon enough!
Hope you do too! This is going to be a great year for books!
I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed The Cruel Prince since I am not typically a fantasy reader. But the synopsis grabbed me and I’m so glad I gave it a try. The year-long wait for TWK has been a long one!
Tanya @ Girl Plus Books recently posted…Top 10 of 2018: Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2019
I guess it’s an advantage that I didn’t find that book until… November I think? But I’ve had year-long waits for good books and it’s hard. Plus… how long have we been waiting for Winds of Winter? LOL. A year-long wait is short compared to that, at least.
I follow The Incorrect Cruel Prince Twitter account too! Haha what a riot! Every day is a creative post.
I think that account partially inspired me to write more content with my characters from The Brightness of Shadow. It’s fun to read characters interacting with each other. A lot more fun than people posting things like “read my book!”
I’m a huge Throne of Glass fan and only have Kingdom of Ash to read but it’s definitely going to happen this year! I’m hoping for an epic ending. 🙂
I just finished Empire of Storms yesterday. I hope to finish the series in the next couple of months myself. Hope it’s amazing!
Wow amazing list! I have all of these on my TBR but haven’t read any. I need to read more. lol.
Books In Bloom recently posted…Most Anticipated Books
Haha, it seems like you can never read enough. I see all these books on people’s favorite lists and I haven’t read them, and I think the same thing!
Great list! Brilliant you managed to read so many series! I’ve been meaning to start An Ember In The Ashes for ages, maybe this will be the year! Happy reading!
I just checked, and it seems that Ember 4 won’t be coming out until 2020 :-(. She was hosting some late-night word sprints on Twitter about a month ago, so she’s probably still working on it? At least if she’s taking her time, it should be good when it comes out!