Top 5 Tuesday was created by the epic Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

This week, the topic is a big one – all time favourites. And because that is so impossibly difficult to decide, Bionic Book Worm made this topic a Top 10! I struggled even narrowing it down to just 10, and I did cheat slightly by counting several series as individual items. I also feel like my all time favourites list changes all the time, but for now, here’s my Top 10!

The Fever King – Victoria Lee

Yes I’m mentioning it again. It’s my favourie book right now, I absolutely love it, it’s so fantastic, the characters are amazing, there is so much pain, everyone should read. I have written a full review for this book here.

I Wish You All the Best – Mason Deaver

This is a book I read very very recently, it was the first book on my TBR for Pride month and I read it in one sitting because it was just so good. It tells the story of Ben a non-binary teen who is kicked out of their home after coming out to their parents. It’s a heartbreaking but uplifting story about a teen trying to come to terms with who they are. I posted my full review of the book yesterday, and you can check it out here.

The Poppy War – R.F Kuang

Everyone excited for The Dragon Republic?!?! YES YES YES. The Poppy War is definitely one of my all time favourite fantasies, it was so engaging and action-packed and I couldn’t stop reading. It felt like such a unique concept, set in an incredible world, and as much as it always hurts, I love books where any character might just die, including those you don’t expect. I can’t wait to to read the continuation of this series.

The Broken Earth series – N.K Jemisin

I absolutely adore this series, just a brilliant trilogy with some amazing characters. I’m really due a re-read of these books. I love how all of the different POVs tie together at the end of the first book, I love the magic system, I love Alabastor and Essun and it’s just so so brilliantly different to any other fantasy series.

The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

I read this book last year, and I was just heartbroken the whole through. I prefer this book to Circe, I think possibly because it did break my heart so much, but it’s such a beautiful love story and a wonderful take on the the greek myth of Achilles and Patroclus.

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Harry Potter – J.K Rowling

My all-time favourites will never be without Harry Potter. Whilst I have a lot of issues with J.K herself, particularly her need to constantly pretend she’s inserted diversity into a book without actually ever writing it, these books were such a big part of my childhood. I grew up with Harry and co, I got a HP tattoo, I read fanfic for absolute years, my cat’s called Draco…etc. The books had such a profound effect on so many of my generation and I will always love revisiting the world. If I had to choose, I’d probably say Half-Blood Prince is my favourite, given Draco and Severus are my two favourite characters and I feel like that book really develops both of them.

The Rain Wild Chronicles series – Robin Hobb

Another series, this time from the wonderful Robin Hobb! I seem to be in the minority in my Robin Hobb appreciation, in that I much prefer all the books without Fitz, whilst most folk I’ve spoken to prefer the Fitz books. The Rain Wild Chronicles (the ones with the dragons + keepers) is my favourite series though, I just found the Dragons themselves so so interesting, and I loved all the characters, particularly Alise, Leftrin and Sedric.

Love from A to Z – S.K Ali

This is another very recent read which has jumped onto my all time favourites (full review still to come!) It’s a contemporary YA romance, which is a genre I’ve only recently started reading in, and this book was just one of the best, most beautiful and romantic romances I’ve ever read. It’s a story between two Muslim teens who keep crossing paths and we just get to watch as they slowly fall in love and it is incredible!

Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie

Mysteries aren’t really something I read much of currently, and that’s mainly because I find none ever live up to the standard that was Agatha Christie. My mum was a big fan of hers, so growing up I had shelves and shelves of her books I could read. Poirot is my favourite, and of the Poirot books I always really enjoyed Death on the Nile the most. I just love the way her books are structured, with Poirot finding clues, interviewing the suspects and then deducing the crime. It’s always a challenge to see if you can guess the villain before Poirot does, and I just can’t find anything like this nowadays! (I feel so old saying that…)

Shades of Magic series by V.E Schwab

Last on this list is another fantasy series. V.E Schwab created the wonderful Shades of Magic series, which follows Kell and Lila, Rhy and Alucard as they fight a dark and ancient powerful magic. I read all three of this series in about a day and a half over Christmas last year. They are so engaging and exciting, and the villain is one of my absolute favourites ever. Bonus content: pirates and marvellous coats.

I have so many others that could’ve been on this list, particularly some of my recent reads. Let me know if any of these books are on your all time favourites list!

Paws out,
Rach + Draco