A Look Back at 2021

by Donna Huber

We are at the end of 2021 and what a year it has been. We have all been adjusting to new normals or trying to get back to our old normals. Here at Girl Who Reads we got back to our regular reading after struggling, like many of you, to focus on books in 2020. We've experienced shortages of most things. While some publication dates were pushed back, we still had more than enough books to keep us busy. Let's take a look at some of our most popular posts, our featured guests, and more of 2021.

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The Beginning & The End

Since the first posts of the year and the last posts of the year are often the least viewed due to the holidays, I wanted to highlight our first five and last five reviews of 2021.

• My review of Tom Clancy's Shadow of the Dragon by Marc Cameron kicked off the year
• MK reviewed 4 New & Notable Titles in Young Adult Fiction
• Susan reviewed 6 historical fiction stories
• MK reviewed 2 Mysteries for the Long Winter Nights
• MK reviewed the space opera Persephone Station by Stina Leicht 
• Susan reviewed a collection of mystery short stories
• I reviewed 4 Christmas books
• MK reviewed The Lighthouse by Christopher Parker
• Susan reviewed the beautifully written novel The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah
• Our last review of 2021 was MK's review of The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Best of 2021

I did my favorite reads list last month. Since then, I have read a few more books that I would add to the list as they are so good and I would hate for you to miss them.

Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

Goodreads

I started it one afternoon while waiting for my Kindle to charge and I couldn't put it down. I read it through until just after midnight. It was a wonderful night of reading and the book was wonderful. Read my full review. If you are a fan of Narnia or just love stories about family, then you will want to read this book.

Buy Once Upon a Wardrobe at Amazon

Dark Night by Paige Shelton

Goodreads

I love this suspense-filled series. It is the perfect mystery to read in the winter with the small snowy Alaskan town as its setting. I love the characters and in this installment of the series, we learn more about Beth's . If you haven't started this series, I recommend starting at the beginning for full enjoyment. It's just 3 books so far - great for a snowed-in weekend. Read my full review.

Buy Dark Night at Amazon

The Hitwoman Owes a Favor by JB Lynn

This series is just pure enjoyment. There is suspense, there are laughs, there's family, and there are plenty of animals. It is also a quick read - great for a cold winter day when all you want to do is escape into a book. You don't have to read all the books in the series but I'm sure you will find this one so much fun that you will want to gobble up as many as you can. Read my full review.

Buy The Hitwoman Owes a Favor at Amazon

Susan's & MK's Lists

Susan and MK put together their lists of best reads for this week.

MK was able to narrow her list down to her 10 favorite reads - it includes several fantasy books so if that is your favorite genre do make sure to check out the books on her list.

Susan's list of 15 best books of 2021 includes a number of historical and women's fiction titles.

Guests Posts

We had a few authors contribute a guest post about their books. We greatly appreciate them taking the time to share with our readers. It is always fun to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the writing process and a favorite book.

• Gary Basnight discussed the futuristic technology in his books Flight of the Fox and Madness of the Q.
• Gail Ward Olmsted, the author of Landscape of Marriage, shared a bit about arranged marriages and marriages of convenience throughout history.
• Brenda Whiteside told us about the setting of her romantic suspense series The Mackenzie Chronicles.
• Daryl Devoré shared why she wrote the medieval novel The Last Dragon.
• The Son of Abraham's author Kathleen Kaufman discussed end-of-the-world beliefs.

Discussions and Featured Posts

Last year, because we all had struggled with reading focus, we wrote several discussion-type posts. This year though the reviewers were reading all the wonderful books - to the point we almost couldn't keep up. So there were only a couple of discussion posts from the reviews, but Alison provided plenty of discussion of books, movies, and recipes.

• Susan didn't get around to her 2020 reading wrap up and 2021 goals post until January, so you can compare it to this year's post.
• My post-apocalyptic book club sets its calendar in July and I highlighted what we are reading. At this point, we've read half of the list.
• As I've already mentioned, we all discussed our favorite reads: my list, Susan's list, MK's list.
• I also do a monthly wrap-up where I discuss what is happening in life, on the blog, and what I read each month. You can find them all here.

Alison's posts

In case you missed any of our feature writer's columns this year, you can catch up now.

• She kicked off the year by discussing the popular sequels Malorie and Ready Player Two.
• She compared the book and Netflix series Behind Her Eyes.
• She contrasted a book and a movie in the young adult fiction genre.
• In April, she reviewed one of Stephen King's lesser-known novels Revival.
• She followed that with a review of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
• When life returned to the busyness of normal, she went looking for something addictive to read.
• Her summer was filled with summer reads, movies, and easy appetizers.
• She discussed the Amazon Prime series The Pursuit of Love and how the adaption compared to the novel.
• Not quite done with pandemic fiction, Alison reviewed a book with the premise "What if we learnt nothing at all from COVID-19?"
• She wrapped up the year with a Christmas movie recommendation.

Spotlights & Excerpts

We shined the spotlight on Wes Verde's new historical fiction story Jalopy and the southern fiction story The Essence of Nathan Biddle by J. William Lewis.

We shared an excerpt from The Encanto by Arthur Swan, as well as from Susan Mallery's summer romance The Stepsisters.

Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2021

Each month in my monthly wrap-up post I share the most popular posts of the month. Here are the top ten most viewed posts of the year.

10. Susan's review of Gone Too Soon by Dani Atkins
9. Susan's review of the powerful and emotional book The Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D. Harrison
8. Susan's round-up of end of 2020 historical fiction reading
7. My review of WWII novel The Edelweiss Sisters by Kate Hewitt
6. Susan's review of 9 of the Best Books of Women's Fiction
5. Susan's review of Christian romance A Lady in Attendance by Rachel Fordham
4. Susan's review of WWII novel The Girl from Berlin by Kate Hewitt
3. My February wrap-up post Wrapping Up Winter Reading, Spring is Around the Corner
2. Susan's review of The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper
1. My review of cozy mystery Death on a Winter's Day by Verity Bright

And there we have it - the end of 2021! As you can see there was plenty of great reading material. If you are still looking for something to end the year with, I hope you will check out some of the posts above. There are a lot of awesome new books coming out in 2022 that we are excited to tell you about (we already shared 2 in our last reviews of the year) so I hope you will continue to read Girl Who Reads. We are thrilled to bring you great reading recommendations every day and greatly appreciate you reading us. I want to say a special thank you to those who support us by using our affiliate links - the money earned through the affiliate links goes directly to supporting the staff writers and maintaining this site.

From all of us at Girl Who Reads, may you have good health, great happiness, and wonderful reading in 2022!

Happy New Year!

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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