Tag Tuesday: Top 5 Books I’m Glad I Read This Year That Weren’t Favorites!!

Hi friends! I’m so excited for this week’d Top 5 Tuesday topic, hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. Officially, it’s 5 books you’re glad you read, but I wanted to do a slight twist because well…I’m a rebel. There are definitely some books this year that I’m so happy I read, but aren’t favorites of the year or anything. But I still want to talk about them! So let’s do this!

This is truly a beautiful book. It’s heavy, full of grief and sadness and pain. Yet, set against the backdrop of Hawaii, it’s also a book about joy and music and friendship. Everything from the dialogue, to the setting, to the themes, to the cover itself is the very essence of a well-written contemporary. I might not have this on my favorites this year but I truly am so happy that I read this.

What might come as a surprise to some of you is that I first read the Charlotte Holmes series right as I began discovering the book world. Booktube, book blogs, Goodreads, sites like Epic Reads…I wanted to binge every series ever. And this was one of the first! Sadly, I um kinda disliked the second and quit reading. But this year, I finally finished the Charlotte Holmes series as part of my effort to whittle down my oldest TBR. And I’m so glad I did??? This was such a good series minus the second book.

Speaking of conclusions, I’m glad I read this. Although, unlike the rest, it wasn’t necessarily because I enjoyed it*. The Stalking Jack The Ripper series is possibly one of the most hit-or-miss series I’ve ever read, and this conclusion confirms that, in my opinion, it just goes downhill after the second book. While I love Thomas and Audrey Rose’s relationship, and seeing what happened to them, I hated the non-existent mystery. Still, I’m glad I got the closure I did!

*my review has actually been sitting in my drafts FOREVER because idk if i’m being too harsh or not harsh enough

The first half of this book is honestly one of the strongest I’ve ever read. It’s beyond atmospheric, rich with poetic words, with an underlying tone of creepy uneasiness that compels you to continue reading late into the night. However, the romance and confusing mythology of the second half prevented me from totally loving this. Still, this is genuinely one of the books I’m most thankful I read this year!

While this is, in my opinion, one of the more predictably basic YA books I’ve read. However, the magic system is so fascinating, and the character dynamics so intriguing, I couldn’t help but enjoy myself nearly the whole time! I’m still on the fence about reading the sequel but this really wasn’t a bad read at all.

So that’s it! Tell me: what’s a book you’re glad you read this year, favorite or not?

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