The 2021 End of Year Book Survey

I could cry because I love this book so much (just like last year and my never-ending adoration for Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea).

Under The Whispering Door is a profound, touching and heartwarming story about love and loss. The story flows beautifully and is filled with both laugh-out-loud moments and emotional, teary ones. It’s heartwarming and poignant and will stay inside your heart long after reading it.

Honestly, I think this book was hurt by my decision to try and read it in the mid of a major reading slump. It was one of my most anticipated reads of the year (Halloween – witches – revenge plot with 3 spurned women working together but has 2 of the women falling for each other instead!) but it took me about 5 weeks to even finish this book. I just had to force myself through it. Even though it had everything going for it, the Halloweeny vibes, the cozy little town, the sizzling f/f romance and all the witchy goodness. So I think it’s really a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”

This smutty blue alien sci-fi romance book (and series) was super hyped on Booktok, which is where it caught my eye. The first times I saw it, I quickly scrolled past, maybe laughed at it a bit. Because to be honest, normally I would NOT pick this up. The cover is just awful and the premise felt like it was just too weird for me. And yet…

And yet my curiosity got the best of me (as well as my quest to step out of my reading comfort zone). So I downloaded book one, fully prepared to laugh my way through it. And I did laugh, but in a good way? Actually, this was a really fun and entertaining read! While definitely not for everyone and while you should not expect award-winning literature either, if you go into it expecting a quick, fun and smutty romance featuring blue, horned aliens? It’s a pretty solid read!

Just like last year, I’m not sure how many people picked this up because of me, but I do know I’ve been raving about The Guild Codex so much this year (and the year before that… and the year before that…), and if there’s one series or author my fellow bloggers would connect to me, I’m pretty sure it would be this one.

That said, please read The Guild Codex by Annette Marie. You won’t regret it 😉

Though I’ve always been a romance reader, I’ve never actually ventured into the realm of dark romance. But a few books have peeked my interest and one of those was the Hades/Persephone inspired Neon Gods by Katee Robert. Because it’s still fairly light on the dark romance spectrum, it was a perfect first try and I’ll definitely try to expand my dark romance reading in 2022. Starting with the sequel to Neon Gods, Electric Idol, of course.

I was afraid to start A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout because I was in a reading slump and thought it would take me forever to finish. But in the end I tore through this book so fast it was like my reading slump didn’t exist for a little while, it was that unputdownable!

Did I just finish If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich?
Yes.

Do I already want to re-read this book?
Also yes.

Look how absolutely beautiful this cover of XOXO by Axie Oh is!

Also, the story itself, about a girl who falls for a kpop idol, is pretty cute as well.

No one can deny the amazing character development Nesta had in A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. I think that most readers went into this book hating Nesta, but came out loving her.

The writing in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab was at another level. Every sentence, every paragraph, had this atmospherical quality to it that felt both magical and whimsical and dark. As is evidenced by the fact that I highlighted almost every single quote in the book as a favorite.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a slow, character-driven book. It’s not a book to dive into when you are looking for a quick, easy read that’ll make you feel good. Not that there is no hope to be found within these pages, because there is. But this is a book to be savoured, slowly, page by page. Preferably on grey or dark days that add to the atmospheric effect. And be ready to have this story stick on your mind and thoughts throughout your reading journey.

A coworker lent me Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and I have to admit that I put off on reading it because I thought it was gonna be a heavy book to get through (I mean heavy compared to all the rom-coms and light fantasies I’ve mostly been consuming for the past year). But then I felt guilty for taking too long with a borrowed book and so I picked it up one Sunday morning… only to have finished it by Sunday night. That’s right, this was a one-sitting read that was impossible to put down. The writing, the setting was absolutely gorgeous and the mystery kept me entertained and guessing throughout it all. Absolutely recommend!

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the third installment in the From Blood and Ash world, was once again epic, edge-of-your-seat and full of shocks and revelations and had a major cliffhanger that will have me utterly frustrated until the next one releases!

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun revolves around the newest season of Ever After, a popular reality tv dating show in which one man plays the part of Prince Charming and a group of women compete for his love and a proposal. Romantic right? But when Prince Charming falls for his producer instead this story went from romantic to OTP-level for me.

Look, it’s clear how much I love The Guild Codex series, and especially the characters of Kit and Zak. BUT when you throw Kit and Zak together, like what happened in Rogue Ghosts & Other Miscreants by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, you basically have the recipe for the best bromance of all time!

If you love a good slow burn romance, Mariana Zapata is the author for you! All Rhodes Lead Here focuses on Aurora De La Torre a women moving back to her childhood home when she needs to start over. Her landlord (whose name is Rhodes, get it?) across the driveway is pretty grumpy at first, but both he and his son soon start to warm to Aurora’s warm sunshine personality. I loved the slow burn between Aurora and Rhodes, but also Aurora’s connections to everyone else in town, and her friendship with Rhodes’ son, Amos. This was just such a heartfelt book and I highly recommend it if you love slow-burn romances, the sunshine/grumpy trope, single dad trope, small towns and found families.

I discovered Let’s Get Textual by Teagan Hunter thanks to Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse and when I found out it featured one of my favorite tropes ever, the penpal trope, I knew I needed to try it. In the story, Delia gets a text one day from a new number. She assumes it’s her brother with a new number and texts back, but it turns out it was a wrong-number mix-up. However, she keeps texting with this wrong number (who turns out to be called Zach) and the banter and chemistry between the two is undeniable and hilarious and so good. I love when two people fall for each other without ever having met in real-life yet and this story delivered!

Alex from People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry is pretty much my biggest fictional crush of 2021, and that’s a fact.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was absolutely ADORABLE! It had fake dating in a STEM environment, the grumpy/sunshine trope, amazing banter, great friend groups and demisexual representation. It felt like a warm hug and definitely a comfort read. Highly recommend.

I finally dived into The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker, the story about a city girl who travels to Alaska to spend some time with her estranged, sick dad and ends up falling for an Alaskan pilot. It’s an enemies-to-lovers with a huge focus on family and forgiveness and of course, with the amazing setting of Alaska!

The premise for The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren was so fun and exciting and different that I had so much fun reading the book. A single mom and statistician, Jess, has no interest in dating but in a moment of desperation she tries a new matchmaking app. This app, called GeneticAlly, uses DNA to match people. Jess is skeptical but still intrigued by the science. However, she’s still taken aback when she doesn’t only get a match, but with a score of 98% she gets a very rare diamond match. Only problem: it’s with the founder of the app, River, and a guy Jess can’t stand. However, they both still want to find out if the app could be correct or not and agree to “date” so they can not only figure that out, but also mutually benefit them both: promote the company for River and get helped out of a financial tight spot for Jess.

Just Last Night is my third Mhairi McFarlane book (the previous two being Don’t You Forget About Me and If I Never Met You) and just like my previous reads, this was another straight hit. That said, it’s also heartbreaking and will have you bawling your eyes out. Don’t be fooled by the colorful cover, this is not a rom-com. Oh sure, there is humor and there is also romance, and both aspects are wonderful, BUT this is first and foremost as story about loss and grief.

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases. It’s a queer sci-fi featuring an arranged marriage and a murder mystery. Though the beginning of the book was a little slow and I had some trouble getting into the world and learning all the different characters, I soon ended up loving it and the second half just flew by in a blur of action and emotion. 

Like I said above, Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane was absolutely heartbreaking and soul-crushing and had me bawling my eyes out. It is deeply emotional and moving, yet also witty and uplifting with characters that you’ll love so much that they will stay with you long after finishing the book. An ode to friendships, in all their messy gloriousness.

I loved One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and thought it was such a unique f/f romance featuring a girl lost in time. Our main heroine August meets our other main heroine Jane on the subway. She always meets her on the subway, in fact. Turns out, Jane is stuck on the subway since the seventies. So naturally, this provides a mystery August just has to solve. 

I really liked Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake by Alexis Hall, but the book also made me so mad. Specifically, the character of Alain. Ugh. I’m sorry but I hated him from the very start, and I just couldn’t see what Rosaline saw in him (I mean, I understand her thought process, but still, ugh). And then he just stayed around for too long and I wish Rosaline had seen through him a little earlier.