Books I've read this year!

Hello everyone, I know I've been away for a bit, but I am back now for however long I decide to be. I know I haven't talked too much about books lately which is part of the reason for having this blog. Well, I'm going to fix that right now. I'm going to do a recap on some books I've read this year. This post will be about books that I loved and some that just didn't make the mark for me. I'll start off with books from Jennifer L Amrentrout! I discovered this fantastic author this year and she has just really blown me away with her books. I have 11 on my favorites shelf that's just books by her. Thanks to JLA I haven't been in a reading slump and I've been thoroughly enjoying her books. I don't have them all yet, but I'm working on it! She even recently announced the sequel to From Blood and Ash is coming out 09/01/2020 THIS YEAR! It's called A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire and I am so stoked! We'll start with this one since it became my favorite book!
From Blood and Ash by: Jennifer L. Armentrout is about a girl named Poppy who secretly goes out and helps defend her kingdom from invaders. She is expected to be the next ascended maiden, but she discovers more and more that she doesn't want this life. Especially, when she meets Hawke who sees Poppy through the person she tries to be and who she actually wants to be. But there's so much that Poppy doesn't know and that she might not be ready for! 
A trilogy I read by this incredibly talented author was The Dark Elements series and oh my goodness I loved everything about it! Layla is a half Warden and half Demon, but she fights with the Wardens against the Demons because she wants to be thought of as a good being. Layla is pretty much taught to hate her Demon side by the Wardens even Abbot who is like a father to her and her best friend Zayne Abbot's son and her crush. When Layla meets the Demon Prince Roth he makes her question everything. Not only that, but he helps her to love and accept herself. Zayne even realizes he made a mistake and makes his true feelings known to Layla which sets up a love triangle. This trilogy was so good! The world building, the characters, the romance, etc. I highly recommend it if you're into paranormal romance and good love triangles!
Another trilogy by Jennifer L Armentrout that I really liked was the Wicked series. I didn't like it as much as Dark Elements, but it was still a great trilogy. You'll love it if you love kickass heroines like Merida from Brave! And of course if you're a fan of stories with fae like I am. As the series goes on it does get darker so fair warning. 
I've also been reading JLA's romance standalone series. You can honestly read the books in any order and it won't be confusing. I have yet to read the last one, but I'm sure I'll do that in the near future! The books are basically New Adult romances where the couples have certain situations in their past that they need to face and overcome. Some topics may not be for you so another fair warning. My favorites from the series were Wait For You and Stay With Me! Fall With Me and Forever With You were also really good, but not my favorites. Be With Me was okay I really didn't care for it as much as the other books in the series, but regardless I feel that some people really will enjoy it as much as the others. But it does come after Wait For You which a lot of readers including myself said is very hard to top. 
I also read Frigid and Scorched which are part of a romance standalone duology. The character's from these books are featured briefly in the series I just talked about. I didn't care for these books all that much though. I didn't like the love interests for Sydney and Andrea. I felt that these two could've done better in the romance department. But JLA's writing is really good so I did finish the first book, but I stopped reading Scorched after almost 100 pages. But if you are looking for dominant males and hot sex scenes pick these up! 
I also tried JLA's Lux series which I've heard raving reviews about and saw the high ratings on Goodreads. I even tried to the spin off to the series. Unfortunately, I didn't care for either one. I read the first book in the Lux series and read over 100 pages into the second one and then just dropped it. I read 80 pages in the first spinoff book and then dropped that one. Both male leads Dameon and Luc were pretty much the same cocky, arrogant, and just down right rude. I couldn't stand them and even though Katy and Evie seemed like strong girls they still fell for these losers. I expected better for them really. 
I also read a few crazy standalones! Dead List and If There's No Tomorrow! Dead List is a thriller mystery and you will not guess who the murderer is I swear it! If There's No Tomorrow deals with teens drinking and driving and paying for the consequences of their actions. It shows how they all deal with the incident in different ways and it was so emotional and heartbreaking. It really opens up your eyes. I also read Don't Look Back which is another YA thriller about the main character's (Sam) best friend being mysteriously murdered. Sam has a slight case of amnesia and it gives her a chance to kind of start over. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two books because I didn't feel much of a character connection, but it was still good and the murderer will also surprise you! 
Anyway, I think that's it for what I've read by JLA this year and I'm still not done! I'm going to leave my blog at this. I know it's just books by JLA, but once I got going I couldn't stop. I'll be back with another post most likey next week on more books that I've read this year and give you my honest thoughts and opinions on them!