Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
It’s a dark, rainy afternoon here in New England and I’m feeling a bit nostalgic so I thought it would be fun to look back and check out some of my favorite reads from the last decade.
Let’s take it back to….
2009
This story is one of my favorites in the horror genre. It has been adapted into a manga and an anime, both of which are incredible. Equal parts mystery and horror, I was invested from the first chilling page as we’re told about the legendary curse of Class 3 where there is always one more student in attendance than there should be.
Honorable mentions for 2009:
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Horns by Joe Hill
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
2010
I just read The Way of Kings in January of this year and I adored it. It’s a genius first installation to a sweeping fantasy series called The Stormlight Archive. I plan to read the sequel very soon– as soon as I can get over my fear of 1000+ page books. You can read my full review of The Way of Kings here!
2011
Wow, another chance for me to scream about how much I love Daughter of Smoke and Bone??? I’ll spare you guys the hysterics this time but basically this IS my favorite book series of all time and this first book is magical. You can read my review of it here.
Honorable mentions for 2011:
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
2012
I read this book for the third time earlier this year as part of a book club and it still holds up. Of all the Maas books I’ve read (all of ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, Assassin’s Blade, Crown of Midnight) this one is by far her best. The story is fast paced and Celaena Sardothien is a kick ass protagonist. I’ll be posting a belated review of this one soon.
Honorable mentions for 2012:
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
2013
2013 was the year of really good sequels, the best of which I think is Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. I actually liked this book more than The Raven Boys, a book that I liked a lot. Ronan and Adam are my favorite characters in the cast so I was pleased that this book focuses mainly on them.
Honorable mentions for 2013:
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
2014
After scouring lists of 2014 releases, not too many of them jumped out at me. Most of the books I’ve read from this year didn’t really do anything for me. But Dreams of Gods and Monsters… wow. I mentioned that Daughter of Smoke and Bone is my favorite series ever, and of those three books, this one is my favorite. You can read my series review here.
2015
I read A Head Full of Ghosts nearly two years ago and it still haunts me. It has such an original concept that is executed really well. We follow a teenage girl as she succumbs to a mysterious and disturbing force and a reality show camera crew is brought into her home to document it.
This book feels extra special to me because it was the book that got me into the online book community.
Honorable mentions for 2015:
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
2016
I was swept up in this series from the first page of this book. Something about the whole vibe is downright enchanting and I’m so excited for the final book coming later this year. You can check out my full review of Three Dark Crowns here.
Honorable mentions for 2016:
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
And I Darken by Kiersten White
2017
I have some pretty mixed feelings about this series as a whole but I must say that, all nitpicks aside, this was a really competent finale. I read this book in (nearly) one sitting because I was so invested and I had to know what happened. I posted my live reactions to all the books in this trilogy to my Instagram story. You can find them all in my highlights.
Honorable mentions for 2017:
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
2018
I read this whole book over the course of a single day, and in that time the real world ceased to exist. Miller became an insta-buy author for me after The Song of Achilles and Circe did not disappoint. I listed Circe as one of my top 10 favorite books of 2018.
Honorable mentions for 2018:
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
The Wicked Deep by Shae Ernshaw
2019
We’re almost halfway through 2019 already, can you believe it?! So while I can’t post my favorite release of the year just yet, I’ll share with you some really solid contenders.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid —> 5/5 stars
The Wicked King by Holly Black —> 5/5 stars (I NEED QUEEN OF NOTHING)
A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer —> 4/5 stars, you can read my review here.
Those are my picks! How do you feel about these books? What would your top 10 be? Let’s talk about it 🙂
Happy reading!
.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.
-Liv
A Professional Bookdragon 