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Angie's Best Books of 2016

Let's just lay our cards on the table, shall we, and agree that, on the whole, 2016 was an abysmal year.
And I'd just like to personally invite it not to let the door hit it on the way out.
This is me being as charitable as I can possibly be at this point. 

That said, I want to send a glorious shout out to the wonderful books that have come out this past year, and to all the authors (and readers) who have not given in to the anxiety, depression, anger, and fear that I know so many of us have felt throughout the past twelve months (or more). It is the last day of the year, and I have poured all of my gratitude (and hope for a better one to come) into my annual list of my favorite reads of the year. Just 17 this year. Fewer than the past few years, which indicates a healthy dose of necessary rereading in this year that has been what it was, as well as the fact that I just didn't get to as many new releases.

Photo by @aamith

(in the order in which I read them)

The Hating Game by Sally Hunter

FYI, that's 6 contemporaries, 5 historicals, 5 fantasies, and 1 scifi.
Essentially, the primary genres seem to have evened out a bit this year. 

Best New Discovery of 2016

It was uncontrollable love at first sight with V.E. Schwab's Darker Shades series. I mean to say, I haven't read fantasy of this caliber in some time. Every beautiful layer of her writing is to my taste. It makes me smile, it makes me wince, it makes me head over heels, achingly in love with each of the characters. In short, I won't be fit for polite company until the third and final book in the trilogy comes out in February.

Biggest Character Crush of 2016
Kell Maresh
fall-for-the-game.tumblr.com
I fell in love with Kell on page one, with his magical red coat, his quiet intensity, his fierce love for his brother, and his desperate quest. He is a hero. And I continue to reassure myself that everything will be okay. 

Book I Reread the Most in 2016
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Because it was the one I had the hardest time letting go of. And so I elected simply not to by rereading it as needed. Because its lines were the ones that ran through my head the most this year. I haven't cried over a book like that in some time. I may have even attempted to work through my emotions by creating a Portable Quotable Raven Boys for Beth. We do what we have to do to survive, right?
"Is it safe?" Gansey asked. "Safe as life," Adam replied.

Best Books I read in 2016 that were Published in a Different Year


Artistic License by Elle Pierson

Happy New Year!
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