The past few years on my former blog, Bookworm Brandee, I enjoyed doing a “look back at the year” and sharing my favorites. So I asked Lexxie if we could continue the tradition here and to join me in listing favorites. We hope you enjoy reading about some of our favorites and we’d be happy to hear about any of yours!
This post is all about books/audiobooks! Here are a few of my favorites for this year because seriously…it’s hard to narrow it down!
- The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
- Come From Away by Genevieve Graham
- Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
- Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
- Show Me the Way by AL Jackson, narrated by Andi Arndt and Zachary Webber
- Children of the Forgotten Gods by Kennedy Daly
- Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Beneath This Mask by Meghan March, narrated by Andi Arndt and Holter Graham
- Lawless by TM Frazier
Here are Lexxie’s favorite books/audiobooks for 2018:
I’m almost kind of sorry, but I have over 20 books as my favorites for 2018! The last one is the one I read today (December 26th). I’ll link to my whole list on Goodreads, but here are the ones I feel like have to be on an actual list 🙂
- The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz – just because no list can be complete without Tiffany Reisz!
- Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren – they just rocked my 2018 reading world!
- Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – I’m using this as my class read for my students next semester!
- The Heart Between Us by Lindsay Harrell – beautiful story!
- Restore Me (Shatter Me #4) by Tahereh Mafi – another author who always rocks my world.
- The whole Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufmann on audio – the full audiocast just really, really did it for me!
- I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman – I loved how this woman just needed a break. From absolutely everything.
- A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi – this story broke me – and it broke me even more because it’s based on real events.
- Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles. Reading how scary it is to be black in the US these days made me realize not only how lucky I am, but how unlucky a lot of other people are!
- What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera – cute and uncomfortable (real!) romance!
So, that’s our narrowed-down list of favorites from 2018 – what does your list look like?
I do love reading everyone’s best of lists. I enjoyed Come From Away on Brandee’s list and Illuminae Files on Lexxie list. I see a couple from both lists that I still need to read.
YAY for some common books from our lists, Sophia 🙂 I love these kinds of lists, too, even if they tend to make my Mt. TBR even higher 😉
I can’t wait to read more from GGraham! And I have YOU to thank for putting her on my radar. 🙂
oh my bad I haven’t read any of these books on your list!!! But I do love some of the authors you listed like TM Frazier and Meghan March. Hope 2019 is packed with great reads for you both. And Happy New YEAR!!!
Isn’t it amazing how that happens sometimes, Renée? I hope 2019 will be a fantastic year for you, too, in all ways!
I hope your 2019 brings many wonderful reads and listens, Anna! <3
Great lists!! I enjoyed quite a few up there. Also looking forward to What If It’s Us which I got as a gift.
I hope you’ll enjoy What If It’s Us as much as I did, Grace. I got my copy as a gift for Christmas, and I just had to read it straight away 🙂
Thanks, Grace! I hope you enjoy What If It’s Us. I’m thinking of giving it a listen. 🙂
I love it. I haven’t read most of these so lots to consider. Anne – Books of My Heart
I had more than those as favorites, Anne, but I had to make a choice for this post 🙂
Always happy to add to your TBR, Anne. 😉
Hi you two! I wish you both wonderful reads for 2019! I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Murder of Crows. That’s it from both lists. Ilona Andrews tops my favorite reads for 2018, Magic Triumphs and Iron and Magic rocked. I loved the audio versions. The audio version of Ready Player One was addictive and so much fun! Artemis was the winner for best narrator for me. The Bad Guys series (juvenile fiction) made me laugh throughout the year. Happy reading!
-Robyn
Hey Robyn!! Thank you 🙂 All the best for 2019 for you and your family, too!
Audiobooks have been a great addition to my reading this year, and I’m so happy about that 🙂
Hi Robyn! I wish you awesome reading for 2019 as well. 🙂 I must meet Simon very soon as he’s been collecting dust on my shelf for awhile now. I read Ready Player One AND saw the movie (I got it for James for Christmas). The book was better. 😉 And the Andrews….SIGH. I have to catch up with them. See you soon! <3
I enjoyed “The Alice Network” very much, and her next book, “The Huntress” is already on my TBR pile!
Hmm… I guess that means I should add The Alice Network to my TBR, then, Davida?
Well, it wasn’t perfect, but it was very good, and worth the read, so yeah… I would add it if I were you! (Of course, your tastes don’t totally jive with mine, so there is that.)
My tastes are pretty similar to Brandee’s, though 🙂 I’ll add it 🙂 Thank you!
Yes, you should, wifey. I LOVED The Alice Network, too. 🙂
Ooh, I’ll be adding The Huntress to my tbr as well. 🙂
I am on the Lexxie train, because there are a bunch of my faves on that list. I adored all CLo’s 2018 releases. I don’t know, they were on fire for me this year. I was really happy with Restore Me. Mafi blew up so many things with that book, but she introduced a great new storyline and I have faith she will fix it all before the series ends again. I am happy to see I Have Lost My Way on this list. I thought the book was phenomenal, but feel like it’s not lauded enough.
YAY Sam 🙂 I’m glad some of my favorites were your favorites as well! CLo really did well in 2018, and Mafi, too. I agree, not that many people have been shouting from the rooftops about I Have Lost My Way 🙂
Have a great rest of the day.
Lots of great books here! I really need to listen to the audiobooks for The Illuminae Files. I loved the books. And I want to read Educated—that one has earned such fantastic reviews.
The audio for The Illuminae Files is fantastic, Nicole! I hope you’ll be able to listen to it 🙂
Educated was just so good, Nicole. 🙂
Twitter: Mlsimmons
I loved The Lucky Ones. Tiffany Reisz continues to amaze me with her writing. I love The Other series too. I can’t wait to see what Anne Bishop has in store for us in that world in 2019.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
I still have catching up to do with The Others series. 🙂