Quite a bit has been horrible about 2016.  Instead of discussing all that, however, I’m joining Andi at Estella’s Revenge, Tanya at Girlxoxo, and Tamara at Traveling with T to share all the wonderful that 2016 offered.  While I probably won’t do every topic they’ve scheduled for this month, I’ll do as many as I can because I absolutely loved A Month of Faves the last time I was able to join in.
I’m going to assume the 5 books for today’s topic can either be popular books published this year or popular books we read this year, regardless of publication date.  Since I’m woefully behind on all that is new and shiny, I’m going with the latter.  I’ve read exactly six 5-star books this year, out of the 78 I’ve read so far (The one that I didn’t put on this list is Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, but only because I enjoyed Furiously Happy even more).  That may change to seven (The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler has been phenomenal so far), but for now, here are my five books that are totally worth the hype.

• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater – I knew the story would have to end eventually, despite not wanting it to, but I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to “The Raven Cycle” series than The Raven King.

• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson – Click on the title to read my review, then head over to thebloggess.com to get a taste of awesome that proves this book is a must-read.

• The Martian by Andy Weir – This was my favorite book from my Sci-Fi Summer reading challenge.  Click on the title to read why.

• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Click on the title to read why this is one of the most important books to have come into my life.

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – This is a frequently challenged or banned book.  In fact, it’s being challenged, and defended, in Iowa right now.  I listened to the audiobook during Banned Books Week, and it’s probably my favorite banned book.  I wish I had read it when I was a teenager.