My Top 15 Books of 2019!
Happy New Year! To welcome in 2020 I have created a list of my favourite books I read in 2019. Last year was a pretty good reading year for me, and I read from a lot of different genres, here are some of my favourites!!
Jog On by Bella Mackie
I started the year on a strong point with this book by Bella Mackie. A non-fiction memoir/self-help book, where Bella discusses her relationship with running and how it has helped her cope with her mental health struggles. A fascinating and insightful read, it’s well worth picking up, even if you have no real interest in beginning to run regularly.
Published: 27th December 2018
Enchantee by Gita Trelease
I love books set in historical Paris, and when I saw this novel was being published in February, I knew I had to read it. This book didn’t let me down. Filled with magic and revolution and romance, this is a sumptuous and sweeping YA novel!
Published: 5th February 2019
My review here
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
2019 has been the year of Leigh Bardugo for me! I read 4 of her books and went to see her talk in Edinburgh! This was the first of her novels that I had ever read, which I picked up due to some gentle persuasion from a friend, and I’m so glad I read it. It has definitely sparked my love of heist novels, and I definitely want to re-read it in 2020 if possible!
Published: 29th September 2015
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
2019 was definitely the year I began to listen to audiobooks, and to consider them a valuable part of my reading. I have an almost 2 hour round commute to work so it is the perfect time to get some serious listening done. This is by far the best book I listened to this year, and I have bought it for so many people because it’s so good. Telling the stories of the Ripper’s victims without giving any attention to the Ripper himself, it is a fascinating and eye-opening book that I highly recommend you pick up!
Published: 28th February 2019
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Continuing the trend for reading and absolutely adoring Leigh Bardugo’s work, here is the second novel of her’s that I read in 2019. The sequel to Six of Crows, featuring my favourite gang, I flew through this novel, and loved every single page!
Published: 27th September 2016
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I read this book entirely due to the hype it was getting on Book Twitter. Loads of people I follow were tweeting their excitement and love for it. I had never read anything by Reid before, but I have definitely added her other novels to my TBR after finishing this one.
The novel follows ageing Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo as she recounts her life for a biography. Featuring Hollywood glamour, twists and turns, and some heartbreaking romance, it is a perfect book.
Published: 13th June 2017
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
2019 was a strong year for feminist retellings of Ancient tales, and I am absolutely ok with this!! This was my favourite retelling that I read, the story of the Trojan War entirely told from female point of views. Using short snappy chapters and many POVs, it was a very clever and readable novel!
Published: 2nd May 2019
My review here
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
This was an easy novel to choose for this list, and is one of my favourite YA novels I read in 2019. A murder mystery/thriller with enough twists and turns to keep me reading right until the end, this novel is a real page-turner. There is also a sequel published in 2020 which I am very excited for!!!
Published: 2nd May 2019
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
One of the perks of working in a bookshop is getting to meet some of your favourite authors, and Lucy visited us in Aberdeen twice, and was lovely both times! Her novel The Hunting Party is a fast-paced racing thriller set in the Highlands of Scotland, and is so atmospheric, its almost impossible to put it down! A New Year’s party in an isolated villa where not everyone will make it to the next year is a genius idea which makes a brilliant murder mystery/thriller. I loved this novel, and her next book The Guest List out this year is just as good!
Published: 24th January 2019
My review here
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
A YA novel that has been on my TBR pile since it was published, I finally picked it up during the summer and it was a perfect Summer read! Featuring a great collection of characters, and lots of great banter, plus a wonderful historical setting, what’s not to love!!
Published: 27th June 2017
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Another book I picked up in 2019 due to the gentle persuasion of a friend! A dystopian novel following a group of characters as they survive after an apocalypse has hit America, the writing style and characters are so well-written, it immediately became one of my favourite novels of the year. Written using flashbacks, the reader is left to piece together the chronological order of events and figure out exactly what happened to America, and the characters we are following, which I thought was a very clever way of twisting the dystopian novel trope around and making something fresh.
Published: 9th September 2014
The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson
2019 was also the year that I read the most children’s books I have ever read in a year, and it was very difficult to choose my favourites. However, Sophie Anderson is an incredible author, and her newest offering is hard to beat. Again based on Russian folklore, it tells the story of Yanka who wakes to find her legs have turned into bear legs, and she sets off into the forest to discover who she truly is. Filled with magic and adventure, this is a wonderful novel which I highly recommend to children and adults alike.
Published: 5th September 2019
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
This novel was one of my most anticipated YA releases for 2019, and it did not disappoint at all! Set in a rich and wonderfully imagined world based on Ancient Arabia, with characters that it’s impossible not to love, this is a wonderful YA fantasy which is rich and emotive and so so good. The sequel is due out this year, and I cannot wait!!
Published: 27th August 2019
My review here.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
The final entry of Queen Leigh Bardugo on my list is this one. Her 2019 published adult fantasy novel Ninth House. A wonderful novel, dark and mysterious, featuring magic and secret societies, I loved this! I especially enjoyed reading a novel with a protagonist closer to my age, and this definitely added to my enjoyment of the novel. Heart-breaking though the novel is, it has moments of such warmth and light that it was a wonderful emotional experience to read.
Published: 8th October 2019
Invisible in a Bright Light by Sally Gardner
The last book on my list is this children’s novel by one of my favourite authors. I have read and loved Sally Gardner’s work for years, and I was very excited for this novel. Described as being Phantom of the Opera-like, this novel follows Celeste as she tries to figure out what is happening in the theatre, and tries to play a mysterious game called The Reckoning. A wonderful magical story filled with light and wonder, I loved every single page of this novel.
Published: 14th November 2019
My review here.
So there we go! These are my top 15 books of 2019! It was not an easy list to make, but I think I’m happy with what I chose. Here’s to 2020 being as good a year for reading, and everything else!
Happy reading! X
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