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This year was a magical, beautiful year of reading. I read 131 books. 45,337 pages. It was an excellent year.
I went back through my Goodreads 2121 shelf and I made a list of all of the books that stuck with me in some way. The books that were still etched on my heart. And that’s how I came up with my ” best of” lists!
If you are interested, here are my past lists:
I apparently skipped 2020 because it was a chaotic year haha!
Enjoy and happy reading!
In no particular order:
- Lovelight Farms by BK Borison – This is officially my favorite holiday read of all time. Yep. I said it. I had not heard anything about Lovelight Farms nor did I know anyone that had read it. I just happened to randomly stumble upon it on Amazon. I finished the last page last night and immediately recorded a series of Instagram stories telling everyone that they HAD TO READ THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY because I simply could not wait until today to share my thoughts, ha! And then I proceeded to encounter a painful book hangover because what could I possibly read next? Sobbbbb.
This book has everything. A cozy, Hallmark-esque Christmas tree farm in a small town setting-check. A lovable supporting cast of larger than life characters- check. Two endearing and captivating main characters-check. Sweat inducing steam- holy check. Friends to lovers / fake dating tropes? Check. Humor? Check.
I dare you not to fall in love with Luka + Stella. They are so good together. Respectful and loving and kind and SWOONWORTHINGLY hot. Yes I made that word up and I don’t care. I love these two humans and I refuse to admit they aren’t real.
I can’t wait for the rest of the series!
- The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin – “Somewhere, out in the world, are the people who touched us, or loved us, or ran from us. In that way we will live on.”“Dying isn’t brave,” I said, “it’s accidental. I’m not brave, I’m just not dead yet.”
This book is beautiful, magical, utter perfection. Read it as soon as possible. That is all. 🤍
- A Million Things by Emily Spurlock – This book absolutely blew me away. It is, in my opinion, proof of why Up Lit is the very best genre. This book is heartbreakingly and breathtakingly sad…but also so beautiful. I love that Lettie is not your typical sweet grandma. She is hurting and learning and struggling, yet she’s able to love and support Rae in spite of it all.Rae. Oh sweet Rae. I love her more than I’ve loved a main character in a long long time. Watching her fall apart in real time is unbearable. But she’s plucky and resourceful and precocious and even as she is avoiding the truth, she is strong and brave and I just want to hug her.
Read this book if you love Ove, Ona (The One in a Million Boy), Eleanor, Rosemary (The Lido), or Arthur (Trulove OR Pepper). Read it if you love the notion that in spite of neglect, pain, and even death…love wins.
This book is truly beautiful and magical and endearing.
- Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz– I absolutely fell.in. LOVE with Jo and Alex and Greyson and Kitty and Mia and Samson and Beth and Ollie and Nina (I can’t WAIT for their story). Warning- this is NOT a light, fluffy love story. It deals with loss and grief and guilt and does so in such a lovely way. As a mother of five girls- the two oldest 13 and 15- I cannot tell you how much Grunder Ruiz got it right. The banter, the anger, the sass, the sense of humor…she nailed it. Mia and Kitty reminded me so so much of my Harper and Sadie in so many ways.
Her delicate exploration and descriptions of grief and the pain and shame and guilt that can survive it made my heart ache at times.
Don’t get me wrong, this book is also super funny! There’s some great banter and I laughed out loud at Nina and her obsession with sassy mom culture.
My only (semi) qualm, which doesn’t take away from my 5 star review, is that I wish I “knew” Jo a little bit more. I love her with Nina, I love her with Alex, I love her with her nieces and her nephew and as a sister and I love the little bit of insight that we got into her heart and her soul, but I’d love to know her even better.
That said, the romance was so sweet. Alex is such a great lead. He’s funny and witty and tender and encouraging and patient and an excellent dad. All around swoon. I really loved learning about the yacht life, too. It made me want more more MORE- so good thing a second book is coming!
- The Bergman Brothers Series by Chloe Liese – this series is EVERYTHING. I appreciate that Chloe always shows us that EVERYONE deserves to be loved and cherished. The neurodiverse, those who are chronically ill, those who are disabled and those who struggle…every single one of us.And this love is so incredibly patient and kind and tender and warm and safe. It’s quiet and sacrificial and abiding. The kind of love you just want to burrow into and absorb. It’s delicious and respectful and it’s everything.
- The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah– Don’t mind me, quietly weeping as I finish the last paragraph and read the words aloud…because they are too beautiful to exist only on paper.My heart. Oh, my heart…this novel is so very special.
Glendy pours her heart out on to the pages of her books and the end result is…magic. Her books have this steady and comforting beauty to them. She marries the magical/supernatural and the everyday so very effortlessly.
Her words are soaked in magic and purity and a tender respect for nature . And love. Always love. A love story wrapped up in a botany/biology lesson. Trees, plants, flowers, animals, insects, the earth- these things are always well-loved secondary characters in Glendy’s books.
This one was hard to read at times. The cruelty of mental illness cloaked in love — well, it’s complicated. The Light Through the Leaves contains an intricate recipe of healing, grief, guilt, trauma, addiction, despair, love, longing, and redemption. And all of it a little bit weird, in the most delightful way.
This book is a treasure.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune– Every once in a while a book finds its way into my hands and… Magic happens.It’s hard to explain. It’s a combination of loud belly laughs, teary eyes, and goosebumps. It’s underlining and nodding and re-reading certain passages, even reading them out loud because they resonate so deeply
It’s rare but it happens.
That happened with this book. Big time. It’s brilliant. And timely. And lovely. So so very lovely.
I listened to it on audio at the same time so I could get through it faster. But to be honest, I’m already ready to give it a second read. Because it’s that good.
- All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle– Well goodness gracious. Don’t mind me as I sit here sobbing like a fool.This book is wonderful. Magical, precious, tender, special, and utterly beautiful. Up Lit is my most favorite genre and this book is a shining example of the very best of Up Lit. Intergenerational friendships, late in life love, loss, and beauty in broken things.
Just exquisite.
- The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer – This book DEVASTATED me. I can tell you right now it will be one of my favorite books of all time. I wept for 30 minutes straight as I brushed snow off my car, folded laundry, and did dishes, all the while with earbuds in….listening to this beautiful and terrible story of loss and love and sacrifice and dedication.Duel-timeline stories are tricky for me. I usually find one of the stories tedious, but that was NOT the case here. I adored both stories and felt both deeply.
There really aren’t proper words to explain my feelings, but my heart will remember this story forever.
- The Guncle by Steven Rowley – This book took me by surprise. Big time. The first half was laugh out loud snarky/witty. Patrick is a MESS. A hilarious, somewhat narcissistic mess. And you don’t really know why. You don’t really know him. Or his heart. He’s got a wall up. The wall is funny as hell. But it’s tall. And then in the second half of the novel, his wall comes crashing down. And suddenly I found myself laugh snorting on one page and sobbing on the next.
Steven Rowley is a magician and a poet and an astute observer of life and love and grief.
This book is SO MUCH MORE than a snarky Palm Springs romp. It’s EVERYTHING.
Towards the end I found myself rereading entire passages. Patrick’s letter to Joe is phenomenal. The way that the character manages to break down his grief and put it into words is truly rare and it was a privilege to read Rowley‘s beautiful words.
This book is moving and special and hilarious. I’m a better human for having read it.
- It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey – Swoon. This is my favorite Tessa Bailey romance, by far.
Take Alexis from Schitt’s Creek and have her fall for Rip from Yellowstone (but a PNW fisherman version of Rip) and you have the perfect love story.
Brendan might be officially replacing Braden Mack as my book boyfriend because he is EVERYTHING. He’s a sensitive, loving, patient, alpha male. My favorite kind of man. And Piper is hilarious and self-deprecating and so much more than I thought she could be when I first read her character description.
Together they are magic.
And I loved the sister story between Hannah and Piper. I couldn’t be happier that Hannah will have her own book soon.
As is true for all Tessa Bailey books: this is freaking SPICY. Five alarm fire spicy. Try not to read it at your middle schooler’s soccer game like I did. Awkward.🤣🤣🤣🤣
- Float Plan by Trish Dollar – “It’s uncomplicated, really. Our mother expected us to be good and our father put the fear of the Lord in us if we failed to meet her expectations. That doesn’t mean we don’t act the maggot sometimes, but kind is one of the easiest things to be.”
Tw: suicide , self harm
I think this might win my favorite romance this year. Anna is grieving and learning to love herself and let go of guilt. Keane is kind. And patient. And Irish. Swoon.
They have beautiful chemistry. They click. And this book clicks too. No slow spots, not a single passage or word I wanted to skip. Just good, good stuff. All the way through.
- Say Everything Series by Roni Loren – Loren writes such beautifully fleshed out characters- they have beautiful souls and very real scars.
- God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney – “The Bible promised a version of womanhood that was all sweetness and goodness. But Caroline wanted wet, sloppy kisses. She wanted to make quick retorts and harness the power of her body like the women she saw on TV. She didn’t want a prime-time sitcom life. She wanted cable. She wanted a parental advisory warning. Or at least she thought she did.”
Man. This book just did something to me. It hurt my heart a little bit.
I think it’s because I have so much in common with Kelsey McKinney – I also grew up in the Texas evangelical culture.
I also left. And learned and grew and evolved. My heart kept loving the Lord but my eyes were opened.
I struggled (struggle??) with so many of the things Caroline and Abigail did in this book.
The Blue Bell and Whataburger descriptions (yeah, I know what an orange and white striped bag means🤣) and the descriptions of the community in the church and the Texas country with its’ bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush…well those passages made this former Texan terribly homesick.
Part of me feels like Kelsey could have done even more to question the toxic, harmful parts of the church the girls grew up in. But that’s just me being selfish. The book is perfect as is.
It’s a quiet but eviscerating contemplation on grief and betrayal and anger and shame. It’s a beautiful portrait of the strength of sisterhood. It’s a complicated query of faith and megachurches. It’s the idea that you can love something but also despise and resent it deeply.
This is one that will stick with me for a long time. I’m sure of that.
- 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard – This book is so smart and creative and unlike anything I’ve ever read. I don’t want to give anything away but I’m so incredibly glad I chose this one for my BOTM- it’s so much more than a run of the mill thriller.
- All Together Now by Matthew Norman – “Take stock. Of everything. Make a list of the most important people in your life. The ones who *truly* matter. Then, spend as much time with them as you can.”
This book made my Up Lit loving heart so incredibly happy. It was witty (like laugh out loud witty), touching, and basically just perfect.
I loved it and I’ll remember it for a long time.
