The 10 Best Books I Read in 2019
This year I set the lofty goal on Goodreads to read 50 books. Well due to busyness and the fact that I didn’t make reading the priority that I should have, I did not reach this goal. But I did read some fantastic books this year. In no particular order:
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Beartown is the story of a small town where hockey is at the center of everything. The community is slowly failing and the town is focusing on their hockey team and it’s star player. It tells the story of teenage love, struggles, teamwork, families supporting each other, and what happens when you let someone become too important.
This story started slow and I didn’t think that I was going to like it. I am not a big hockey fan and I was afraid that the story would focus too much on that. After reading about 1/3 of the book, I fell in love. I loved the characters and reading about their journeys. This story was really moving and I immediately felt that I had to read the sequel, Us Against You.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
This was a book club choice for this year. It is an exciting thriller about a woman who shoots her husband and then goes silent. It also tells the story of the young psychologist who is determined to get to the root of her problems and make her speak again. This story had some unexpected twists and turns and kept me captivated from start to finish.
The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand did not disappoint with her attempt to write a mystery. The Perfect Couple is a novel about a wedding on Nantucket, but the morning of the wedding, the maid of honor is found dead in the water. This story walks you through the secrets and skeletons of all of the characters as the police try to figure out what happened.
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
I am a fan of Liane Moriarty’s writing and have enjoyed all of the books of hers that I have read. She keeps me entertained and makes me care about her characters. But, this book I found difficult to get through. In the first two-thirds of the book, I felt dragged and I just kept reading because I don’t like to give up on books.
But, as I got to the last third of the book, the whole mood and tempo of the book changed. All of a sudden there were a few twists and turns and I couldn’t put the book down. I absolutely had to know how it would end and what would happen to the characters. I can’t say that I would recommend this book because the beginning was challenging to get through but I would be interested to see how other people felt about it.
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
I love Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian trilogy. All of these stories are entertaining, engaging and you relate to Rachel and Nick, two of the main characters. The second book in the series did not disappoint. It is set around Nick and Rachel’s wedding. This novel was face-paced and I think I read the entire thing in just over 24 hours.
Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand
I was a big fan of Hilderband’s years ago but in the past few years I have found her books boring. While this year I read two of her books that I loved and I am super excited. Summer of ’69 is the story of a family during…. the year 1969, surprising, I know! Kate Levin is a mother of four whose sun Tiger was just drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. She is beside herself with dread because she feels like it is payback for a choice she made years prior.
Kate goes to Nantucket to spend the summer with her three daughters, and her mother on Nantucket. This novel tells all of their stories. This novel is a story of learning who you are, what you stand for, and where you can put your trust. It was a really good story that was a pretty light read.
It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke
This is the story of a young nurse and her patient. Ronni is a nurse who meets Violet. After Violet passes, Ronni finds out that Violet has left her a large sum of money on the stipulation that she write a book about Violet’s life within a year. Ronni, an aspiring writer, is overwhelmed by this premise. But through the process of researching Violet’s life, she uncovers so many amazing stories from Violet’s past. This was a great read, my book club loved it…and we never agree!
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak
The Birch family is quarantined over Christmas and they all have to live together in the family’s estate for a week. The family has not all been together for a long time. Olivia, the doctor in the family, comes home from treating an epidemic overseas and because of that, they are all mandated to be quarantined.
During their quarantine, they find out that some members of their family are holding life-changing secrets. This story is a heart-warming story about a family that is forced to deal with their problems together.
Rich People Problems
I loved the second book in the series so much that I immediately went and found the third book at my local library. This book did not disappoint. The third book in the series continues to follow the lives of Nick and Rachel, as well as Kitty, Astrid, and the rest of the crew. This book gave a satisfying ending to a great trilogy. Although I did get on google hoping to find out that the series would continue, I couldn’t find evidence of that anywhere.
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