My Best Books of 2018

Let's all pretend that I'm not super late to this post okay? Cool.

2018 was a pretty great reading year for me overall. I was able to read so many different books and genres and even though I didn't hit my reading goal (by 7 books!!! *sobs*), I still had a total blast pushing myself to read books that were out of the box for me. 

So, to honor some of the best books I read in 2018, I decided to name my top 10 reads of last year! These aren't books that were exclusively published in 2018, just books that I happened to read in 2018.

And don't worry, my salty readers...I will also be making a Most Disappointing Reads of 2018 post VERY SOON, so keep an eye out for that!

In no particular order...

10. Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

  This book was one of the last books I read in 2018 and it was absolutely fantastic. I love fairy tale retellings and the story was so wonderfully written. It was dark and heart-wrenching and dramatic and overall just a fantastic read.


9.  Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
  

Grady Hendrix quickly became one of my absolute favorite writers in 2018 and I am so stoked to read more of his work. This book sounded hilarious and weird and like a perfect Halloween read and I absolutely devoured it. It was creepy and spooky and wacky, just like a cheesy horror flick. 


8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

  I know this is a huge book but until last year, I had never read it. This book was haunting and Ray Bradbury is just an incredible writer. As a person who works in maintaining free speech, this book really tugged at me and I was in LOVE with it as soon as I read it. The movie was pretty disappointing so I definitely recommend picking up the book instead.

7. Animal Farm by George Orwell

  Again another book that it seems like everyone but me has read. I was in an alternative school when my class covered this book in high school so I never got the chance to read it until last year but as a MASSIVE Orwell fan, I knew I had to finally read it.  I am so glad I did. Without getting too political, I feel it really summed up a lot my feelings towards modern day America and was a great, chilling read.

6. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

  This really was the year of reading books on my forever TBR and I was so grateful to get through so many of them. This book was SO beautifully written and I could not put it down. I experienced an immense mood shift when I finished the book, so much that I had to just lie down for a bit. This book hit me hard and I loved it so much for that.

5. IT by Stephen King

  I really love Stephen King and I wanted to make sure I read the book after seeing the new film last year. This book was absolutely incredible and is probably one of my favorite books of his. One thing I like about his books is that the normalcy of things makes them so much more disturbing. If you are looking to pick up a Stephen King novel, I highly recommend this one.

4. Save Me, Kurt Cobain by Jenny Manzer

  It's no secret, I am a HUGE Nirvana fan. They've been my favorite band since I was young and I have always been fascinated by Kurt Cobain. This book was a fictional tale of a girl who reminded me so much of me in middle school/high school and it brought back so much nostalgia for me. This is probably one of the most personal choices on this list for me, as it wasn't impeccably written or an instant classic like the other books here, but it resonated so much for me personally that I had to include it.

3. All We Have Left by Wendy Mills

  I still think about this book so much. I went into this book knowing nothing about, just picked it up from the library with no prior knowledge. This book deals with 9/11 and is told in dual narrative from different time periods, so even though you know part of the ending from the beginning, you cannot put it down just to see how the story will play out. Also, it made me ugly cry. 

2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

  Neil Gaiman is essentially THE writer extraordinaire. You guys know my love for him is insane so I finally read this and was so in love with the story, the characters, the setting....everything. I really love books based in mythology so this was already going to be a huge winner for me, but his writing style just immediately gets me. Plus the show is FANTASTIC and I can't wait for Season 2.

1. Geekerella by Ashley Poston

  This list wasn't really in any order but this was absolutely my favorite read of the year. I fell so hard for this book and wrote a more detailed review that you can check out here, but in short, this book was everything a fangirl could ask for. I needed so much more from that universe when I read it and definitely consider it one of my favorite books of all time.

Have you read any of these? What were your top books of the year? Let's chat about it!


Always, Raineedayze