It’s been a really busy past few months. In December, I neglected to do a blogpost not out of laziness– but because I needed to prioritize the launch of the Bad Bitch Book Club website/merch. It was a whirlwind. I worked with Michelle (MKW Creative Co) who truly took my vision and turned it into something beyond my wildest dreams. I highly recommend you work with her, and make sure to mention I referred you.

The inspiration for the branding was “Valentine’s Day” meets the 70’s. If you know me, you know that red & pink is the color scheme of my life. I wanted something was distinctively feminine, strong and fun. When I started the book club I never intended on it becoming a brand, and yet when it came down to it, the brand just poured out of me.

Over the last year I read 69 books, and although I really aimed for #70, I surpassed my original goal of 53. Below are my thoughts on everything I read in 2019.

I read a total of 15 historical fiction novels, 13 thrillers/mysteries, 11 memoirs, 6 Elin Hilderbrand books, 4 books written by men, 3 Kristin Hannah tear-jerkers. I’d like to count the romance novels, but I’m unable to decide if Sally Rooney’s tortured-love stories count.

Anyways, here is everything I read in 2019.

6 Star Books: just the absolute greatest + it’s not an opinion-based thing. These books are perfection:

• The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
• Know my Name – Chanel Miller
• Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

& a few personal favorites:

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone – Lori Gottlieb
• The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
• High Achiever – Tiffany Jenkins
• Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

Really, Really Great Books:

• The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
• An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
• A Woman is No Man – Etaf Rum
• When We Left Cuba (NYIH #2) – Chanel Cleeton
• Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
• This is How it Always is – Laurie Frankel
• Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
• The Great Believers – Rebecca Makkai

The best of thrillers:

• YOU – Caroline Kepnes
• Verity – Colleen Hoover

Top tier-beach reads:

• Evvie Drake Starts Over – Linda Holmes
• When Life Gives You Lululemons – Lauren Weisberger
• The Perfect Couple – Elin Hilderbrand
• The Matchmaker – Elin Hilderbrand
• Winter in Paradise – Elin Hilderbrand
• What Happens in Paradise (#2) – Elin Hilderbrand

Hot romance novels:

• The Idea of You – Robinne Lee
• The Hating Game – Sally Throne

Really great YA books that grown-ups would like:

• The Nowhere Girls – Amy Reed
• Monday’s Not Coming – Tiffany Jenkins
• American Royals – Katherine McGee
• One of Us is Lying – Karen McManus
• One of Us is Next (#2) – Karen McManus

Sally Rooney is extremely polarizing, but I love both her books so much.

• Normal People – Sally Rooney
• Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney

Other polarizing books I enjoyed:

• Three Women – Lisa Taddeo
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
• Where’d You Go Bernadette – Maria Semple

Non-fiction that made this the year of realizing stuff:

• 12 Things I’m Learning to Say – Kelley Corrigan
• Searching for Sunday – Rachel Held Evans
• Notes to Self – Emilie Pine
• Wild – Cheryl Strayed
• Modern Love – Daniel Jones

Exceptionally original, but not my taste:

• Mostly Dead Things – Kristen Arnett
• My Sister, the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
• Biloxi – Mary Miller

Books other people loved, but I only liked:

• Becoming – Michelle Obama (dense, but important)
• Trick Mirror – Jia Tolentino
• The Alice Network – Kate Quinn
• A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
• Firefly Lane – Kristin Hannah

Thrillers/mysteries that I liked, but didn’t love:

• The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
• The Likeness – Tana French
• The Light of Fireflies – Paul Pen (it’s haunted me though)

Perfectly enjoyable, but I don’t recommend it often:

• The Book of Polly – Kathy Hepinstall
• Summer of ’69 – Elin Hilderbrand
• City of Girls – Elizabeth Gilbert
• All The Flowers in Paris – Sarah Jio
• The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin
• Daisy Jones & The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Calypso – David Sedaris
• Christmas Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella

Tbh, I did not like this book:

• Hidden Bodies – Caroline Kepnes
• Ghosted – Rosie Walsh
• The Identicals – Elin Hilderbrand
• Love at First Like – Hannah Orenstein (sad, bc I loved her first!!)
• Wilder Girls – Rory Power (but I hate dystopian shit so…)

I’m surprised I finished:

• Tell Me Everything – Cambria Brockman
• The Bold World – Jodie Patterson
• That’s What Frenemies are for – Sophie Littlefield
• Surfside Sisters – Nancy Thayer

I actually couldn’t finish:

• We Cast a Shadow – Maurice Carlos Ruffin
• On the Road – Jack Kerouac

This is all just my personal opinion! The great thing about books is that there is something for everyone.