I love sharing all the excellent books I read each year. While I read a lot of young adult novels, I wanted a chance to tell you about some excellent fiction I read aimed at adults. If you want to read about my fifteen favorite YA novels of 2021, that post is here.
From historical fiction to contemporary romance to thrillers, this list will have something for everyone!
Finlay Donovan is Killing It
About the Book
Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Genre: Thriller, Comedy
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2021
Book Review
This is the most hysterical book I’ve read all year. Finlay is a mystery author meeting with her agent to discuss why her latest book is behind. As they’re discussing potential plot points, a woman overheard and thought Finlay was a hit woman.
A typical suburban mom trying to be a hit man is as hilarious as you’d expect, and the plot perfectly toed the line between ridiculous and genius. I am so excited for the sequel later this year!
Float Plan
About the Book
Float Plan by Trish Doller
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 2, 2021
Book Review
This is my absolute favorite romance novel that I’ve read in a long time! I loved that the romantic tension was there while keeping it PG-13. And the setting was to die for!
After her fiancé’s suicide, Anna makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to go on the trip across the Caribbean he’d planned for them to take. When she nearly gets killed during the first crossing, she hires a handsome Irish sailor with a prosthetic leg to help her with the next stage of the journey.
As Anna becomes part of the easygoing sailing community and makes new memories, the waves of grief subside. Instead, she finds she might be ready to build a new life.
Anna’s grief felt so real, and I enjoyed the slow shift to optimism and hope. Keane, the handsome sailor, is dealing with demons of his own, but he is so good to Anna from day one. I loved watching their friendship – and maybe more – blossom.
This book made me want to set sail and have stories of my own to tell!
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Rose Code
About the Book
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Genre: Historical fiction
Release Date: March 9, 2021
Book Review
This was an impossible to put down delight from the first page. This book had everything – a royal romance between Prince Phillip and his first love! Heartbreak and betrayal. And three friends who meant the world to each other.
Osla Kendall – socialite and girlfriend to Prince Phillip; Mab Churt, a girl determined to rise above her impoverished life; and Beth Finch, smart but bullied by her mother; meet only because of the war. All three are chosen to work at Bletchley Park, Britain’s top secret facility dedicated to cracking German code. They’re fast friends, until a betrayal turns them all against each other and lands one in an insane asylum.
Now, days before the Royal wedding of Prince Phillip and the future Queen Elizabeth, coded notes have made it out of the asylum with a shocking claim: the woman in the asylum was framed by the true traitor.
The characters feel just as real to me as my friends. I felt their hopeful optimism, their great loves, and the way the war broke them in different ways. I’d read another book about any of them in a heartbeat.
This novel is epic and sweeping, alternating between the war years at Bletchley Park and what came after. Both the mystery with the potential traitor and my need to know how the characters’ lives turned out kept me glued to the pages. This book is an instant favorite that I will read again and again.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
People We Meet On Vacation
About the Book
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Book Review
This is the perfect vacation read from the author of Beach Read. Emily Henry is the master of modern romance.
She creates two unforgettable characters who are absolute opposites in every way, yet they become best friends. Poppy likes loud clothes, crowded bars and traveling the world. Alex likes khakis, school and his hometown. After college, they both want completely different things, but he promises Poppy that he’ll travel with her every summer.
Poppy has everything she wants on paper – a job writing for a travel magazine, a fancy NYC apartment and an influencer best friend. But she’s still not happy. She decides the last time she was happy, she was traveling with Alex.
But after an incident on a trip to Croatia, Alex and Poppy haven’t spoken in two years, and Poppy feels a gigantic hole in her life. She invites Alex on one last, week-long trip to Palm Springs to see if they can make their friendship work again. Poppy’s determined to keep it in the friends zone, but of course, the Airbnb she books turns out to have only one bed.
This is a best friends to lovers story told in a nonlinear narrative. We get to tag along on all Poppy and Alex’s trips, learn their inside jokes and see the depth of their friendship, as they date others but still think the other feels like “home.”
This is one I’ll return to again and again.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island
About the Book
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: May 25, 2021
Book Review
I can see why this was so popular on Instagram. It has immediately become one of my favorite books of the year.
Anders is a frustrated journalist looking for his big break. He’s sure he’s not going to find it at the Frick Island cake walk. But then he meets Piper.
Piper is a gorgeous, charming much-loved resident of Frick Island. So loved, in fact, that when her husband goes missing at sea, but Piper claims to still be able to see him, the whole island decides to go along with it.
Anders uses Piper as material for his podcast, but he finds himself falling for her.
This island feels as real to me now as a place I’ve visited. Every one of the residents will win your heart, from BobDan who runs the very unreliable ferry, to Pearl Olecki, who’s fighting the installation of the town’s first cell tower.
This book is sweet, charming and ingenious, with impeccably timed twists. Perfect for the beach or anywhere you want to relax.
The Chosen and the Beautiful
About the Book
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Genre: Literary fantasy
Release Date: June 1, 2021
Book Review
This Great Gatsby retelling brings the story to life for a modern audience. It’s got all the glitter and decadence of the original, but with magic.
Narrated by Jordan Baker, an Asian bisexual girl adopted into a rich white family, this book presents the characters as you’ve never seen them before. Jordan has a secret – she can work magic. Gatsby’s sudden wealth is explained by a deal with the devil and his ferocious hunger threatens to devour everyone in an attempt to get what he wants. Nick is simultaneously more human and real than the original and less so. Tom is as selfish as ever, and Daisy . . . well, she’s still a character trapped by her choices and the expectations of society. The characters love and use and discard each other with reckless abandon.
Set against the backdrop of the 1920’s and flappers, the description of Gatsby’s parties and the clothes everyone wears will take your breath away. The way Jordan and some other characters can cut something out of paper and bring it to life inspires a sense of wonder. Ghosts wonder around as well, because of course they do.
The book also delves into deeper topics, such as the racism Jordan faces as the only Asian in her wealthy circles, and the fact that she doesn’t fit in when she tries to mix with other Asians in Chinatown. It also deals with her lack of connection to her roots.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
For the Wolf
About the Book
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: June 1, 2021
Book Review
This lushly imagined, dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast draws you into its heart.
Redarys is the second daughter. The first daughter is for the throne, the second daughter must be sacrificed to the gods and the Wolf. Red has known her fate as long as she could remember. But now, the time of reckoning has come. She must fulfill the pact and venture into the Wilderwood, from which no second daughter has ever returned. Though her sister Neve and Red’s lover Alerick urge her to flee, Red is determined to go, as she feels dangerous magic within her drawing her to the wood.
The Wolves aren’t very wolf-like in this book; in fact, they’re more like forest guardians. In the Wilderwood, the trees are alive and hungry. In the middle of the forest, in a run-down castle invaded by the forest, the Wolf makes his home. He can’t keep the forest pushed back forever, though, and his failure will have dire consequences for everyone alive.
This has a great slow-burn romance. No matter how much he tries to push her away, Red finds herself drawn to the solitary Wolf. She’s determined to break through his walls and discover the secrets of the desolate Keep he calls home.
Meanwhile, Neve refuses to give up on Red, so she falls under the spell of a Priestess who hints that she may be able to break Red free of the curse of being second daughter. Neve finds herself in the center of a rapidly-changing game filled with power-hungry players. The book expertly weaves together the two perspectives and shows how actions in one place have consequences in the other.
The mythological magic system roots you in the story, keeping the tension high. I really enjoyed this addition to my fantasy collection and am already excited for the sequel next year!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
The Mad Women's Ball
About the Book
The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: June 17, 2021
Book Review
This book has the potential to be one of the most talked-about books of the year. This fiercely feminist novel takes you inside Parisian insane asylum in 1885 and delves into all the ways women have been minimized and not believed over the centuries. More than that, it will rip your heart in two.
Nineteen-year-old Eugenie is outspoken, strong-willed and can see and hear the dead. It’s the first two as much as the last that convince her father to commit her to an insane asylum. There, she meets Genevieve, a nurse who has devoted her life to the asylum and worships the head doctor. But when Eugenie carries a message from her dearly-missed dead sister, Genevieve begins to question everything she once knew was true. Eugenie struggles between hopelessness and longing for escape. Both women’s fates will never be the same again once they meet.
Inside the asylum, the girls broken by the world are heart-wrenching, from sweet, naive Louise who keeps her heart open despite her tragic past, to motherly Therese who’s been there long enough to be part of the soul of the institution and knits a shawl for each resident, giving them something made with love. Each of the committed girls has her own hopes for the Mad Women’s Ball, where the elite of Parisian society come to stare at the mad girls.
The emotional ending will keep you thinking about it for a long time.
Trigger warning: rape, mental health issues
Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Velvet Was the Night
About the Book
Velvet was the Night by Silvia Moreno Garcia
Genre: Historical fiction, noir
Release Date: Aug. 17, 2021
Book Review
In 1970’s Mexico, Elvis is a gangster who doesn’t enjoy his job all that much anymore. Maite is a bored secretary who lives for the next edition of her favorite serial romance and makes up weekend plans so she’ll seem less pathetic to her coworkers. But when her next-door neighbor, the beautiful Leonora, asks Maite to watch her cat, then disappears, Maite’s search for Leonora drags her into the world of gangsters, a student revolutionary movement and even a KGB agent.
The best way I can describe this is to say that Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written a Raymond Chandler mystery for modern readers. This is a change of pace from her other books like Mexican Gothic, but is still thoroughly delightful.
I loved both of these characters and wanted them to come out the other side of the intrigue in one piece. Maite’s willingness to step out of her comfort zone – from art collective to murder scene to being tailed by secret police – made her intriguing. She wanted more from life than she’d found yet and grabbed her chance to enter a different- albeit extremely dangerous- world. Even though we know Elvis is a bad dude who beats and kills people, his loyalty to his friends and his longing for a more normal life makes him an interesting character.
A great read for lovers of historical suspense!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Family
About the Book
The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
Genre: Historical fiction
Release Date: Nov. 2, 2021
Book Review
An elegantly woven, slow-paced family drama that brings you into the heart of mob families and ends with an explosive bang. Sofia and Antonia are best friends from birth and and make a vow to be “blood sisters”. Their fathers work for the same mob boss, and their parents live in apartments near each other.
But in the mob, loyalty is everything, and Antonia’s father is skimming money off the top, trying to save enough to buy his family’s freedom. When he gets caught and ordered killed, Sofia’s father, Joey, plays a part in his disappearance. Antonia’s world is shattered, but she stays close to Sofia, even as Joey grows to become one of the biggest bosses in the city. Their friendship has highs and lows, but neither girl is willing to fully let the other go. Antonia dreams of college and a different life, while Sofia dreams of power like her father has. But both girls fall in love with boys who work for Joey, leading to very different destinies.
This story is a testament to friendship that survives everything – murder, post-partem depression, and betrayal. In the end, one character will do whatever it takes to save both of their families.
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