Love it or Leave it: What I Read in 2021
Reading has always been a constant in my life, whether it was for school, pleasure, or work. But how much I read in my free time has varied from over-the-top-consumed to can’t-be-bothered. Finally last year I dedicated a lot more of my free time to getting through some of my to-read list. Luckily, I was able to keep up the momentum this year! Here’s what took up most of my time in 2021.
My 2021 Top 5 Reads
I’ll start with my top 5 of the 70 books I read, which are all over the place, and themselves are in no particular order.
Yearbook
GoodReads: “I talk about my grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, and tell way more stories about doing drugs than my mother would like. I also talk about some of my adventures in Los Angeles, and surely say things about other famous people that will create a wildly awkward conversation for me at a party one day.”
Verdict: Love it. I enjoy Seth Rogen’s movies, but I wouldn’t call myself a fanatic. Curiosity over his personal life (I love how involved he is in causes close to his heart) led me to pick up his first book and I was not disappointed. I tore through it, laughing all the way. Some interesting celebrity stories, some relatable growing up memories, and a few interesting behind-the-scenes bits.
The Carrow Haunt
GoodReads: “Remy, a tour guide for Carrow House, a notoriously haunted building is asked to host seven guests for a week-long stay to research Carrow's phenomena.”
Verdict: Love it. I used to be a very big fan of supernatural books. In recent years I moved more towards fantasy, but around Halloween I got a real impulse to get back into some spooky reads. I came across Darcy Coates’ work, and devoured quite a few of her books. This, by far, was my favourite. It was fast-paced, had great character development, and kept me on my toes. It’s the perfect combination of Clue meets American Horror Story meets Hill House.
A Court of Silver Flames
GoodReads: “Nesta Archeron has struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court.”
Verdict: Love it. I may not be unique in my love of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, but I just can’t get enough. I think this book might be my favourite of the series so far. It was empowering and realistic (in terms of personal traumas) and I couldn’t set it down from cover to cover.
Make it stand out
Goodreads: “With an almost immediate connection too intense for them to continue denying, Beyah and Samson agree to stay in the shallow end of a summer fling. What Beyah doesn't realize is that a rip current is coming, and it's about to drag her heart out to sea.”
Verdict: Love it. Ugh. My heart is beating faster just thinking about this book. I’m not a big romantic book person, but this was gripping. It’s a great beach read and super quick to get through. Read it!!!!
Under the Whispering Door
Goodreads: “On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop's owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.”
Verdict: Love it: If there’s one book I’d recommend the most this year, it’s probably this one. Equally heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is the most modern (and post-mortal) love story I’ve ever read, and I’m obsessed. It gave me all the good, cosy feels. So so so charming and beautiful. These characters quickly feel like your own family.
My 2021 Reads
I did much, much more reading throughout the year. Here are the rest of the books I picked up:
Make it stand out
Goodreads: “Humanity has conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.”
Verdict: Love it. I read 2 of the trilogy in full and 80% of the third book in 2021 but much preferred the first two books. Neal Shusterman is great for taking really interesting, complex thoughts and making them digestible. Love the characters, love the concept, love that it gets you thinking.
The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow
GoodReads: “Tragedy strikes when the body of a student is discovered at a boarding school’s exclusive summer party - on her back is an elaborate tattoo of a magpie.”
Verdict: Like it. This is the type of book that would normally be right up my alley. Spooky boarding school in the English countryside, murder, secret group, mystery. The book itself is written by two authors, and I actually much preferred the more mature style of Zoe Sugg to Amy McCulloch. It was a quick and easy read, but the reason I didn’t love it is it left me on a complete cliffhanger. Usually, a mystery book has some resolution at the end! It felt like a lot of build-up for no satisfaction. The second book did come out at the end of the year but I have not read it yet.
Craven Manor
GoodReads: “Daniel moves into the groundskeeper's cottage tucked away behind the old family crypt. But when a candle flickers to life in the abandoned tower window, Daniel realizes he isn't alone after all.
Verdict: Love it. Another very spooky read from Darcy Coates, this one was a classic “What’s locked in the tower?” story. It had great imagery, a lot of twists and turns, and a satisfying ending.
Grandma Gatewood's Walk
GoodReads: “This genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother walked the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail.”
Verdict: Leave it. This one broke my heart. A couple of gal pals and I got talking about Grandma Gatewood’s story, and saw that there was a book about her time on the AT. I decided to give it a go in hopes of some inspiration. Now, I do think that Grandma Gatewood herself is inspiring. But for me this book fell flat. It was slow-paced, spoke much more of the history at the time than her time on the trail, and lacked personality.
It Gets Worse and I Hate My Selfie
“A collection of eighteen personal essays about how messy life can get when you’re growing up and how rewarding it can feel when the clean-up is (pretty much) done.”
“From cult-like Christian after-school activities, dressing in drag, and losing his virginity, to hiring a psychic, clashes with celebrities, and coming to terms with his bisexuality.”
Verdict: Leave it. A true millennial, I have watched YouTubers for a good chunk of my life. I didn’t start watching Shane Dawson until more recent years, when I watched Lisbug, but was curious to give these a read amongst all of his recent scandals. I think unfortunately both of these books are still very much of his old persona, so while I didn’t hate the stories, I think some of the jokes didn’t hit their mark. Would lean more towards like it than leave it on the second one, but the two together I’ll give a leave it.
The Haunting of Ashburn House
GoodReads: “Following Edith's death, her sole surviving relative, Adrienne, inherits Ashburn House. Strange messages have been etched into the wallpaper, an old grave is hidden in the forest behind the house, and eerie portraits in the upstairs hall seem to watch her every movement.”
Verdict: Love it. There’s nothing new about this book. It’s any classic scary story rolled up into one. But that’s what makes it a delicious read. It’s quick, easy, spooky, and the perfect book to get you in the mood for the Halloween season.
Ice Planet Barbarians
GoodReads: “The aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet.”
The verdict: (Oh boy, here’s where we get controversial) Love it. I spent farrrr too much time in the first half of the year on TikTok. Of course I started seeing IPB everywhere. Then, my book soulmate read it, and liked it, which was the tipping point for me. There’s a lot of these books. And they’re all absolutely rifdiclous. But they’re brain candy - they’re so fun to read - I even read the Icehome series that is a sort of spinoff of this one!
The Truly Devious Series
GoodReads: “Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder. “
Verdict: Leave it. Like Magpie Society, this sounded perfect for me. But the reveals were too slow and the writing was too childish to really hook me in properly.
Never Have I Ever
GoodReads: “To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets.”
Verdict: Like it. I really wasn’t sure which way this was going to end, but it had one hell of a twist. It definitely got me thinking after. It had interesting character development and tied in twists to a few different plots, which was nice.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
GoodReads: “Linus Baker, a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, leads a quiet, solitary life until he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside.”
Verdict: Love it. This book is simply cosy. It was warm characters and is relatable for anyone working in a corporate job. It was fantastical but not too childish. Nostalgia without the memories. Definitely recommend for all ages.
Red White & Royal Blue
Goodreads: “[First Son] Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with [Prince of Wales] Henry that could upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice?”
Verdict: Like it. Like I said earlier, I’m not a rom-com-in-book-form kinda gal. But it seemed like everyone and their mom was raving about this book so I finally picked it up. Actually, I listened to it on Audible - and I think that contributed to my liking it! Really enjoyed the tension between the two, the character development, and the no-holding-back storytelling. Super cute!
The House Next Door
Goodreads: “I live next to a haunted house. I never intended to become involved with the building or its vengeful, dead inhabitant. But now I have to save my new neighbour... before it's too late for the both of us.”
Verdict: Like it. Usually stories are told from the POV inside the haunted house, not next to it. I enjoyed the different takes on the haunting from the two women.
The Folcroft Ghosts
Goodreads: “An empty journal and locked room provide clues to the unforgivable lies, secrets and decades-old murders entwined with the Folcrofts' history.”
Verdict: Like it. This was a really interesting take on hauntings and family. Loved the twist ending and was rooting for the siblings through the whole book. Feels like something I would’ve read as a pre-teen so there was a nostalgia to it for me.
The Cousins
Goodreads: “Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins. When they each receive a letter inviting them to work at their rich and reclusive grandmother’s island resort for the summer, they're surprised... and curious.”
Verdict: Leave it. I loved “One of Us is Lying”. But this story just didn’t have the same chemistry between characters and character development for me. I did, admittedly, enjoy the twist ending, but was it worth trudging through the rest of the story to get there? Nah.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Goodreads: “Everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.”
Verdict: Like it, verging on leave it. I love the concept of this book: a girl who is quite literally, by deal with the devil, forgettable. I just wish it hadn’t been so, so very slow. It had a nice ending to wrap up the story, though, so I’ll stick with “like it’.
The Guest List
Goodreads: “The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body”
Verdict: Like it. I love that this was set in Ireland. It had some lovely imagery but I don’t think the twists and turns were very unpredictable, and the story along the way to get to them felt quite slow and dragged until almost the very end.
The Desolations of Devil’s Acre
Goodreads: “Risen from the Library of Souls and more powerful than ever, Caul and his apocalyptic agenda seem unstoppable. Only one hope remains.”
Verdict: Leave it. The Miss Peregrine series is without a doubt one of my all-time favourite series. So I was both excited and sad for it to come to and end. This book felt like the wrong send-off for me. I admittedly never got attached to Noor’s character but the book as a whole seemed all over the place and sloppy.
A Deadly Education
Goodreads: “Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets.”
Verdict: Leave it. This book had the right recipe for me to fall in love, but failed to deliver. I’m truly not sure how it has such a following, but I absolutely will not be reading the second book that was release in 2021.
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered
Goodreads: “Sharing never-before-heard stories ranging from their struggles with depression, eating disorders, and addiction, Karen and Georgia irreverently recount their biggest mistakes and deepest fears, reflecting on the formative life events that shaped them into two of the most followed voices in the nation.”
Verdict: Leave it. This one breaks my heart because I absolutely love Karen and Georgia and their podcast, but it was much, much too rambly for me to even finish. I probably would’ve listened to it on audio but then it’s basically just like the podcast so it nearly feels like “what’s the point?”. The stories were too dragged out and there wasn’t really a flow to the book as a whole. I have to pass on this one.
If there are any books you think I just have to read, please leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to my TBR list for 2022!