I always look forward to the yearly Goodreads Choice Awards in November, as it always gives me lots of new titles to read as well as a chance to celebrate those books I loved reading during the year. Sadly, I’ve also seen the tendency that popular authors tend to get the vote no matter how good the work of lesser known or popular authors was… So I’ve decided to put together my own little post and give the award to those books and authors I think should have won instead in certain categories.
Of course I haven’t read all books in each category, so my opinion might vary in the future and I don’t claim the other books are bad. I just feel other titles deserve to be in the spotlight as well. Ready? Here we go!
# BEST MYSTERY & THRILLER #
WINNER: The Outsider by Stephen King. I haven’t read this particular King title yet so I can’t judge properly, but I also feel he got a lot of votes based on his popularity and I think there were other titles more worthy to be getting the award. There is one book that stood out for me far far above the rest… And I’m still surprised it hasn’t gotten more votes. Who should have won the award for Best Mystery & Thriller? Drumroll…
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is my absolute top read this year so far, so I’m a bit disappointed it hasn’t gotten more votes… This book will always be the true winner to me. Find out more about why you should read this book if you haven’t already in my review.
An honorable mention goes to The Date by Louise Jensen, which was absolutely brilliant and deserves all the love. Need more reasons? Find out in my review.
# BEST ROMANCE #
WINNER: This Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. I admit I haven’t read this particular title yet, but I do feel there is another title that should have been nominated and won instead… I’m surprised it hasn’t received more love. Which one?
The Smallest Part by Amy Harmon! I love her books in general, and this title is no different. She makes me forget completely I’m normally not a fan of the genre, and I loved every single minute of it. Need more convincing? Here’s my review.
An honorable mention goes to All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, a title I really enjoyed as well despite a few flaws. Find out more in my review.
# BEST HORROR #
WINNER: Elevation by Stephen King. I did read this title and only gave it a two star rating, so you can understand I was really disappointed it actually won the Best Horror category. Another case of getting the popular vote? In my review why I didn’t enjoy the title. So who should have won instead? My vote goes to one of my favorite horror/serial killer thriller series…
The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison! I absolutely loved this third book of the series and I honestly can’t understand why it hasn’t been receiving more love… I can really recommend all three books. Read more about my opinion here.
An honorable mention goes to Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage for having one of the most creepy main characters I’ve encountered this year, especially since Hanna is only a child. Not a perfect read, as I write in my review, but it definitely gave me the chills.
# BEST MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPY #
WINNER: Educated by Tara Westover. I did read this memoir since there has been a lot of hype around it, but sadly it turned out to be an underwhelming experience for me. Want to know more about the why? Feel free to read my rant here. Who would I have loved to see win then? There was one memoir that especially made an impact on me:
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton. A truly inspiring memoir about a, innocent man having to spend thirty years on death row. A true eye-opener and very powerful. Read more about why you should read this one here.
# BEST DEBUT AUTHOR #
WINNER: Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I did enjoy this story mostly, as you can read here, but I think there were other titles more worthy of the award. These include the following titles and authors:
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor, Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young and The Tattooist Of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. There are a lot of titles I still need to read though, so hopefully I’ll be adding more titles to this list in the future.
# BEST YOUNG ADULT FICTION #
WINNER: Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli. I did enjoy reading this title, as you can see in my review, but there was another title I enjoyed even more. Which one?
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas. Without doubt one of my favorite YA reads this year and without doubt worth reading. Find out more about the why here.
# MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S #
WINNER: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan. I admit I have never read his books, but I guess he does get the popularity vote here… There was a book I absolutely loved this year and would have loved to get the award instead; especially since she is one of my absolute favorite authors. Can you guess already? It’s…
City Of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab! I’m in love with this new MG series and I was over the mood when I saw the sequel being announced a few days ago… Even if you don’t tend to read a lot of MG, if you like YA you should still give it a try. It’s absolutely wonderful. More about the why here.
What did you think of the Goodreads Choice Awards winners? Any favorite among my alternative winners? Any other titles you would recommend?
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Fantastic post! This is such a great idea. I might do one myself if that’s okay?
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But of course! It’s always great seeing more recommendations. 🙂
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Thanks I’ll get it up during the week 🙂
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Great post. 🙂 I agree that a lot of amazing books don’t get the recognition. With a lot of young people jumping aboard the politically correct wagon, certain types of books tend to become popular and/or win nowadays. 😦
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It’s such a shame the awards are turning more into a popularity test rather than an award for real quality… But I guess it’s hard to prevent this from happening in the first place.
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Very true. I loved the idea of you sharing your own choices for the awards though. 🙂
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Oh, I love the idea of this! I was so excited by the number of great titles included this year that I’d either read or am definitely planning to read but was underwhelmed by the winners. Your alternate list of winners includes many of them.
Love this💕
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Good to hear I wasn’t the only one! I’m happy you enjoyed many of my alternatives as well. 🙂
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I have a love/hate relationship with the GCAs. Love it because I get new book recs and hate it because I end up adding to my already HUGE TBR pile.
Anyway, great post. I’m not a Stephen King fan and feel as though he did win based on how popular he is. Haven’t read 7 1/2 Lives yet but I’ve heard really good things about it. Most people I know who’ve read Educated feel the same way as you, which doesn’t really make me want to give it a go.
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Ah yes, it is quite dangerous for the TBR pile! At least we never run out of books that way. 😉 I do love some of Stephen King’s books, but they tend to be a mixed bag for me and I truly feel he just wins because he is so widely known and popular… Educated can go either way I guess, but it didn’t make a good impression on me. And Evelyn Hardcastle is without doubt worth reading! My absolute top read this year.
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Great post, Yvo. I have read a few of the titles on this post and agree with you about them being winners, in my books at least. I really need to read Cheerleaders soon and Evelyn.
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Thanks! Good to hear you enjoyed some of my alternatives as well. Especially Evelyn Hardcastle I can highly highly recommend!
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I love this post, there were a few winners I wasn’t entire sure deserved it. I’d have given best YA to Sadie by Courtney Summers! And I still haven’t read Evelyn Hardcastle yet 🙈
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Good to hear I wasn’t the only one with that feeling! Sadie turned out to be an unpopular opinion review for me, but I do understand the love for it. Evelyn Hardcastle is definitely worth it. 😉
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I listened to the audiobook for Sadie, and I think the full cast narration made it an incredible listening experience, with every character having it’s own narrator, even the secondary, unimportant characters. It also made the podcast feel even more real. And the narrator who read Sadie was one of the best I’ve come across! You can tell I fangirled a bit over Sadie, haha!
Evelyn Hardcastle is on my list of books for next year, definitely!
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Oh that definitely makes me want to try the audiobook version of Sadie! It sounds like it would really enhance the experience.
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Great post! So many great books here and many that I still need to read 😊
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Thanks! I can recommend every single one of these. 🙂
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I like what you did here! So fun! I would have kept Helen Hoang’s book, though. I really loved that one. All Your Perfects was good, though.
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I have The Kiss Quotient on my TBR so hopefully I’ll try it next year and I’ll enjoy it as well… I do love The Smallest Part though and don’t really understand why it hasn’t had more love from other readers; Amy Harmon is brilliant. ❤
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I’m not sure why it doesn’t get more love. It’s so good! I hope you love The Kiss Quotient.
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I’m looking forward to read it next year. 🙂
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I love your picks and I think you are right about some popular authors getting all the votes. I like some of your picks more than the GR ones! ❤
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That’s great to hear!
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