Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Think Should Have Won 2018’s Goodreads Choice Award

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly.  Now that it’s getting towards the end of the year and I’ve actually been able to read a significant amount of the Goodreads Choice Books, I’m doing a post on which books I think really should have won the awards. You can find my original thoughts here. You’ll notice that some categories are empty, that’s because I haven’t been able to read enough of the books in order to make a good decision. And now that it’s almost this year’s award season I don’t have time, but I’ll be sure to update this post eventually.

1. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Best Fiction 

After the first book in Jojo Moyer’s trilogy was so problematic, there was no way that I was going to read any of the next books. And compared to The Book of Essie I was honestly so confused that Still Me won the Fiction award. The Book of Essie is an amazing book, well written and takes you by the heart strings.

2. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Mystery & Thriller 

The Outsider vs ????

I was honestly not impressed by any of the books on this list. The winner, The Outsider was okay I ended up giving it 3.5 stars. I liked parts of it, parts of it were creepy but in the end it was too action movie-ish, too long and honestly a little bit boring.  The only other book that was remotely interesting was The Woman In The Window, which I gave 3 stars. It was again, interesting in the beginning, parts were creepy but in the end it was too long and I got bored.

3. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Historical Fiction 

4. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Fantasy 

5. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Romance 

This was one of the few books that I 100% agreed should have won the award. This is probably the best romance novel I’ve read in awhile. It was adorable, steamy and well written.

6. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Science Fiction 

7. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Horror 

This is one that I’m actually pissed about. Not only do I think that Stephen King should not win in TWO categories for the awards, but also this story wasn’t even a horror novel! I would go so far as to say it was a feel good novel. The fuck is it doing in the Horror category?!  As far as the other books went, I had a hard time finding a book that was actually terrifying, the closest was Baby Teeth which was definitely chilling.  The fact that it didn’t win the award is a tragedy.

8. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Humor 

9. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Nonfiction 

10. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Memoir & Autobiography 

The second book that I agree was worthy of it’s award. Educated is poignant, well written and heartfelt.  I loved it.

11. Who Won Vs. My Choice – History & Biography 

12. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Science & Technology 

13. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Food & Cookbooks 

And the last book that won that I agreed with. This cookbook has easily accessible and fast recipes. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Teigen’s writing style, I liked her food style and it was my favorite cookbooks on the list.

14. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Graphic Novels & Comics 

Ugh, this is the other choice that made me a little peeved. Don’t get me wrong Herding Cats is a great book, it’s cute and my partners and I laughed so much while reading it. But it’s mostly all fluff.  Compared to Saga? There’s no comparison. The art alone should have won it the award. The story, the characters, the world, this entire series is practically perfect.

15. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Poetry 

Both of these poetry books are good. I enjoy Amanda Lovelace’s poetry, but it’s not quite as nuanced as If They Come For Us.

16. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Debut Author 

Don’t worry, I’ll give Children of Blood and Bone it’s due, it’s a good book. But in this category The Poppy War should have won. It’s a better story in my opinion, has better written characters and plot. And it’s darker, which I always love. 😀

17. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Young Adult Fiction 

When I first saw these two books in the category I had no idea I would feel the way I did. I loved Albertalli’s first book, but honestly Leah on the Offbeat was meh for me. It didn’t have the same snap as the first one.  Let’s Talk About Love However, oh my god I could go on and on about it. It is amazing, as an Ace and POC rep. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

18. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction 

Can Maas please stop writing books in this series? It’s a flaming dumpster fire from beginning to end and now there’s a seventh book? I didn’t even read it, I had a hard enough time reading the other books.  And here Children of Blood and Bone definitely should have won. It has a beautiful world and a strong story, plus I’m so tired of white authors and white characters winning the Goodreads awards.

19. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Middle Grade

I love Riordan as much as the next person, but this book was not his strongest. Bob on the other hand is absolutely adorable.

20. Who Won Vs. My Choice – Picture Books

I Am Enough was a cute story, but for me Prince & Knight was stronger. It was so cute and I need to own it immediately.

Who do you think should have won? Don’t forget to share your Top Ten Tuesday post with me!