2018 in Review | The Best Books of 2018

2018 has been an absolutely incredible year here at Red Rocket Panda. Although I technically set up my blog in April 2017, I didn’t start properly blogging until January 2018 and I cannot believe how much this blog has grown – I’ve made some fantastic friends, read a tonne of brilliant books, and enjoyed bringing you all content throughout the year.

One of the things that surprised me the most is that I managed to not only smash my original reading goal of reading 50 books this year, but I also smashed my second goal of 75. As of today, I have read 81 books which is 55 books more than last year. I wanted to share with you all some of my favourite books as well as new-to-me authors that I’ve read and discovered this year!

Best 2018 Releases

I’ve had a bit of a complicated relationship with new releases this year. There have been some that I was super hyped to read but that disappointed me, some that I was highly anticipating but never got round to them, and then the ones I did manage to read and loved.

Here are those special 2018 releases that I loved!

Best Pre-2018 Releases

It is so hard to narrow down a few select books as my favourite 2018 reads because I have read so many books that were published prior to 2018 that blew me away this year. All of the books that I’ve chosen as are ones that all kept me up late reading and ones that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about even long after I finished them. They’re ones that I’ve recommended over and over again in my posts throughout the year and I’m certain that I will continue to recommend them for many years to come!

Favourite new-to-me authors of 2018

I did not expect to discover so many phenomenal authors this year and I’m literally blown away by these wonderful people’s books. All of the people of this list have definitely become auto-buy authors for me! I have been super fortunate to meet and/or interact with some of these authors at various events and on twitter, and it has made my little fan heart so huge. Thank you to all of these authors for creating such incredible worlds, memorable stories and heart-warming characters.

From left right: Akemi Dawn Bowman (Starfish), Aliette de Bodard (The Tea Master & the Detective), Pierce Brown (Red Rising), Kaia Sonderby (Failure to Communicate), Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time), Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), J.Y Yang (The Tensorate Series), and Emma Newman (Planetfall)

I can’t wait to see what books 2019 brings me! Unsurprisingly, I already have a huge TBR pile that I’m excited to get started on and hopefully, I’ll be able to find the time to get through them all haha.

What were your favourite reads of 2018? Did you discover any new-to-me authors whose works have become auto-buys for you?

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