31 January 2015

Monthly wrap-up for January!


Can you believe a whole month has passed? It's almost February and I feel like we're barely in the middle of January, but oh well, it does not do to dwell on the past - except for when it comes to wrap-ups. 
I know I've been MIA for a while again and that's because life and school happened. But it has settled down a bit so maybe I have more time for blogging now. Last year I stopped making these monthly wrap-ups near the end, but I enjoy making them since I can go back and look what I've done throughout the year reading wise.

I was in kind of a reading slump for a week or two, I read The List the 27th and didn't really pick another book up before January 8th - but I read 3 whole books that weekend so I guess that makes up for it, right? 
But which books did I actually read in January? I managed to read 10 books - one of which I seriously just finished.
  1. Never Never (Never Never #1) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher ★★★★★
  2. Slammed (Slammed #1) by Colleen Hoover ★★★★★
  3. Paper Swans by Jessica Thompson ★★★★☆
  4. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan ★★★☆☆
  5. Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas ★★★★☆
  6. Room by Emma Donoghue ★★★☆☆
  7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ★★★☆☆
  8. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer ★★☆☆☆
  9. Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate ★★★★☆
  10. Shattered (Slated #3) by Teri Terry ★★★★☆

What happened in January then? 
  • I finished my very first book of the year - Never Never - which is also my very first Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher book. I've never read a book by any of those authors before
  • I read 3 books during a weekend! 
  • I read my first classic of the year
  • I was seriously disappointed by Belzhar,  a book I've been looking forward to reading and I was sure I was going to love it - and I did until the last 50 pages which totally ruined the book
  • I participated in National Read-a-thon day and I managed to read Room in the course of that day! 
  • I marked The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig as DNF (did not finish). I read half of the e-galley I received from Netgalley but I was just not feeling it. I also marked Lost & Found by Brooke Davis as DNF
  • I finished the Slated trilogy! 
  • I reached 700 followers on Instagram!

Did anything special happen to you this month? Did you read any great books? Tell me in the comments!

1 January 2015

Top 14 of 2014




Last year I made a top 13 of 2013 and I had a hard time finding 13 since I didn't have that many over the top favorites of 2013. This year I had the opposite problem.. I have about 30 books I've rated 5 stars during the year, so narrowing that down to 14 was tough - but I made it. The books are not in alphabetical or ranked after favorite-least favorite but in order of how I read them so: January through December.

The first five-star read I read in 2014 was The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson. I loved every aspect of this book and I think the only thing that's made me hesitant to start the other books in the series is the size.. They're massive. I miss the world though so I might have to start the sequel(s) sooner or later.



The second five-star read of the year was Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I wrote quite a long review of Wonder because I loved it so much and I even went out and bought the book because I wanted to be able to re-read it whenever I want. Even though that hasn't happened, yet, I still love the book and recommend it to everyone.





I also read and adored the entire Across the Universe series by Beth Revis. It is my first actual science fiction series and I've been craving a series like it ever since. I believe I devoured this entire series in the course of a few weeks because I couldn't wait to find out what happened and I wanted to get lost in space!




I picked The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight up on a whim and I received it by chance, but nevertheless I absolutely loved it and I did definitely not want it to end! I've always loved the title because it's so long and different. The story is sweet and the characters are quite relatable - in short: it's a wonderful book






I was quite hesitant to start Pivot Point but I loved it! It was incredible and so entirely different. I loved the main character, the plot and the setting. It was wonderfully action-packed without losing the main focus. I love the aspect of the story - powers of the mind. I also adored and devoured the sequel Split Second.





The Edge of Never was one of my very first new adult books and it did definitely not let me down. It was different, due to the sex scenes, but I still liked it. Even though it was, and still is, out of my comfort zone I read this book in a few days and I did not want to put it down.





I tried to space out my Rainbow Rowell books but I just had to start Eleanor & Park since I know it's a favorite among a lot of Rowell fans. It's not my absolute favorite one of her books but it still got a 5 star rating. I loved that this was about teenagers with problems - whether it be personal or life in general. It is not like other YA books and it's quite enjoyable.. I have a love-hate relationship with the ending though.





I didn't even read the entire synopsis of this one, I read 2 lines and I had to read it. It took a while before I read it but it was amazing! It is so light even though it's a tougher theme - teenage pregnancy and all. I loved it and I wish I could go back and read it for the first time.





I love how I have 2 Rainbow Rowell books on my favorites list - just like last year. I wish I'd waited and read this during wintertime but I loved it nevertheless. I don't love that many adult books but I could somehow relate to this - maybe because of all the flashbacks to her younger years. I adored this book and I loved all the references - especially when she meets Cath and Levi from Fangirl!



I discovered fairy-tale retellings last year, I believe, and I have loved the majority of the retellings I've read. I received an e-arc of Tear You Apart and I read it in a single setting. I love how this combines all of the fairytales and that the fairytales are curses - it's amazing and I can't wait to read all of Sarah Cross' other books







I was quite hesitant about Between the Lives and kept going back and forth on whether I should request it or not - I ended up requesting and loving it! This has a similar feel as the Pivot Point duology and it's perfect for fans of those books!





I adored The Boy with the Tiger's Heart, even though its quite short it's so deep and keeps you wanting more. It's a modern fable so it's not a book for everyone, but it's so vivid and creative that I want everyone to love it even though I know it's impossible.







I picked Accidentally Married up on a whim and I flew through it! It is so funny and I literally laughed out loud a bunch of times. It's not that long but it definitely feels longer. I loved Madison Nichols, she was so quirky and she's definitely the reason I loved this book so much.





The last favorite of the year is an anthology, surprise! It's My True Love Gave To Me and even though I didn't love every story, I loved most of them so I had to put it on this list. Rainbow Rowell's story was probably my favorite...
I read A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall shortly after making this list, and I have to say it should have been on here.. I absolutely loved it, but I couldn't find a book to 'through in the bin' and let A Little Something Different take its place... 

What was your absolute favorite book of 2014?