Hi all! My name is Millie, and welcome to my blog!
In this post, we'll be covering my top 10 books of 2021 (as of December, 2021). The book is ranked from my tenth favorite down to my number one read of the year, but also remember that this is just my opinion! So, yeah, let's get into it.
10. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Why I loved this book: This is a friends to lovers slow burn centered around high school senior and mother Emoni Santiago. Emoni loves to cook, and has started taking a culinary arts class at her school. Unlike Elizabeth Acevedo's other books, With the Fire on High is not written in verse. The chapters were very short (about 1-3 pages per chapter), which made it fly by. My favorite trope is friends to lovers, and it was so much fun watching the romance slowly unfold. Due to how short the chapters were, the book flew by, and I finished all 400 pages (from Goodreads) in under a day. I love books where cooking and food is a main theme, and it definitely was in this case. I really loved how badass and strong Emoni was and how she handled her daughter, and the city background was a little added bonus. The writing was beautiful, and overall, the story was both impactful and a lot of fun.
9. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Why I loved this book: As I mentioned above, I love friends to lovers, which this was. I love books with LGBTQ+ rep, and One Last Stop had fabulous sapphic representation. The side characters were incredible and so fun, and it, too, had a city background. The banter was impeccable (we love banter over here!), and the magical realism twist was wonderful. At over 400 pages, this isn't the shortest read, but I was still able to read it in (literally) one sitting.
8. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
Why I loved this book: Before I get into why I loved Girl in Pieces, I do want to take a moment to say that with this one you should definitely CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS. Now, with that being said, I read this book at a time when I was really struggling with my own mental health. It has a romance with a boy that you aren't sure if you should love or hate. Mental health was a very strong theme, but I think it was tackled well. It felt very relatable, and while it was a heavier read, I flew through it (as you may have noticed, being able to read a book quickly really contributes to my enjoyment of a book). It starts with our main character, Charlotte, in the psych hospital, but it wasn't really set in the hospital. All in all, I really feel that this book was quite important to me, but please check the trigger warnings and only read it if you feel you can handle it.
7. Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Why I loved this book: First and foremost- THE PLOT TWISTS!!!! I won't tell you exactly what happens for obvious reasons, but let me just say there were multiple plot twists, and they were all SO unexpected. The concept was really interesting (humans have conquered everything and no longer die, so certain people called Scythes have to kill / glean people to control overpopulation). It gave me kind of Hunger Games vibes near the end, but not in a bad way, just in a predictable way (possibly the only predictable thing about this book). I haven't read the second one yet, but I really am excited.
6. Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize by Margo Rabb
Why I loved this book: I went into this book expecting a boarding school mystery, so I was really surprised when our main character, Lucy, was kicked out of her boarding school at the very beginning (not a spoiler, it's in the summary). She's sent to live with an elderly lady in New York, which I did, of course, love. I thought the mystery was unpredictable. I thought I figured it out a few times, but in the end I was completely shocked. I think it's best to go into it not knowing much about it, so I'm not going to tell you what the mystery was, but it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. You know that one thing in books that is completely irrelevant to the plot, but keeps coming up and is your favorite part of the entire book (such as the waffles in Six of Crows)? That was me with the little bits about plants in this book. Gardens and plants were a huge part of this book (though, admittedly, they probably did progress the plot a bit), and it just made me so happy every time something about flowers would come up. This was one of the shorter books on my list (about 365 pages), but needless to say, I read it in a day.
5. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Why I loved this book: Ah, banter, how I love you. The banter in this book was fantabulous (no, that's not a word, yes, I'm going to use it anyway), and I think it was around page 50 that I realized this would be one of my new favorite books. Check the trigger warnings for this one, too, but if you think you'll be alright, I say you give it a go. I loved Allysa and the whole shop subplot, and Ryle being a neurosurgeon also added quite a bit to my enjoyment. I used to love Ellen, so the little bits about that were great. I don't want to tell you too much, but please go read it.
4. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
Why I loved this book: Sasha is my new book boyfriend. I absolutely love how kind and caring he is. Like most of the other books on this list, it's set in New York, which added a nice little touch. As someone who wants to go into the medical field, I did really enjoy the little medical tidbits. The romance was so sweet, and you could tell how much Sasha and Isabel cared for each other. Let me just say, having a romance about sick kids where neither of them die made me so happy. I loved that Isobel volunteered at the hospital (another one of those little completely irrelevant things that I love!). If I had to describe Sick Kids in Love in one word, I would say fluffy. So, yeah, go read it.
3. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
Why I loved this book: First things first- the illustrations. They were amazing and beautifully done. As we all know, I love books that I can read quickly, and I read this one in 40 minutes. I'm usually pretty cautious when reading novels in verse, but this one was talked about so much that I had to give it a go. While it wasn't incredible graphic in any way, please check the trigger warnings. It had a lot of beautiful quotes that really spoke to me ("If I'm not the love of your life, I'll be the greatest loss instead"). The different topics covered (such as trauma, abuse, healing, etc.) were all so important, and I think they were handled really delicately. I just bought Milk and Honey, so we'll see if it's as good.
2. The Selection by Kiera Cass
Why I loved this book: I know, I know. You probably weren't expecting to see The Selection so high up on this list. I'll admit, it wasn't the highest quality of writing, but I really enjoyed the plot. It was kind of like the Hunger Games meets the Bachelor. I'm not a huge fantasy person, as I'm sure you can tell, but this one was surprisingly easy to understand. I loved the banter between America and Maxon, and I think it did have a kind of friends to lovers aspect of it. I hate love triangles, but this one was tolerable. My favorite aesthetic to read about is probably the glamour / royalty aesthetic, which this totally delivered. I absolutely adore makeover scenes and pretty dresses, so I obviously loved this book.
And, finally....
1. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Why I loved this book: Where do I even start.... As mentioned above, I love the glamour / royalty aesthetic, and this book certainly had some of that in there. The makeover scene in this one wasn't as good as in The Selection, but it was still quite good. Our main character, Avery, was super loveable, though I personally related more to her sister, Libby (perhaps that was just due to our shared hair color, though). The mystery was fantastic, keeping me guessing until the very end. It incorporated a lot of puzzles (I've taken to saying Avery Kylie Grambs sometimes- if you know you know), which I really enjoyed. The banter between Avery and the Hawthorne brothers was, of course, amazing. It was super fast paced at 384 pages, and I read it in a few hours.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and let me know if you guys have liked any of these books! Feel free to comment new posts that you want to see, and I'll see you soon!
Millie
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