LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BOOKS I READ IN 2018

And it's that time of the year, dear readers! Just as if I were the Academy and we were at the Oscars, the point of this post is to carry out some sort of "bookish awards", in a way, for those amazing books I read this year out of a total of 171. Last year I made a booktag, but 2018 was sooo different that I'll do a different post as well. By no means is this an yearly recap, though, as that one will be coming out soon enough. This is... sort of better xD. There are plenty of books I want to talk about but I clearly cannot talk about ALL of them because yearly recaps are all about choosing your favourite books of the year. And so many books are left out there! Therefore, this post is all about making a shoutout to all the amazing books I read this year, which ones I recommend and the best of the best fo 2018. Hope you enjoy it !!!

I read some pretty awesome fantasy books in 2018 !!! Now, it was truly hard to pick my favourites because, duhhh, I LOVE ALL MY PRECIOUS BOOKS, but I still managed to narrow the list down to 6 books, which were definitely the best fantasy novels I read this year. In no particular order, I want to shoutout The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (5/5★) for being so perfect, stabby, awesome and mindblowing, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (5/5★) for being so dark and meaningful and for giving me everything I didn't know I wanted to read, Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (5/5★) because THAT MAN IS A FREAKING GENIUS AND THAT BOOK IS STUNNING, A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (5/5★) for making me fall in love once more with that series, Legendary by Stephanie Garber (4/5★) for giving me a taste of true magic and Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (5/5★) for being so perfect. AND THERE ARE SO MANY MORE I WANT TO MENTION !!! No, Juli, control yourself. Make this as short as possible. Do I recommend these books? TOTALLY !!! I hope you listen to me because they are all fantastic !!!

You all know contemporary novels ain't my think, but I do still try my best and read several. I usually get bored with thrillers, realism or romance books, yet I always try to read some contemporary books, only those that actually call my attention. AND THIS YEAR I DISCOVERED SO MANY WONDERS !!! I hope you're proud xD. A huge shoutout to Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (5/5★) for being so nerdy, cute, realistic and making me see myself in a character really badly, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5/5★) for being JUST PERFECT, The Wicker King by K. Ancrum (5/5★) for making me cry and being one of the best books I've ever read, The Inexplicable Logic of my Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (5/5★) for breaking my heart and being so damn beautiful, Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (4/5★) for being so damn REALISTIC and getting to my heart and What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli (4/5★) and Adam Silvera for being SO STUNNING and adorable and afsgdhfiejgrth. All of these books are necessary, important, meaningful, gorgeous and I think everyone should read them.

One of my goals for 2018 was to read more historical fiction books. AND I DEFINITELY DID !!! Could I have read more books of the genre? Yup, and I plan to do so next year. For now, I'm truly happy of having read The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff (4/5★) for making me cry, The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (4/5★) for giving me a story I'll never forget, The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (4/5★) for speaking up against the horror that took place during the Second World War, Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan (4/5★) for revealing a tale still unknown to many that took place in Italy and blew my mind, Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (4/5★) for giving me one of those epic vikings stories I crave for so badly and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (5/5★) for being ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ in my entire life. I truly recommend you read these fantastic novels, because they are a lot more than History, trust me, specially Kristin Hannah's books.

I adooooore retellings, although I dare say that 2018 wasn't full of them, at least for me. Many of the retellings I read didn't feel like such, so perhaps that's why I loved them so much. Anyway, I only read 6 meaningful books of the sort, so here I list them out: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (4/5★) for giving mythology a twist we're all looking forward to in 2018, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White (4/5★) for bringing to life Mary Shelley's stunning work and giving girls the spotlight in classics, Bright We Burn by Kiersten white (5/5★) for writing a genderbent retelling that is both dark and feminist, Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco (3/5★) for trnasporting me back to a time I adore so much in History, but this time with a great YA touch, Girls of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (4/5★) for writing a spectacular portrayal of what fairytales fell like and Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (4/5★) for giving a voice to underrepresented retellings that are both dark and lovely. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE !!! Original is the word to describe them all.

Science fiction is something I usually don't read and seldom do I truly enjoy it, so my expectations tend to be quite low. Of course, there are some exceptions regarding sci-fi books I read and actually aodred, and 2018 had several of those. Here go my favourite sci-fi books of 2018: The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid (4/5★) because it was that futuristic novel that explores so many important themes while being full of mindblowing plot twists, Iron Gold by Pierce Brown (4/5★) for always leaving speechless with his space-set worlds and everything he trasmits with his writing, Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (4/5★) for being just E P I C, Scythe by Neal Shusterman (5/5★) because of how awesome it was, how innovative it will always be and how hooked I was with that read, Renegades by Marissa Meyer (4/5★) for having everything I want to find in book and portraying a tale of villains and superheroes never seen more and Wildcard by Marie Lu (5/5★) because it was truly great. EEEPPPPPIIIICCCC !!!

You know, I have a thing with sequels. That's for sure xD I love them, and they truly excite me. Whether it's the second book in a series or in a trilogy, I just can't help but get all pumped. Sequels have to be way better than the first book, blow your mind and offer everything that's expected of them. That's why I love them so much, because they have so much to offer. However, that's why they are so scary, too. This year was lacking in terms of great sequels, now that I think about it, which is truly disappointing. Yet these are some of the ones I read and pretty much enjoyed: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (5/5★) BECAUSE IT WAS JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST BOOK AND I LOVED IT AND I NEED THE THIRD BOOK RIGHT NOW, Legendary by Stephanie Garber (4/5★) because it was simply magical, The Devil's Thief by Lisa Maxwell (4/5★) for being so hooking, Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff (5/5★) BECAUSE IT IS A FANTASTIC BOOK AND THAT'S IT, The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli (4/5★) for delivering everything that's expected of a sequel and making me fall in love again with this story and The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (4/5★) for being one of those books we all wanna see in 2018. Great series/trilogies, great books.

Another goal I set for myself this year was to read more poetry books, which I deinitely did. AND I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT IT !!! I read some beautiful poetry books in 2018 and I'm utterly pleased about it. So I want to recommend you my favourites of them all! Wild Embers by Nikita Gill (5/5★) because she's a stunning poet and her work is admirable, the Whiskey, Words and a Shovel trilogy by R.H. Sin (4/5★) for being about so much more than what it appears, The Dark Between Stars by Atticus (5/5★) for being GORGEOUS, Love Her Wild by Atticus (5/5★) ALSO FOR BEING GORGEOUS, To Make Monsters Out of Girls by Amanda Lovelace (5/5★) because it's everything I love to read and it's exactly what softens my heart and The Sun and her Flowers by Rupo Kaur (5/5★) because it's simply a masterpiece and it deserves all the love in the world. Every single one of these is beautiful, trust me.

C'mon, I've read maaaaaany diverse books this year, and these are just a few in a huge list. I think it would be impossible for me to mention all the books I want to mention and recommend, so here are just some of them. I'd truly love to write a whole post about these books and more because, well, the word 'diversirty' involves a lot and it's quite naive for me to try to simply make a list and that's it. Here are some books I loved this year that were truly amazing, and the ones I haven't mentioned before were: Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate (4/5★) because ti was diverse in exactly seven ways xD, Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann (4/5★) because we need more asexual representation in books and Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (3/5★) for being diverse in every way possible and giving us fantasy just as it should be. I promise I'll get better, but this is it for today.

Well, let's be honest, not everything I read this year was pink and lovely and unicorns and rainbows, people xD. It's not all about great books. More than one of my most anticipated 2018 releases disappointed me, and believe me when I say I'd like to write an entire post complaining about those novels I politely call "my bookish disappointments" of 2018. But I'll be more polite and just not do it. As for the books I didn't like this year (and wanted to like), I'll list them ahead. However, most of them are unpopular opinions, so ignore me xD. It's funny because the books that disappoined me the most were exactly those everybody loved. So here go People Like Us by Dana Mele (1/5★), Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (1/5★), The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (2/5★), To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (2/5★), The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw (1/5★) and Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (1/5★). I'd say I don't recommend them AT ALL, but everybody liked these novels. So I don't know, peeps. I don't know xD.

Don't we all love to discover new favourite writers? I'M MARVELED BY ALL THE INCREDIBLE WRITERS I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR !!! For instance, I'll give a huge shoutout to S. Jae-Jones, Evelyn Skye, Neal Shusterman, Adrienne Young, Amanda Foody, Rebecca Ross, R.F. Kuang, S.J. Kincaid and Taylor Jenkins Reid. I'm not saying they're my favourites of all times, but they were the best that was new to me this year.

And that's it !!! Do leave me your comments below with your Top 5 of whatever you want with the books you read this year. Whether it's your Top 5 fantasy books of 2018 or your Top 5 worst reads of the year (OR WHATEVER YOU WANT), leave it in the comments below. I'm dying to read y'all!