It has been a while since I shared what I’ve been reading on here, and I got the idea from TikTok to share the top 10 books I read this year! And I read a lot of books in 2021. 76 to be exact. Not all of these were published in the year 2021, but they stood out as my favorites!
10. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
I love everything Brené does, and this book was no exception! This one was recommended to me by a leadership coach I worked with. It really changed my mindset when I read it, especially in regards to vulnerability, which we know Brené is an expert in! I feel like her books should be required reading for everyone.
9. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
This was a really good thriller with an ending I didn’t see coming! One of my favorites I’ve read by Sager. It is about a woman who returns to work at the summer camp she attended as a child – the summer camp where three of her cabin-mates went missing. It’s spooky and very fascinating! Would make a great summertime thriller if that’s your thing.
8. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
This was just such an amazing read. It’s long but so worth it. It’s written by a therapist about some of her patients (with details changed, of course) and also about her own experience in therapy. It was funny and sad and happy! And further enforced my belief that we should all be in therapy.
7. Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker
Another really well-written thriller. A woman disappears one night when driving home from her son’s boarding school. The police think she’s just a woman who wanted to run away from her life, but her daughter isn’t buying it. It’s told from both the mother and daughter’s perspectives which was different, and I really liked it. Definitely creepy!
6. A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
This was a thought-provoking and oftentimes dark story of the reality of Palestinian women living in America. Alternating from 18-year-old Daya’s point of view and her late mother’s, it follows Daya as she learns more about her family history. Very emotional, but really good. I especially loved Daya!
5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
This book! I absolutely loved it. A woman is between life and death, and finds herself in the ‘midnight library’ where she can pick a book and live an infinite amount of different lives. It was such a fascinating take on life/death and whatever happens in-between and beautifully written!
4. The Push by Ashley Audrain
I love a psychological thriller and this was one of the best I’ve read. It’s about a mother who struggles to connect with her firstborn daughter, and even begins to think something might be wrong with her child. It eventually leads to the end of her marriage, and the woman goes to lengths to prove what she believes she knows about her daughter. It’s a slow burn, but I was hooked and I would love a sequel. Or a TV series/movie!
3. Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin
I thought this book was so different from anything I’ve ever read before and I loved it. It follows a woman who becomes a play group musician for a bunch of wealthy Upper East Side moms. It discusses influencing, motherhood, and it comes with a twist I never saw coming. I love how Hankin writes and develops each of the characters. A must-read if you ask me!
2. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
McQuiston writes the aboslute best LGBTQIA+ novels. If you haven’t read Red, White, & Royal Blue STOP EVERYTHING and go read it. And then read this one. August meets a girl on her subway train, and can’t stop thinking about her. After a while she realizes something supernatural might be going on, because this girl on the subway isn’t from modern times. This one was so different and unexpected. I was just rooting so hard for the main characters to be together!
1. Breathless by Jennifer Niven
I gush about this book all the time, but it is truly one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ve even gifted it to multiple friends because I want them to love it as much as I do! It follows a girl named Claude the summer after her senior year of high school. She has big plans before college, but plans change quickly when she finds out her parents are separating and she is going to stay with her mom on a small island off the coast of Georgia. It’s just so beautifully written and felt very relatable to me.
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