I feel like I've been repeating myself a lot lately when I say that I can't believe summer is halfway over, but that also means we've reached the halfway point of the year! So far this year, I have read 56 books, not counting books and/or series that I've reread. That's a lot of books!
About halfway through the year, I like to look at what I've read and pick out my favorites. As you know, at the end of this year I will rank my favorite books from the entire year. This post helps me to organize from the first half of the year so that I really only have to look at the second half, then narrow down this list. Many of these books will make it on my end-of-the-year list.
So, without further ado, here are my ten favorite books and series that I've read so far this year. Five of the ten are from my One Woman Book Club, which means I did a pretty good job of choosing books for this year. It's not too late to start reading along with me!
Author: S.E. Sabin
I am absolutely in love with this series. It's technically not finished, with the next book (A Smidge of Voodoo), which is hopefully the final book, set to come out in August. I cannot wait!!! Anyway, this book is about Violet, a Brewer with a BIG secret. When a fallen archangel approaches her about becoming the next Potions Master and Guardian of the New Orleans' portal, she refuses until she has no other choice. What happens next is an adventure of epic proportions starring a cast of laughter-inducing characters.
Author: J. Gabriel Gates
I've talked about this series a bunch already, so you know it was going to make this list. This series was so unique in the way the magic worked and didn't have all the tried-and-true magic users. The magic system is based on playing cards. The main characters are demigods and -goddesses and sorted into a suit based on their abilities. The Hearts, or Valentines, deal in love; the Diamonds deal in wealth; the Clubs deal in brutality; and the Spades, or Morbuses, deal in death. Hearts and Diamonds are good luck, while Clubs and Spades are bad. Aggie and her mom get sucked into their world when an experiment goes wrong and doses each of them with an overflow of luck -- Aggie with good and her mom with bad. I linked to the omnibus for you.
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid did it again! This biopic-style book kept me hooked from the first chapter, but I have to say that had I opened the book before I bought it, I would have left it on the shelf. It's written as a bunch of interviews with former band members, managers, and family members all woven together to tell the story of the rise and unexpected ending of Daisy Jones and The Six. This book is not written in prose. It is literally only dialogue, but not in a conversation. Still, the story unfolds from the mouths of those who lived it. The band is loosely based on Fleetwood Mac, and I mean very loosely.
Author: Gian Sardar
This book is definitely not for everyone -- my mother is currently struggling to finish it, but I loved the journalistic aspect. It is a historical fiction book set in 1979 mostly in Iraq. Olivia is an aspiring photojournalist who works at a Los Angeles newspaper as a secretary. When the paper announces a contest to pick their next photojournalist, Olivia decides to enter, and when her Kurdish-American boyfriend, Delan, gets a wedding invitation from back home, she convinces him to take her with him, sure that's where she'll find the perfect photo to win her the job. However, Delan hasn't been home in years and no longer has a true understanding of the situation in his home country. When they arrive, it's to find the Kurdish people being brutally oppressed by the Iraqi government, and their trip is fraught with struggles. This book was at once heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Author: Charles Tabb
Again, this book is not for everyone due to its sensitive subject matter. It is a historic/realistic fiction book set in the 1960s at the same time the Vietnam War is happening, but the war is not the focus at all. This book is about found family. Jack is a 12-year-old boy who's neglectful parents are considered the town drunks for good reason. When Jack finds a starving, three-legged dog, his dad tells him the only way he can keep it is if he figures out a way to pay for its upkeep, so Jack gets a job, and that's when the trouble starts. His job search leads Jack to Hank, an older man who goes on to become a father/grandfather figure for Jack, but all anyone else sees is an older man spending too much alone time with a little boy and soon the accusations start to fly.
Author: Michelle Gable
I have read a lot of historical fiction books set during World War II, but I learned something from this book about the war that I had not previously known. When the United States established the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, during World War II, it included a division known as Morale Operations. It was a behind-the-scenes effort to create what's called black propaganda. This propaganda targeted Nazi troops in an effort to bring down their morale and increase the Allied Forces' chances of success. This book focuses on Nikki, a former Czechoslovakian who married an American and escaped the country just before the Nazis took control. She is recruited to the OSS because of her language skills but washes out of spy training and ends up in Morale Operations. She and her team are stationed in Rome shortly after it's liberated where they create a fake, underground Nazi magazine filled with half-truths that they deliver behind enemy lines by any means necessary.
Author: Sulari Gentill
This is one of the best mystery books I've read in awhile. It is written in a very unique style. It's about a murder mystery author who is writing her next book, which is set in a library. She is sharing chapters with a fan who lives in the city the book is set in, and the fan gives her suggestions and insights based on the places she's including. Then the fan starts sharing photos of actual crime scenes, so the feds get involved. They convince the author to keep sharing chapters with the fan, who they now believe is a serial killer. This book kept me guessing until the very end. Every time I thought I had figured it out, she would throw something at me that had me second guessing everything.
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Author: Sarah Wilson
This is one of the best fae romance stories I have ever read. The story does have many elements from the tales of Bluebeard the pirate, but it's not simply a retelling or really even a reimagining. It's an epic love story that is not predictable in the least. Bluebeard, or the Arrow, has been stealing brides from the moral realm for centuries and using their magic to compete in the Fae games. Those games determine not only the fate of the fae realm but also the moral world. Izolda is wife number sixteen, and she changes everything. The world building in this series is amazing, the character development is on point, and my favorite character is probably a severed head.
Author: Emily Henry
This was a fun romantic comedy that was gifted to me by my mother. Nora is a successful literary agent who works way too much and doesn't have time for anything else other than taking care of her baby sister, Libby. Everything Nora does, she does via checklist, even dating. A spontaneous trip to the middle-of-nowhere North Caroline is definitely not part of her plans. Neither is Charlie, an editor who she despises and does not feel any attraction to whatsoever. This book made me laugh, a lot. The banter between Nora and her sister and Nora and Charlie was amazing. Like all good rom-coms, this book does have a serious side.
Author: Barbara Davis
This was my first book club pick of the year, and I really enjoyed it. This is a well-crafted dual-timeline story. It starts in the 1980s when Ashlyn Greer finds a pair of unpublished books that read like corresponding letters. She sets out to discover who Hemi and Belle, the authors, really are. Her investigation leads her to Ethan, one of the writer's nephews, and convinces him to help her unravel the mystery surrounding Hemi and Belle. I will say that the pacing for this book was a bit slow, but I think that can be mostly attributed to the lack of technology in the storyline. I enjoyed watching Ashlyn and Ethan's relationship grow as they uncovered the truth of Hemi and Belle's relationship.
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