Top of the Stacks — End of Year Awards (Adult Books)

Hi all! It’s a new year, Emily is back on the blog (and the header, though of course we still love Winston!), and we are back with our third annual Top of the Stacks Awards Post! In this post, we share our favorite reads over the last year. Emily had a weird reading year — read about 60-70 books (which is way less than usual), didn’t track as well as she normally does, and got supremely addicted to historical mysteries with female investigators (if you have any favorites, send them to me!). Haley’s reading year was more normal — read about 112 books, kept right on blogging, but didn’t read as much nonfiction as she would have liked (meaning, she read 0).

And now, without further ado, on with the show!

Favorite Contemporary

Haley’s Pick: Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

Emily’s Pick: The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Honorable Mentions: In A Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo

Favorite Debut

Haley’s Pick: Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic

Emily’s Pick: The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin by Stephanie Knipper

Favorite Dystopian

Haley’s Pick: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Emily’s Pick: Emily didn’t read any dystopian this year (or in 2020… so weird…)

Favorite Fantasy

Haley’s Pick: A History of Wild Places by Shea Earnshaw

Emily’s Pick: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Favorite Historical Fiction

Haley’s Pick: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Emily’s Pick: Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones

Honorable Mention: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah

Favorite Horror

Haley’s Pick: Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Emily’s Pick: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Honorable Mentions: The Getaway by Zoje Stage; The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Favorite LGBTQIA+ Read

Haley’s Pick: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Emily’s Pick: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Favorite Literary Fiction

Haley’s Pick: The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

Emily’s Pick: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (ok, I know this isn’t the official definition of Literary Fiction, but it’s certainly a classic and was really just great, especially on audio)

Favorite Mystery

Haley’s Pick: These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Emily’s Pick: The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas

Honorable Mentions: The Entire Verity Kent series by Anna Lee Huber, The Cleopatra Fox Mysteries by C.J. Archer

Favorite OwnVoices Novel

Haley’s Pick: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Emily’s Pick: Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby

Honorable Mention: The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

Favorite Romance

Haley’s Pick: People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Emily’s Pick: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Honorable Mentions: The Heiress Gets A Duke by Harper St. George; It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Favorite Science Fiction

Haley’s Pick: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Emily’s Pick: Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

Favorite Thriller

Haley’s Pick: You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes

Emily’s Pick: Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby (I know I picked it twice, but it’s just that good!)

Honorable Mentions: Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson;

Best Audiobook

Haley’s Pick: Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Emily’s Pick: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

What About You?

What were your favorite reads of 2021? Have you read any of our picks? Let us know in the comments!