Choosing just ten books for The Broke and the Bookish’s top ten Tuesday theme this week was difficult. I’ve read over a hundred books over the past year, some good, and some less so, but regardless that is a lot of books to have to narrow down to just ten. I hope you like the books I’ve chosen and I’d love to find out what you loved this year, I love posts like this, it’s why I love books rounding up the year.
1. Poison Study – Maria V Snyder – I will forever love and talk about this book, this entire series. I keep thinking back on it and remembering it so fondly so how could I not include it on my top ten list for this year? It is like the fantasy book I have begun to compare other books against in the genre.
2. Stardust – Neil Gaiman – This book was like an adult fairy-tale. It was in fact the first book I read in the new year, and I feel it was a perfect start for my reading journey in 2014. I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman, his writing is so magical. He can be both serious and humorous in his writing and I love him for that. He creates such magical worlds that you don’t ever want to leave, and his characters are not good nor evil, he creates the best kind of characters, where they are shades of grey.
3. The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith - I wasn’t even going to read this book, but then it was on offer for kindle, so I thought why not. It was slow, for me. I love a good crime thriller novel, but this one was so slow in pace that I initially thought I might stop reading. Once the story truly began, though, I was hooked. I barely wanted to put the book down and I was left wondering about these characters long after I’d finished. I’ve to begin the next one, I want to appreciate it.
4. The Rosie Project – Graeme Simson - I’ve announced my love for this book before, and I will do so again. I loved it, it was so completely different and I loved it. The writing was so well done, you were immediately hooked, even if you did not know why. I’ve yet to read the second book, I’m nervous that it will not match my love for the first. I have major book fear.
5. Open Road Summer – Emery Lord - I think the entire blogosphere loved this book, and I am no different. It was such a good summer read for me, and it combined two things I love, music and books. I became a fan of country music after discovering the TV show Nashville, I may not watch the TV show anymore, but I still love country music, so to have this fun Taylor Swift-esque popstar be in this book was a definite positive for me.
6. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han - I loved this book for the cover initially, I even went so far as to buy it in hardcover so I could marvel at the thing. This book was one I had mixed ideas on, I loved the story, but it wasn’t what I expected so I was disappointed in a way. Either way, this book was excellent and is definitely in my top ten.
7. Where She Went – Gayle Forman - I preferred this book over If I Stay, and I think it may have been because If I Stay made me ugly cry and was just so emotional that it was too much to love. It was an excellent story, but Where She Went, it was emotional, but you got resolution at the end, I like that in a book. If I Stay ended so openly, which was good for that story, but this one was so much more. I adored it in every way. The characters were more real, they were people to me and I adored every moment.
8. Duff – Kody Keplinger – I had never read anything by Keplinger, but her name kept popping up on my Amazon recommended books, and who am I to refuse Amazon? I read three of her books and adored each and every one for different reasons. I think this was my favourite because I could relate to some of the insecurities in the book, I sometimes feel I am the ‘duff’ in my friends, I know I’m not. I know we are all awesome together, but I think I liked that I could relate. I hear there’s a films, I watched the trailer in fact, it’s not the same but I’ll still watch it.
9. Seraphina – Rachel Hartman – I adored this book, another grand fantasy book with a whole new kind of dragons. I loved how this was very different to the fantasy books I’ve read in the past, it wasn’t attempting to be like other books in the genre, it’s just blazing it’s own both in being magnificent. It’s definitely a difficult book to get into, the writing is not approachable and the story can be difficult to get into, but when you’re hooked you are hooked and unable to escape the pages. I would highly recommend it.
10. How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True – Sarah Strohmeyer – Strohmeyer is an author I initially thought I didn’t like when I first tried reading her books, I then learnt I just wasn’t in the mood for her on my first try. When I finally got around to reading some of her books I was kicking myself for not buckling down and just going for it. She writes such awesome characters and she writes good YA writing. I think I loved this book because it was about friendship more than anything else, and it felt a bit magical. I just fell into the writing and the story and loved it.
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