Review of 2018 Books: The Stats, the Surprises, the Disappointments and the Best of the Best

I guess it is about time I wrap up my 2018 reading year since we are well into 2019 already.

2018 Reading Stats:

In 2018 I read a total of 324 books (give or take a couple that aren't on Goodreads)

broken down that is 40,307 pages and

616:20 hours (25 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes) of audio book time

of those books:

43 earned 5 star ratings

152 earned 4 star ratings

102 earned 3 star ratings

32 earned 2 star ratings

and 

14 were DNFed


95 were in the 0-50 page range
57 were in the 51-150 page range additionally 5 audio books in this range
65 were in the 151-300 page range, additionally 21 audio books in this range
23 were in the 301-400 page range, additionally 30 audio books in this range
11 were in the 401-500 page range, additionally 14 audio books in this range
6 were in the 501-650 page range, additionally 1 audio book in this range
none were over the 650 range

55 were Children's Books

35 were Early Reader Books

57 were Middle Grade Books

58 were Young Adult Books
93 were Adult Books

29 were Graphic Novels

46 were Romance

85 were Fantasy
14 were Sci-Fi

71 were Audio Books 

24 were by local Rhode Island Authors


Things I have discovered in 2018:

I did a lot more tracking than I have done in the past and I have learned a lot about myself as a reader through that tracking.  First, I always thought of myself as a YA reader but even without reading as many romances as normal I ended up reading nearly double the number of adult books over YA books! I have a sweet spot for audio books, I seem to prefer listening to books between 250-350 pages which take about 8-10 hours.  I should not be afraid of big books, some of the books I have enjoyed most have been the longer books.  DNFing books does not harm me in anyway! Yes you heard that right, it doesn't do anything negative to you when you decide to put a book down that you are not enjoying, in fact it has quite the opposite effect!

Biggest Disappointments:

So besides the 14 books I DNFed this last year, there were a few disappointments. It doesn't mean that these were bad books, or even that I hated them, just simply books I felt were going to be fantastic but just didn't live up to my expectations.

The cover is stunning, the idea behind it is super intriguing, a blend of historical fiction and fantasy, but it just did not work for me. I honestly almost DNFed it a few times.

This one hurts! I love Hades & Persephone re-tellings and was really looking forward to this one and the next book in the series. I struggled to get a grasp on the world and didn't connect with the characters, except the bone and soul eating horse.

 

I know, this is probably going to upset a lot of people but I did not like this duology! I struggled to get through it only because of King of Scars coming out. I did not like most of the characters, I know everyone loves Kaz but he was my most disliked character. Honestly my favorite was Mattias.  I wasn't a fan of the heist process either, too much was done off page for my liking. Luckily, we now get to return to Nikolai and forget all this Kaz nonsense. 

Biggest Surprises:

I read some books this year that I wasn't sure about or that sucked me in far more than I ever expected. Some pulled me into new genres and others introduced me to new authors and worlds.

  

 

This series completely consumed me the first half of the year. I had seen it a few times over the years but had put it off as being too science and clinical for my liking. I finally decided to read them and picked up the audio books as well (which I cannot recommend highly enough). They were so intriguing and engrossing, it really felt like this was a part of our history and that dragons were out there to be studied.  The twist in the final book was AMAZING! Even talking about it now makes me want to re-read them again!

  

So I have pretty much avoided Sci-Fi (except Star Wars) most of my reading life because I have no desire for math or science in my books. I also have a difficult time picturing a lot that is described with nothing to base it on. So this series was never on my radar but several of my favorite Booktubers constantly rave about this series, also it came recommended at the local bookstore, so I thought I would give it a try. I  was beyond shocked when I ended up loving it so much. Even with the distant and clinical format, the human element came through so strongly and I really became invested in this series. Again I highly recommend the audiobook versions! Because of these books I am starting to dip my toes into the Sci-fi genre a bit more. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book but Pirates haven't really been my thing in the past. I ended up absolutely loving this high seas, steam punk, found family, girl power book. I was sucked into the story and the adventure, it even ended up triggering a full month of pirate themed books!

I have pretty much given up on YA contemporary but received this as part of a trade so gave it a try. It ended up being everything I ever wanted in a YA contemporary romance. It was all I wanted Princess Diaries to be and more! Even though it was dramatic at times, and it was pretty predictable, I still loved every minute of it and can't wait for the next book!

2018 Honorable Mentions
I don't normally do this but I read so many fantastic books this year that I just had to mention some that just barely missed out on my top books of the year.

Middle Grade, tough subject, told from the perspective of a tree, go read it!

  

Witty banter, lots of tension, girl power yet feminine, far more fun to read than I ever expected!

 

I get what people talk about now about assassin nuns, it just works! 

I loved this twist on the original! And so much attention paid to the details.

This was a bit predictable but the cliffhanger ending has me hooked!

Another Middle Grade book told from the perspective of a refugee in verse, go read it!

and finally

The Best of the Best Books in 2018:

So here we go with my top books of 2018! I did not expect a single one of these to land at the top, but they have all clearly earned the right to be here. I love that they are all so different, 2 historical fictions, 2 fantasy and 1 contemporary.  All of them except for 1 is over 400 pages and 3 of them are over 500! Do you have any idea how hard this was to narrow down?! Here we go in reverse order from 5 to 1 . . .

This cover kept catching my eye every single time I went into the book store, so I finally caved. But then it sat on my shelves for a couple of months because it was intimidating with its 624 pages. I did finally pick it up and read it while listening to the audio book and was completely consumed by it! I can't even tell you how into this story I got, I want a GOT like TV show of this, but of course first we need the 2nd book which he hasn't even finished writing yet!!

This is why you wait until after the first of the year to determine your favorite reads, you never know what the end of the year will bring. After a week long slump I picked this book up. It hadn't even been on my radar even though it is a Arthurian Legend book, but it came in the Once Upon A Book Club box so I decided to read it. I again became so invested in the characters and the story that I just couldn't put it down. I did again read it while listening to the audio book and the audio book captures the accent so beautifully!

This book was on my shelf for a while and then I also received an ARC for a Penguin edition release. I knew it was going to be a tough read but OMG I bawled and bawled and bawled! So sad but so good!

 

Yes I am counting this as one because I read them all nearly back to back and there was no way I was breaking this trilogy up. I know that this may not be the most popular series, but I urge you to try it and if it didn't work the first time try again as an audio book! I was and am obsessed with this historical fiction Vlad the Impaler re-telling series.  Lada and Radu will forever be my favorite siblings, their relationship is one for the record books. This series will have you hopefully, scared, sad, happy, you will cry, you will cheer, you will be disgusted and you will see love like you have never seen before.

I was intrigued by this book because there are horses on the cover but I passed it up last year, but Sam at Thoughts on Tomes just kept raving about it and I became really interested.  I am so glad that I finally picked it up this year. I read it for Tome Topple and it was a buddy read, I also read it while listening to the audio book (because I was worried about pronunciations and names). I really struggle to put into words how beautiful this book was,  it has an almost lyrical writing style, the characters and the way their relationship grows throughout the story is just beautiful. Their dedication to each other blows me away.  This will not be a book for everyone but it was definitely the book for me this last year!

So what were some of your favorite books of 2018? Have you read any of mine? Will you be picking any of these up this year?