My Favorite Reads of 2016

Happy 2017 everyone! I hope that you all had a good holiday season and are looking forward to 2017. 2016 was a doozie of a year and I am more than ready to start a new year even though 2017 promises to be interesting to say the least. 

My reading year has been one of transition. I started 2016 still very much in love with all things romance, but as the year progressed my reading interests began to wander. For me, one of the down sides of gorging on one genre is that I burn myself out. Stories were starting to meld together and I was not falling in love with very many books. I began looking around and started picking up books in genres that I had neglected for the last few years and boy was I rewarded for doing that! I discovered some new and new to me authors that re-energized my reading enthusiasm. I even read a few comic books that I enjoyed. I have been good about keeping up with what I read in 2016 on Goodreads. I have read 158 books this year (including audio books) with a total of 56,891 pages. You can view my Goodreads stats HERE. 

My favorites list is surprisingly short this year. I had quite a few four star reads that I thoroughly enjoyed, but only a few books stood out and made an impact on me. Looking through my list, I almost feel as though I somehow failed in 2016. I usually have a harder time paring down my favorites list. I'm hoping that 2017 will bring me so many new favorites that I have a much harder time picking top favorites next year. 

I'd love to hear what your favorite reads of 2016 were. I have a feeling that I must have missed out on quite a few good books over the last year. Without further ado, here are my favorites of 2016!

The Warmth of Other Suns is by far my favorite book of the year. I would recommend that anyone and everyone read this amazing book! You can read my review HERE.

The Fifth Season was the first book that I had read by Jemisin. I fell in love with Jemisin's writing and 3 of the 7 books on my favorites list are all by her. You can say that I am a fan! You can read my review HERE. 

The Obelisk Gate is book two of The Broken Earth series and I loved it just as much as I did The Fifth Season. You can read my review HERE. 

Jemisin did not disappoint in this new bind up of The Dreamblood Duology. If you are at all interested in fantasy, I'm telling you; go pick you a Jemisin book! You can read my review HERE. 

The Cutting Season was a pleasant surprise that ended up as a favorite read. This is the second book by Locke that I have read and I am looking forward to reading more from her. If you are looking for a mystery/crime book to dive into on a cold afternoon I would recommend grabbing this one. You can read my review HERE. 

Homegoing is one of the titles that you will see on many 2016 favorites lists. This story stuck with me long after I finished it. Homegoing is a must read for those interested in diverse family sagas that are relatable and timely. You can read my review HERE. 

My last addition to my favorites list just made the 2016 cut off. I am not sure why it took me so long to pick this story up, but once I did I was so sucked into the story that I finished it in one sitting. I am happily counting down to the release of the next book in this series. You can read my review HERE.