2021 in Books Wrap-up

Before I started with the 2022 book reviews, I figured I needed to expand of the quick 2021 reading wrap up that I did in Instagram. So here it goes, of the 115 books read this year, this is the ranking of the top 53 (why 53 you ask, i had 53 books rated 4 and above so I included those 3 extras!).

5⭐️

I only gave 2 books 5 stars this year and i think im being a very harsh grader. Looking back most of the 4.75 were 5 star reads, I’m always so hesitant to slap the 5 in case a better book comes along. I’ve just leant They can both be 5s and then i rank amongst them later 🙂

1. The Henna Artist – a wonderful book, a mix of everything I love in literature: history, family drama, romance, female stories and wonderful locales
2. People we Meet on Vacation– the ideal beach read (ironic as she wrote beach read last year). Obsessed with it!
   • 4.75⭐️
3. Seven Days in June – a beautifully written dual timeline romance – loved!
4. Next Year in Havana – an absolutely wonderful historical fiction meets romance
5. The Fastest way to Fall- another Williams hit, even better than how to fail at flirting
6. The Book of Lost Names – heart wrenching and gorgeous WWII historical fiction
7. Life’s too Short –The perfect beach read
   
   4.5 ⭐️
8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – the fact that I believed Evelyn Hugo existed by the end shows how good this book is
9. It Ends with Us – this book will break you in all the best ways          
10. Daisy Jones & The Six -fictional oral history that’s it’s so good it feels real
11. The Rose Code – Reality meets fiction in this Bletchley Park story
12. All the Light we Cannot See – beautiful and haunting WWII historical fiction
13. Malibu Rising – A great family drama, that’s like two books in one
14. The Forest of Vanishing Stars – Such a different take on a WWII story, and its poetically beautiful
15. How to Fail at Flirting – I adored this book, what I want a rom com to be
16. The Good Sister  – Unpredictable and wonderful
17. The Four Winds – Might not be Kristin Hannah’s best but it still is such a great, and sad read
18. Incense and Sensibility- third in the series and it’s still as good!
19. The House in the Cerulean Sea – a sweet, adorable book on what truly makes a family
20. Lincoln Highway-  and epic tale that must be read,  its not a 5 because it was a tad slow to start off with
21. Once upon a wardrobe Narnia revisited to tug at your heartstrings
22. A Court of Mist and Fury – My favorite of the ACOTAR series
23. Transcendent Kingdom– insightful, philosophical and a beautiful story

Although no numbers from here on down, I have ranked them within each star in my order of preference

4.25 ⭐️

• Instructions for Dancing
• One Night on the Island
• The Night She Disappeared
• The Maidens
• Just Haven’t Met You Yet
• Eight Perfect Hours

4⭐️

• One Last Stop
• Things We Save in the Fire
• The Heart Principle
• The Last Train to Key West
• Always in December
• The Last thing He Told Me
• The Soulmate Equation
• The lions of Fifth Avenue
• If the Shoe Fits
• The Wife Upstairs
  Under the Light of the Italian Moon
• The Dictionary of lost Words
• Violeta
• The Trouble with Hating You
• The Second Life of Mirielle West
• Como Polvo en el Viento
• When The Stars go Dark
• Yes & I Love You
• A Court of Thorns and Roses
• With love from London
• Parry Crasher
• The Hating Game
• The Viscount Who Loved Me: Bridgerton Book 2
• LA Weather
• Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty
• Finlay Donovan is Killing it
• An Offer From a Gentleman: Bridgerton Book 3

To finish off my Goodreads year in review can be seen in the link