Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018

Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018.” I was going to do this list based on non-debut authors, but it turns out, I did not pick up enough books from non-debut authors who were also new to me in 2018. So today you are getting a combination of favorite authors I read in 2018, debut and non-debut alike. Covers are linked to Goodreads.

1. Sandhya Menon – I was lucky enough (or maybe I dropped the ball with When Dimple Met Rishi since it took me so long to read it) to read two books by Sandhya Menon this year (Dimple and From Twinkle, with Love). I love how happy her novels have made me and I’m really looking forward to There’s Something About Sweetie.

2. Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Blood and Bone is among the most epic reads I picked up in 2018. It elevates the fantasy genre by existing and I am really looking forward to seeing more books that take their world-building just as seriously.

3. Elizabeth Acevedo – The Poet X was probably my favorite YA debut of 2018. Acevedo astounded with her poetry and gave us a character in Xiomara whose every struggle felt like an extension of my own teen years.

4. Justina Ireland – I’d argue that with Dread Nation, Ireland wrote the most balanced novel I picked up in 2018. I could rave about her world-building, but I’d be neglecting her lead character. I could talk about her lead, but I’d have to mention her awesome world-building.

5. Dhonielle Clayton – While I do have another Dhonielle Clayton novel on my shelf, The Belles was the first one I read from her. Her prose is so luscious in this one. She managed to excite each of my senses with her descriptions.

6. S.K. Ali – I can’t remember the last time I fell so hard for a protagonist, but S.K. Ali’s Janna in Saints and Misfit is so easy to love. I will be following this author’s career very closely because of this one.

7. S.A. Chakraborty – The City of Brass was another epic read in 2018. I feel like I could spend weeks discovering all the intricate details of this fantasy debut.

8. Somaiya Daud – I think 2018 was a great year for world-building because Somaiya Daud’s Mirage blew me away with its multi-layered world. I need more space books like this one.

9. Carmen Marie Machado – I really want to pick up more short-story collections and I’m glad I ended up reaching for Her Body and Other Parties. It was creepy and weird and sometimes it felt like it was personally written for me.

10. Rebecca Roanhouse – Trail of Lightning was my favorite read of 2018 and I read a lot of really good books this year. I read this one at the end of November and have been fighting the urge to reread it ever since. The sequel cannot come fast enough. I’ve already preordered.

Did you pick up any of these authors for the first time in 2018? Let me know in the comments and be sure to leave a link to your own TTT post in the comments, so I can visit.