Goodreads hosted their 17th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards! This year they had a record setting amount of votes with 7.5 million votes cast this year. The awards are a way for readers to honor their favorite novels of the year. 

This year, there were 15 categories with 300 nominated books. Several authors from last year were brought back into the loop. However, there were also many new authors spotlighted this year.  Let’s look at this year’s winners from each category!

 Fiction: My Friends By Fredrik Backman

Most people overlook three tiny figures in a world famous painting. However, for aspiring artist Louisa, she is determined to find the story behind this detail. 

Twenty-five years ago, a group of teenagers spent their long summer days on an abandoned pier, trying to pass time in their boring seaside town. Their friendship bond is the reason this group of teens gets up in the morning and continues to go for their dreams. 

When the painting gets placed in Louisa’s care, she takes a cross-country adventure to find the answers she is looking for.

Historical Fiction: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Joan Goodwin loves the stars, she has since she was younger. She lives a content life as a professor of physics and astronomy at a university. She loves spending time with her niece, Frances. She thought she had everything, but when a flyer is brought to her to become the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. She rethinks everything. Now, she dreams to be one of the few people on Earth to get this opportunity. 

When Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, she experiences unlikely friendships and passion she never had before. 

Mystery & Thriller: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

Jet Mason will be dead in seven days. 

Daughter to one of the wealthiest families in Vermont, Jet is back home still waiting for her life to begin. She is always putting tasks off, thinking she has time. 

Until Halloween night, when she is attacked by an unseen intruder, suffering a head injury. Doctors believe her injury could turn deadly in a week. Unlike her parents, jet rejects all operations to save her life. 

Jet has one week left in her life, and she is determined to find her attacker, even if that means she has to look at her family and close friends in a different light.

Romance: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Alice Scott is waiting for her big break in her writing career. Hayden Anderson is an award winning writer. They are both on the same small island competing for a chance to write a biography of Margaret Ives, the daughter of one of the most scandalous families in the media. 

Margaret Ives gives them each one month of interviewing to decide who gets the job. However, they are each getting different parts of her story and cannot come together because of the NDA. 

Alice and Hayden learn the story of the Ives’s family no one has ever heard…and find more about their own life in between. 

Romantasy: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

After surviving over a year at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail is running out of time and trust. With dangers rising both inside and beyond the wards, she must travel to the Aretian territories, where answers about dragons, magic, and waiting threats. However, every step forces Violet to rethink everything she believed. 

Fantasy: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

This book tells the stories of three women who lived in three different time periods. One story on hunger, another one on love, and finally one on rage. One woman grows up witty and wild, but everyone only wants her for her looks. Another woman lives innocently on her family’s estate until she is shipped to London. Lastly, a woman dreams of starting new, she thought college was her chance. This is a story about life and how it begins and ends. 

Science Fiction: The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Lily wakes up on a private desert compound with nineteen other contestants competing in a reality TV show. To win, she must stay in the compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury prizes. Cameras everywhere and producers rising the stakes, Lily must make it to the end. 

Horror: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

In 1970, teenagers at Wellwood House discovered witchcraft through a hidden book. However, power comes with a price in this Southern Gothic Horror. Everything the girls eat and do is controlled by the adults who say they know what’s best for them. 

Debut Novel: Alchemised by SenLinYu

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner. Her friends and allies are now all dead, and she is left in her world that is now destroyed. She must uncover the hidden secrets to save the rest of the world.  

Audiobook: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, narrated by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton, Justis Bolding, and Jasmin Walker

Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is getting through the day and being with the girl he loves. When his name is called, he is torn away from his family and his love. When the game begins, Haymitch knows he must fight to be able to survive. 

Adult Fiction: Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Dani and Alec. Alec and Dani. These two were inseparable when they were growing up. However, Dani moves away, leaving Alec by himself. They promise to stay in touch, but they grow apart. Flash to Senior year, Dani is back in town and hoping to see Alec again. However, Alec is completely different than Dani remembers. Dani wonders, is it too late to reconnect? 

Nonfiction: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green 

John Green tells the story of Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone. John and Henry become fast friends and form a connection like no other. John Green becomes an advocate for better access to treatment and wider awareness for this disease. We must change our actions to help the future of Tuberculosis. 

Memoir: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

Shari Franke tells the story of her life. A life where every action was recorded for their family Youtube channel, 8 Passengers. When the channel began to grow, Ruby Franke (mother) lost her sanity. Together, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hilderbrandt, physically and mentally abused Ruby’s children. Read the story of Shari trying to save her siblings from her own mother.  

History & Biography: How to Kill a Witch by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi

A gripping historical account of one of the largest witch trials in history.