Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Books in the Last 2 Years

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking for the Top Ten Books We Would Consider Our Favorites in the Last 3 Years. To make it easier for myself, I’m only doing the last 2 years, because I have a super handy excel spreadsheet to look at instead of slogging through goodreads.

1. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta – JONAH GRIGGS

2. Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness – I’m cheating and doing several series on this list. Choas Walking is a surprising addition in my mind, because of how hard it was for me to read. I DNF’ed The Knife of Never Letting Go on like page 3 the first time around.

3. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid/Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer – Sorry to squeeze you in together, adult books, but you both became super important to me over the last two years and I had to make you both fit.

4. The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant – I read this series twice in once year because it’s that super amazing.

5. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley – I still got a lot of feels in my re-read, especially about Til The Heart Caves In by Michael Zavros and the horse tumlbing bits.

6. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay – I read this in July 2014 and my heart still hurts from it.

7. Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

8. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

9. MAGGIE STIEFVATER – I couldn’t pick between The Scorpio Races and The Raven Cycle (and maybe even Sinner because I’m pretty sure Cole St. Clair and Isabel Culpeper are my OTP, or at least tied with Gansey and Glendower).

10. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer/Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor – I’m bad at top ten lists but hate going over. I feel like these are some of the best representations of sci-fi/fantasy in YA, with Meyer’s fairy tale retellings and Taylor’s beyond gorgeous writing.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Re-Read in 2015

I’m going rogue today! I was bad at the provided topic, so I’m sort of revisiting a topic from November. I’ve done a lot of re-reading and re-prioritizing since then, so there shouldn’t be any overlap.

 

1. The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski – I was just added to the Gals on the Same Page ARC share thing for The Winner’s Crime and I for sure want a re-read of this amazing book before diving into the second one.
2. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – I am going to get to the rest of the books in this series since I have almost all of the available ones, but again – need a re-read because SO MUCH HAPPENED. I got the audiobook from audible, because I don’t really have time to reread a 500+ page book right now.
3. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – See above, except the audio part.
4. Parasite by Mira Grant – Symbiont came out very quietly and I got it from the library and then realized I only the faintest of recollections of book 1. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to read Mira Grant every chance you get?
5. Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater – I recently re-read the first three Wolves of Mercy Falls books via audio, so I want to finish it off the same way! Plus, Sinner is my favorite of the series!
6. Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer – Duh.
7. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – Okay, this is maybe the second overlap book and I’m sorry I lied up there but I have this beautiful hot pink book and I really want to read it since I’ve only read an e-ARC.
8. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – This is another series I recent;y started audio re-reading, and I’m just waiting on the 10 people in front of me in the hold line.

Obviously there are TONS more books I want to re-read, and instead of listing them all, I’m going to be nice to your eyes and your brains and only go with these high priority ones.

ARC Review: Girl Before a Mirror

 

Title/Author: Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer

Publication Date/Publisher: January 27, 2015/ William Morrow Paperbacks

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 5 stars

 

From Goodreads:

An account executive in a Mad Men world, Anna Wyatt is at a crossroads. Recently divorced, she’s done a lot of emotional housecleaning, including a self-imposed dating sabbatical. But now that she’s turned forty, she’s struggling to figure out what her life needs. Brainstorming to win over an important new client, she discovers a self-help book—Be the Heroine, Find Your Hero—that offers her unexpected insights and leads her to a most unlikely place: a romance writers’ conference. If she can sign the Romance Cover Model of the Year Pageant winner for her campaign—and meet the author who has inspired her to take control of her life—she’ll win the account.

For Anna, taking control means taking chances, including getting to know Sasha, her pretty young colleague on the project, and indulging in a steamy elevator ride with Lincoln Mallory, a dashing financial consultant she meets in the hotel. When the conference ends, Anna and Lincoln must decide if their intense connection is strong enough to survive outside the romantic fantasy they’ve created. Yet Lincoln is only one of Anna’s dilemmas. Now that her campaign is off the ground, others in the office want to steal her success, and her alcoholic brother, Ferdie, is spiraling out of control.

To have the life she wants-to be happy without guilt, to be accepted for herself, to love and to be loved, to just be—she has to put herself first, accept her imperfections, embrace her passions, and finally be the heroine of her own story.

I love this book. I love Liza Palmer. I love RomanceCon.

I find Liza Palmer’s books to make me emotional in the weirdest ways. Like, who am I that I’m crying because someone won Mr. RomanceCon? In the breakroom at work. During the busiest lunch time.

I feel like I’m on my way to BEING Anna Wyatt. I have a few more years until 40, but I see the signs now. Distancing myself from everyone and the shame and self-sabotage. It’s there. It’s brewing. By 40, who knows how potent it could be. So I love that I have her and The Brubaker to help me nip it in the bud now.

The dialogue is witty and smart and the characters are terrific and I loved every reference and I so wish RomanceCon was a real thing. (I tried to google but the results are very different than what I want them to be).

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read in 2014

 

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking for the Top Ten Books I Read in 2014. It would be impossible to narrow it down to just 10 from the almost 250 books I’ve read at the time of this writing (250 is my goal for the year), so I’m going to share my absolute favorite from each month.

 

JANUARY: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

FEBRUARY: Cress by Marissa Meyer (sorry, other books I read in February, this really wasn’t fair to you)

MARCH: Ask the Passengers by AS King – there were no real standouts in March

APRIL: How do I choose between The Falconer and Open Road Summer? Trick question, because I do not.

MAY: DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS I MEAN COME ON

JUNE: After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

JULY: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

AUGUST: The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater

SEPTEMBER: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson OR The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

OCTOBER: BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE BYE

NOVEMBER: Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer orrr 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

DECEMBER: Golden Son by Pierce Brown (at the time of this writing I am about to finish All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and it would be an honorable mention for this month unless something wacky happens in the last 25% of the book, in which case never mind).

Paperback Recap: November 2014

This was the most boring month of the year for me so this will probably be a pretty short post. My favorite holiday was a bust, but at least I got a long weekend?

 

Favorite Books in November: I did audio re-reads of Code Name Verity and Ready Player One and loved them both. If you need an audiobook I can’t recommend either of these enough. Other than that, Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer was my favorite.

Favorite Movie/TV in November: Still plugging away through Gilmore Girls – I’m almost done with the series already! Logan Huntzberger wears too many turtlenecks.

Favorite Musical Discovery in November: We’ve all seen Beyonce’s new 7/11 video right? Ugh, it’s so good and her sleepovers are the best. Also Misterwives cover of Vance Joy’s Riptide is amaaaaaazing.

Favorite PR of November: Injury PR! I was out of the gym for half the month because I had a rib out…and a knee out…and just a lot of pain in general. I’ve had to reassess my goals for the year, but with some hard work I shouldn’t end up too far behind where I want to be.

Top Blog Thing in November: I took a week off of posting in November while I was feeling sorry for myself for being injured and because the new World of Warcraft expansion was out…I liked that week off and almost thought about quitting blogging but snapped out of it.

Top Blog Search Term in November: “i dont love boys” Good on ya, sister.

 

 

I’m so excited for #TBTBSanta! I did it last year, too and it was so much fun and I went a little overboard this year! I wasn’t able to participate in the On The Same Page sister thing because I wasn’t sure what my job situation would be for the rest of the year, so I channeled all my gift giving abilities into one gift for Secret Santa! I’m ready to ship it out and I can’t wait!!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Re-Read

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking for the Top Ten Books I want to re-read. I just did this topic back in July, but I’ve been an audio re-reading machine since then and I think I’ve crossed enough off that list to make be not quite the same.

1. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley: I keep saying this is my favorite book, but how do I KNOWWWW it’s still my favorite after all the amazing books I’ve read since?
2. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: I was afraid to read it and now I’m afraid to re-read it.
3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor: This series just ended this year, so it seems a little too soon to do a full series read AGAIN after only six months
4. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: I have this audiobook checked out right now, and will probably have started it by the time this goes live since. I’ve heard amazing – no, AMAZING – things about this audio and I’m very excited to start it even if Wil Wheaton might kind of bug me for no real reason.
5. Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness: Remember that time I DNFed The Knife of Never Letting Go after like 3 pages because of the dog talking about poo, Todd? HAHAHAHA I was so young and stupid.
6. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: I have this beautiful hot pink hardback and while I really love to just look at it and admire it’s beauty, I would also be interested in putting the words on the inside in my head again.
7. Neil Gaiman: All of Neil Gaiman, but especially the Sandman graphic novels.
8. Nowhere but Home by Liza Palmer: Ooooh, I should see if the library has this on audiobook. (They do not.)
9. God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo: Maybe they have THIS ONE on audio. (They do not.)
10. A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin: Okay, so. Whenever Winds of Winter is finally out, I’m going to need a refresher. The TV series is just similar enough that I can remember the first 3 books, but I’m definitely going to need to re-read at LEAST A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. I will probably do a mix of audio and actual reading to speed up the process.

SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY Something Like Normal by Trish Doller, The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, and Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson because I really love books that completely destroy me for some reason.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Places Books Make Me Want to Go

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking for the Top Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want to Visit – Fictional or Real. Let’s start this one off right:

1. HOGWARTS HOGWARTS HOGGY WOGGY HOGWARTS – from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
2. Australia – I would probably not last long in Australia, but so many of my favorite books come from there that I should probably just go (and be killed by heat, birds, and spiders) – from Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
3. Prague, based solely on The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series because I had no inclination to go there before reading that series
4. OASIS – I tried to play Second Life and I never felt the desire to murder my Sims and I do often think that the world is awful enough that we should just move into a virtual world so…. – from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
5. London Below – I haven’t even been to London Above, but I feel my priorities are straight – from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
6. North Star, Texas is a definite must for food and Friday Night Lights reenacting – from Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer
7. The Shire – I need to be the tallest person around for once in my life and hobbit holes are super cute, so it’s pretty much the perfect place for me – from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
8. 300 Fox Way – I almost went with Monmouth Manufacturing (and I alllllmost went with Thisby), but I could probably move into 300 Fox Way and it would be a while before anyone noticed – from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
9. Fairyland, because why not go to the most magical place of all – from The Fairyland series by Catherynne M Valente

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Say You HAVE to Read

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking us the top ten books people have told us we HAVE to read, but I feel like I don’t get that many books pushed on me (Lies of Locke Lamora and Mistborn/All B-Sands aside…). So these are the books that I demand others must read. I expect all of these books to make you cry, with the exception of one or two.

1. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid: such an amazing portrayal of relationships – a MUST read for everyone, but a MUSTMUST read for anyone who is married or in a long term relationship.
2. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: tough to get into, but the payoff completely changes everything (like your whole entire life).
3. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Not optional
4. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: the apocalypse, according to Gaiman? Marvelous and hysterical.
5. Open Road Summer by Emery Lord: perfect remedy for your end of summer blues.
6. Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer: have snacks and tissues handy
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor: the most terrific, gorgeous series.
8. MAGGIE STIEFVATER: all of it. Read it all. The Scorpio Races is a dreamy masterpiece, The Raven Cycle is the other most terrific gorgeous series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls is, yes, werewolves, but werewolves you actually want to read about.
9. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: a MUST for fans of the genre, and a MUSTMUST for video game fans.
10. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz: Absolutely stunning tale and beautiful, beautiful writing.

This is only the tip of the iceberg on book I’m prepared to push, so hit me with the books I need to read (like I don’t already have enough haha!).

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is talking about characters and desert islands, but I’m talking about books I want to re-read. I used to ONLY re-read the books I already owned, or check out certain books from the library over and over again. In the last few years, probably upon discovering Goodreads yearly challenge, I evolved into a different kind of reader. I will still re-read for a series refresher, but that’s about it. There are so many books I’ve read and loved and I feel like I can’t fit the time for a re-read into my reading schedule (which I’m basically doing away with, but more on that at a later time).

So, without further ado, here are the first 10 books I plan on re-reading that aren’t for a series refresher (otherwise please add The Diviners and The Raven Cycle books).

1. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta – someone said JONAH GRIGGS on twitter last week and that was enough of a reason
2. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley – one of the first books I read after becoming a book blogger, and still one of my favorites
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – since I secretly started playing a MMORPG again AND I loved this book I feel like it’s time for a reread
4. After I Do/Forever Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I JUST read these, and I’m already dying to read them again
5. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman – I need a reread for tattoo inspiration anyway, but this series of graphic novels is my favorite
6. Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness – (muffled sobs)
7. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson – (muffled sobs continue)
8. God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo – Still with the sobbing, but I just really love to be emotionally ruined by books
9. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – What if I read all these books one right after the other and just sobbed for two weeks straight?
10. Nowhere but Home by Liza Palmer – This book instantly became a part of me and I’ve been dying to reread it ever since I read it last year.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking for the Top Ten Books I read in 2013. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Get cozy, this is going to be WAAAAY longer than 10. I want to recognize all of the amazing books I read this year, not just 10 of them.

1. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
3. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
4. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
5. Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer
6. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
7. Dangeous Girls by Abigail Haas
8. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
9. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
10. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
11. The Sky is Everywhere by Morgan Matson
12. Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick
13. Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
14. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
15. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
16. The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
17. Just One Day by Gayle Forman
18. God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo
19. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
20. No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale
21. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
22. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
23. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Thank you for a great year, authors! I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me in 2014!