Best Books Read in 2021 Pt. 2

I was expecting to get this to you the week after I posted the first one, but I was busy with work, and it didn’t end up happening.

But I have been really into talking about books lately (I know, I know, how many times am I going to mention I have a bookstagram now). I’ve been catching up to my reading goal, which is something that really excites me! I was over 22 books behind my reading goal. Now I’m about 18-19.

I thought the book community would make me feel more pressured to read, but in reality, it’s been cool to talk books with people who are just as passionate about books as I am. Not only that, but I’ve found so many new books to add to my TBR list! I mean, they may pressure me into reading more, but in a good way?

Now enough chit chat, let’s chat good books. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, cause this is going to be another long one.

Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo - ★★★★

“The Darkling slumped back in his chair. ‘Fine,’ he said with a weary shrug. ‘Make me your villain.’”

Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

I am usually so hesitant to start reading a series. What if I hate it? What if it starts off really good and then ends badly?

I don’t know why exactly, I decided to give this book series a try, but I’m so glad I did. I have personally never read a book similar to this. Leigh does an amazing job creating her world. It’s funny, because I don’t really particularly love Alina. I don’t hate her either, it’s just that I’m not rooting for her necessarily. She’s a bit whiny, and annoying at times. To be honest I don’t care for Matthias either. He’s kind of a boring love interest.

I feel like I’m just along for the ride, and whatever happens to the characters, happens to them (which I cannot say the same about her Six of Crows series).

Nonetheless, the story follows Alina. Ravka, a world that is filled with Grishas (their equivalent of magical beings). Alina has always been a normal guard. Then one day, years after they tested her as a child, something happens and her dormant powers came out. As customary, she gets taken to the royal court in order to teach her to harness her powers. But things at not what they seem.

I breezed through this book, I completely understand why this book is so hyped up. It’s a great fantasy series! It’s a trilogy, and I highly recommend it. I will say if you were choosing between The Shadow and Bone series and the Six of Crows (which takes place much later in the same world), I will say I prefer Six of Crows.

I was Born for This by Alice Oseman - ★★★★

“Most adults see teenagers as confused kids who don’t understand much, while they’re the pillars of knowledge and experience and know exactly what is right at all times.

I think the truth is that everyone in the entire world is confused and nobody understands much of anything at all.”

Alice Oseman, I was Born for This

This is another book Marie from Drizzle and Hurricane books recommended (as I’ve mentioned before, we tend to like similar books), and I’m so glad I bumped this up my TBR list!

I didn’t even read the summary before reading it, I just started reading. Sometimes I feel like it’s good to jump into a book that supposed to be good, without having any preconceived notions about where the book is going to take you.

This story follows Angel who is a huge fan girl of the band, The Ark. Being part of their fandom has given her everything, her friendships and has made her feel like she has a place in the world. Then there’s Jimmy Kaga-Rick, who also owes everything to The Ark. He’s their frontman, and playing in a band is all he ever wanted. Somehow the two of them are thrust together in an unexpected journey together.

Now, this book is so well written. It takes you on a journey you never expected to go on for the better. It hits on a lot of great themes and topics. Not only that, but all the characters are so unique in the best way possible.

In a world where there’s a fandom for everything, it’s nice to think about it from the perspectives Alice Oseman writes about. I highly recommend this one. Thanks Marie for recommending this!

Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E Smith - ★★★★

“‘What do you love most about the world?’

Ida smiles. ‘I love that every generation think they’ve invented it. They think they’re the first ones to fall in love and get their hearts broken, to feel loss and passion and pain. And in a way, they are. We’ve been there before, of course. But for young people, that doesn’t matter. Everything is new. Which I love, because it means everything is always beginning again. It’s hopeful, I think. At least for me’”

Jennifer E. Smith, Field Notes on Love

I’ve loved Jennifer E. Smith since the moment I read The Statistical Probability of Love. I believe the first time I read that book was sometime when I was in high school (think 2010-2012), and since then I have made my way through all of her books.

While all of them are all well written, some of them don’t really speak to me as much. Field Notes on Love was one of her newer releases, and when I read the summary it felt like a book I would love as much as The Statistical Probability of Love. Spoiler Alert: I wasn’t wrong.

The story follows Hugo & Margaret. Hugo is a British born boy who’s just been dumped by his girlfriend. Even though they had planned a cross country US trip together, he was determined to still go on the trip. The only snag in his plan is that his second ticket was under the name Margaret Campbell, his girlfriend’s name. The tickets were nontransferable and he couldn’t go without both passengers present, so he goes on a mission to find another Margaret to take his girlfriend’s place. Enter Margaret C. (Mae for short), who finds Hugo’s spare ticket offer online, and is convinced this is her opportunity to go on a journey, and maybe film some cool things along the way.

It’s a really fun read. It’s nice to see their relationship develop. As someone who has personally wanted to go on long train rides throughout the US, this book concept really spoke to me.

As always, Jennifer did a great job creating two really well developed characters. This one is a super fast read, so it’ll be easy to breeze through it!

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios - ★★★ 1/2

“And maybe some people are like collages - no matter how broken or useless we felt, we were an essential part of the whole. We mattered.”

Heather Demetrios, I’ll Meet You There

I had never read anything by Heather Demetrios, but she definitely did not disappoint with this one. The story follows Skyler and Josh. Skyler lives in a town where it’s expected that you get pregnant young, live in a mobile home, and work at a fast food joint for the rest of your life. Skyler is doing everything in her power to get away from that, she’s going to art school at the end of the summer. All she has to do is survive 3 months of summer break.

That is, until her mom loses her job. Maybe art school won’t be in the cards for her after all.

Josh on the other hand, decided the only way to escape a few years prior was to join the Marines. But after losing his leg in Afghanistan, he’s back, so different from the cocky popular boy he was before.

The two meet when they both start working at the Paradise, a motel off a California highway. Even though they are so different from each other, they also had a lot of surprising similarities. Which eventually turns into genuine feelings.

I feel like the book is so realistically written, with characters that have a lot of depth to them. I definitely got in my feels while reading this one!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - ★★★★★

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you’ll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won’t matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.”

Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

I think this series may be the only 5 star ratings I have given throughout both posts sharing my favorite books from last year. A book has to be as close to perfect as possible for me to rate it 5 stars. I can probably count the amount of books I consider to be 5 stars with both hands (I checked, and it’s actually way more than 10 books, but you get what I mean).

As I mentioned above, out of the two series I’ve read by Leigh Bardugo so far, Six of Crows is so much better. Firstly, I’m a sucker for heist novels. Almost all of them. Especially if they have great characters you can fall in love with, and it’s well written.

Now this book series has all three of those things! I don’t want to give too much away, but this series had me on the edge of my seat. I laughed, I cried, and couldn’t finish this book series fast enough.

When I initially read this series, I didn’t completely understand where this book fell in the Shadow & Bone series timeline, but as you keep reading, you find out this book takes place years after. You don’t have to read the Shadow & Bone series in order to enjoy or understand Six of Crows, but you would have a better understanding of the world if you do read at least the first Shadow & Bone book. An extra thing I always enjoy about books based in the same world, is the mention of characters you already know because of the other series.

The story follows Kaz and the gang. When offered a deadly dangerous job, he realizes that if he gets the right people, this could be the heist that would make him richer than he could ever imagine.

The crew he gets is amazing, the best you could get, and they might be the only people who could survive a mission like this. As long as they don’t kill each other first.

None of them particularly trust each other, much less like each other, which makes things difficult, especially on a mission like this one. The one thing they can trust on, is the abilities of everyone else on the crew.

I don’t know how much more I can say about this book, without giving anything away. This book series is written from the perspectives of all the members of the crew. I’m always a bit skeptical when a book is written from multiple perspectives, especially when it had as many perspectives as this one.

While there were definitely some perspectives I wanted to get to as soon as possible, I didn’t dislike anyone’s perspective. Of course, my favorite perspectives were Kaz and Inej.

If you are craving a fantasy series, please read this one, it’s so so good!

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - ★★★★★

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

This book is the second book in the Six of Crows Duology, and it’s just as good as the first. This book also got me in my feels.

After Kaz and the gang successfully pull of their last heist, you would expect them to split the winnings and happily go on their way. Things obviously don’t go as expected, and they’re double-crossed and fighting for their lives.

This book does not disappoint, and it gets me excited for the third book in the series that Leigh Bardugo said she will eventually write. PLEASE READ THIS SERIES!

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - ★★★★

“I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you.”

Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation

Now I know people on Bookstagram and Booktok love Emily Henry, but I feel like most people talk about Beach Read, or her latest book, Book Lovers. I mean, people talk about all her books, but you know what I mean.

I would go as far to say that this might have been my favorite book from Emily Henry. I would 100% order it like this: People We Meet on Vacation, Beach Read, and then Book Lovers. Now, it’s not like any of her books are bad, cause they’re not! It’s just that the first two speak to me more than the third one.

People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex. They’ve been friends for about 12 years, which all started with one carshare mishap back in college. From then on out, they would take one big trip every year. They lived on opposite sides of the country, and yet always had time for their yearly trip. Until they ruined things 2 years ago. Poppy misses her best friend, and thinks the way to fix their friendship is by asking Alex for one final trip.

In a lot of ways I really related to Poppy, and I think that has a lot to do with why this might be my favorite Emily Henry book. The book is makes me feel all of the things, and if you’re looking for a cute, well written romance novel. This is it!

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Now that’s if for me. It’s been super fun chatting some of my favorite books. I hope you either read them and agreed with me, or you found something new to read! What have you been reading lately that you love? Let me know! As always, thank you for reading. I hope you have a great day/night. xx