Hi, I'm Paula Sanderson

Well, it’s that time again. Time for the lists! I’ve got two for you – books and TV shows. But we’re starting with Books.

Books I read in 2021

This list goes in order of how much I liked the books from worst to best.

1. GMAT – The Official Guide – Boring. But read the whole thing and now I’m in my MBA.
2. The Manhattan Prep Guide to the GMAT– Boring. See above. More helpful than the offical guide.
3. Atomic Habits – James Clear – My mom wanted me to read this. Meh. It was interesting but nothing special.
4. Keep Going – Austin Kleon -I liked this. It just wasn’t a top pick.
5. Roomies – Christina Lauren – It was fine. Cheesy. Not the best, not the worst.
6. Strategic Management 5th Edition – Frank Rothaermel – My 1000 page text book in my MBA program and the reason I didn’t finish half the books on the DNF list. I spent all my time this fall reading this. However, I did learn a lot. Glad I read it.
7. An Ordinary Age – Rainseford Stauffer – Good book about letting yourself off the hook for not being one of those 30 under 30s.
8. The Deal – Elle Kennedy – Totally ridiculous hockey romance story. I liked it, but would not recommend it to very many people.
9. People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry – I LOVED her last book and wanted to love this… it was good. just not as good as others on this list.
10. Spolier Alert – Olivia Dade – I enjoyed this. It was fun.
11. The Windsor Knot – SJ Bennett – This was a really cheeky book that got me back into reading when I was in a slump. Basically the Queen is a spy. Lots of fun.
12. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird – Josie Silver – A lovely British book about why things happen. It was good.
13. Ghosts – Dolly Alderton – I have a lot of thoughts on this. I don’t know if I hated it or loved it, but it was really interesting.
14. What you Never Knew – Jessica Hamilton – I don’t read a lot of mystery books, but this was set at a cottage and just drew me in. I was into it.
15. Last Chance Books – Kelsey Rodkey – I love a book about books. Warring bookstore workers fall in love. It’s cute.
16. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living – Louise Miller – I read this in the winter of 2021 and it was a lovely cozy winter ready. Highly recommend.
17. Her Royal Highness – Rachel Hawkins – See below.
18. Prince Charming – Rachel Hawkins – I really liked these twin books. Royal Rom-Coms are my favourite and these were fantastic. I liked this one slighly more than Her Royal Highness, but both are great.
19. The Selection – Kiera Cass – THIS WHOLE SERIES SUCKED ME IN. This is not in order of best to worst book here, this is just the order in which they flow in the series. It’s hunger games x the bachelor and it was the perfect escapism I needed in the lockdown last year. Highly recommend.
20. The Elite – Kiera Cass
21. The One – Kiera Cass
22. The Heir – Kiera Cass
23. The Crown – Kiera Cass
24. The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood – A very fun fake dating story. Just really loved this. Put a huge smile on my face the whole time.
25. You Had Me at Hola – Alexis Daria – I love a TV set rom-com. This was lovely.
26. The Bookshop on the Corner – Jenny Colgan – Such a lovely, scottish book about books. It’s like a cup of tea, a blanket, and a fire. Perfect book reading book.
27. The Ex Talk – Rachel Lynn Solomon – this was a FUN book. I really liked it a lot. Public Radio, podcasting, and love. Ideal.
28. The Marriage Game – Sara Desai – So lovely. It was a joy to read.
29. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid – The best book of the year for a reason. I did it as an audio book and it was fantastic. I have a bunch of TJR books on my library to-read list but this one was just *chefs kiss* perfect.

Did Not Finish

Unfortunately, because this year was a bit complicated for me, I’d often pick up a book and drop it for numerous reasons. Some were just boring and not interesting, others I picked up at inopportune times and wasn’t able to finish before my library hold ran out.

1. The Charm Offensive – Will return
2. Dangerous Alliance – Jennieke Cohen – I have no memory of this book
3. Dial a for Aunties – Jesse Q. Sutano – Will return
4. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating – Christia Lauren – I wasn’t into it.
5. Lady in Waiting – Anne Glenconner – Might return
6. The Beach Club – Elin Hilderbrand – Meh. I was doing it on audio, maybe if I read it
7. Don’t You Forget About Me – Mhairi McFarlane – Will return
8. The Summer Job – Lizzy Dent – Will return
9. Code Name Verity – Elizabeth E. Wein – Will return
10. You Have a Match – Emma Lord – Will return
11. Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas – I’m not into it. at all.

Podcasts/Instagrams about Books

For all of you who wonder where I get my book ideas from…

Bad on Paper – https://www.instagram.com/badonpaperpodcast/
I specifically really like Becca’s picks…

The Bad Bitch Book Club – https://www.instagram.com/badbitch.bookclub/
The Friends to Lovers pod this group puts out is fantastic – https://www.instagram.com/f2lpodcast/

Carly’s Book Club – https://www.instagram.com/carlysbookclub/

While I think of the above women as friends, my IRL friend Cayley has great recommendations – https://www.instagram.com/cayleyreads/

And finally, the Random House 3 p.m. twitter recommendations – https://twitter.com/randomhouse