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These posts are probably my favorites of the year, but they’re also a lot of work so yay for being here! We’re going with Taylor Swift tiers as per usual, so we’ve got The Alchemy as our top most tier, not because it’s my favorite song but because it encompasses the idea of loving a book the most. Then we’ve got So High School, which is for the idea that this book gives me giddy feelings, but it’s not THE BEST THING. And then we have Honey for books that give both good and bad vibes at the same time like how it’s annoying when people call you honey in a derogatory way, but really nice when someone who loves you calls you honey. And then we have I Forgot That You Existed for the books where I, well, forgot about them. Or wish I had anyway. And then Bye Bye Baby for the books that I just didn’t love/DNF’d. So let’s dive in!

Also, I received some of these books as ARCs via the publisher, but my opinions are very much my own. The books I read as ARCs are notated within the captions of each gallery.

The Alchemy

These six books are my favorite favorites and there’s a chance some of them are my favorites because of the books that came before, but we’ll get there. Let’s start with After Hour Books at Dooryard Books and Star Shipped. I counted After Hours because the audiobook released this year, so I decided it counts as a 2026 release, btw. But anyway, these two books showcase Cat Sebastian at her best. I need a physical copy of After Hours immediately. I am obsessed. Both of these books have the best characters with so much depth and all of these fully formed side characters that make me want to just dive into these books and live there alongside my new best friends. Even if Simon would probably rather die than expand his social circle.

Now for the various sequels… Rites of the Starling picks up more or less where we left off at the end of Shield of Sparrows, but it also introduces a new character’s POV and I was really excited about that at first. Until we kept going and what I wanted to happen wasn’t happening. But this is a trust the process book. And let me tell you, the end result? Thrilling. I’m obsessed. Can’t wait to see what comes next. Archangel’s Eternity made me want to sob because I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS SERIES IS OVER. *wails* But seriously, I am so in love with the Guild Hunters universe and I am so grateful Nalini Singh exists. What a great ending to the series too. I can’t believe Elena has been an angel for a millennium. That’s crazy. An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong delivered what I’ve been waiting for in that series AND had such a fun mystery. I was deeply invested and I’m so excited by this installment. Also I loved the commentary surrounding the title. Finally, Beast Business, which is maybe (definitely) in here because my love of Hidden Legacy is basically my entire personality. I can’t not love this book. I want more from HL literally always. Arabella’s trilogy when???? I’m begging.

So High School

So many contemporary romances made their way into this category, which are books that I loved but they don’t quite make their way into favorites of the year. Probably. But some of them are/were favorites of the first quarter/second.

Dolly All the Time is a really fantastic book with class differences where the guy is a workaholic but not an asshole. Mostly. I really liked him. Also, I think you’ll like him if you like Kate Canterbury’s Walsh sibling books, though his work takes much less of a focus than the architecture does in that series. No Matter What by Cara Bastone is a marriage in trouble book, which already meant I was going to love it, and I did. This book takes a good look at how traumatic events can reveal that your communication skills are not up to par. I mean, it does a lot, but that’s definitely one of the pieces. How Not to Fall in Love by Karla Sorensen is a messy sports romance with family dynamics that are wild. It’s also a single mom romance, like Dolly All the Time, and I liked both of them for the way they handled that particular element. Stranger Things Have Happened by Kasie West has her really compulsively readable writing style and a fun fake dating style plot with a pretty unique twist on the trope. I enjoyed it a lot, but be careful if dysfunctional mother/daughter relationships are hard for you. Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan is maybe my favorite sapphic romance I’ve read, but that feels impossible. But the level of angst involved in this one had me deeply invested in the characters and also I’ve been so into flowers lately that I also appreciated that aspect of this book so much.

Echoes of Insurrection is about to get a reread from me, which has me stupid excited because I think that the fact that I read it with my eyeballs is part of why I didn’t love it as much as the previous installments in the series. I am so in love with this series as a whole that reading Echoes with my eyeballs was a no brainer, but also I don’t think I was in a place where solo eyeball reading was the best for me. So there’s a high possibility this individual book would be elevated once I’ve read the audio copy. If it changes places, maybe I’ll go ahead and include it again in the second installment of this. No Place Like You by Jillian Meadows was so close to being my perfect book. It made me cry because of the loneliness depicted in the book. It just really spoke to me and I would highly recommend. It’s All in Your Head was an impulse purchase that I do not regret at all. I really loved the way this book handled going from fake to real. And the idea of letting someone in and coming to depend on them is terrifying. I loved the way this book represented that part too. One & Only was really fun. I was frustrated by the book at times, but it was so readable that looking back on it, I just had a good time with the mess. I love Goo’s writing so much. And Now, Back to You by BK Borison was so much fun. It’s also got a grandfather dealing with memory issues and a dysfunctional mother so there are some harder topics. But I just really love buttoned up Jackson coming a little undone for Delilah and more so, Delilah learning that actually, she doesn’t always have to be sunshine.

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez is MESSY and I reveled in it. A book about getting together with your boyfriend’s best friend is going to be messy and if you don’t like the idea of that trope and don’t think you’ll be able to get past it, I would recommend skipping it. But I had a great time because… Well, it’s Abby. And I like mess sometimes. Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line feels like the perfect book to follow up the sentence “I like mess sometimes” because, yeah. Finlay is messy as all get out. But she took much longer to commit a felony in this book than she has been, so that was nice for my anxiety. Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik is probably my favorite romantasy series I’ve started this year, so that’s something. I think depending on how it concludes will impact where the book ultimately rates for me. It was a favorite of the quarter, but the sequel doesn’t come out until December so we’ll see. The Odds of You by Kate Dramis was so, so good. I think I need to reread it and I’ve bought myself a finished copy now on Independent Bookstore Day. I think it’s one I loved enough to annotate. It’s another book where the layers of melancholy really spoke to me. This is partially a grief novel, even though I don’t think the synopsis comes across that way and you could easily make the argument that it isn’t. But just tread carefully if that might be distressing for you.

Honey

Honey to me is representing books that I have kind of mixed feelings about, but they tilt toward the positive side. So we have Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai, which was a really fun romp of an adventure romance with a layer of melancholy and angst. My problem is that I will always want Alisha Rai to give me what Forbidden Hearts was and that’s just not what she’s interested in writing anymore. But I’m still having trouble letting go. How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay by Jenny Lawson worked for me more as a memoir than it did as an actual self help book, but it’s supposed to be a self help book so that’s a bit of a struggle. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it so much that I did send a copy to my best friend and her wife because I wanted them to read a particular essay from it. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me overwhelmed me, but I just know that it’s going to move up. I need to reread it and I probably will when it’s closer to time for the sequel to come out. I think it’s one that I’ll wind up really loving, but for now, I feel the sadness that it wasn’t an immediate five star making this the category that it fit best into.

I Forgot That You Existed

I don’t know that I’ve actually forgotten these books, but they were not my favorites and just generally didn’t leave much of a lasting impression. While You Were Seething by Charlotte Stein was my least favorite in this trilogy situation that she’s written. I just felt like the MMC was a little too blank for me. A Vow in Vengeance by Jaclyn Rodriguez was really good, I think? But it just didn’t do enough for me. I am not invested enough in the romance to even really remember their names and for a romantasy like this, that’s actually a bit troubling. Although when I put it that way, it does make me reconsider a couple of other rankings… Anyway, I just don’t love this couple the way I need to for a romantasy. But the world is super interesting! So it’s not like I’m opposed to reading the sequel, but I don’t think I’ll be seeking it out either. Enchanting the Fae Queen kind of disappointed me more than anything. I wanted to love it so much. And there were bits and pieces that I really did, but overall, I don’t feel like we went as in depth with the characters as what I needed. That said, I cannot wait for book three. This one set that one up really well. And then finally, To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast. I feel pretty similar to it as I did to A Vow in Vengeance. It was a fast read, I was into it, but once I finished it, the entire thing pretty much left my brain. I am not deeply invested in the romance. So… Will I read the sequel? Maybe!

Bye Bye Baby

I wanted to love The Starseekers so badly, but I just… didn’t. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t read the earlier books in this series, but I had no clue what was going on. The science and the magic both were going over my head. But the cover is gorgeous and I liked the romance pretty okay? The sisters were fun! But all in all, I feel like I finished reading this one because I refused to DNF rather than because I actually enjoyed it. Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies on the other hand, I actually did DNF because I could not handle the writing style. It’s another book that I think I picked up because someone said that it was like Finlay, but I just immediately found that the writing style was not for me. I wish it had been because I did look up the spoilers and I think it probably would have been a fun romp to get there, but I just couldn’t do it.

Closing Thoughts

I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to read so many new releases even though I’ve also read so many rereads. That’s basically what this year has been. I’m either reading a 2026 release or I’m rereading a book, with some exceptions obviously. Anyway, what have been the books that you would put in your own top tier? I would love to know. Also, are there any I listed that you would put somewhere else? I would love to know that even more!

xx