My 14 Favorite Reads of 2019

Hi everyone! So, as you’ve probably already guessed we’re going to be talking about my 14 favorite books of 2019 today! I wanted to have this post up in the beginning of January but then I had a bunch of other posts to upload and… here we are. But better late than never, right?

Last year, I separated my young adult contemporary, young adult SFF and middle grade favorites posts because there were just too many books to talk about but this year that’s sadly not the case. I’m not sure whether I just read less, whether my standards for books have become higher or whether I read more meh books, but while I did read a lot of books I really really enjoyed I don’t think I’ve found any books that, when I think back to them, fill me with the same joy that I had about my favorite books in 2018, which makes me a little sad. (I later wrote a whole post about it and actually found out why but I don’t know what to write here otherwise so we’re just leaving it like this.)

So, let’s just get into it and let me tell you about my favorite books of 2019! 

My Best Friend Picks My TBR, 2020 Edition

Hi everyone! If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you might’ve known that last year my best friend Fadwa and I did a little project in which we both picked out a small stack of books the other had to read within the year. If you read either of our wrap-up poststhat we posted recently, you might also know that we loved doing this and that we both found new favorite books through each others recommendations. This is why we decided that we’re going to be doing it again this year, and I’m so incredibly excited about it!

Today I’ll be sharing the books Fadwa picked for me, why she picked these books, and my very excited reaction (or not, who knows, maybe I suddenly hate Fadwa’s reading taste, that’s a thing that could happen. definitely.) to her choices.

Also! If you want to see what books I want Fadwa to read in 2020, you can check out her TBR here.

1) I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest

Fadwa: This book is on here for a completely selfish reason,which is that I want Laura to read it with me. I haven’t read I Wanna Be Where You are either, even though I’ve been dying to do so for MONTHS. Things kept getting in the way. But hopefully buddy-reading it with my best friend will help make it a priority. It has everything I love in a fluffy YA contemporary: a cute romance, a road-trip, a main character with a passion she’d do anything to go after AND the main character is Black and lord knows we need more fluffy books about Black girls.

Laura: We’re staring this off with a buddy read? That automatically means we’re starting off strong because I always love reading books with Fadwa! And I can’t wait to read this one because it sounds so happy and fluffy and I tend to really like road-trip books so, I can’t wait! I might’ve already ordered this one.Okay, I definitely did.

40+ Very Exciting 2020 Middle Grade Releases

Hi everyone! Like I promised in my 2020 young adult releases post, I’m bringing you a list of my most anticipated 2020 middle grade releases today! I’m both really excited about this list but also very overwhelmed, because all of these titles sound so ridiculously good but how will I be able to get to all of them and the very exciting young adult releases and my backlist? Someone help, please?

Anyway, I hope you will all be just as excited about all of these titles as I am, and that you might add some of these (or all, I’m not picky) to your TBR!

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (January 14th) – Ancient monsters? Traditional Navajo tales? Rick Riordan Presents? Yes, yes and YES.
Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business and Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade by Lyla Lee (January 14th) – I’ve been following this author on Twitter for a while and I was so excited when she announced her book deal, and these books look adorable!
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (January 14th) – So I’ve already read this one so I can personally tell you that it’s a good one and that you should add it to your TBR. Like, right now.
When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller (January 28th) – I loved this author’s previous book, The Science of Breakable Things, and this one sounds so lovely and magical. And when I saw that one of the comp titles is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon I knew I needed to read it ASAP.

67 Very Exciting 2020 YA Releases

Hi everyone! Like probably every other book blogger out there at this time of year I’m here to present you my most anticipated young adult releases of 2020! When I first started making this list it was my plan to keep this list short and sweet because with CW’s #StartOnYourShelfathon I really wanted to mostly focus on books that are already on my TBR this year, and maybe a handful of new releases. So I made a list of the 10 books I remembered from the top of my head that I was incredibly excited about, and thought that’d be it.

But then I started thinking about how there might be lots of books I was forgetting about or just didn’t know about and I didn’t want to miss any books in my post, so I started looking at Goodreads lists and publisher catalogues and, turns out, there are a lot more books I’m excited about than I initially thought. Help.

Anyway, here’s a list of 67 young adult books that are coming out in 2020 that I’m incredibly excited about + the reasons why. I also bolded the titles of the one’s I’m most excited about, in case anyone wanted to know!

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim (January 7th) – I loved the Timekeeper series and I’m very excited that Tara Sim is publishing a new series that sounds absolutely fantastic.
We Used To Be Friends by Amy Spalding (January 7th) – A friendship breakup book? PLEASE. I’m so much more interested in this than in romantic breakup books. Wow.
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen (January 7th) – This book is described as being “for fans of Crazy Rich Asians or Jane Austen Comedy of Manners, with a hint of La La Land” and it sounds perfect.
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (January 7th) – I loved the first 3 installments in this series but lost interest once the 4th was published but maybe I should pick them up again, especially because, in this installment, we’re returning to a world and characters I loved a lot.

Check-in: YARC 2019

Hi everyone! As some of you might know, a few of my wonderful friends CW, Lily, Shealea & Vicky decided to host a year long reading challenge called Year of the Asian, where the goal is to read as many books by Asian authors as possible. At the beginning of the year I decided to participate, made a sign-up post including a TBR, and set myself the goal to read 21-30 books so I could get the adorable tapir badge.

I know I’ve read quite a few books by Asian authors this year, but I hadn’t really kept track of how many. That’s why I thought it might be a good idea to do a check-in post; to see how many books I’d already read, and how many books I still had to read during these last 2.5 months of the year. And maybe tell you a little about which books were my favorites. So, here’s a list of books by Asian authors I’ve read this year so far:

1. No More Heroes by Michelle Kan
2. The Storyteller by Traci Chee
3. Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh
4. Love Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

5. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate
6. Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale
7. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
8. Exo by Fonda Lee

October YA Releases I’m Excited For

Hi everyone! A few weeks ago I made a list of my most anticipated middle grade releases for the second half of the year, and I thought I should follow this one up with YA releases. There’s quite a few really great YA books coming out in October, so I thought I’d share the 8 I’m most excited for with you! 

Crier’s War by Nina Varela (October 1st) – I have to admit I’m not the biggest fantasy fan so you don’t often see me reading fantasy books, but I’ll definitely make an exception for this one. Besides the fact that this book is f/f and the fact that I’ve seen lots of people rave about in on my timeline, I’ve also been following the author on twitter and the way she talks about this book makes me want to pick it up RIGHT. NOW.
Rogue Heart by Axie Oh (October 8th) – I’ve already read this one and it’s SUCH a good one! It’s the sequel to Rebel Seoul and I have to admit I didn’t adore this one, but Rogue Heart? AMAZING. I already loved this world and the politics, but the character development in the sequel is great, and I also really, really enjoyed the plot.
By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery (October 8th) – The author of this book has been on my radar for a while, and when this cover was released I knew I had to add it to my tbr. I’m such a sucker for pretty yellow covers! I also really like the synopsis of this one and I have an e-ARC of the book so I really hope I’ll be able to get to it soon!
Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor (October 15th) – I’m an absolute sucker for YA sci-fi and I’m so happy that there’s quite a few new one’s coming out this month, but this one has an aro ace lead? There’s sapphics? And after reading the synopsis again, I truly can’t wait to get my hands on this one. Everything about this sounds so incredibly good!

23 Middle Grade Releases That Should Be On Your TBR For the 2nd Half of 2019

Hi everyone! As you might know I absolutely adore middle grade books, and because there’s quite a lot of amazing middle grade books releasing during the second half of 2019 I thought I’d make a list! I am incredibly excited about every single one of these books and have been lucky enough to have been able to already read a few of them and let me tell you, they’re good. Like, really good.

Now I’m not saying that you should add all of the 23 titles in this list to your TBR but… you should. I know this intro is basically just me gushing about all of these books and I’m sorry but I truly can’t help it, and I’m sure you’ll understand once you see all of these titles. So let me just stop rambling and actually let you get to the books.

My Fate According to a Butterfly by Gail D. Villanueva | July 30th – about a girl trying to reunite her family after a black butterfly makes her believe she’s doomed, and the war on drugs in The Phillipines.

For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington | July 30th – about a Black girl adopted into a white family struggling with her identity.

All Of the Books On My Currently Reading Shelf

Hi everyone! I know I made a post announcing I was back a couple weeks back and that I haven’t actually posted a lot since then and I want to say I’m sorry. I really thought I was ready to come back but apparently I wasn’t. I guess life sometimes goes a little differently than you plan. That’s also why I want to refrain from making any “YAY I’M BACK” statements right now, even though I have finished my finals and I’m so, so ready to be back. I’m incredibly excited to catch up on reviews and I have quite a few post ideas already. I just hope this mood stays for a little while.

For this post however, I thought it might be a fun idea to take a look at all of the books on my currently reading shelf on Goodreads. Because I was slumping so hard I ended up picking quite a few books, reading a few chapters, and then putting them down again in favor of another book. I hope that discussing these books with you all might finally give me the motivation to actually, properly read these books.

Hazel’s Theory of Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Let’s start with a book I’m actually properly reading, which is Hazel’s Guide to Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow. I read Bigelow’s Drum Roll, Please last year and I loved it very much, so when I heard that she was coming out with a new book ánd that this book was going to feature an ace mc I immediately added it to my TBR.

I ended up requesting it on Edelweiss and actually being approved for it (AHHH) so I started it a couple of days ago. I’m currently around 20% in and I’m enjoying it a lot!

Where I’ve Been + Upcoming Releases I’m Excited About

Hey everyone, I hope you’ve all been doing incredibly well! As you might have noticed (or not, I understand) I’ve been away for quite a while. I slowly want to get back to blogging, so I thought the perfect comeback post would be a bit of a combination of an explanation of why I’ve been gone, and the thing that’s actually making me want to blog again: very exciting upcoming releases!

So, as for why I’ve been away: I’ve been slumpling. I actually still am. And not just a reading and blogging slump, but more of an everything-slump. My final exams are coming up (they’re two weeks away now, AAAH) and I’m incredibly stressed and anxious about them because if I pass them it means that I’m graduating and the future is super scary and what if I don’t actually graduate and I fail horribly and… everything just got a little too much, and my mental health started going downhill fast.

So, over the past few months I’ve only touched a handful of books, I fell behind on my Goodreads reading challenge (which is something that hasn’t happened in quite some time), and didn’t write a single blogpost besides a blog tour one which I’d already committed to. And it sucks. Blogging and reading has been apart of my life for quite a few years now and for that to fall away… it really isn’t fun. But I also didn’t want to force myself to read/blog when I didn’t actually want to, because I know that’d only make it worse.

But on the other hand, I’m quite done with this slump so am I forcing myself to write this post? Mayhaps. But I’ve also really wanted to start writing again, and the thing that’s been making me want to write is the incredibly exciting upcoming new releases for April/May, because there’s quite a few really good one’s. And hopefully writing about them will actually make me want to start reading again, and not just want to want to start reading again. If that makes any sense. I hope so.

So, here’s a list of the upcoming releases I’m most excited about! 

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali – I was a huge fan of S.K. Ali’s debut, Saints and Misfits, and I’ve been hearing the absolute best things about Love From A to Z, which gives me very high hopes that this book will be just as good, if not better. Also, can we appreciate that cover for a second? I love it so, so much.
Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan – I wasn’t incredibly excited about this book (don’t get me wrong, it sounds really adorable but it just wasn’t on top of my tbr list) but then I heard that it’s queer so…. now I need to read it. Obviously.

Year of the Asian Reading Challenge Sign-Up, TBR + Update Post

Hi everyone! This year, the super lovely and incredible CW, Lily, Shealea & Vicky are hosting the Year of the Asian; a year long reading challenge dedicated to reading books written by Asian authors. They’re also doing fun prompts, twitter chats and even a giveaway! If you want to know more about this and maybe participate in this challenge yourself, you can check the sign-up post here.

I’ve been thinking about participating in this challenge ever since it was first announced but I wasn’t too sure about it until I saw more and more of my friends joining, and I thought it might be fun to do it as well. (You know, peer pressure and stuff.) Besides that, I also noticed that I had already read three books by Asian authors this year and I’m currently working my way through another, and that both my backlist TBR and my anticipated 2019 releases list are filled with amazing books by Asian authors. So, why not?

This post will also serve as my update post, so whenever I read another book for this challenge I will add it to the “books I’ve read” section at the end of this post.