10 Great Novels I Read in 2021

It seems like every time someone asks me what good books I’ve read recently, I don’t have an answer. So I decided to start keeping track of the reads I can personally recommend. Here are the ones I rated at least four stars last year.

Mystery/Thriller

Donna Tartt’s The Secret History has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I can’t believe I’d somehow never heard of it when it’s so up my alley. The premise is sort of like if you started with Dead Poets Society, made everyone way more eccentric and strange, then added murder and conspiracy, with maybe the faintest whiff of the possibly supernatural–you don’t know exactly.

Although the book was long, there wasn’t a single point when I was bored, and I was often on the edge of my seat. As I was nearing the end, there was even a point where I gasped aloud.

I felt so guilty liking, maybe even loving, these characters, and especially sympathizing with them. What they did was truly awful, horrendous, and unforgivable, yet it seemed like I was feeling everything they were feeling from start to finish. When the deed needed to be done, I was right there with them, and then I suffered the horror with them for the rest of the book, of knowing they had done it and couldn’t undo it.

The setting, too, held me enchanted throughout the entire 500+ pages. Such wonderful, yet dreadful, escapism.

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Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs was really good. I liked it even more than the previous Jewell book I read. There were so many twists and turns that I could not possibly guess at everything, which is very unusual for me when it comes to a mystery. I had lots of theories, and on some I was close, but on others I was way off.

I enjoyed the way the three perspectives were told so differently. It made it easy to remember where I was in the story when I had to put it down and come back to it–which I didn’t do much. I read most of the book in one day.

I’ll definitely be reading more Jewell.

This was actually my second read of Deanna Raybourn’s Silent in the Grave. I started the series a few years ago and then never got back around to it, even though I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I love this author (who happens to be a distant relation) and her prose, her wit, and her characters.  She writes very inventively about her chosen time period and her books are a delight to read!  The very first sentence of this series is particularly brilliant.

I do recall that, like most mysteries, I guessed the villain fairly early on the first time, although I was very off with the motive.  And there was a lot going on that I did not guess correctly–for instance, I spent the majority of the book believing Brisbane to be a werewolf!  There seems to be so much foreshadowing of it–a mysterious illness that requires him to be hidden away from society on what seems like a regular basis, among other things.  I was surprised by it, too, because I hadn’t seen any indication beforehand that there was a supernatural element to the book.  I just find that funny, so while you’re reading, see if you can see what I mean.  To my further surprise, there actually is something supernatural going on in one corner of the plot, but it isn’t a werewolf.  It is unexpected, though, and well-concealed.

The romance is of the slow burn variety, and I loved it.  The relationship between the characters in this book is a great setup for the rest of the series, and the ending expertly leaves you wanting more.

My only critique is that the pace is a bit too slow at times–I almost forget there’s a mystery to be solved.  I feel like some extra words could probably have been cut.  But the writing is such a delight to read that this mattered little.

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It was also my second read of Deanna Raybourn’s A Curious Beginning, because I finally bought all the books in both series and started them over. I loved everything about this book.

I loved that what I selected because it was a gaslamp mystery turned out to also be part adventure story. That was a great bonus! I loved the characters and their witty dialogue that had me giggling throughout the book. I loved the mystery, which I couldn’t even begin to guess at. I almost always solve at least part of the mystery, but this time I didn’t come close. The truth blew me away. And the ending left me wanting more, more, more! So I’m lucky there are several books in this series and new ones keep coming out! I went online to purchase every book when I was about halfway through this one, so I’ve already opened book two.

Another thing I enjoyed was looking up some of the historical references throughout the book, as well as things like the specific shades of characters’ eye colors based on the bird or butterfly they matched.

I don’t have a face visual for Veronica yet, but I instantly pictured Stoker as Aidan Turner, probably because I’d just recently rewatched Being Human. Partway through the book, I started watching Poldark for the first time ever and was shocked to discover that he has the exact same scar on his face that Stoker has. I could almost see Stoker being inspired by Poldark, if that’s the case….

I can’t wait to read the rest of this series and then all the rest of Deanna’s books. Literally every single one. I’ve definitely found a new favorite author. 

I really, really enjoyed Simone St. James’s The Sun Down Motel! One of the problems I often find when reading a book is that I enjoy the writing and the plot, but hate or just can’t bring myself to care about the characters. Not the case here, to my welcome surprise! I loved the main cast! So I cared about what happened to them.

This is a ghost story wrapped in a small-town murder mystery. I mean, what’s not to love?

The only issues I had with it were that sometimes the time jumps took me out of the story right when it was getting to a really good part. Two girls’ stories were being told concurrently, sort of like a LOST episode, with the current action and the flashback action. So more often than I liked, we were given the same information twice. Also, sometimes the two girls and what they were doing and what was happening to them were so similar that I couldn’t remember what had happened to which girl, and occasionally even forgot which one I was reading at that moment. Sometimes they (especially Viv) did something so stupid that I got angry and it pushed the bounds of believability a bit–like, I kept asking myself, ‘Would a teenage girl actually do something as stupid as what this girl is doing right now? Would I have done this at this age?’ (The answer, I’m fairly sure, or at least hopeful, was ‘No’.)

I was able to guess at most of the mystery as the clues were being delivered, but this is normal. The joy for me with mysteries usually has to lie in finding out whether I’m right, rather than being shocked by the end. There were a few secrets I didn’t figure out.

There was one character whose whole storyline was a bit cheesy and unnecessary from my perspective, but not enough to ruin the whole book for me, just a minor annoyance.

Other than those few minor things, I loved just about everything about this! And I read it in only three working days. 

Classics

Harold MacGrath’s Hearts and Masks was such a fun romp! I found an old copy from 1905 in a used bookstore and had to grab it because it had a 100-year-old inscription inside that enticed me. But I was unfamiliar with MacGrath and had no idea what the book was about since there was no blurb anywhere.

It turned out to be very much my thing. A guy decides to sneak into a masquerade ball just for the adventure of being there in disguise when he hasn’t been invited and trying not to get caught. But there’s a jewel thief there at the same time who throws a wrench in his plan, and then it’s a matter of catching the thief and winning the fun and mischievous girl at the same time. A very quick read that I finished in a day.

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This was my first time reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde since elementary school, right after I first saw the 1986 animated film. I watched the film several times thereafter, but only read the book once, so it is the film that has ingrained itself in my memory. I’d forgotten, therefore, that Hyde is described as being rather puny in stature. This came as a surprise, particularly since I believe the characterization of Hyde in the film was based entirely on the illustration on the cover of this old copy of the book I have, where Hyde towers over his cowering victim as a green-skinned, animalistic giant about to attack.

In recent years, when reflecting back on this story and how it frightened me as a child, it’s occurred to me that I actually feel less fear now, as an adult, for the monstrous Hyde than I do for the weak-willed, interfering Jekyll. This, I believe, is the point of the story. We should all have a healthy fear and awareness of our own darker side, and leave it be. As an astute character from another story once observed: “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.” Although Hyde arguably had the violent natural killing instincts of an animal, it was Jekyll who craved them and chose them again and again.

Of course, the parallels to real-world addiction show how hard it is for some otherwise well-meaning people to resist the darker side of themselves. The story is very sad in that way. All along, you’re watching the deterioration of an addict.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller with scares jumping out at you from every page, this isn’t it. This story has a slow but deliberate pace that builds to the final horror, which slowly and shockingly seeps into you and makes your hairs stand on end the more you consider it. Since I had previously read it, I already knew what I was getting into and was not disappointed.

Dystopian

I read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, like many others, because I enjoyed the show. The plot and even some of the dialogue were identical, so I was pleased to see that (at least to certain point–I know there’s a sequel but don’t know how far into the show it goes, or if the show completely veered off after the first book) it was more or less what I expected.

The book and characters feel slightly more distanced from you than they do in the show. It all feels a little more dream-like somehow, like you’re watching from afar, rather than part of it. (While binging the show, I felt so much a part of it that I would wake up the next morning trying to remember what had made my previous day so terrible–nothing, I’d just watched a lot of the show in one sitting.) I felt more detached while reading the book. Part of that was because of Atwood’s writing style. I know it was intentional. I know she wrote it the way she did so it would feel exactly that way, like we were lost in Offred’s head because Offred herself was lost in Offred’s head. And it worked. But for me it could drag on and get kind of dull to read the ramblings. It became almost too abstract for me at times.

I also really enjoy the epilogue that you don’t see in the show (or at least not yet).

Historical Fiction

The Social Graces was my first book by Renee Rosen, so I didn’t know what to expect.  I saw the ad pop up in my Amazon “also-likes” and was lured in by the gorgeous cover.  Something about the description itself enticed me, but let’s be honest, I judged the book by its cover and pre-ordered it right away.  (And, speaking of the cover, I was delighted by how velvety-smooth it was to hold.  This has nothing at all to do with the story, but it definitely increased my reading pleasure.  I kept stroking that soft paper while I read.  And now I sound like a crazy person.  Just, understand there was a great tactile experience with this book.)

This is a (mostly factual) story about society in the Gilded Age of New York.  The two main characters are Alva Vanderbilt and Caroline Astor–The Mrs. Astor.  Although I have always been familiar with the names Vanderbilt and Astor and understood they were two powerful and wealthy families, I can’t say I ever knew much about the individuals within the families (apart from John Jacob IV and Madeleine, because of all the Titanic books I’ve read).  This book is sort of like a lite biography of Alva and Caroline, following their lives through the years, and the people they encounter.  It allows you to briefly experience society through their eyes.  I had a great time looking up pictures of faces and places as I read!

I understand this was not the point of the book–in fact, it was the opposite–but I found myself wholly inspired by Alva’s drive and ambition.  Alva, at least according to this book (I have a lot of further reading to do to separate the fact from the fiction) grew up poor (in a way) and then stopped at nothing to get to the top of society and was never satisfied with just settling where she was.  (At one point while reading, I found myself humming “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman.)  She wanted to live in a castle, so she built herself one–and then another!  She set lofty aesthetic, social, and financial goals and let nothing stop her from achieving them.  I have found myself a new favorite heroine!  And of course, I also didn’t know anything about her brave decision to divorce, or her fighting for women’s rights.  It was easy for me to choose which “team” I was on–Alva or Caroline–as Alva was very much the underdog of the tale, and I could empathize at least in part with her background and her goals.  And Caroline was suuuch a snob!  But I also (eventually) came to love the character of Caroline, as well, and found the ending wholly satisfying.

As for the writing style or voice…my only real complaint is that at times it fell a bit flat for me.  Something about it occasionally felt…I’m not sure…simplistic?  Artificial?  I don’t know what it was, exactly, but every now and then something would bring me out of the story to frown at the page before moving on.  And that’s really the worst I can say because I very much enjoyed this book!

Okay, I know it doesn’t technically count as historical fiction, because John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is very much non-fiction. But it’s such a good story that it reads like fiction.

I remember a period of time when my parents and all of my friends’ parents seemed to be reading this book, and how I was always wanting to look at it because the title made it sound so creepy. I don’t know what exactly I expected from it, but I didn’t expect to find one of my new favorite books of all time! This was seriously top-notch storytelling, characterization, and atmosphere all in one. I laughed out loud more than once. And at times it did get a bit creepy. I was fascinated from start to finish. I definitely found myself wondering exactly how much was made up, but I do know that the truth is often stranger than fiction, so I didn’t overthink it.

For more recommendations and my current reading list, check out 7 Reasons to Join Book of the Month Club.