I wanted to end the year on a high note, and there’s no higher note to end on on a book blog than a post glorifying books.

So I’m going to be highlighting my 5 star reads from the past year. Let’s get started!

Note: Despite this being a numbered list, it is not ranked in terms of how much I enjoyed these books. It isn’t ranked at all, actually. It’s just organized in the order that I read them.

1. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab: I loved this book sooo much. The magic system. The world building. The setting. It was just. Amazing. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read actually.
2. Gilded (Gilded #1) by Marissa Meyer: I absolutely loved this book. Just… so, so good. Marissa Meyer is truly the queen of fairytale retellings.
3. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton: This book got me out of a reading slump near the beginning of the year. Going into this book, I had a feeling that I would enjoy it a fair amount, but I was surprised just how much I enjoyed it.
4. Summer Knight (Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher: I started The Dresden Files very soon after finishing Mickey7 actually, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this series as a whole, as well. (Books 1 – 7 at least – I just... I haven’t gotten to reading the rest of the series yet, okay?!?) I only gave two of the books perfect 5 star ratings, however, and Summer Knight was one of them.
5. Death Masks (Dresden Files #5) by Jim Butcher: I almost enjoyed this more than Summer Knight if it were possible. Everything was absolutely perfect in this novel: the plot, the characters, the sass. I loved this book. (Note: I haven’t reviewed this series yet on the blog because I’m planning to do a massive review like with The Murderbot Diaries when I finish the entire series.)
6. The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells: Okay, so I’m cheating a bit here. I didn’t rate all of the novellas in this series perfectly. There were two that I gave 4.5 stars. But, as a whole, this series is definitely a 5 out of 5 for me. And the only reason those two even got that score was because they were just the slightest bit less than perfect. But I still consider this to be a perfect series.
7. The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding (Prosper Redding #1) by Alexandra Bracken: This was another unexpected surprise. I knew going into it that I would like this book, but once again, I was surprised by just how much. I just… I really loved everything about this one.