Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Top Ten No Matter Age Category: Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Keirnan The Faithful Spy   by John Hendrix The Lost Girl  by Anne Ursu Lovely War  by Julie Berry On the Come Up  by Angie Thomas The Princess Who Flew with Dragons   by Stephanie Burgis Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George Spinning Silver  by Naomi Novik There's Something about Sweetie  by Sandhya Menon Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind them All  by Laura Ruby Top MG: Top YA: Top Adult: Top Non-Fiction:

Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner hosts this great survey every year that is a fun way of looking back at my year in books. Number of Books Read: 131 Number of Rereads: 47 Most Read Genre: Adult Contemporary Most Read Age Category: Tie Between MG and YA Favorite Adult Novel Favorite YA  Novel Favorite MG Novel  Favorite Non-Fiction Book I Was Excited For But Ended Up Not Loving As Much As Expected: A Skinful of Shadows  by Frances Hardinge  Most Surprising (In a Good Way-I wasn't expecting to love it but I did!): Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson Best Series Started: The Wild Magic Trilogy by Celine Kiernan Best Series Ender: The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis (I don't want it to be over. 😩) Best Out of My Comfort Zone Book: Educated  by Tara Westover (I usually dislike memoirs, but I couldn't put this one down.) Most Unputdownable Book: Sorcery of Thorns  by Margaret ...

This is a look back on my reading of the past three months: the best of the best, the books I couldn't finish, and the non-fiction and adult books I don't review on the blog. These only cover new-to-me books and not rereads. The Non-Fiction: The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler  by John Hendrix The Adult Fiction:  Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (contemporary) The Flatshare  by Beth O'Leary (contemporary) The Gaucho's Lady  by Genevieve Turner (historical romance) Meg and Jo  by Virginia Kantra (contemporary) Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors  by Sonali Dev (contemporary) The Best of the Best: 

It is time for my Favorite Characters of the Year post. As I've said many times before, I am a character reader. I read for character arcs and development and the messy wonder of human relationships. Every year I like to do a post that covers some of the characters I fell in love with over the course of my reading year. (If I read a book from a series that I've already mentioned in a previous year, you can assume I still love the characters. This is for brand new characters I encountered.) Links are to my reviews. Descriptions are (for the most part) snippets from my reviews. Mup and Crow from Begone the Raggedy Witches   by Celine Kiernan Mup is such a delightful heroine. She begins her begins the book as a sheltered, rule-following, and seemingly meek little girl. As danger upon danger meets her, Mup discovers a core of strength and defiance in herself that serves her well. She has strong convictions about what is right and what is wrong. Crow is Mup's catalyst for d...

When I found out Laura Ruby had a new YA book coming out in 2019, I immediately pre-ordered it. My love for Bone Gap  knows no bounds, and I was looking forward to this new book with great anticipation. I went into expecting to love the writing, but I was a little wary of one part of the premise. Even after a third of the way through, I wasn't expecting to love this wholeheartedly. But reader, I do. Doors can be dangerous. you never know what's on the other side, what you're letting in.... In stories, girls are always opening doors, always the wrong ones. Always crossing thresholds thinking they're getting away free. Nothing is free... It doesn't matter which door you open...Three or ten or thirteen doorways, there are wolves behind them all. I'm going to do something I don't typically do and just use the publisher's synopsis for this one to avoid all any accidental spoilers: The unforgettable story of two young women—one living, one dead—deali...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly themed blog hop created by  The Broke and the Bookish  and now hosted at  That Artsy Reader Girl . This Week's Topic: Holiday Reads I have a thing for romance and Christmas, so the majority of my December reads coming those two things. The Ones I Read Every December:  * *Only "A Rose in Winter" by Laura Florand The Ones I TRY to Read Every December: Are there any books you read every December?

Due to busyness I was unable to past a Stats post for October, so I am combining October and November. Here are my Favorite Reads: October-November in Numbers New Reads: 11 Rereads: 10 MG: 4 YA: 3 Adult: 14 Fantasy: 4 Contemporary: 7 Historical: 9 Non-Fiction: 1 We are not discussing the current state of the TBR shelf.