Favourite Reads of 2018

Hey everyone and Happy New Year!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know that I am a HUGE bookworm and when I’m not working (or playing with animals or watching The Office), I like to get cozy and read.

If you love books as much as I do, you’ve most likely heard of Goodreads. I discovered it back in 2011 and it’s been my number one source for discovering new books, some of which have since become my favourites. You can create a profile and add books you’ve read, want to read and are currently reading. There are endless amounts of genre-based lists you can browse through to find new books and about a million sub-genres if you want to be more specific in what you’re looking for.

One of my favourite things about Goodreads is that you can set up a “Reading Challenge” for the year. At the beginning of 2018, I challenged myself to read 30 books (which I have somehow managed to do in the past) but because work has gotten busier I was only able to read 16! I so wish I had more time to read, but I guess being busy with work isn’t such a bad thing.

As 2018 has come to an end, I wanted to share my favourite reads of the year with you:

  1. The Toymakers

    Author: Robert Dinsdale

    Genre: Historical Fiction/Magical Realism

    Rating: ★★★★★

    This was probably my favourite read of the entire year and became one of my favourite books of all time. Every time I picked the book up I felt like I was diving into magic. The fairytale-like descriptions, the flowing and lyrical prose, heavy character development and beautiful storyline were just perfect for me and everything I love in a book. It also really triggered my imagination in a way that I really, truly felt as though I was there, watching the story unfold with every bit of detail coming to life.

  2. Shades of Magic Trilogy

    Author: V.E. Schwab

    Genre: Fantasy

    Rating: ★★★★★ (for all three books)

    You know that feeling you get when you’re so deep into a book that you feel like you’re right there, invisible to the characters, but watching the story play out right in front of your eyes, with every single detail of your surroundings incredibly clear and you picture it as though it were a movie? Yeah, me too. That’s exactly how I felt with this trilogy. I felt so involved in this series, so a part of the story and the characters’ lives that I was hooked from the very start. This became one of my absolute-favourite series. I inhaled the words and devoured the pages and wish it had never ended. I will just say that it may take some time to get into the first book, but please just keep on reading, you will not be disappointed!

  3. Crushing It

    Author: Gary Vaynerchuk

    Genre: Self-Help/Entrepreneurship

    Rating: ★★★★★

    I usually like to stick to fiction or fantasy, but I decided to read Crushing It because I had heard awesome things about it and I wanted to expand my genre horizon. I’m so glad I did, because this book changed a lot for me. It’s one of those books I need to read twice a year (how I feel about The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck) so I can remind myself of all the awesome advice and all the things NOT to do to build my brand and be epic.

  4. The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow

    Author: Rita Leganski

    Genre: Historical FIction/Magical Realism

    Rating: ★★★★

    Magical, wondrous and heartfelt are just a few words I would use to describe The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow. Rita Leganski truly made the characters come to life, her prose flowed beautifully and effortlessly, and from the moment I started reading, I felt like I was there, invisible, watching everything unfold in front of me.

    Bonaventure Arrow was born a mute, but with the extraordinary ability to hear ‘flowers grow, 1000 shades of blue, and the miniature tempests that rage inside raindrops.” That line alone in the description was enough for me to want to read this book. With mysterious characters, voodoo, spirits and terrible family secrets, this book has it all: love, loss, growth, acceptance and redemption. A book I was sad to finish!