Best of 2018

~ aentee @ read at midnight

I am a bit late posting my Best Of for 2018, but as these are my favourite post to write as well as read, I just had to share. If you’ve been following my blog or social media, these will come at no surprise to you, as I never seem to shut up about anything I love.

  • The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: Everyone in these books are completely awful and I love them for it. Jude is the Slytherin queen we don’t deserve but need. I can’t decide whether I want our OTP to kiss or kill each other, I will settle for both.
  • The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang: By a long shot my greatest love and biggest obsession of 2018. The grimdark subgenre can eat its heart out with this gritty, expansive, and harrowing novel.
  • Iron Gold by Pierce Brown: I have so much love for this series and its characters, from my drama-queen Darrow to the glorious au Barca family. Pierce Brown is a wordsmith, and is the only cishet white man who will consistently make my Best Reads list year after year.
  • Circe by Madeline Miller: I was terrified of reading this book, because how could anything ever live up to The Song of Achilles. Madeline Miller hits it out of the park once more with this feminist retelling about womanhood and motherhood. I am not even a writer and yet I envy her way with words and her ability to humanise both gods and mortals.
  • Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse: Mags single-handedly breathe new life into the urban fantasy/post-apocalyptic genre with her grit and her sass. I proclaim myself the president of her fanclub, a title that I will happily share with Kai. Works excellent as either a fast-paced stand-alone or the first course to what looks to be an epic series.
  • The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X. R. Pan: This book broke my heart into a thousand pieces and then put it back together again, all the stronger and more filled with hope. One of the best examination of mental illness and grief I have read in the last year, and a fine example of the power of fabulism.
  • The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang: I went through an entire spectrum of emotion reading this book, it was like falling in love all over again. I love it all the more by strengthening my friendship with Alex and Sofia through shared thirst. Seeing a Viet family so reminiscent to my own was extremely special. I am stanning Helen for life.
  • Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor: This book cements this series as one of my favourites of all time. Laini Taylor’s writing is literal magic, transporting readers to other worlds and making them feel that everything is possible. Also features two of the best antagonist I’ve read about in a long time.
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: I love atmospheric novels that I can sink my teeth into during long winter nights, and Spinning Silver is exactly that. A cast of characters filled with varied and complex ladies, each with strengths and flaws that they completely own. A retelling where the maidens save each other and themselves.

What were some of your favourite reads in the past year? And what are you looking forward to the most in 2019? If you have written either of those type of posts, please send them my way, I would love to show them some love ❤

Published by aentee @ read at midnight

25 thoughts on “Best of 2018”

  1. My favourite book of 2018 is a tie between The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and The Poppy War, both were utterly brilliant 🙌🏻 and 100% so looking forward to Once & Future and Spin the Dawn next year 😍😍😍

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  2. I adored Cruel Prince as well, Wicked King is my next read for sure! I don’t know how I am going to last. I still haven’t picked up Circe yet! I want to get a cover that at least matches my song of Achilles in size, so just waiting now.
    Thanks for the post

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  3. Aww your graphics are gorgeous and I love how you set up this post! 😍The Kiss Quotient was a surprise love for me! I don’t read a lot of adult romance , but it was so so perfect and adorable?! I also LOVED The Cruel Prince (totally relate..they can stab OR kiss tbh, either is fine) and The Astonishing Colour Of After and MUSE, omg MUSE WAS AMAZING. I plan to read The Poppy War this year. (All your twitter flails helped convince me to buy it!)

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  5. The Poppy War, The Cruel Prince, Trail of Lightning and The Astonishing Colour of After all made it into my own top ten for the year! They are all such amazing books, and I read two of them because of your posts! Thank you for giving such amazing recommendations 🙂

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  6. I need to get my act together this year and read Spinning Silver, Muse of Nightmares, Iron Gold, Circe, and The Poppy War. All but one of them have been sitting on my shelves for ages and whilst I intended to read them, I never got around to them. Hopefully I’ll remedy that at some point in the year.

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  7. Love seeing these posts at the end of the year. It’s so interesting to see everyone’s favourites. I loved Circe too – I still need to read Iron Gold and Muse of Nightmare. 🙂

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  10. You read so many books with pretty covers this year! I’ve read none of these, but I want to get to The Astonishing Color of After since I’ve seen multiple people raving about it. I just need to be in the mood for heartbreak, it seems. xD

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  11. I’ve been hearing so many amazing things about The Poppy War, it’s been a while since a debut get this much hyped so I’m super excited! I plan to read The Cruel Prince this month, hopefully I’ll love it as much as you did ❤ My favorite read of 2018 was The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, it totally crushed me!

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  13. I love every single one of your posts, your graphics are always so stunning ❤ I'm so happy to see The Astonishing Color of After on your list, I really fell in love with this book as well, it was so, so beautiful and emotional and heartbreaking, too ❤

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  14. The Poppy War is up there in my favorite books of 2018, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite books of all time. I think I have you to thank for that. I saw you tweeting about it, and when I saw it at the book store I remembered how highly you spoke of it and decided to pick it up. So thank you for introducing me to one of my new favorite books. ❤️

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  20. I’ve been meaning to read Circe since it was released – this list makes me realise I must must must get around to it soon! I hadn’t heard of The Astonishing Colour of After but it sounds amazing, as does The Poppy War. Another few for the TBR list!

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  21. I’ve only read the cruel prince from this list and I’ve enjoyed it! 😍 I’m looking forward to read Iron gold, the poppy war, and muse. I have a feeling I’ll enjoy them all!

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  22. You’ve read such amaizing books! In 2018 I’ve catxh up with ACOTAR, read all of them! Loved ACOMAF!!!😍😍 But with TOG I’m behind with the last book. I know this year I’ll finish it!

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  23. All of these books sound gorgeous, and you’ve reminded me of how badly I need to read some of them, particularly The Astonishing Colour of After. I’m not sure if it’s classified as magical realism or not, but books that create that perfect intersection of contemporary and fantasy are some of my favourites, and this book sounds like it will do just that.

    I have also heard so many brilliant things about The Cruel Prince. It’s been so long since I’ve read a stabby fairy book and I think this may satisfy the lack of that particular subgenre in my life.

    I hope 2019 brings you more magical books!

    My 2018 in Books

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  25. Oh my gosh, these graphics are gorgeous! I’ve heard so many good things about The Poppy War, but I haven’t yet got myself a copy. Looks like that’s on the cards for 2019 🙂

    I think one of my favourite 2018 reads was The Wrath and the Dawn series by Renee Ahdieh. I didn’t have high hopes for it but in the end I was hooked on their romance!

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