2022 is only a couple of days away and 2021 will be in the rear view mirror.
This year has gone by incredibly quickly. Lots has happened and lots of good memories, despite Covid, have been made.
I’ve accomplished a lot this year and have discovered new things that I love. One thing I’m proud of is the number of books I’ve read.
Now compared to other book bloggers and bookstagrammers, the number of books I’ve read isn’t really that much; but according to my family it definitely is.
Starting from January 1st 2021, I have read 123 books.
123 books of different authors in varying genres.
I don’t rate books as 5 stars very often and I certainly don’t get many books in paperback unless I LOVE them and know I’ll reread them.
That being said there were quite a few books that I read this year that I’ve now got in paperback. And there are some books that I could have gone without reading.
My first book of 2021 was The Duke and I by Julia Quinn - book 1 in the Bridgerton series. I hopped on the Bridgerton bandwagon and became obsessed with the books before even watching the tv show.
My most recent read, which I received at Christmas and finished yesterday, is Underneath the Christmas Tree by Heidi Swain.
Everyone has their favourite authors and their favourite book series and this year I’ve discovered more of each to add to my lists.
I’ve listed below my best books of 2021.
Starting off as my ultimate favourite is the Dirty Air Series by Lauren Asher.
Oh my goodness, these four books are amazing. They have some of my favourite fictional characters ever, they have some of my favourite tropes and are written by one of my favourite authors.
Following Lauren Asher is another author whose work I love... Sarah Morgan.
Sarah’s books are pure joy. I have three books of hers that I read each year during the festive season. These books are Once Upon a Christmas, Angels in the Snow and Wish Upon a Star.
These books never fail to get me into the Christmas spirit and always make me want to go to the Lake District to climb the fells and meet a mountain rescue team!
As Christmas has just been, I was lucky enough to receive lots of books. Some of these books were The Boys of Jackson Harbor series by Lexi Ryan.
I read this series earlier this year and immediately fell in love with Jackson Harbor. I made my sister read it too and now I’m pretty sure our parents wish we’d never read them because we fangirl way too much.
These books have some of the best book boyfriends and tropes for romance books.
The Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy is one of the best sports romance series I’ve read. The girls make you want to become best friends with them and the guys make you wish they were your boyfriend.
Elle has created a world you’ll never want to leave!
Another new author I discovered this year is Eliah Greenwood. I read her Rules series, which I really enjoyed but then I read the first book in her Easton Boys series...Dear Love, I Hate You.
DLIHY became one of my favourite books of this year the moment I read it. It is so good and I’m so glad that Eliah is releasing book 2 in Feb 2022 - I can’t wait to read Finn and Dia’s story!
Penelope Douglas books were frequent on my reading list for 2021. I read quite a few but my favourites have to be the Devil’s Night series and Punk 57.
They are BookTok famous and rightly so. Penelope drags you into the world of The Four Horsemen and Misha Lare. I was never a big fan of celebrating Halloween but after reading Penelope’s books, I want to celebrate Devil’s Night.
Thanks to Bookstagram, I have made lots of new bookish friends and one of them persuaded me to read the Royal Elite series by Rina Kent.
And boy am I glad she did! This series was so good and I loved reading all seven books (pretty sure I read them all in a week). The characters, the emotion and the friendships were just so good.
Whilst I did read a lot of romance this year, I also read other genres. I read some dystopian, chick lit, thriller and more.
I started the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi this year and the way in which it’s written just captivates you. It is one of the best, if not the best, dystopian series I’ve ever read.
I tend to have lots of books on the go, some on the kindle and some in paperback. One book I read on the kindle was Adulting by Liz Talley.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book but it has become one of my favourites this year. The transformation of the characters is complex yet simple and the lessons the book teaches are so important. It’s one of those books you can always refer back too!
My final best book of 2021 is one that is definitely not for the faint of heart. It’s complex, it’s intriguing and it’s clever. Steve Cavanagh’s Thirteen is full of suspense and tension and kept me hooked from the get-go.
It was a great read...but not if you only read at night!
I have more books I could list like the Spanish Love Deception, Underneath the Christmas Tree and Jingle Wars but if I were to continue then we’d be here for ages.
The books I’ve mentioned are some of the best books I’ve read this year, and a few are some of the best books I’ve read...ever!
If you’re a bookworm or looking for something new to read, give them a go!
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Happy new year!
Until next time...
***Book covers are from Amazon