Favourite Reads of 2019

2019 was quite the year. I finished my 2^nd of University (with an average of 80% ayyyyyyyyy) and I started my Industrial Placement at one of the biggest companies in the UK. For those unaware, an Industrial Placement is when a student does a year in industry between their 2^nd and 3^rd year at Uni. I’m currently just over 6 months in and it has been a crazy experience thus far. Full time, 9-5 work is no joke. It’s such a great learning experience, and I’m having so much fun, but it’s also intense and highly stressful. As a result, in terms of numbers, 2019 has been my worst reading year probably since I first properly got into reading about 6/7 years ago! I read 39 books in 2019, which isn’t bad by any means, but I did set my Goodreads goal at 45 ☹

However, saying that, for the first time in years, I actually found it easy to pick my favourite reads of the year (I have become increasingly picky with handing out 5 stars) and I really truly did love all the following books;

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

The Wicked King - Holly Black

First up we have my first actual read of 2019. When I read The Cruel Prince back in 2018, I enjoyed it, but a part of me was left a little underwhelmed and so The Wicked King could have gone either way for me. And I’m so happy it went the positive way and I absolutely LOVED it! It was fast paced and thrilling, and I fell in love with Jude and Cardan. I also read The Queen of Nothing in 2019, and while I loved that too and rated it 4.5 stars, TWK is for sure my favourite of the trilogy and is therefore wholly deserving of a spot on this list!

The Beautiful - Review

Book Review:
Title: The Beautiful
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Don’t fall in love with me,” she warned again, her words breathless. “You’re not good for me. And I’m not good for you.”

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

Wayward Son - Review

Book Review:
Title: Wayward Son
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Macmillan

“I'd give him all that I am.
I'd give him all that I was.
I'd open up a vein.
I'd tie our hearts together, chamber by chamber.”

The story is supposed to be over.
Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…  
So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?
What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light…
That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.
They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place...

Serpent & Dove - Review

Book Review:
Title: Serpent & Dove
Author: Shelby Mahurin
Publisher: HarperCollins
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“A witch and a witch hunter bound in holy matrimony. There was only one way such a story could end–a stake and a match.”

Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.
The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made. 
And love makes fools of us all.