A Month of Faves: Best Books of 2021 (Published in 2021)

A Month of Faves is hosted by Kim and Tanya at girlxoxo.com.

The topic is the best books of 2021 but today I thought I’d focus on the books that came out this year and then tomorrow I might go into the ones that weren’t.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers stands out to me. Fugitive Telemetry was a great addition to the Murderbot series and A Psalm for the Wild-Built was so good as well. But Ground Within included a character I was already familiar with so I connected a lot faster. Also, it was an unexpected ending to the series and that was bittersweet.

A Vow so Bold and Deadly and Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer are tough competitors. Deadly was a conclusion to a trilogy so I had higher expectations. It didn’t get a perfect score but it landed well. Defy the Night was a fun adventure romance and I have only mild complaints.

The Heir, The Rebel, The Bully, and The Spy by Sophie Lark were a pleasant surprise. I blew right through this dark romance series.

I couldn’t pick a favorite between One Great Lie by Deb Caletti, Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean, and Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson. All three are contemporary young adult books with romance and the cities they go to play a major role in all three.

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri might be the only contemporary literary fiction I read from this year. So it doesn’t have any true competition but I still recommend it.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green has a similar situation being the only nonfiction from this year but so good.

Of the graphic novels I read on the Goodreads award nomination list, Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall stood out.

I found The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik to have a bunch of flaws but that ending has stuck with me still.

Did you read any of these? What did you think?