Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic was supposed to be about new-to-me authors I read in 2018, but I’ve done so many posts about authors lately that I wanted to focus on something different, so I’m highlighting ten of my favorite diverse reads published in 2018.
I couldn’t narrow it down to ten, so you’re getting a Top Eighteen Tuesday this week! ?
1. Sawkill Girls — Claire Legrand
YA dark fantasy/mystery
rep: queer (f/f), ace, Black, fat
2. Sadie — Courtney Summers
YA mystery
rep: speech impediment, queer (f/f)
3. Blanca & Roja — Anna-Marie McLemore
YA fantasy/magical realism
rep: Latinx, trans, queer, disability (vision impairment)
4. Next Year in Havana — Chanel Cleeton
adult contemporary/historical fiction crossover
rep: Cuban
5. Toil & Trouble — anthology edited by Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe
YA anthology: fantasy, contemporary
rep: queer, multiple POC reps, fat
6. Over and Over Again — Cole McCade
new adult romance/contemporary
rep: Romani, queer (m/m), demisexual
7. When My Heart Joins the Thousand — A. J. Steiger
YA contemporary
rep: autism, disability (osteogenesis imperfecta)
8. Mirage — Somaiya Daud
YA sci-fi/fantasy
rep: Moroccan
9. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings — anthology edited by Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman
YA anthology: contemporary, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal
rep: multiple Asian reps, queer
10. The Astonishing Color of After — Emily X. R. Pan
YA contemporary/fantasy
rep: Chinese, biracial, depression
11. A Girl Like Her — Talia Hibbert
adult romance/contemporary
rep: Black, autism, fat, PTSD
12. The Way You Make Me Feel — Maurene Goo
YA contemporary
rep: South Korean, Brazilian, Chinese
13. Reign of the Fallen — Sarah Glenn Marsh
YA fantasy
rep: queer, POC side characters, (Black, Asian, possibly more), addiction
14. Undead Girl Gang — Lily Anderson
YA mystery/contemporary/horror (light)
rep: Afro-Latinx, Black, fat
15. A Very Large Expanse of Sea — Tahereh Mafi
YA contemporary
rep: Muslim
16. Summer Bird Blue — Akemi Dawn Bowman
YA contemporary
rep: Asian (Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Black), asexual, aromantic, depression
17. Beneath the Sugar Sky — Seanan McGuire
adult fantasy
rep: fat, queer, trans, asexual, Latinx, Japanese—it’s been a while and I know I’m missing some here!
18. The Kiss Quotient — Helen Hoang
adult romance/contemporary
rep: autism, Vietnamese, biracial
Kay Wisteria
January 15, 2019I loved Astonishing Color of After ❤️ happy reading!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! It was so good. <3
ChrissiReads
January 15, 2019Wow! Such an amazing list of diverse reads. The Astonishing Color of After was incredibly unique!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you, Chrissi! Oh man, it really was. It was one of those books that I wasn’t sure what to make of it until after I finished it and thought on it for a few days.
Sofii @ A Book. A Thought.
January 15, 2019So many incredibles books!, I’ll be adding some to my TBR and I LOVE Sadie, it’s such an intense but great book. And I need to read Blanca & Roja! ??
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you like Blanca & Roja when you read it!! And yes to Sadie – so good. <3
Greg
January 15, 2019Ooh there’s a bunch of books on here that I want to read. Sawkill Girls, Sadie, and A Thousand Beginnings and Endings for sure. Undead Girl Gang sounds fun too. 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019They’re all so good! I hope you get the chance to check them out 🙂
Ellyn
January 15, 2019*adds everything to tbr shelf*
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019ULTIMATE BLOGGER COMPLIMENT hahah <3
Tiffany @ String of Pages
January 15, 2019i haven’t read any of these, but most of them are already on my TBR! hopefully i’ll pick them sometimes this year. great list! <3
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you get the chance to! <3 Thank you!
Brooke Lorren
January 15, 2019The Kiss Quotient was great!
I don’t particularly pay attention to whether a book is diverse or not… I just want to read a good story… but a quick look at the top 10 books I read in 2018, and more than half of them had some sort of diversity to them. I’m glad that publishers are offering all sorts of books to us.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019The Kiss Quotient really was so good! I’m so ready for the sequel 🙂
everythingalyce
January 15, 2019I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t read any of these books yet, although I’ve had my eye on a few of them for a while. This list has made me think I need to prioritise a few of them, though – I had no idea that Sadie included a character with a speech impediment, and I didn’t know that Summer Bird Blue had aromantic/asexual rep either. Great list.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! Yes, Sadie’s speech impediment is a big part of her character arc, but it’s done so well and I really loved it. And SBB has such good aro/ace rep! I hope you like the ones you pick up 🙂
lilisblissfulpages
January 15, 2019I need to read these books… They were in my 2018 TBR and I don’t what happened. Typical of me. hehe…
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Hahaha I know that feeling!!
esmoogle
January 15, 201918!! You’re spoiling us! Undead Girl Gang and Sawkill Girls were already on my tbr, but now I’ve added a bunch more. Thanks for helping me read more diversely 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Haha thank you so much for checking out my list!! <3
lydiaschoch
January 15, 2019I’ve been on the wait list for Sadie at my local library for ages. So glad to hear you liked it!
This is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you get to read Sadie soon! It’s so good. 🙂
iloveheartlandx
January 15, 2019I haven’t read any of these! Reign of The Fallen & Toil and Trouble are on my TBR though. Fave diverse books of 2018? Children of Blood and Bone & For A Muse of Fire are definitely up there, both amazing books.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/top-ten-tuesday-194/
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you enjoy them! I haven’t read A Muse of Fire, but I’ve heard good things. Sadly I wasn’t a big CoBaB fan! 🙁 I might check out the sequel if it gets rave reviews, though!
tasya @ the literary huntress
January 15, 2019A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is my favorite read of 2018 too! I’m so sad that I didn’t get to Toil and Trouble last year, but it’s a priority this year! 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you get the chance to! It was so good 🙂
Jolien @ The Fictional Reader
January 15, 2019I absolutely adored Sadie as well! I really need to read Sawkill Girls and Next Year in Havana. I’ll need to remind myself to buy copies of those soon. Also, I’m really excited to read A Girl Like Her! I bought it after seeing you mention it in one of your posts, and I really feel like I’m in the mood to pick it up soon.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Yaaaaaay! I get so excited when people read A Girl Like Her haha!
Jolien @ The Fictional Reader
January 19, 2019I read it this morning and loved it so much! 😀
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019AHHHHH this makes me so happy!!! <3
journeyintobooks
January 15, 2019Great list, I love Mirage and can’t wait to read Next Year in Havana and Blanca & Roja 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you!! I hope you like them when you do 🙂
journeyintobooks
January 19, 2019You’re welcome and thanks ???
Victoria @ The Contented Reader
January 15, 2019I loved Sadie and The Kiss Quotient! I still need to read Blanca & Roja! Happy reading!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you, Victoria, and happy reading to you too!!
Abby @ AJ's Pages
January 15, 2019Mirage and Sadie have my heart ❣
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019They were so good. Both of those were books I just couldn’t force myself to put down!
Aymee (@asphaltcowgrrl)
January 15, 2019This is an excellent list! So many of these are already on my TBR, but I have about five more I’m adding today.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! Haha I love to hear that I helped someone’s TBR grow! 🙂
Arin
January 15, 2019Oh my gosh I loved Sadie and A Very Large Expanse of Sea!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019They were sooo good! I’m glad you loved them, too 🙂
Marie
January 15, 2019This is a great list! I LOVED The Astonishing Color so much. I can’t wait to read Blanca & Roja, as well as Toil & Trouble, both sound so good 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! Aww, I hope you love them both when you get to them 🙂
malanielovesfiction
January 15, 2019I am freaking out bc I didn’t even realize Sadie ft. a queer character???? sldkfj I need to reread, I read the audiobook and it was my very first audiobook so that explains my detail-missing,,,,,,but HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN
also i’m so excited for sawkill girls!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019It’s kinda subtle but yes!! She’s attracted to the girl she meets and there are some minor references she makes. When it first came out I saw some reviewers say they thought she was just starved for attention and I think the author actually confirmed that she is attracted to girls! <3
I hope you love Sawkill Girls!!
ich lese
January 15, 2019Really great list and I love your focus this week!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! 🙂
Literary Lion
January 15, 2019I’ll have to add some of these to my TBR!!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Yay! I hope you like them!
Cheryl Malandrinos
January 15, 2019I don’t think I’ve read many of these. Next Year in Havana is on my list.
http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2019/01/top-ten-tuesday-new-to-me-authors-i.html
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you enjoy Next Year in Havana — it was really lovely!
Lauren @ Always Me
January 15, 2019I’m actually reading Mirage right now and I’m loving it. 🙂
Lauren @ Always Me
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019That’s awesome, I’m so happy you’re enjoying Mirage! 😀
Tiffany G.
January 16, 2019I’ve only read Sadie in this list. I didn’t really enjoy the book, although the audio book was fun. Just didn’t like the story. I’ve been wanting to pick up Mirage (THAT COVER!). I’m constantly looking to your blog for recs!
tiffanysbookblog.com
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I’m sorry you weren’t a big fan of Sadie! But thank you for the kind words about my blog! ♥♥ That makes me so happy to hear!!
Jessica at Booked J
January 16, 2019SO MANY GOOD BOOKS ON HERE. I still have a few on my TBR I need to get to (starting, ironically, with the first book on your list: Sawkill Girls) and ughhh I’m READY.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019Thank you! Ooooh, I hope you like Sawkill Girls. It’s WEIRD but so good.
Jenna @ Falling Letters
January 16, 2019The Astonishing Color of After is on my priority list for this year! I love Anna-Marie McLemore and devoured Blanca & Roja and will continue to devour everything she writes but… as a person who is not a romance fan, I feel after four books I’m starting to tire of the same general arcs to the romantic plots ? This is just a personal preference though – there’s so much more going on in each of her books that makes them well worth reading!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019TACOA was so beautiful but SO heavy at times, so make sure to have tissues on standby. I remember just being stunned by how spot-on some of the commentary on depression and suicide was. And that’s actually really understandable, how you’re feeling about the romance in AMM’s books! I’ve only read 2 novels and a few short stories from her, and I loved them all, but I find that I have to be in just the right “mood” for her romances because they do feel a bit similar! So I can definitely see how it would bug you if you’re not a big romance fan in general!
Annemieke
January 17, 2019Hoping to read Beneath the Sugar Sky and A Thousand Beginings soon. I’ve only read Toil and Trouble and Reign of the Fallen but both were great reads yes. 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 19, 2019I hope you get to soon! <3 And I hope you love them!