Welcome to Blogmas 2019!
Blogmas is the creation of Sophie @ Beware of the Reader. This is her third year (I think) doing Blogmas and my second year participating. Sophie has provided some great prompts for this month and I'm excited to participate as often as possible. I'll probably be combining days fairly often, like today. If you'd like to participate, be sure to use the hashtags #Blogmas2019 and #BestBooksof2019.
DAY 19: BEST COVERS
The cover of Verity is creepy on its own, but when you've read the book and understand the meaning behind it... well, it's even creepier. Holly Black really won the cover lottery with her Folk of the Air trilogy. The Wicked King cover is just stunning. I don't know if it's the colors (which are beautiful), or the fact that I know what an amazing story is inside, but the cover of Trusting Winter makes me all kinds of happy.
DAY 20: MOST POWERFUL WRITING
In less than 300 pages, Meredith Russo was able to create two fully realized characters and impart so much emotion that I was only able to read Birthday in short bits at a time. Kennedy Ryan put a spotlight on domestic abuse in Long Shot and didn't shy away from scenes that were brutal in their depiction. Ryan's writing was powerful enough to relate the horror of domestic violence without ever delving into sensationalism. Morris's writing in Cilka's Journey wasn't poetic or even particularly literary, but that wasn't needed to relate the atrocities committed in the concentration camp and labor camp where Cilka was imprisoned. The matter-of-fact way in which Cilka's experiences were presented somehow made the impact even more powerful.
DAY 21: BEST LGBTQ
Ben from I Wish You All the Best was simply precious and I wanted to hug him and promise things would get better. My heart broke for him but I loved being witness to his journey. Red, White & Royal Blue was an absolute gem. The match of brilliant, but often remarkably clueless, Alex and the soft and sweet Henry was a joy to experience. Filled with a stellar cast of secondary characters and laugh out loud humor, RW&RB was a true stand-out.
DAY 22: BEST AUDIOBOOK
All We Ever Wanted was my first book from Emily Giffin and it was so, so good. The three narrators brought the main characters to life and had me completely invested in the events taking place. The characters and situations felt so true-to-life and I give a lot of the credit to how well the narrators portrayed the story. Intercepted was a nonstop good time. Narrator January LaVoy voiced Marlee to perfection and I loved every inflection and nuance. It made me an instant fan of Alexa Martin. Well Met was one of my big surprises of the year and the audio version was an absolute delight! Brittany Pressley was a new-to-me narrator and she struck the perfect balance between the story's humor and the more emotional scenes. This is one I'm sure I'll be listening to again.
HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE COVER OF THE YEAR?
There have been a few situations, where I feel like I have missed out on something by reading the book vs. listening to it, and you are making me think this happened with Well Met and Intercepted. RW&RB is really making a LOT of lists, and it's well deserved. I wish there had been a bit more focus on the romance, but I still enjoyed it. Kennedy Ryan knows how to capture my heart and tear it out. Long Shot had me a hot mess at times.
ReplyDeleteSame here! Sometimes I waver back and forth on which format to go with. There have been many times when I felt like the audio version totally made the book for me.
DeleteThe only book on here that I've read is Wicked King, but ALL of the others are already on my TBR. I'm actually on hold at my library for Red, White, and Royal Blue! I've heard such amazing things about it. I really like this feature and will hopefully remember to participate next year!
ReplyDeleteLindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ☃💬
I love all the prompts Sophie created for Blogmas. So much fun. :)
DeleteAnd I’ll be excited to see what you think of RW&RB!
The Wicked King has such an amazing cover. that whole series really.
ReplyDeleteThe whole trilogy has such awesome covers!
DeleteI really loved Red, White, and Royal Blue. I Wish You All the Best is on my wish list!
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I Wish You All the Best was so heart breaking but also so hopeful at the same time.
DeleteThe Wicked King cover is beautiful and I LOVED the book!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of the others. :( Red, White and Royal Blue and Well Met are two I'd like to read and I wouldn't rule out Cilka's Journey. Maybe in 2020!
Cilka's Journey was pretty powerful - and made me want to go back and read The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
DeleteEmily Giffin is one of my favorite authors - I've only listened to one of her books on audio, though!
ReplyDeleteThe audio for All We Ever Wanted was done so well! It definitely made me want to read (or listen) to more from Giffin.
DeleteI have a few of these on my TBR Tanya but unfortunately haven't had the time to get around to reading them this year. Red, White and Royal Blue and the Folk of the Air trilogy is top of that list. I feel as though I've missed out on reading so many good books this year, I think my bookish resolution will be to work my way through the backlist.
ReplyDeleteI resolve every year to read more from my backlist but it sure is difficult not to be distracted by all the pretty new releases! :)
DeleteI have a lot of these books on my tbr but I have only read one of them. Red, White & Royal Blue was such a wonderful book! I hope to read Holly Black's trilogy in 2020. I love seeing all of your picks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carole! I hope you'll love The Folk of the Air trilogy when you get to it!
DeleteI loved that cover for Trusting Winter too. I also agree with you about the powerful writing in Cilka's Journey. That's a book that is going to stick with me for a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt was horrific reading parts of Cilka's Journey, but it also made me want to go back and read The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
DeleteI definitely agree with Holly Black winning the cover lotto for that series! I keep seeing Red, White, and Royal Blue on EVERYONE'S lists and I feel like I have to read it because of it! I want to read I Wish You All the Best, too, and Birthday which I have and need to read ASAP!
ReplyDeleteI Wish You All the Best and Birthday were both so powerful. They broke my heart but also gave me hope.
DeleteI totally agree with that Verity cover. It's such a creepy book and I love it! I wanted to read quite a few of the titles you mentioned here but haven't got around to it. Considering 2020 is basically tomorrow, I think I'm gonna have to tackle them in the new year. Well Met is especially recommended to me by everyone! 😍
ReplyDeleteVerity really messed with my mind! And the cover is so fitting. I hope you'll love Well Met if you give it a try!
DeleteLONG SHOT!! My heart felt so heavy the entire time reading that book. I want to continue the series this 2020 since I fell in love with Kennedy Ryan's writing.
ReplyDeleteLong Shot was such a tough read. I felt the same as you... it really made my heart heavy. But I loved Iris's strength and perseverance. And August's patience and determination. I hope you manage to read more by Kennedy Ryan soon!
DeleteI really need to read Red, White & Royal Blue. It's probably the most raved about book of 2019 that I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteRW&RB had sooo much hype in 2019! I didn't LOVE it like so many did, but I definitely enjoyed it and it was a solid 4 star read for me.
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