My top books of 2016!

I put the exclamation point in the title because these books make me EXCITED and HAPPY and SAD and ANGRY and THEY’RE JUST GREAT and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

According to my Goodreads account, I read 71 books this year, and luckily they were a lot of very, very, very good books. Which was why when I decided to narrow it down to five, I got nervous. All the amazing books I read this year flashed before my eyes. I thought this was going to be an impossible task.

In the end it really didn’t take long to decide, and mostly I think it’s because I went with my gut. If I’d started thinking really deeply about all the books I read this year, I’d get impossibly lost. These were the ones that just…stuck the most, I suppose. Left the strongest afterglow. The ones that nestled the most deeply into my heart and my brain. They’re books that make me immediately react with the thought and feeling of, Yes, I had a fantastic time reading that. 

So, my top 5 books of 2016:

Book Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows Duology #2) / My rating: ★★★★★

One sentence summary: Kaz Brekker and his crew of outcasts find not only their own city, but the nations of the world against them as they pull off heist after heist to reap revenge on their enemies, protect each other’s lives, and save the world from a powerful drug that could destroy life as they know it.

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together- knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows Duology #1) / My rating: ★★★★★

One sentence summary: A group of six young outcasts are hired to kidnap the scientist responsible for the creation of a deadly drug that heightens the power of Grisha, those with elemental powers.

“This isn’t a job for trained soldiers and spies. It’s a job for thugs and thieves. Van Eck knows it, and that’s why he brought us in.”

“You can’t spend his money if you’re dead.”

“I’ll acquire expensive habits in the afterlife.”