Top 14 Books of 2014

Top 14 Books of 2014

-These are in no order and not all of them came out in 2014 these are just my top picks from the books I read in 2014. If you would like to see a review done on any of these books please leave a comment below and I will get on that.

1. Saga Vol. 1
2.  House of Ivy and Sorrow
3. The Road
4. Shatter me
5. Across the Universe
6. Obsidian
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
8. The Program
9. The Darkest Minds
10. Cinder
11. Clockwork Angel
12. Landline
13. A Monster Calls
14. Divergent

Shatter Me Series

Shatter Me Series By Tahereh Mafi

Shatter me

By Tahereh Mafi

Published: October 2, 2012

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 340
ISBN: 0062085506

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Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior

Unravel Me

By Tahereh Mafi

Published: February 5, 2013

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 461

ISBN: 0062085530

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tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Ignite Me

By Tahereh Mafi

Published: February 4, 2014

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 408

ISBN: 0062318780

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The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.”

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian  and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end

Unite Me

By Tahereh Mafi

(Destroy Me & Fracture Me)

Published: February 4, 2014

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages:197

ISBN:0062327968

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Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner’s point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can’t stop thinking about her—and he’ll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow.

Fracture Me is told from Adam’s perspective and bridges the gap between Unravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam's more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji,and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam cares about.

My Review:

Without giving away any spoilers I will say I loved this series. It is written almost as a Juliette's journal, this aspect makes it a super easy book to just fly through. The story itself is very exciting. I love the "super"powers. I love the way the story builds and gets stronger as our main character builds and gets stronger. Shatter me is definitely my favorite book of the series, I just really enjoyed entering this story. My least favorite is Ingite me only because I felt the come down of the climax of the series was a bit rushed and a little too easy. I think the main problems and issues were lost in the romantic issues. Overall I think the series is great I can't rave about it enough, everyone  should read this series. As for the novellas that go along with the series, they are a must read. They show you a different point of view from two of the characters, that in my opinion completely change the story and how I saw the characters.

My Rating:

Where Have I Been?

Hi everyone!
So I went a little MIA for about a month and I am sorry but I have good reason.
I just moved back to the states from Germany (: Although I had a wonderful experience living there I just really needed to come back home. So that is where I have been. With moving a settling back in at home I have had no time to write reviews or read very much. I can promise you all this. I will writing reviews very soon so keep a look out for those and I promise not to go MIA again (:
xoxo Tayler

If I Stay Duology By Gayle Forman

If I Stay
By Gayle Forman
Published: April 6, 2010
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 262
ISBN: 014241543X
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On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving

Where She Went
By Gayle Forman

 Published: April 17, 2012
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 264
ISBN:0142420891 
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It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

My Review:

I am just going to start off by saying I really didn't enjoy these books. Yes I said it, I didn't like them. I wasn't attached to the characters is any way. In my opinion really nothing happened in either book. This could have just been one book! There was no need for there to be two of them. Without having spoilers I can't go into detail on the things I didn't like about the books. I will say that the first is better than the second. I feel like the second book is basically the same book as the first just from a different perspective. No she doesn't almost die in the second book but in the foundation they are the same story. This is the biggest problem I have with the stories. I wanted something more and they just fell flat. 

My Rating:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone By Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
By Laini Taylor

Published: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 418
ISBN: 0316134023

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Review:

I love this world. I love these characters. The imagination of Laini Taylor is amazing. I am in awe of the world she created. The writing in this story is so good, Laini Taylor does some amazing things with words. Its beautiful. As for the story itself. I really liked the story. The first half and second half of this book seem very different from either but it works. This being a series it always takes some backstory until we can get to the really good stuff. Im so excited to continue on with this series. I just can't say enough how much I really love it. If you haven't read it get, go buy it and start it. 

My Rating:

Landline By Rainbow Rowell

Landline
By Rainbow Rowell

Published: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 310
ISBN: 1250064309

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Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Review:

I really loved this book. I think it is super relateable and so true to real life relationships. I did give it a four out of five stars because I had some issues with it. The first thing was, at some points it was too cheesy for me. I wouldn't have noticed the cheesiness if the book didn't have such a real life feel. The parts where is was a cheesy love story just seemed out of place to me. The second thing I had an issue with was Neil. I didn't like him at all. I thought the issues that the characters were having in their marriage was both of their faults and i felt like Georgie was the only one taking the blame. Neil was just a moopy, negative character. Those two things aside the story is great and the writing is fantastic. This was my first Rainbow Rowell novel and I really can't wait to read more of her things. 

My Rating:

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstor
By Grady Hendrix
Published: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 243
ISBN: 1594745269
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Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

My Review:
First things first I love the main character Amy! She is sarcastic and opinionated and kind of sassy. I just really enjoyed her. One of the best things about this novel, is the fact that it is based in a store like Ikea. It is so easy to actually picture everything and picture the situations because Ikea is such a well known store. The reader can really get involved in the story. The beginning of the chapters have pictures of furniture ( as a catalog would) that get incorporated into the upcoming chapter. This was a great way to make it possible for me to actually picture what was happening. Overall I loved this book. It was scary but still funny. I did wish that it had more of the horror aspect but it was still a great book. 

My Rating:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel
By Cassandra Clare
Published: October 4, 2011
Publisher: McElderry Books
Pages: 479
ISBN: 141697587X
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Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still. Discover the riveting first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices Trilogy, prequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

Includes the never-before-seen short story Magnus's Vow!

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

My Review:
I really enjoyed this novel. I think it was a fun story to bring me into the series. The story itself I really loved. I thought it was exciting and interesting. I was immediately drawn into the story. I loved the way it was written and all the references to poetry and classic stories (I know really want to read more classics). There were things I didn't like about the book. I had some issues with the character development. While there was some I felt it was a bit lacking. I loved the main character Tessa, I feel like I could really connect with her but I really just didn't connect with any other character. I am hoping that later in the series there will be character development among the other characters. 


My Rating:

My favorite Fall reads

Fall is a wonderful time to cuddle up and read. As the weather gets colder the pages from my books get warmer. I love being able to spend countless house hiding away from the outside chill reading wonderful books. This fall I have a list of books I want to read. All of these just scream fall. I love book that seem scary or have paranormal aspects. This the best time of year to let them shine.

Book one: Anna dressed in blood by Kendare Blake

Book two: Girl of nightmare by Kendare Blake

Book three: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Book four: Hexed by Michelle Krys

Book five: Madapple by Christina Meldrum

Book six: Grim by Assorted Authors

Book seven: Between the devil and the deep blue sea by  April Genevieve Tucholke  

Book eight: Kiss of deception by Mary E. Pearson

Book nine: Nightmares by Jason Segal and Kirsten Miller

Book ten: Sweet evil by Wendy Higgins

What are your favorite fall reads? 

Check out what Beth Revis author of the Across the Universe trilogy enjoyed reading here:

http://bethrevis.blogspot.de/2014/10/favorite-fall-reads-giveaway-young.html

Wonderfully Wicked Readathon TBR

This is so late! The Readathon started 3 days ago on the 17th. Either way here is my TBR. The Readathon runs from October 17-27. It is hosted by myshelfconfessions. I will link her website below.

Book One: Legend by Marie Lu

Book Two: Clockwork Angel By Cassandra Clare

Book Three: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Book Four: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Book Five: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Book Six: The 5 Wave by Rick Yancey

Check out the readathon information and creator here: 

http://www.myshelfconfessions.com/wwreadathon/

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Book Review: Saga Volume 1 By Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Saga Volume One
By Brain K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Published: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Imagine Comics
Pages: 160
ISBN: 160706601
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When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. 

From New York Times bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) and critically acclaimed artist Fiona Staples (Mystery Society, North 40), Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults. 

                                                                 This specially priced volume collects the first six issues of the smash-                                                                    hit series The Onion A.V. Club calls "the emotional epic Hollywood                                                                        wishes it could make."

My Review:
This is the first graphic novel I have ever read and has made me want to read many, many more.

The story follows two soldier that are fighting on opposite sides of a war between a planet and its moon. The two soldiers fall in love, even though they are suppose to be enemies and they have a baby. The story is told partially through the point of view of the child. This series is their story on surviving in a world where they should not be together.

I really loved the way it was written. It is very fun, smart and interesting. I didn't lose interest the whole time I was reading it and when I finished was left craving more. I love the world it is very creative and so huge. There are so many different dynamics happening throughout the story. The characters are so different and lovable, the development of the characters  was wonderful. I just couldn’t get enough of them. I am so happy this was the first graphic novel I've  read, it has shined a light onto this new realm of literature for me to read.

My Rating:

Book Review: Onxy By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Onxy

By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Published: April 14, 2012

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Pages: 366

ISBN: 1620610116

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Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

My Review:

This is the second book in the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This book was much better than Obsidian. So if you enjoyed Obsidian, I recommend continuing on with the series. It built on all of the good points in Obsidian and it improves on some of the not so good points.  I am not going to go too much into detail about this book so I don’t give away any spoilers. 

Like in the first novel this novel continues to follow Katy and the aliens that live next door to her.  The romance found in the first book does continue but for new reasons. The story in this novel is fun and intriguing. I am so excited to see where this series will go from here.

My Rating

Book Review: Obsidian By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages:335
ISBN: 1620610078
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When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens. 

                                                                  The hot alien living next door marks me.

                                                                  You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy                                                                     of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has                                                                      me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this                                                                          alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

                                                                 If I don't kill him first, that is

My Review:

This is the first book in the Lux series. Obsidian is about a girl named Katy ( she is a book blogger, very relatable). I knew by the first paragraph that I would love this book. Katy's mom moves her to a new town to get a fresh new start. What they don’t realize is they have just moved into a house full of aliens.

I loved this book. It was so fun and so fast paced. The romance is the novel is a little frustrating because it is so dragged out. I loved the characters and the character development. It was very easy to forget everything and get swept away by the story.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun paranormal series to dive into.

My Rating: