Since I started college this year, I was kind of expecting that I wouldn’t read as much as I had last year. This year, as always, my goal was 50, and I ended the year with a pretty solid number: 70.

So, as usual, these are just the books that I read this year and loved. These are all my opinions, and if you’d like to see the sibling post, The Most Disappointing Books of 2018, make sure to follow that link!

---

Before I get into this post, I wanted to comment on the fact that I apparently didn’t have many five star reads this year. I don’t know if I’m just reading less books (which might be the case because I had my first semester of college this year) or if the books I’m choosing aren’t ones that I end up enjoying.

Either way, since this I’ve done this post every year since I started this blog, I have two other posts to compare this one to. I normally try to do the amount of books in the list to be equal to the year; 2016 had 16 books, 2017 had 17 books, and 2018 was supposed to have 18 books. However, when I started making up the list, I only ended up with 10. Instead of stretching this post to include 8 books that I may not actually consider my “best” of 2018, I decided to keep this post to the 10 that I did select.

Help Wanted by J Emery
I liked Harry Potter, but I never fell for it as a lot of other people have. However, Help Wanted was like Harry Potter, but better. Diverse, interesting, cute, with amazing writing.

Curved Horizon by Taylor Brooke
The first of this series wrecked me in 2017, which gave it a place in my best books list of that year. The sequel was no different–it wrecked me at the very beginning of this year, and it still hurts.

The Mad Wolf’s Daughter – Diane Magras
When this book was described as “for fans of Ranger’s Apprentice” I knew I couldn’t resist. And it was such a fun book. There was an amazing adventure, brilliant characters, and it reminded me so much of my favorite childhood series.

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
I finally read this book with a teacher of mine who organized a high school read-a-long. We were able to discuss the nuances of this book, and in being able to discuss it with someone, I got so much out of the book, and love it to pieces.

Ruin of Stars – Linsey Miller
As you all may or may not know, Linsey’s Mask of Shadows is one of my favorite books of all time. And since I reread it this year, it should also be on this list, but I didn’t want to overdo it. The sequel is just as good as the first, and I love them both so much–GO READ THEM!!

The Scorpion Rules – Erin Bow
I haven’t had the chance to read many backlist books, but this one is one that I’m glad I got to. Not many people realize how diverse this book is, and while a lot of people complain about how slow it is–it fits the story and I loved how it all played out. Surprise favorite!

Gender Failure – Rae Spoon & Ivan E Coyote
Having started reading more non-fiction, I have to admit that my new favorite memoir is Gender Failure. It’s funny, it’s relatable, and I love both of the narrators. If you’re interested in non-binary people’s experiences, check out this book.

Some Girls Bind – Rory James
While the cover is really misleading, this book was really good. It has wonderful questioning rep, and I really related and saw myself in Jamie’s shoes. If you decide to read this, ignore the cover and summary. Just go into it blind.

Stalking Jack the Ripper – Kerri Maniscalco
I always love some good murder mysteries, but Maniscalco really delivered with this series. It’s one of my new favorite series, despite the third book being a huge let down. Either way, I love the Wadsworth-Cresswell power-couple.

Chasing American Monsters – Jason Offutt
I love cryptid stories just as much as I love a good murder mystery. Reading about local legends and other legends from around the USA was amazing, but what made it better was Jason Offutt’s entertaining and hilarious narration.

---

Two honorable mentions I’d also like to feature on this post are some short stories. The reason they’re not included above is because they’re short stories or were included in anthologies. I didn’t read the entire anthology, or the story was too short to include on Goodreads or review.

One is Tenderness by Xan West, which was featured in Queerly Loving vol. 2. Since I didn’t read the entire volume, I didn’t feel comfortable adding the entire collection to this post. However, Xan’s story holds a very special place in my heart. It showed me what found families can be like, and let me recognize one when I finally found it. I’d highly recommend it!

The second is by my friend Richard Ford Burley, titled The Coronation. It was published through Necessary Fiction, and it was such an enchanting read. A little weird, but so quirky and interesting. I loved it so much! You can read this one for free on Necessary Fiction’s website, here!

---

Thanks for stopping by!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following this blog through WordPress, Bloglovin’, or e-mail, or supporting me through ko-fi! Any amount allows me to put more time into these posts, giving you more and better quality content!