The winner for the category of “Historical Fiction” was Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone. You can find my review of Hannah’s novel here. This was my first novel from Hannah and I think it perfectly captures the mystery of Alaska. The story is also extremely gripping and just when you think you know what way it is going to turn it takes you in a completely different direction. This was such a powerful novel with a bitter sweet ending.

Circe written by Madeline Miller is a retelling of Greek mythology and the story of Circe, a witch and daughter of Apollo (the sun god). Miller has an amazing way of telling a story that is both calming and beguiling. The cover art of this book is exquisite and I would be lying if I said this was not a strong factor in my attraction to this book. If you love witches, Greek mythology, and women learning their true strength then this is going to be a must for you.

This memoir is hilarious. I listened to this on audible and The Last Black Unicorn is read by the author, Tiffany Haddish. She has such a great way of telling a story and listening to the book made me feel like I was out having drinks with friends laughing at all our ridiculous stories. Haddish’s memoir is not for the faint of heart. In between laughing and crying with laughter there are real moment of self-reflection and discussions of violence. This memoir feels like it is universal and everyone could get something from it.

This book won Nonfiction of the year and let me tell you, if you love crime fiction this is a must. This story is chilling, scary, hopeful, perplexing, terrifying, and sorrowful. It is eloquently written and the work put in by the author actually helped give new leads and direction for the case. I talked about the book here and it is a true master piece of contemporary true crime nonfiction.

Educated by Tara Westover is for me, the book of 2018. It ripped my heart out and Westover’s story is so unique and so universal that it spoke to me and thousands of other readers. There are so many reasons why this book is so amazing, but watch really touched me was Westover’s discussions of poverty, mental health, grief, and moving on. This is such a special book to me.

This collection of poetry by Amanda Lovelace The Witch Doesn’t Burn in this One is a follow up of her breakthrough collection The Princess Saves Herself in this One. If you ask me, I prefer Lovelace’s first collection, but this is still a powerful piece of work. Whilst you could read this as a stand alone piece, I do feel that you would get more out of it if you read her previous collection first.

Best of the Best winner was Angie Thomas with her young adult fiction novel The Hate U Give. This novel perfectly encapsulates everything wrong and right in the United States of America. Her novel is truly a one of a kind that speaks on issues like police violence, black lives matter, and race relations in the U.S. in a way I have never seen before.