Best of 2021

I always do one of these lovely best of 2021 posts, and admittedly this one is more than a little late, but I’ve been struggling to pick the five books that took my breath away this year. It’s weird because, according to Goodreads which doesn’t include most of my school years, this is the most books I’ve ever read; and at the end of 2020 I felt like I knew exactly which five books were going to make my best of 2020 but that’s not the case this year. Anyway, onto the all-important list letting you know which books I loved the most in 2021!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This book here was the only one I knew was making this list, and it was the first book I read in 2021! Mexican Gothic will probably be the only slow-burn thriller I’ll ever allow into my heart. This book is so atmospheric and tension-filled that it didn’t feel like a slow burn at all, and I think I’ve recommended it to everyone I know. This book will make your skin crawl and your heartbeat a little faster, it’s a truly gorgeous gothic horror.
Goodreads | My Review

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

I read The Fever King webtoon before I picked this duology up, so we’ll count this as a webtoon book crossover edition. I couldn’t put this series down and I fell completely in love with the complexity of the characters, alongside the exploration of trauma and identity within this book. Reading The Fever King and The Electric Heir reminded me of devouring a book at 2am knowing full well I’d have to get up for school in the morning, it’s angsty and I couldn’t put it down for a second.
Goodreads

Vox Machina Origins

This bad boy made the list because how could I not love a prequel about a podcast that took me two-ish years to finish. I recommend listening to season one of Critical Role, or at least watch the Amazon series, to get some context before reading this graphic novel!
Goodreads

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Vampires are back baby! This book is unbelievably chunky, filled with gratuitous violence, and so fantastic. Empire of the Vampire gripped me tight with two different timelines and its vivid world-building, plus the beautiful art from Bon Orthwick made it even better. This book is melodramatic but personally, I feel like this should go hand in hand with vampires and I cannot wait for the sequel to come my way.
Goodreads

Klara and The Sun by Kazou Ishiguro

I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t go into too many details, but this book has such a melancholy sweetness to it. There’s so much nuance within these pages while Ishiguro explores the highs and lows of love through the eyes of an android, it pushed me to think about big philosophical questions through its gentle simplicity. Basically, Klara and The Sun made me cry my heart out.
Goodreads

Well, there you have it! A few honourable mentions go out to Vicious, The Devil Makes Three, and Threadneedle. I read a whole heap of books, many of them were kind of iffy, but here’s to reading way more in 2022.

Best of 2021 (so far)

We’re officially halfway through the year and it feels a little like a fever dream, the time has passed too quickly and somehow too slowly all at once and it’s been pretty weird. When it comes to books though I’ve actually read more in the past six months than I did the entire year in 2020, so I thought it would be nice to highlight some of my favourites before they’re usurped by any of the books that I’ll be reading later in the year.

It was actually so difficult to pick from the thirty-four books I’ve read so far this year, and you can see how passionately I love fantasy, but hey I am who I am so without further preamble and in no particular order here are my five favourites from the years so far:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

When glamorous socialite Noemí Taboada receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging to be rescued from a mysterious doom, it’s clear something is desperately amiss. Catalina has always had a flair for the dramatic, but her claims that her husband is poisoning her and her visions of restless ghosts seem remarkable, even for her.
Noemí’s chic gowns and perfect lipstick are more suited to cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing, but she immediately heads to High Place, a remote mansion in the Mexican countryside, determined to discover what is so affecting her cousin.

Tough and smart, she possesses an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to leave this enigmatic house behind . . .

My Five Star Review | Goodreads | Bookshop.org