Favorite Reads From the First Half of 2019

Are we surprised about how many (all of) these books are romance and/or contemporary?
THERE IS NOT A SINGLE FANTASY BOOK IN HERE.

(This is because these books are shorter and quicker reads and I didn't have a lot of time during college for longer reads...So there is a reason. I'm just super surprised.)








Way To Game the Walk of Shame
by Jenn P Nguyen

Genre: Contemporary YA Romance
From the cover, I thought this was going to be a Slytherin "you thought you could treat me like a game? Watch as I spin all this gossip and destroy your life while looking super cute." But instead, I got a Ravenclaw, "Oh no there goes my reputation because of a misunderstanding. QUICK. Write up a contract and convince him to be my fake boyfriend!"

AND I LOVE FAKE BOYFRIENDS! 





The Hating Game
by Sally Thorne

Genre: Romance

ENEMIES TO LOVERS ALERT. 
I REPEAT. ENEMIES TO LOVERS. 
*SIRENS GO OFF*





Chasing Down Forever 
by Nikki Godwin

Genre: Contemporary YA Romance 

 I thought this was going to be a typical cliche ya romance. But it actually really surprised me. IT WAS CUTE! And unexpected! Instead of hunting down the boy she met one time, she ends up just kind of chilling with this group of surfers, (And they seriously reminded me of The Raven Boys! I loved them all so much!) She finds out that maybe the guy she was looking for ISN'T what she was looking for? AND YES. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH.


 BUT THEN I LOOKED AND SAW IT WASNT A STAND ALONE AND IT FOLLOWS THE "ALL WAS HAPPY IN THE LAST BOOK, BUT NOW WE'RE GOING TO COMPLETELY CHANGE PERSONALITIES, BREAK UP, AND IM GOING TO END UP DATING YOUR CUTE BEST FRIEND, BROTHER, ROOMMATE, ETC."

THERE IS NO SECOND BOOK. DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OF THE SECOND BOOK.




The Importance of Being Ernest 
by Oscar Wilde

I laughed so hard while reading this book. It reminds me of Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night. Everyone is pretending to be someone else, fake names, twisting plot. The absolute pettiness of the tea scene. The cucumber sandwiches. It was so fun!






It Ends With Us
By Colleen Hoover
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary/Romance

 While I think this book is important for people to read, especially girls it IS a New Adult Romance so naturally, it has some *ahem* adult aspects. It also has instances of domestic abuse. So all you young mites might want to hold off until later.





THIS BOOK. WOW.
I think it works better if you don't know what it's trying to do going into it, so I would honestly suggest you just stop reading this post here. But if you want to continue or have already read it or won't be reading it, read on.

THIS BOOK.
I JUST...
I AM BLOWN AWAY.

I started this book hoping for a cute fluffy romance. And for most of the book, I was like WOW. THIS IS REALLY GOOD. THEY'RE SO CUTE. And she had the sad backstory and he had the sad backstory and agh. I was in love. The dude from her past showed up and I was like EXCUSE ME? GO AWAY. MY SHIP.



And turns out my ship wasn't a good ship. 


AND DEEP DOWN I KNEW IT.

Backstory:

She grew up in a house where her father often lost his temper and abused her mom. She always wondered why her mom stayed with him. She swore she would never do that.

He had a tragic childhood accident and he lashes out at people when he is mad. (Basically.)
And at one point, he burns his hand she goes to help him and he pushes her away. She falls.
He's instantly apologetic and she's kind of wary because that sounds a lot like her dad...so she explains. And she decides it is one incident and that if it ever happens again she will know it was not an accident. And she tells him as much.

Another incident happens and she dumps him. He explains his tragic backstory and they figure out a plan. When he is mad, he'll leave and cool down. And she won't chase after him.

And it worked!

And I was like yay! They worked through the problem! They're both helping each other!
And then something happened AGAIN. And she has to mull over everything. Did she want to try and fix it? Did she want to leave? They'd gotten married between the second and third incident and she's having a baby now and she has to decide what to do and whoa. It was POWERFUL.

Seeing it from her POV and feeling what she was feeling? It was so powerful.

And it really hit home because deep down? 

I KNEW IT.

When people do things like throw plates or kick chairs etc when they're fighting with you? That counts as abuse.
When he first shows up? He's up on a rooftop patio and he doesn't know she's there and he's kicking a chair. And even though it wasn't aimed at her,  I was thinking, "Well. That's not cute."


I didn't go into this book knowing this is how it would turn out and holy cow. As of the time I'm writing this, its already been over a day and I'm still shaken up over this book.












These are my favorite from the first half of 2019. What were yours? Have you read any of these books? Planning to read any of them?


-MK

Comments

  1. I have not read a single one, but now I really want to read The Importance of Being Earnest. :) Oh, and your new blog look is AWESOME.

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    1. It's SO funny. I was basically DYING I was laughing so hard. Which made all my friends think I wasn't ACTUALLY working on school.

      THANK YOU!

      It means I actually have to make blog banners but then again I discovered Canva so its not that bad.

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  2. They all sound good! One of my favorite books to read this year was The Giant Killer by ALOE.

    astorydetective.blogspot.com

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    1. I haven't even heard of that one before. *runs to go look into it*

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  3. Well damn... i think I'm going to have to read that last book..

    Lia

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    Replies
    1. It was the one I was frantically telling you about? With the really well written prose?

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  4. Wow, I'm going to see if I can find that last one on audio book ... ;0

    keturahskorner.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. It's SO GOOD. Let me know what you think of it when/if you read it!

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