According to Goodreads between 2010 and 2019 I read a little over 1000 books. That is something young Ruby never thought possible. Since we're close to the end of this decade (I'll let you guys add all the adjectives you want about this decade) I thought it would be fun to look back at the books I've read so far and see which ones stand out the most. I'm going to try really hard to pick one book per year, but we'll see how it all goes. Let's get started!
Best Books...Of The Decade
- For 2010: Nights Of Rain And Stars by Maeve Binchy - This is the book that pushed me to try books out of my comfort zone. The thing that was so new to me about this particular book was the pacing. The pacing was slow, super slow. Think reading about Frodo, Sam, and Gollum walking. But the characters had so much history, so many secrets, that it wasn't hard for me to stick with this book until the very end.
- For 2011: Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell - Is anyone surprised?? I read this book at least three times already, and to this day it's still one of my favorite mysteries. I was fascinated by the idea of finding lost plays, the pacing was everything I hoped for, and the plot twists kept me on my toes. (my review here)
- For 2012: Lothaire by Kresley Cole - Next to Nyx, Lothaire is my favorite character in the Immortals After Dark series, so I was very happy that his book did him justice. I'm too familiar unfortunately with the characters I care about the most to get a less-than-they-deserve story, so the idea that Lothaire got exactly what he needed in terms of a story has always made me insanely happy. (my review here)
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa - I can't pass by 2012 without mentioning this book. Julie Kagawa's book was actually one of the first books that made me want to be more than just a tourist in the land of YA books. While it was obvious to me that I was going to love Vampire Academy, which I read that same year, I feel The Immortal Rules is truly the book that started my YA journey. (my review here)
- For 2013: Styxx by Sherrilyn McQueen - Rooting for the villain to find redemption where none was in sight wasn't truly something I thought I'd ever do before reading Styxx. It just wasn't something I thought about, I wasn't into the really darker stuff I am into now, so Styxx took me by surprise. It also broke me into tiny tiny little pieces. (my review here)
Reaver by Larissa Ione - Demonica. I feel like that is the only thing that I need to say to explain this one. The first time I got some questions answered in a long series. A lot of things happen in this book that explain a ton of things about this series and every time I read it it makes me very happy. (my review here)
- For 2014: Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl - I've never made it a secret that I loved the Caster Chronicles series, and in the summer of 2014 I binged this series. I feel like a reread is in order, because I truly loved this story.
- For 2015: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger - This book was just fantastic and it's probably the first one where sex in YA didn't feel like a dirty topic. I was very happy that the author went there, and the only thing I wasn't happy about was that the movie changed the story as much as it did. (my review here)
Death Vigil by Stjepan Šejić - 2015 was the year I fell in love with comic books, and Death Vigil was the one that opened my world to non-Marvel and DC comic books. (my review here)
- For 2016: Monstress by Marjorie M. Liu - If in the previous year I fell in love with comic books, it's Monstress that showed me how truly deep these stories can be. I started truly paying attention to not just the story but to the art, to how it complemented the story, to how the smallest dot, every line, shape and color matters. Monstress is a story full of darkness, and I am always very curious to see where the author will go with it. (my review here)
Love and Let Die by Lexi Blake - 2016 is the year I fell in love with Lexi Blake, and also the year Ian Taggart became one of my top 5 characters of all time, sharing a spot with his darling wife, Charlie. This is their story. And that's all I'm going to say about it because I need to keep this post relatively short. (my review here)
- For 2017: Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu - There are a ton of great things about this story, and one bad thing: there's no sequel involving Madeleine. I'm still salty about that. But if you ever wondered how Bruce became Batman, here's a tiny glimpse into that. (my review here)
- For 2018: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - Over the years I've started reading darker and darker stories. The Hazel Wood is one of the darkest YA books I've read to date, and it's one that I carry with me. (my review here)
- For 2019: Kulti by Mariana Zapata so far - This is the year I discovered Mariana Zapata (thank you, Sammy Sam!) and it's really tough picking a favorite. I was going to pick From Lukov with Love because I honestly love it a tiny little bit more than I love Kulti, but Kulti is the one that started my love for MZ. (my review here) I also added "so far", because there's all of December left of this year and...who knows? Maybe I'll read a book I'll love even more.
It's tough picking favorites for me. As you can tell, my reading tastes are all over the place, my reading moods too, so I can never pick just one book. My decade has been FULL of wonderful stories, all of which I carry in my heart and mind into the new decade. Here's to hoping the new decade will bring even more amazing stories.
Let's talk. What books did you love the most in this decade?
