I read a quite a few adult titles that I enjoyed in 2019 and I am happy to report that I enjoyed quite a few titles.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin: A smart and witty homage to the Jane Austen classic featuring Muslim characters set in Toronto, Canada.

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty:  An amazing sequel that completely had me at the edge of my seat and for once I have absolutely no idea how this wonderful series will end. If you are looking for a great fantasy with a complex, multilayered story that centers on the kingdom's deeply divisive religious, political, and racial tensions.

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia: A  genre-bending, highly entertaining, and enthralling mystery with lovable and quirky characters that dips into the supernatural but without losing sight to real life problems.

I always try to fit in some children and middle grade reads into my yearly reading challenge. I loved three books this year.

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal: I’ve had a love/hate relationship with my name ever since I was little. This picture book reminds me of the story my dad always told me whenever I complained about my name to him.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang: A wonderful debut middle grade novel that explores a multitude of themes that are nicely woven into a story of activism.

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson: Timely, important, and beautifully written. *Review coming soon

Young Adult books dominate my reading pile because I work for teens as a high school librarian. I had a hard time keeping up with all the new releases for 2019. I avoided most of the hyped books because they almost always lead me to disappointment. Surprisingly a reread made it on to this list.  

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) and The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness: I had dystopia fatigue for quite sometime, but this series is thought provoking, horrifying, exceptionally well written, and completely underrated. I hope to finish this series next year.

The Lovely War by Julie Berry: Incredibly well written and multilayered story of two pairs of lovers over the course of World War I and World War II narrated by the Greek Gods. *Review coming soon

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson: Timely, important, and beautifully written memoir in verse. *Review coming soon

I read several fantastic graphic novels in 2019. I still have to review a few of them.

New Kid by Jerry Craft: New Kid may seem like another title about being the new kid in school, but this graphic novel is so much more. It is a candid and accessible story about race, class, microagressions, and the quest of self identity when you clearly do not fit into clean boxes.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks: Rowell can make a simple story magical and Hick’s drawings make the graphic novel come to life.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Evvie Drake Starts Over Again by Linda Holmes

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams

A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea by Melissa Fleming

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason

If I'm Being Honest by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg