During 2016 I found myself falling back in love with reading, as it was one of my New Years Resolutions to read more, and yes, I actually stuck to it. I read quite a few books during the year and there were definitely some good'un in there, so I've just had a little scan of my bookshelf to pick out my absolute faves from the year. I've tried to narrow it down as much as possible (there we so many books I enjoyed!). These are the ones which I found really held a special place in my heart. I always think you know a book is well written when you find the character popping into your head months afterwards, as if they're are old friends you once knew (...please say I'm not the only this happens to?!), or when you feel the need to share the book with the world or you find yourself really feeling something.

I've got a bit of a mixture here, so they're something for everyone, and no, they're not all fiction either!

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo - This book I felt was really special, it's a young adult fictional story about a Transgender Teen Girl. Firstly I thought this book was great because I think Trans identity isn't something often covered in Young Adult books, so straight off the bat, it was unlike anything I'd ever read before. I found this book really eye opening, although it is fictional, I felt I learnt a lot, and found myself rooting for the main character throughout as I became aware of here struggles.  I've not that I know of met anyone who is transgender, and (maybe) selfishly have never thought about it in much depth because it's not part of my life - so this book was extremely eye opening. Alongside this the book covers many other themes, there's a lot of general teenage struggles running throughout, sexuality, religion, parent/child relationships and there is also underlying romance - and I do love a good romance. I was a little disappointed by the ending of this book, but I struggled to put it down nonetheless.  I just wanted to learn more about the characters, and it did pull on the heartstrings slightly.


We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - I won't chirp on about this one too much, as I wrote a full blog post on it as soon as I finished reading which you can find here. This book is again a young adult fictional book. The language used throughout is beautiful, and there's a huge twist in the story. There is an air of mystery to the story Cady does not remember what happened one Summer on her Grandparents private island, after a few more visits, she begins to uncover what's happened and I'll just say, it was not what I expected - it took me a little while to realise what was going on, and just how clever the book is.


Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon - Another young adult fiction book with a bit of a twist, which you can find my full review of here. The book is about a girl who is allergic to basically the world, so she has lived a pretty shelter life, and then, of course, she meets a boy. I loved this books, I thought it was very special and the characters were very interesting and seemed to just fit together. The story touches on illness, death, life online, domestic abuse and more - there's a lot covered in this fairly short books and it's written in a simple, yet beautiful way with the odd few wonderful illustrations.


Everyday by David Levithan - This is a book a really loved because I think the idea behind it is so original. The main character of the book inhabits the body of somebody new (but of the same age, close by) each day. This character is neither male or female and does not have a body of their own but despite all this main character has such a strong personality, which I think is just down to good writing - although the concept is utter bizarre, this book really works and feels very real. The story is about how life changes as the main character finds him/herself falling in love, and finding a reason to want to belong somewhere, and somebody to chase. I loved reading this book, although there was one point in the middle it found it got a little weird (weirder than the rest I mean). The ending also felt very right, although I expect many people may disagree - I wrote a full review on it which you can find here.


Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Nivan - This is the last of the fictional books which I have to recommend to you. Holding up the universe is written in two different perspectives - there's Libby who was once the largest teen in America, and then there is Jack who cannot recognise faces. The story is about how their struggles bring the characters together. Both characters are so interesting, and the story messes slightly with the idea of fate which I love in a book... as I did with the others, I wrote a review on this book shortly after finish it, which you can find here.


The Modern Love by Will Darbyshire - Slightly different from the rest of the bunch, but this book is a collection of love letters written by different people of different ages, from different places. I love everything about this, the idea is just lovely. It's so relatable, and it's interesting to hear a different range of voices. This book just makes you feel something. It also makes a great addition to your coffee table. I wrote a full review on this one here.


CTRL ALT Delete How I Grew Up Online by Emma Gannon - This book is incredible, it's hilarious, brutally honest, well written and oh so relatable if you grew around the same time as Emma. This is the only book to make me laugh out loud. Seriously, early on in the book when Emma talks about her first blow job giving experience I seriously LOLed and cringed for her - in a good way. This book is just pure genius. My full review is here.


Bloom Navigating Life and Style by Estée Lalonde - Firstly this book is bloody beautiful, and then secondly the content is so much more interesting and well written than I'd expected. I'm a big fan of Estée so I was intrigued to read this, but to be honest I didn't expect the to be unable to put it down. I literally read the whole thing in a day. The book touches on so many different topics and is quite varied throughout - also Estée's voice is clear throughout so you can really tell she wrote each word. Anyway, you can find my full review here.



Well... well done if you made it through that rather lengthy post! I'd love to hear what your thoughts were on any of these books, and your favourites books of the year just gone! X