Favorite Books

In my lifetime, the number of 5-star reviews I’ve given is lower than the number of times I’ve been to the gym, and there’s nothing more that I hate than going and working out, getting sweaty, and being in pain the next day.

That being said, here are all of the 5-star books I’ve read, and the series that I’ve rated 5-stars.

(TW for some of the things mentioned in each review will be given underneath the title, but be sure to check the TW of any books just in case they contain something which might be detrimental to your health.)

There may be some spoilers ahead!

Books

Lights Out by Navessa Allen
TW: Stalking, Serial Killer Parent

Lights Out is the first Dark Romance that I’ve ever deemed worthy of 5-stars, and I think that has absolutely everything to do with the way that Navessa Allen wrote this book and how she treated her trigger warnings as something serious, not making a joke out of them.

First and foremost, Allie was not an absolute idiot who completely wrote off the possibility of Josh being her masked man stalker after the first meeting, despite the fact that he had the exact right body type and everything else. So often in this genre, the FMC is one of the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever seen, and they write off things that make it blatantly obvious who their stalker is.

Josh is also the best man from this genre that I’ve ever read, morally speaking. While, yes, he does stalk Allie, he comes to the realization about the harm and fear that could have caused when Allie’s house is broken into. After that, there’s an apology and a conversation, as well as a future change in behavior.

And, ironically, his and Allie’s relationship is one of the healthiest that I’ve ever read in a romance novel; there’s communication, there’s consent (in everything except the actual stalking), and there’s adoration.

Softly. by Grey Huffington

Softly was a romance novella I read in February as part of a journey I had to diversify my bookshelves; it was about finding the kind of love that comes easy, that’s gentle, and that just fits in with your life: the kind of love I’ve always wanted to have in my life.

It was a gentle story, and despite its brevity, the story did a lot for character development, and you really could feel the love that existed between the two characters, who had been friends for their whole childhood.

This book really felt like someone just telling me their love story and how they started dating their husband of 55 years, and it felt complete and satisfying when I was done with it. (Although, I did want more moments of the characters being in love with each other, as I always do.)

The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco

It’s been over a year since I read this book, and I remember almost everything about it, but before we get into that, I’d like to mention that this book was written by Rin Chupeco, who uses they/them pronouns, and the main character in this book is nonbinary, so we have both queer and Filipino rep in this book, which was honestly perfect timing and caused my realization that I didn’t have many Asian authors on my shelves, which I’m trying to change to this day (and will gladly accept recs for).

Honestly, this story wasn’t as character based as some of the other books in this list, and while Alon did have a crush on one of the other characters, their attraction wasn’t really a driving plot in this book, the way it would be in all of the other books I typically read.

This was also a venture into a new genre for me, that being horror, and while I wouldn’t say this book was really scary, there was definitely a lot of suspense, and if it was made into a movie, it would definitely fit in the horror genre - one that I think I’d actually be interested in watching - but I don’t know this genre well enough to tell you if this was a good book within the genre.

The plot of this book was also amazing! It took me a little bit to finish it, but most of my reading for this book happened in one sitting, and took me all of less than a day to finish reading, and the plot twist at the end of the book was extremely good; I didn’t see it coming, and I was shocked, but I can definitely see where the author laid the groundwork and clues for that to be the case when I think back on it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
TW: None mentioned, but please double-check

This is my all-time favorite book, the only book that I’ve read more than two or three times (I’ve read it 5, if you’re wondering), and the one thing that has stuck with me since I first read it when I was 16.

Leigh Bardugo writes an excellent set of characters, and it’s extremely rare to have six main POV characters that all feel well-developed. While some certainly lack in areas, specifically Jesper and Wylan, you still understand their motivations and what causes them to accept the job that they’re on. Kaz and Inej are probably the most well-developed characters, and they double as my two favorite characters in fiction of all-time.

The world building in this book was spectacular; even though we spent most of our time in only one or two countries - and very little of that time in one of those countries - the author was able to create several unique and identifiable cultures, which I think was especially important when almost all of the characters come from completely different cultures.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games took me longer to read than it probably should have. I was never majorly big into the dystopian genre, so this book never interested me until A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out and it was all over my FYP.

My heart broke for Katniss throughout this book; even before the games actually began, the amount of work that she had to do as a 15, 16 year old girl: not only was she Prim’s primary caregiver, but she was also doing everything she could to keep Prim out of the Games, even going so far as to enter them herself.

Then the Games actually started. People died, Katniss and Peeta almost died. I can’t remember the last time I cried this hard when I read a book, and I don’t typically cry when I read books.

You also have the fact that the Hunger Games aren’t too far of a stretch of imagination to think about them becoming real; there isn’t as much suspension of disbelief as there is in, for example, Divergent to believe that this universe could exist.

Honestly, I think this book is what YA Dystopian is supposed to be but what so few people are able to achieve because they just want to create this world that doesn’t have any basis in reality, so there’s no commentary on our world and where it’s heading.

He Who Haunts Me by Kenna Bellrae
TW: Stalking, Serial Killer

Kenna Bellrae is one of my favorite authors, and He Who Haunts Me was her first published book. Honestly, I would recommend everything in her portfolio, but this book is probably my favorite so far.

He Who Haunts Me is a romantic thriller, featuring Bexley Wells - a college student looking into a career in forensics, who is also being stalked by a serial killer - and Jaiden Wells - a more distant friend who’s been in love with her since they were in high school.

This book was exciting, interesting, and an extremely easy read, in that there wasn’t a single moment where I felt like the story was dragging and boring me.

Freaking Romance Volume One by Snailords

This book was just a soft, adorable book about two people from different universes who live in the same apartment: Zelan and Zylith. It’s a graphic novel, so normally, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read this book, but this one was a nostalgia thing.

When Freaking Romance was first being published on Webtoons, I was obsessing over it, eagerly waiting for the next release and consuming them with no breaths the moment each episode was released, and even now, I still love this book.

Now, I will say that I don’t know where this book left off and the second volume picked up, so I’m not going to rant too much about it for fear of leaning more into the second book since I did just read that a few weeks ago.

Series

The Folk of the Air by Holly Black

This series was the first thing I read in my senior year of high school. I worked as a library aid in my free period, so I had all sorts of opportunities to read that I otherwise wouldn’t have, and I don’t exactly remember what led me to choosing to read this series.

I do remember loving everything about the first book and being really annoyed that the second book had been checked out by a kid who never returned their books on time, so there was really no telling how long it would be before I’d read the next book.

Jude was my favorite character at the time; she was an objectively bad person who only wanted power, and once she got that power, she only grew hungrier for more. All she wanted at first was to make a name for herself, and she did more than that.

Then there’s Cardan, who’s been obsessed with Jude since the beginning of the series and hated that he was, so he made her life miserable. He’s another objectively bad person, except Cardan already has his own power and lives his life seeking pleasure, not power.

Each book in this series has its own plot, but if you read one book, you won’t feel satisfied that you’ve had a complete story until you’ve read them all because each book does lead you perfectly into the next at the end.

There’s also a clear division between the books, which is something that I don’t think I usually find in series that aren’t standalones. Usually, when I think back on the books, they blend and fade more together, even right after I’ve finished them, and that’s never been a problem I’ve had with this series.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Listen, this series had to make an appearance. Of course this is my favorite series; I read it for the first time in the school library when I was five years old, and Percy Jackson is the blueprint for a sarcastic main character.

Annabeth Chase is “not like other girls” in a way that’s only forgivable because I’m biased towards this series, and it was released in 2005 so I’m going to ignore that and pretend it’s because of the time frame this series is in.

And of course, you have the obvious childhood friends to lovers that is Percy and Annabeth; they’re the blueprint of what this trope should be, and I refuse to accept any criticism on their relationship because they’re both so in love with each other from book one - especially Percy, who literally compares Aphrodite to Annabeth the first time he meets her. If that isn’t the truest of love, you can’t tell me that love exists. It just doesn’t.

Then there’s the quests, the trauma, the literal Hell that these people have to go through in order to beat Kronos and save the world, and did I happen to mention that Percy is 12 at the beginning of this series and 16 at the end? Because he is, and talk about a child soldier. That boy never got a break, and he deserves to be left the fuck alone.

Outro

Honestly, almost all of these books have been part of this list for at least a couple years, and I’ve read all of them at least twice, so I feel confident that these books belong, and that they’ll remain on this list for at least a few more years - Six of Crows, especially, is pretty much a guarantee, as well as Folk of the Air.

Hopefully, these aren’t the only books that I have on this list in a few years, but these are all definitely books I’d recommend if you’re looking for something in those genres, and I don’t often recommend books, even if I do like them!