It’s time to put on our judgey coat and talk about EXPECTATIONS.
Mwhaha. Although I don’t know if you wear specific clothes for judging in, but I think we should. It seems fun.
But to the topic at hand — we all know that when a new year dawns crisp and clear, we bookworms start compiling lists of books were are SUPER excited for. As time tumbles past before reading them, our expectations rise. I have higher expectations for books than I do for myself. But this is because I am very smol. I am 5’1 and when people put things on very high shelves, they ruin my life. (I’m not dramatic??? Please. I’m a writer.)
Last year I did a post like this and decided, wow, I should make these judgmental posts a regular thing. So hello I am back.
I’m listing 10 books I was super keen to read this year of 2018…and now here are my expectations vs reality judgments for them!
Also last year I had actual Christmas banners for December and look at me now. I am as useful as an uncooked gingerbread house. Although in my defence it is so hot right now my will to do Things™ is at 2%. Who put Australia in an oven. Take it out right now.
1. THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY
★★★★☆ | Goodreads
As someone who’s read The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue…um, 3 times — I had VERY high expectations for Felicity’s book! I was particularly excited to read about an asexual protagonist (#yes represent).
✧Expectations✧ I mean, GOOD. But also disappointing. I enjoyed Felicity and the girl-gang thoroughly, but I missed the humour. It also was pretty repetitive with Felicity repeating 398 that she is a Strong Confident Young Woman™ who don’t need no man. And like, RELATE. But don’t batter me over the head with it being your only thought??
2. VENGEFUL (VICIOUS #2) BY VE SCHWAB
★★★★☆ | Goodreads
This book was intensely clever. The sheer amount of work that went into is rather mind-blowing and I get why Schwab had a twitter breakdown over it. But…ok, again? I thought it would be a 5-stars (I adored Vicious)…
✧Expectations✧ It’s a good book but yeah, I was disappointed. It had very much less Victor/Eli and while I LOVED Marcella, I didn’t feel much?? And it was sooo long without much plot.
But I also admit I’m a little disenchanted with Schwab at the moment. DON’T GET ME WRONG. I adore her work monstrously, but she complains about writing so much on twitter, it’s depressing.
3. WHAT IF IT’S US BY BECKY ALBERTALLI AND ADAM SILVERA
★★★★☆ | Goodreads
Ok these two are like A DREAM DUO and I freaked out when I heard about this book!! SKY HIGH expectations. Adam Silvera is one of my favourite authors!
✧Expectations✧ Ok two things: (1) I read it TWICE this year ha, and (2) it has problems, and I loved the boys individually but not necessarily together. I just…arsahogsh the ending. Skip the epilogue and I would be solidly pleased with the ending.
I did expect more oops. But it was so FRIKKIN’ CUTE.
4. MUSE OF NIGHTMARES (#2) BY LAINI TAYLOR
★★★★★ | Goodreads
Apparently this is the year of sequels?! Either way, Strange the Dreamer stunned me last year. It reminded me why I still love epic fantasy (duuude, it’s an exhausting genre. Everyone gets stabbed, no one sleeps, snacks are rare…I’m suffering, idek about the characters).
✧Expectations✧ PERFECT BOOK WAS BEYOND PERFECT. I get so so freaked that sequels won’t live up to first books but ajafkdsla it was gorgeous and clever and intense and feels-wrenching and had this solidly satisfying ending bUT ALSO I WANT MORE. Basically I want a Thyon/Ruza sequel. With Calixte and her girlfriend too. Let the gays go raise dragons.
5. OBSIDIO (#3) BY AMIE KAUFMAN AND JAY KRISTOFF
★★★★★ | Goodreads
Dude, I expected nothing less than awesome chaotic catastrophes from these two. Illuminae was AMAZING, Gemina even better (Nik and Hanna are the best, ok, fite me) and AIDAN here to make me forget I had morals and root for the psychotic, mass-murdering AI system.
✧Expectations✧ Perfect. I won’t spoil anything because this is the end to a plot-twisty trilogy…but dUDE. It was so stressful…but also very satisfying. And all I need to say (for those who have read it) NIK AND HIS PARACHUTE. THE ENDDDDD.
6. MORE THAN WE CAN TELL BY BRIGID KEMMERER
★★★★☆ | Goodreads
Last year Letters To The Lost kinda made me nearly cry. Which is absorb. Me??? Emotions??? Nonsense how dare u. And I remember my #1 thing when I finished it was saying: “BUT I WANT REV’S BOOK.” And here is Rev’s book.
✧Expectations✧ It was good! But I liked LTTL more. And part of this is on me. I listened to the audiobook and I hated it. (Super annoying narrators, ugh.) I switched to the ebook and did a lot better! But it just felt unbalanced with Rev struggling with PTSD and Emma just whining because…her mum doesn’t like her being a gamer. Ok-ey. But I LOVED so much about it!! Also Rev/Declan’s friendship is so good and wholesome. I want mooooore in this world!
7. AND THE OCEAN WAS OUR SKY BY PATRICK NESS
★★★☆☆ | Goodreads
I quite thoroughly adore Patrick Ness and I also read all of the Chaos Walking books for the first time this year (!!) which were forking amazing. But then this was…really different? It’s not a traditional book. More like a fable with illustrations?
✧Expectations✧ I expected something like A Monster Calls. This just…ah hahah…yeah I don’t know. It was about a whale basically. I didn’t really get it.
8. IRON GOLD (#4) BY PIERCE BROWN
★☆☆☆☆ | Goodreads
I absolutely LOVE the Red Rising trilogy. I reread them in preparation for this. Darrow and Sevro are MA BOYS. I’m still in aw of the first book’s world building ahhhh.
✧Expectations✧ Nope. I hated it. I honestly try not to do negative reviews anymore, but this one made me. so. angry. I cannot. I wish I’d never read it ok? It ruins Darrow (he is, honestly, horrible) and it ruins his/Sevro’s friendship and it was long and nOTHING HAPPENED. I feel betrayed.
9. FURYBORN BY CLAIRE LEGRAND
★★★☆☆ | Goodreads
Mostly I was excited for this one because it was named after me?? But also ANGELS! I really like angles (hello Shadowhunters) and tbh we do not get enough terrifying and badass new ones.
✧Expectations✧ I don’t actually remember why I was so hyped (apart from the name…wow I am professional) but yeah, it ended up being long and predictable. Not for me, sadness.
10. THE CRUEL PRINCE
★★★★★ | Goodreads
I LOVE HOLLY BLACK SO MUCH. I’ve loved her work for years! The Curseworkers, The Darkest Part of the Forest, The Coldest Girl, Tithe trilogy, etc etc. Afakdsla so basically I knew I was in for murder faeries, backstabbing, plot twists, and girls who fight back.
✧Expectations✧ IT WAS AMAZING. I AM THRILLED. It’s like the most Slytherin book and for once the protagonist, Jude, doesn’t try to be noble. Her mantra literally is: “If you’re going to be bad to me, fINE I’LL BE WORSE.” Go stab something, Jude, my darling. I love you. And Cardan is just a smidge tragic so, wow, there goes my heart. I’m suffocating waiting for The Wicked King!!!
So after I read Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda I was so so so excited for the sequel Leah on the Offbeat but after reading that one I was like…….meh. To be honest Leah annoyed me wayyyyyyy more than a main character should have and I felt it kind of fell weak especially next to Simon. I dunno. I kinda loved all the characters after the first book but I didn’t get much back that I had wanted. (But that’s my opinion, my friend LOVED Leah on the Offbeat so maybe I’m the weird one??)
Actually I’ve heard lots and lots of mixed opinions on Leah! I did like it, but definitely not as much as Simon. I found Leah hard to connect to because she was kinda mean? And again, Simon’s book was hilarious, and Leah’s wasn’t…and I always struggle with sequels that don’t have the same tone as the first book!?
I, um, have not read many 2018 releases (yet!) but most of the ones I did read were really, really good! Even though I’d never read any of Holly Black’s books before, The Cruel Prince was my most anticipated read of the year (because FAERIES!!!) and w o w was it amazing! Totally lived up to expectations and I can’t wait to see what happens in The Wicked King! I’ve heard a few people have been disappointed with Lady’s Guide, which is a bit upsetting because Gentleman’s Guide was just so good! I guess it had big shoes to fill but sometimes expectations can be the absolute worst.
Yesss *hi fives for our Cruel Prince love* It was SO good and just perfect and jafsdklad I really think The Wicked King is going to destroy us all.😂
And yeah sequels often struggle to live up to first book’s. Which isn’t so fair on them? But what can we do. 😭
All the high fives! But yes, I am simultaneously excited and terrified for The Wicked King… who knows what will happen?! Hopefully this sequel WILL live up to the first book!
I think I’ve read three or four new releases this year – that’s more than I usually do. My most anticipated read of the year isn’t actually out yet so…
Hype is dangerous sometimes, isn’t it? It can be hard for a book to live up to EVERYTHING going on in our heads. :’)
Hype is definitely a worry sometimes! I think it’s hard though!? Like books can’t help it if they’re not what we expected, yet we get cranky at them for it. 😂
Of the books you’ve read, I only finished Obsidio because I like AIDAN too, and yes, it concerns me a tad bit. But I found the book to be more predictable than the previous ones.
Books that didn’t quite meet my expectations: American Panda, Children of Blood and Bone, and The Poet X
Books that exceeded my expectations: Blood Water Paint, The Astonishing Color of After, A Conspiracy of Stars, A Thousand Perfect Notes, and The Bird and the Blade.
AIDAN is a gift and we will just accept that it’s a little worrisome that we love him. 😂 And yeah Children of Blood and Bone didn’t *quite* wow me like I thought it would?
And aww I’m sO honoured you liked my book 💖✨💖✨💖✨thank yoooooou!!!
All in all seems like you made good choices!
I’m stuck on book 1 with Red Rising, so not sure when i will get to Iron Gold, but seeing how disappointed you were… well, i might just postpone this 😀
I 100% agree that Obsidio was amazing – unfortunately is the only book on your list that I got to this year, but I did expect big things from Legendary, (and got them, of course!!!) but From Twinkle with Love did NOT meet my expectations. It just wasn’t nearly as cute as When Dimple Met Rishi, and I also never connected with Twinkle…. and she was kind of mean, I felt? 🤷♀️🤷♀️
Idk, just my personal opinion.
Thanks for the great list!! I need to read all of the ones you loved on here! SOON. 😂
The only ones I’ve read are Lady’s Guide and Vengeful. I loved Vengeful, but I agree that it needed more Victor and less Marcella. I was also a tiny bit disappointed in Lady’s Guide. The first book was so good! It was probably impossible for the second book to live up to it.
*freaks out wondering if I can catch up on all the releases I missed in two weeks*
The Cruel Prince was also one of my favorite releases, so much that possibly my #1 release for next year is The Wicked King. Also I agree with you Vengeful, maybe Schwab just needs a little break instead of publishing 3,678 books every year? Some of my other most anticipated were
-A Thousand Perfect Notes by you=🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 exceeded expectations
-Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu=🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I expect nothing less from Lu, she’s to me what Maggie Stiefvater is to you
-Fawkes by Nadine Brandes=🌟🌟🌟🌟 met expectations
-Batman: Nightwalker=🌟🌟🌟 how did a Batman book by my favorite author go wrong? Someone fire somebody!
-A Reaper At the Gates by Sabaa Tahir=🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 exceeded
-Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman=🌟🌟🌟🌟 met
-A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi=🌟🌟🌟🌟 met
-To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo=🌟🌟 I just wanted to love this 😭
-Daughter of the Siren Queen (Daughter of the Pirate King #2) by Tricia Levenseller=🌟🌟🌟🌟 met
I liked Letters to the Lost a bit more than More Than We Can Tell as well. Maybe it was because LTTL’s characters made such an impact on me, but either way both were still good! Loved this post, you read some awesome stuff this year 🙂
I am thrilled that Muse of Nightmares was good. I WANT A THIRD ONE.
I’m pretty sure that I got one chapter into Iron Gold and knew that it wasn’t going anywhere good. I want the Red Rising series to stay beautiful in my mind so I am never touching it again !!!!
My most anticipated reads of 2018:
– Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen disappointed me/is in the process of disappointing me, because it’s about the WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING so I expected it to be gutwrenchingly emotional but instead it’s sort of . . . flat. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
– Bitter Winter by Jaye L. Knight was just as amazing (and bitter!!) as I expected and now I’m like a puddle of feels. Like wow.
– Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno was just as fantastic as I hoped! Even more fantastic, in fact, if that’s possible!
– Dancing and Doughnuts by Rachel Kovaciny was one of the best fairy tale retellings I’ve ever read; unique and refreshing and funny. Definitely NOT a disappointment.
I love this post!
I’ve been wondering whether to read the Folk of the Air books! I agree with you that Holly Black’s an awesome writer, but the premise just seems like such a typical antihero, angsty YA novel. Did you get those “yep, I’ve seen this before” vibes while reading The Cruel Prince?
It wasn’t released this year, but I was super looking forward to finally reading The Princess Bride. And idk man, it was . . . fine. I think I would have liked it more had I read it a few years ago, but that style of writing just isn’t my thing anymore. :/
Eleanor | On the Other Side of Reality
I’m glad to see most of these books here met your expectations, but sorry about the disappointing ones, that’s too bad! :/ I haven’t read Obsidio just yet, to be honest I am SO nervous about this book and have been for months and months haha. I’m so happy you thought it lived up to your expectations though, makes me a little less nervous to get to it 😀
Lovely post! <3
Nick and his parachute! I LOVED Obsidio {and the whole trilogy}!!!!!!! I am currently reading Felicity’s book right now and I can definitely see where you’re coming from with that one. The others are all still sitting on my virtual TBR, but now I’m afraid of Iron Gold! I mean I still have to read it to complete the series, but…
I haven’t read Lady’s Guide yet, but I’m familiar with that kind of narrator. It always seems like a book’s trying too hard when their Strong Female Protagonists repeat over and over again that they don’t need men or romance. Actions speak louder than words, after all. A sprinkling of mentions is okay, but then let’s get on with the real story, right?
I MUST READ OBSIDIO. I keep putting it off for no reason and I don’t know why! But one of these days I’ll pick it up from the library, I swear.
Books that met my expectations: Leah on the Offbeat, A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES (hehehe), Gemina, and Far From the Tree. I feel like I had a lot more disappointments this year, though, and that makes me so sad! I didn’t like Everless, Autoboyography, Final Draft, Caraval, or Emergency Contact nearly as much as I thought I would. :/
I love this post idea, Cait! I should definitely do that, as I also grow sooooo many expectations for books. I anticipate both new releases as well as old books I haven’t read yet. Recently, I read A List of Cages, by Robin Roe, and I was sure it was going to be my favorite book of the year, a hands-down 5/5 stars. Sadly, I didn’t love it as much: it was an amazing book, but I had my expectations too high for that one.
I plan on reading Vicious as soon as possible – this is another one I have kinda high expectations for. Everyone says it’s a perfect book for Slytherins, so I’m hoping to love it as well. Let’s see how that goes!
(Also, I’m lowkey scared to pick up ‘The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy’ now that I saw your review. I didn’t enjoy Felicity’s character in Gentleman’s Guide, so I wasn’t initally planning on reading it, but after I saw a lot of people commenting on the asexual representation I felt like giving it a chance, since I relate to it a lot as well. But if she’s really going to repeat this idea throughout the entire book, as you said, I don’t think it will be for me).
Cruel prince is ahhhh one of my fav all time reads!! I LOVE Cardan he is my tortured baby and I love him and Jude! AHHH also all the feels for Jude because I have never related to a character in YA more in my LIFE. Literally SO excited to read Wicked King!! Just bought Vicious yesterday and cant wait to start it! Currently reading Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor and so far the writing is beautiful! Looks like most lived up to your expectations great list Cait 🙂
I am just here to say: NIK AND HIS PARACHUTE YESSSSS. I was ready to storming CRY over that ending (and I NEVER cry over books), but then the twist happened and I was just like “You brilliant, wonderful, idiot. Bless you.” Or something along those lines. Anyway, yeah. I just discovered that trilogy this year and devoured it and it was awesome and I was kind of amazed and delighted by how many people actually survived compared to how many I thought would die.
Anyway. As for my anticipated books: Oathbringer was everything I wanted and more. (That was technically last year, but whatever.) And The Lost Plot was storming amazing. (DRAGONS. And the Roaring 20s are my new favorite historical fantasy era; can I please have ALL OF IT?) And Isle of Blood and Stone was pretty good, though not everything I hoped it would be. Skyward . . . if it were written by anyone but Sanderson, I’d call it a great book, but I have higher expectations for Sanderson.
This is so fun, and I kind of LOVE that we had similar ideas this week in TTT cheating 😂 Great minds, my friend. I am so sorry about Iron Gold- I mean that is like, the worst kind of disaster and why I am always hesitant when a series continues when it’s supposed to be a trilogy initially (or you think it is, whichever). Ugh. I am SO glad that you loved Obsidio even if I maybe didn’t. I didn’t hate it, I think maybe my expectations were really high? Also SO glad to hear that Muse of Nightmares was great! I need to get to it ASAP, you know, before I forget everything that happened in book 1.
I feel like we are pretty much opposites because I really liked When The Ocean Was Our Sky, felt a little meh about What If It’s Us, and pretty much loathed The Cruel Prince. BUT we both felt apathetic about Furyborn, so there’s that? 😂
I was the exact opposite for Furyborn. I had little expectations, but it ended up really winning me over. Of course, I believe that the only POV that matters is Rielle’s, but I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
Oh, man, I haven’t been in the book world for SO LONG. I started college in September and just,,,lost all contact with the book world. HALP WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS I WAS IN A COMA. But anyways, I just finished (for the time being, at least), and now I’m (trying to) catch up on my GoodReads goal (loL). SO I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON IN BOOK LAND
Furyborn is on my shelf to read though; I haven’t really heard much about it??? So I guess we’ll see how I like it????
I was really looking forward to Seafire by Natalie Parker, and in the end I enjoyed it a lot, although for some reason it didn’t really seem crazy good. I liked everything about it, it just didn’t astound me like I wanted it too.I
I was also really anticipating the Crimes of Grindelwald, but although I really enjoyed the movie, the screenplay fell flat sometimes without the actors there to characterize everything.
I just had a story about cake that I figured you might enjoy. (Hopefully, I mean, it IS Cake) I was eating a piece of cake with my fingers, because we had run out of forks, walking down the hallway. I must have looked comical, because one of my teachers asked me if I would like to sit down and use a fork. I accepted, ate my cake, and then bid him a good day. Later, I checked a mirror, and I had frosting on my chin, potentially the whole time! But, the whole incident made my day, and I thought of you and cake.
PS, the cake was delicious
I mean honestly I didn’t read most of my most anticipated releases for 2018! I say every year that I am super excited for such and such new releases, but then I get distracted catching up with backlist books and never get to them until the next year. My most anticipated release was Kingdom of Ash, but it’s so huge that I’ve barely got anywhere with it yet, so yeah, that was a fail on my part. I was super disappointed with both Hero At The Fall and The Burning Maze, I was really hyped for both of those and then they turned out to be massive letdowns as was The Hazel Wood. I enjoyed Ace of Shades, though it wasn’t quite as amazing as I was hoping for. For A Muse of Fire was really good, though again, not quite as amazing as I’d hoped. Still, I did have some triumphs, Children of Blood and Bone, Legendary, The Exact Opposite of Okay and By A Charm and A Curse were all amazing, so the year wasn’t a total loss in terms of anticipated releases. I’m kind of sad to hear that Vengeful didn’t meet your expectations, I loved Vicious and am super excited to get to Vengeful but I might lower my expectations now.
My number one hyped book for the year was The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Kiersten White). And it was good … but yet??? I left it feel slightly disappointed. Not enough dark and ugly, IMO. This year, actually, a lot of my hypes have fell flat. I know, I’m crying. :/
I WANT TO READ THE CRUEL PRINCE SO FRIKKIN MUCH. I AM A SLYTHERIN AND I WOULD LOVE A GOOD REP, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. I’m glad to see that you thought that it was good!!!!
Hiiii, Cait !!!
Well, I don’t think there’s anything better than being here, at the end of 2018, and look back at those books we’d been looking forward for a very long time. It’s great !!! Well, I love this time of the year because 1) CHRISTMAS (is my fave holiday eveeerrrrrr), 2) end-of-the-year posts like this one are everything I crave for, 3) blogging and 4) afsdygrhtj <3 Really, this is the epic combination of what I love to read in blogs, so every single themed post is like paradise to me, huh? PEEEEERRRRFFFEEECCCCTTTTTTT <3
So, let's talk about those books, huh? The Lady's Guide was stunning for me. I actually wasn't looking forward to it at all because I saw no need for a sequel and thought that Mackenzi Lee was just continuing the series because The Gentleman's Guide was a success. So I underestimated it. Turns out I actually adored it, though I still think Lee only wrote it because of her previous success, and she kind of wrote the exact same story but differently and with other characters. And what on Earth was that ending? I find many flaws in the book, but I cannot help but love it. Why? Because of Felicity. I think we've associated a "strong female character" if she's wearing a leather jacket and she's mean and she's everything but "feminine". So we've began to see girls who turn their backs on so-called femininity and we tag them as "strong female characters" because of it. And Felicity was okay, I guess, but the other female characters in the book were the exact proof of how strong female characters are not necessarily like that. And this was everything I wanted to read in 2018.
VENGEFUL IS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED READS OF 2018 and I STILL HAVEN'T READ IT. Buuuuaaahhhh! I don't know, I guess I'm just scared and avoiding it xD I'll get down to it soon, though xD
Muse of Nightmares was stunning but I think I liked Strange the Dreamer better <3
I read What If It's Us a couple of days ago and absolutely loved it. IT WAS SOOOOOO DAMN PERFECT <3 Truly, I adored it. I do agree on your point about liking Arthur and Ben as characters but not liking them TOGETHER. Hell yeah, that was exactly what I thought. Though I overall adored the book <3 And I had very low expectations on it !!! I truly didn't think I'd like it.
Obsidio was fantastic, but I found it slightly disappointing compared to the previous books :/
Iron Gold… Well, I'm gonna simply retweet everything you said because I agree with it 100%.
Furyborn was another one of my most anticipated reads and I ended up getting truly bored 🙁
THE CRUEL PRINCE AFSDGUFHEGRJH LET'S JUST NOT COMMENT ON IT BECAUSE IT'S ABSOLUTE PERFECTION afsdgfuehr <3
Sorry for the long comment, Cait !!! I wrote too much xD Thing is, I'm truly obsessed with your blog and afsdgfuhg you're a genius.
Kisses!
SO, like, okay first of all I need ” Let the gays go raise dragons” tattooed on my forehead because REASONS. Also, someone needs to just make that a trend in literature for 2019???? Because PLEASE???? Also, can I just say that FURYBORN wasn’t on my most anticipated releases and I honestly stumbled on it by accident but it was so not for me. It was one of those rare DNF for myself and I’m so relieved to see it wholly wasn’t for someone else as well. Sad face.
Yes!!! Obsidio (the only one from your list I’ve read) was absolutely amazing!!! My 3 month wait was definitely worth it! Also that ENDING ArahsgsH
I normally don’t make lists with my most anticipated books (or I do, but then I never check back up on them!) just because I tend to be disappointed when I hype something up in my head. One of the only series that met (and sometimes surpassed) my expectations was Amanda Bouchet’s Kingmaker Chronicles. I feel like I get more disappointed with contemporary romance though because it’s easier to predict and I want certain scenes to happen…does that make any sense?
ALSO, I’m definitely not reading that Patrick Ness book about the whale, LOL. I haven’t read anything by him, but I’m most interested in his Chaos Walking series!!
Thank god for Nik and his parachute!!! Hanna and Nik are my favorites too, which is why it’s a major bummer that I only own the first and third book…like, Genni….what were you thinking?!
I literally haven’t read any of those haha but I have been wanting to! It was interesting reading your thoughts on them!
Nabila | Hot Town Cool Girl
SCHWAB really does talk about writing a lot…and most of the time it’s not so positive?! I think she must be really overwhelmed with all the books and comics she has releasing and how much she has to write – so I get it?! But i haven’t been keeping up with her new releases OOPS. But I hope to! AND THE CRUEL PRINCE IS AMAZIng, and so is The Wicked King – I’m so excited for you to read it because you’re going TO LOVE IT SO MUCH EVEN MORE THAN TCP.
I haven’t read Vengeful yet, and although I’d not dying to read it, I am curious! One day 🙂 Obsidio really was great, although the ending was rosy (people used to die so easily, how come everyone has a happy ending?) (Although yes, I wanted them to have a happy ending, of course.)
I agree with The Cruel Prince! 🙂
I haven’t read the Obsidio books (to be honest, the covers don’t really hype me up), but I’ve heard such good things about them! I keep telling myself I need to pick them up…
Well, that makes me sad about Iron Gold (honestly though, I can see it coming. from a writer standpoint of how do you make things worse. . . ruin all the good friendships :/ buuuuuut really?). It happens, sadly. At least, you liked most of your anticipated books! I never make a yearly list of what to read? But I was attending university, and it was hard to know how much time I’d have to spare for reading the books that I want. Maybe I’ll try it this coming year. Perhaps I shall make a small dent in the tbr . . . let me dream, ok?
Ugh I love this post so much! I definitely agree about what if it’s us. Besides that I haven’t read these really, I mean I haven’t even read ANY Schwab or Illuminae….
OMG you were disappointed with Vengeful?! Noooooo! But yes I kind of hear you about VE Schwab given she’s such a successful author always complaining! OBSIDIO WAS A DREAM OMG. Uggghhh so annoying about Iron Gold, I still haven’t picked it up.
Happy New Years Eve (or New Years since you’re in Australia)! I had so many anticipated reads this year, and I feel like most of them met my expectations or were pretty close, which pleases me.
I was looking forward to The Cruel Prince, and I totally agree that it was amazing! I can’t wait to see how Jude & her sisters’ relationship develops in TWK!
Also The Poppy War was such an AMAZING fantasy. It was really hard to read at some points, but I think it’s an important book too.
Children of Blood and Bone was alright, slightly meh, to be honest.
A thousand Perfect Notes was my most anticipated 2018 read AND IT IS DEFINITELY IN MY TOP 3 READS OF THE YEAR I ADORE IT. I don’t think I can express how much I love it. I don’t even usually like contemporary, so even though I had high expectations I was still a bit hesitant but W O W. I WISH I COULD GIVE IT ALL THE STARS IN THE WORLD. IT WAS THE BEST I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE BOY WHO STEALS HOUSES.
Yes!!! I LOVED the Cruel Prince, it was so excellent. One of my favourite 2018 reads I guess, though to be honest I haven’t read a lot on this list! Ooops….
I also agreed with your review of More Than We Can Tell, while I super enjoyed it, it didn’t move me like the first one did, and I think it was about the balance between the protagonists, I just felt much more invested in Rev’s story and not so much the girl. The first one was so very lovely though, I adored it!
🙂
I received What If It’s Us for Christmas so I’m looking forward to reading that this year.
I also need to do a much better job reading books the year they’re released.