Top 5 Books of the Year (FFF Day 6)

Aaaahh!!! The very last of the Five Fall Favorites posts for this year…

Today we’re doing my five favorite books I’ve read this year. This was…definitely pretty hard to come up with and narrow it down for, but I decided to (try) not to overthink it and just go with the first ones that came to mind. Here you are, in no particular order.

1. Lighten Our Darkness by Sarah Brazytis

This one…this one. I thought I loved Dunstan by Sarah Brazytis, but this was entirely different. I don’t know if I knew entirely what I was getting into, besides, I knew multiple friends who really loved it and had said I needed to read it and when it went on sale I knew I was ready to snatch it up and read it.

I loved the look at everyday life in Britain during WWII. I thought the perspective on the Polish pilots was super interesting and unique. I liked that the characters were vivid and that the book was well-written and well-done. But mostly I loved it because it was soo sweet and beautiful and priceless and unique.

2. Dewdrops and Butterflies by Libby May

I love this one. I originally read this one when I had a KU trial, but…well, it may sound weird, but I missed it so I went ahead and bought it because I wanted to read it again. Originally, the first time I read this, I had no idea what it was about. I was nearing the end of my KU trial and had just started reading it since and figured if it hooked me in a few minutes I’d keep reading, if not I’d find something else.

But it seriously didn’t just hook me…I love this book so much. It blew me out of the water from the beginning, and now it just has its own special hold on my heart. It’s just so raw and…utterly beautiful.

3. KEY by Madisyn Carlin

I read a lot of Madisyn Carlin’s book this year, so I had a lot of trouble narrowing it down to this one. I think a lot of the themes and the struggles of the characters hit home, and this was just a very well-written beautiful, real-feeling story. It’s saying something that I didn’t even like one of the main characters all that much (and most people would, I just didn’t), and it still makes it onto my top five books of this entire year that I’ve read. I love this book. These characters, this series…it’s where it’s at. You gotta read it.

4. Wherever He Leads by Rebekah Morris

This is another one of my favorites I’ve read so far. It was a relatable, sweet story and while I can’t quite put my finger on why I feel like it needs to be up here in the top 5 favorites, it…does. It was a very Rebekah Morris story. A little slow, filled with truth, wrapped up well. One of my favorite Rebekah Morris stories, too, I think.

5. This Life of Mine by Victoria Lynn

When I read the first book in this series, Once I Knew, I liked it fine but it wasn’t so much my thing, and the parts where the plot was mostly romance I was mostly bored. This one was a little different. It was more raw, more tangible, more subtly beautiful. I liked the real, mostly relatable characters in Once I Knew, but for the characters in this book…I needed to know their story, not just from the beginning but for the whole book. The emotions, the stories each character wove into the book weren’t just relatable, but they felt real and completely authentic and raw, in all their brokenness and hurt and doubts, but also in their joy and healing. My heart hurt and then healed with the characters for this one. It was good. (Even if I thought the wolf was weird at first.)

---

And there we have it…my last post for Five Fall Favorites this year! Make sure to check out the host blog @onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com/blog/ to read about Kate’s favorite books of this year! 😁

What’ve been your favorite books this year? Did you have a favorite category of fall favorites you enjoyed the most?

Top 5 Indie Discoveries (FFF Day 4)

If yesterday’s Five Fall Favorites category was my favorite, today’s category was the hardest for me to initially narrow down. I know of sooooo many good independently published books and I’m always finding more and more as so many excellent Christian writers are publishing independently rather than pursuing traditional publishing.

I tried to mostly focus on indie books that aren’t especially always “out there” and around or the most popular but are some of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Hopefully, you might find something new or new-ish that you’d enjoy.

1. A Sidekick’s Tale Elisabeth Grace Foley

I’d seen a few of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s other books around and glazed over them a little bit, but a friend told me I especially needed to read this one…and I’m glad I did.

This book…was so delightfully random while being Western at the same time. It had a similar initial feel to some of the Triple Creek Ranch books from Rebekah Morris but it was also so different. I was literally laughing out loud at several points during this book and I totally had no idea what to expect with each plot twist. It was so hilarious and fun to read, I was grinning the whole time. XD If you need a laugh or something that keeps you guessing and takes you on a wild ride…read this.

2. Freedom by Faith Potts

Ack, I know I say this about a lot of books, but I love this book. It’s probably also just a special book to me…highly recommend. Think I found Faith Potts just around on the blogosphere and I remember when she released this one together with Kaitlyn Krispense who was releasing Beloved (also a super good book).

This book deals with a pretty heavy subject…suicide, specifically relating to veterans. But it was such a well-done, powerful, and sweet book. It was…such a good book and I’m so glad I found it.

3. The Worth of a King by Kendra E. Ardnek

So…I love Kenda E. Ardnek’s books in general. I read Water Princess, Fire Prince by her and the rest of that series and it kicked off my love for her books, and every time a book of hers would go on sale, I would get it. Suffice to say, I had accumulated a number of her books that I had not actually read…and this was one of them.

As soon as I read it I was like WHERE HAS THIS BOOK BEEN THIS WHOLE DID I LITERALLY HAVE IT ON MY KINDLE THIS WHOLE TIME? Cuz y’all, this is just as good if not better than Water Princess, Fire Prince the one you see and hear about everywhere it feels like. Also…stiiill waiting for the sequel, but apparently, we’ll get one eventually. Such an epic fantasy book. I…looooved the plot and characters and everything for this one. Yep, I loved Water Princess, Fire Prince, but I loved this one waaay more. It was…just such a satisfying read and I was so surprised I hadn’t actually heard anything about it other than it being a Kendra E. Ardnek book and all this time I had owned it and had no idea what a good book it was…anyway, semi-rant over.

4. Should We Tell Her? by Lillian Keith

This one. This one. Don’t know that I’ve ever read a book with quite a style like this one. I wasn’t even sure where exactly it was going…but I knew I couldn’t stop reading because it felt so real and it was so sweet and I mean the characters were real, weren’t they? I really had no idea what to expect, because I had just sort of heard of this author once or twice in small circles and then saw this book was on sale and then picked it up and read it. Just…it’s so sweet and you’ve just gotta read it.

5. The Minstrel: A Legend’s Redemption by Malachi Cyr

Of redemption stories and medieval fiction…I am so surprised this one isn’t more well-known, because it was an awesome read. Plus it was the kind of good that I think readers of a lot of genres would really enjoy. All the adventure themes of Beyond the Mask, The Redemption of Henry Meyers, Ranger’s Apprentice, Robin Hood, or even some of The Wingfeather Saga, woven into a powerful redemptive story of light with zero questionable content. It drew me in, it was suspenseful, I needed to know how it would end, there were times I wanted to cry, there were times I wanted to laugh, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

This is up there with one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. It’s also due for a reread, cuz it was soo good.

And there ya have it!

Make sure to check out the blog party host blog @ onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com/blog/ to read what Kate’s favorite indie finds are and hear the latest on the rest of the Five Fall Favorites blog party!!

What are your favorite indie books? Did you know what indie books were (when I first started blogging I wasn’t sure)? Have you heard of or read any of these books?