I typically talk about what I’m reading in my These Are a Few Of My Favorite Things blog posts. I still plan to mention them there going forward but I want to do more in-depth book reviews! I’ll save this for books I really really like and want to either recommend or further discuss with others that have read the book.
Today I wanted to highlight some of my absolute favorite books I read this year. The books that I’m constantly recommending and can’t stop thinking about.
Also… a 2020 goal of mine? To start actually using my GoodReads account. I spent a solid 45 minutes looking at my bookshelf trying to remember what books I actually read in 2019 for this blog post. It all starts to blend together! Here’s to tracking all my reads in the new year 😂
The Best Books I Read This Year:
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
I could talk about this book for hours (… anyone wanna talk about this book with me for hours? There are SO many things I want to discuss!!)
I was super hesitant to read Three Women. Non-fiction isn’t my jam these days and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get into it the way fiction books just pull me in. It ended up totally pulled me in. Within the first 24-hours of picking it up from the library, I had already read the first 100 pages. That’s WAY more than I usually read in one day.
Three Women is the story of, you guessed it, three women. Lisa Taddeo spent 8 years with these real humans capturing the intimate details of their lives and in particular their sex lives. The intimate nature of the book and writing style reads almost like fiction. There were a number of times I had to remind myself that the story in the book really did happen. It’s not made up characters doing questionable things, these are real-life people.
The overarching theme of the book explores female desire and how it relates to these very different women:
Maggie, a woman now in her early 20’s who had an affair with her teacher in high school. She decides to report him a few years later to the police and the book follows the subsequent trial.
Lina, a lonely housewife in the midwest who’s husband no longer has any interest in her. She reconnects with her high school boyfriend on Facebook and starts an interesting affair with him.
And Sloane, a restauranter in Rhode Island with an open marriage to her husband and complicated past.
I found myself the most captivated by Maggie’s story. I think this is because of her age whereas the other women in the book seemed so much older than me and in different stages of their lives.
I’ll argue that it was the BEST book I read this year. But it’s a weird book to call your FAVORITE. It’s dark. It’s pretty sad. And it’s tough to digest at times. But holy moly is it well written and thought-provoking.
Even if you’re usually a fiction junkie like me, I still highly recommend this book.
My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren.
Totally switching gears to a radically different book… I loved loved loved My Favorite Half-Night Stand.
I read 4 Christina Lauren books throughout the year:
- The Unhoneymooners
- Love and Other Words
- Josh and Hazel’s Guide To Not Dating
- My Favorite Half-Night Stand.
My Favorite Half-Night Stand is hands-down my favorite of the bunch — although I did enjoy the others a lot!
This book is my favorite kind of fiction: it’s a fun quick read, the characters are great and you find yourself really really wanting to read more.
My Favorite Half-Night Stand is about tomboy Millie and her group of platonic male BFFs that she spends all her time with. Everything is going great until she accidentally hooks up with her best friend, Reid.
To make matters more complicated Millie and her friends have decided to give online dating a whirl as a way to get dates for an upcoming black-tie benefit at the university they work at together. While the guys seem to be having awesome luck on the apps, Millie is inundated with dick pics. She decides to create a new persona on the app: Catherine. A more vulnerable, fictional version of Millie. Catherine and Reid end up matching to make matters even more awkward between them.
Yes, it’s a predictable rom-com love story. But something about the characters, in particular, Reid and Millie, just totally sucked me in. Christina Lauren (they’re a writing duo and not one person!) just have a way of writing characters that you can both relate to but also want to be best friends with.
If you’re heading somewhere warm this winter, this is the perfect beach read for you.
Love At First Like by Hannah Orenstein 
I read Hannah Orenstein’s first novel Playing with Matches in the span of one day. I think it’s legit the only book I’ve ever finished in less than 24 hours. Needless to say, I was hyped to get my hands on her second book Love At First Like.
The book hits a lot of my sweet spots: it takes place in New York. It heavily discusses social media (hey I did get my master’s degree in this stuff!). And it’s got a strong, entrepreneur as the leading lady. Also: how damn cute is the book cover? I just wanted to plaster it all over my ‘gram while I was reading it.
Eliza owns a chic, Brooklyn-based, jewelry store with her sister. After finding out her ex is newly engaged, Eliza accidentally posts a picture of her wearing one of her company’s rings to instagram. Of course the picture instantly blows up (as engagement pics tend to on the ‘gram). Not only does the picture blow up, but so does her jewelry business. Eliza’s (fake) proposal brings in a whole lot of sales. Instead of deleting the pic she decides to roll with it.
Brands start reaching out to her offering free wedding services in exchange for social media coverage. The problem is: there is no wedding. And there’s no groom to marry.
Eliza immediately hits the dating apps looking for a suitor to marry (quickly) so this whole scheme goes off without a hitch. It’s the ultimate publicity stunt for her struggling jewelry business.
I don’t think I loved it as much as Playing With Matches, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Hannah Orenstein’s third book comes out in 2020: Heads Over Heels. I. Cannot. Wait.
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I’ve devoured every book written by Taylor Jenkins Reid. But none have received more hyped than Daisy Jones and The Six. It was an immediate Reese’s book club pick and is already being developed into a movie.
This book is way different than anything else she’s written. It reads like a documentary and follows the rise of a 1970’s mega rock and roll band The Six through interviews with members of the band.
It’s a bit confusing at times. Some of the band members lack depth and kind of blend together. It also drags on.
The storytelling is really magical, though. I’ve heard from a number of people that they thought it was based on a real band, that’s how in-depth these fictional interviews feel. Supposedly the book is (very loosely) based on Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Overall it’s just really good fiction and impressive storytelling.
Ultimately I liked the book but it’s not my favorite book by TJR. I like everything by her a lot but Maybe In Another Life may take the cake.
The ending of Daisy Jones totally crushed me and made it oh so worth it. I’m excited to see what’s next from TJR. It’s been way cool to follow her journey as an author over the years.
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
I read both The Proposal and The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory this year. I also need to read the third book in this “series” The Wedding Party.
They all take place in the same world but each focuses on a different pair of characters. I accidentally read The Proposal first, even though The Wedding Date takes place first chronologically speaking. Choosing my favorite of the two I read is tough, but I think The Proposal roped me in a bit more.
The Proposal kicks off with Nikole’s boyfriend of 5 months proposing to her on the jumbotron during a Dodgers game.
Nikole says no to the proposal. Much to the horror of EVERYONE sitting around her at the baseball game. Luckily Carolos and his sister come to Nik’s rescue at the game and offer her a ride home. Carlos and Nik end up hitting it off. And so begins Nik and Carlos’ friendship. Eventually, this leads to them hooking up and setting up ground rules for the nature of their relationship.
It’s a delightful, quick, read with characters you’ll definitely fall in love with. Jasmine Guillory has this fun way of really sucking you in and making you want to spend more time with her characters. I personally also loved all the LA aspects of the book. Reading about my home away from home always makes me happy 🙂
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