“He was asleep, but woke at the sound of the key turning in the lock.”
First line in The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Hi, readers and welcome to another Top 5 Tuesday, which is so wonderfully hosted by Shanah from Bionic Bookworm. Head over to her blog to see the rest of the topics for December.
Today, we’re talking about our surprising reads of 2019. I’m notsome who reads books I expect to hate but there are still those books I taka chance knowing they might not be for me. This is a list of the books that proved that stepping out of my comfort zones can be the best decision.
The Binding by Bridget Collins
I saw this book at the bookstore and, honestly, I just bought it because it was pretty. Luckily, the story inside turned out to be just as beautiful. It’s set in an alternate 19th century England where people can get rid of their memories by binding them to books. The writing is atmospheric and the characters are easy to latch onto.
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
The second book in the adult historical fantasy series Winternight Trilogy was probably the biggest surprise of the year. I like the first alright, but it was only a 3-star book for me so I actually waited quite a long time before I picked up The Girl in the Tower. When I’d read it I would have given it more than 5 stars on Goodreads if only I could. That’s how much I loved it.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
It’s been a minute since this one has made an apperance on my blog. If you’re new then I need to tell you that this is my favorite book of the year. That’s surprising because the book is literary fiction… which I don’t read. However, A Little Life grabbed hold of my heart and wouldn’t let go. It still hasn’t even though I read it 10 months ago.
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
Even though I only gave this one 4 stars, it was still a pleasant surprise to me. I expected to feel more indifferent about this as I has been a while since I loved a book in this universe. I ended up flying through its almost 1,000 pages in less than a week. I didn’t care about the main characters but all the side characters gave me life. I really want more of those.
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Again, we have a sequel where I didn’t love the first book in the series. Lucky that I’m so stubborn and refuse to quit series. The Queen of Attolia greatly expands the world in series of The Queen’s Thief. I also got even more of one of my all-time favorite characters, Eugenides, and I’m overall so greatful for this series.
This was very fun to put together. Some of these I’d completely forgotten that I read in 2019. I’d love to know some of your surprising reads of the year and why you were surprised by them. Have a great day!
First Line Reader 
I ADORED The Binding!!!!! It’s up in my list of top 5s read this year for sure.
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So happy to hear that! I feel like it’s such an underrated book and it deserve more attention.
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Ugh….. A Little Life……. I need to read that! I actually started it this year but never finished it. It wasn’t that I wasn’t liking it though! I just wasn’t in the right mood for it. So many people say that it’s their favourite book of all time and it killed their emotions. I want to be in the right mood for it so I can fall in love too! Great list š
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Completely understand you. Crossing my fingers and hoping you get to experience its greatness soon š
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I totally agree with you on Queen of Air and Darkness!
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