Tuesday Top Ten-Best Books I’ve Read So Far This Year

Today I have stolen my topic idea from The Broke and Bookish blog, sales which hosts the Top Ten Tuesday meme. I usually get ideas from them, tadalafil but I call mine something different…honestly because I didn’t know theirs existed when I started mine haha. And I do more than books, physician so there is that.

Today’s topic though…its June, near half way June, so we are basically at the halfway mark for the year of 2014. So what a perfect time to talk about the best books that I have read so far this year.

Let’s get to it.

And yes, I did a top 15…don’t attack me haha. It was SO hard to narrow it down!

Remember, clicking the title will take you to the book’s GoodReads page and clicking the author name will take you to their webpage!

15. Rebel by Amy Tintera

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Amy’s conclusion to her novel, Reboot, was incredible. I was so excited that I managed to get my hands on an e-galley of it, and I whipped through it so fast. Reboot is a major influence for The Awakened. Though they’re totally different spectrums of sci-fi, I love her writing, her style and the fact that she accomplished it in two books. I LOVED this book and my friend Mina just got me a signed copy so yay!

14. All Lined Up by Cora Carmack  

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I was massively impressed by this release of Cora Carmack. I think she’s a great writer but her stories honestly haven’t caught me quite yet but this one totally did. Football, hot boys and romance? You have me totally sold on that one. I can’t wait to read more in the Rusk University series.

13. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins 

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This book kept popping up on my radar and the cover was so pretty that I am so glad I finally buckled down and bought this and read it. Harper is such a fun main character, all sass and attitude and hilarity, with these new, almost superhero like powers, and its just a great book. I loved every single bit of this novel.

12. Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

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I honestly don’t think that there has been a book yet that I’ve been disappointed in when it comes to Jennifer L. Armentrout. This book was so different from others that I’ve read from her in the past but it was just so good. It was scary! Every time the main character saw something in the mirror or got a note tucked into her backpack or something like that, I was just so scared. Such a great book.

11. Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn 

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Katie Finn is awesome, basically because its a lighter version of Morgan Matson, who I love…and its the same person. LOL. But I absolutely loved seeing a lighter, summer-y version of Morgan as Katie Finn and this book was SO much fun, and so delicious and…it just literally made me so excited for summer. Its the perfect summer read.

10. A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka 

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What a beautiful, beautiful debut novel. I love it for so many reasons. Catherine Linka is SUCH a doll, and I love that its set in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I love the main character, and I love the bad guys for being so creepy and scary. I love what she brings up in this novel. I love that it reminds you that girls have to fight for their rights, every day, in every single country. Its just SUCH a great book.

9. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

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Look, yes, I was massively disappointed in the end of this book. I honestly thought it was way too incredibly safe and that Cassie could have made much bigger sacrifices than she did. That being said…I still liked the book a lot. I wasn’t a fan of the “second” trilogy of TMI to be honest, but this book really brought it to a close and I was pleased with many parts of it. So it definitely makes the list.

8. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira 

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YES! This book is so absolutely beautiful. Thank you Stephen Chbosky and Emma Watson for talking this book up, because then I got my hands on it and loved it. And I’ve met Ava several times, and become friends with her and she’s just the sweetest. This book is beautiful and wonderfully written and just heartbreaking. I absolutely love this book. Its a MUST read. And its going to be a movie, penned by Ava herself!

7. Cress by Marissa Meyer 

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The Lunar Chronicles blows my mind and they honestly get better with every single book. I LOVED CRESS. I feel bad because it took me so long to read it but I was in a massive slump back then and it was awful. But when I got caught up in this book, I couldn’t put it down and I just love it so much. I even wear a “Thorne is my captain” pin on my apron at work every single day. Such a great book and leaves me panting for Winter!

6. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

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Jenny Han is awesome. And yes, it took me reading this book to figure that out, but that’s okay. This is the book that made me a fan of Jenny Han. It was fun, and written so well, and I love the main character, and I love all the boys that make an appearance in this novel and I’m so excited for the sequel because this book was just so good. Jenny Han has contemporary YA romance in the palm of her hand, and she does it so well.

5. The One by Kiera Cass

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Oh, Kiera Cass. Only you can take something like this and make it so wonderful. She creates basically a story that puts The Hunger Games with the Bachelor, and a bunch of girls fighting over the hand of one prince, and a love triangle (a big one), and just makes it work. It sounds like something I would never read in a million years but this is SUCH a great trilogy and The One is an amazing ending to it. I am so glad I got to meet her and tell her how this blew my mind.

4. Unforgotten by Jessica Brody

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I was SO excited to finally get my hands on the sequel to Unremembered because I had questions that needed to be answered and then…and then! Jessica goes and leaves it on the biggest cliffhanger since Unremembered (haha), and leaves me literally dying for Unchanged. I can’t handle it. But being back with Sera and Zen, and in so many different time periods, and the action and the tension and the kissing…all of it was just so great and I am not kidding when I say I literally can’t wait to get my hands on Unchanged :)

3. Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott  

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Okay, talk about a book that literally came out of left field, and just knocked me down. I watched a live cast of Jessica Brody and Victoria Scott, and I thought Victoria was super cool so I had to get my hands on her book, and I did. I read it in literally about 2 hours. I LOVED it. I seriously…oh, god, don’t get me started. I just loved the whole thing of it. It has this epic survival story going on, and a race full of action and tension, and a hot guy (because we need hot guys and kissing, duh!) and the Pandoras. I won’t reveal what those are but the Pandoras are the coolest things in the entire world. I’m just saying.

2. Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson 

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Great summer book. Great book about friendship and breaking out of your shell and going out of the norm and falling in love and making new friends. Just such an amazing, great book. It reminds me that Morgan Matson has yet to disappoint me, and that she remains one of my favorite authors, period. She is just SO great, and I loved this book. I felt so close to the main character, and she felt so familiar. I could re-read this book again and again and again.

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith 

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I have never read a book like this in my life before GJ and I doubt I’ll ever read a book like this again. Its literally a book about everything, and it made me laugh and it made me shake my head and raise my eyebrows and so many other things. This book is absolutely incredible because it takes so many bits and pieces and manages to fit them together in such a crazy good book. Every time I see it, I just shake my head and smile because I’m  just reminded of how much it blew my mind, and just…its amazing. Its the weirdest book I’ve ever read but its so good. You need to read this book. You just have to.

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Well, there you have it, folks. The top 15 books I’ve read so far this year. What are some of the best books you’ve read this year? Share in the comments!

March Book Wrap Up!

Books Pledged to Read in 2014: 150 Books

Am I On Track: Nope, site I’m still behind. 5 books. I’m seriously so slump-y this year, store guys :(

Books Read So Far: 32

Total Books For March: 14

Remember, as always, to click the book title in order to read the review!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 

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The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

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Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

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Reboot by Amy Tintera

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Divergent by Veronica Roth (re-read)

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Finding It by Cora Carmack

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Rebel by Amy Tintera

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100 Sideways Miles (ARC) by Andrew Smith

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Paper Towns by John Green (re-read)

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The Transfer by Veronica Roth (re-read)

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Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

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The Ring and the Crown (ARC) by Melissa de la Cruz

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Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend (ARC) by Katie Finn

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Landry Park by Bethany Hagen 

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How was your month? What was your favorite book of the month? What was your least favorite? How are you doing on your challenge? Share in the comments!

Book of the Week: Rebel by Amy Tintera

Rebel by Amy Tintera 

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GoodReads / Barnes and Noble Amazon / Book Depository

This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy given to me in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my review in the slightest, medical and everything said here is my honest opinion. Thank you Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the ARC. 

Genre:

Young Adult, stomach Science Fiction, find Dystopian

Part of a Series?:

The finale of the Reboot Duology

Please keep in mind that while there will be NO spoilers for Rebel, there WILL be Reboot spoilers. To read the review for Reboot, please click this link

You May Like if You Liked:

Divergent by Veronica Roth, Legend by Marie Lu, Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Age Recommendation:

13+

Plot Summary:

From GoodReads:

The sequel to the action-packed Reboot is a can’t-miss thrill ride, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Veronica Roth, and Marie Lu.

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn’t what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren’s instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he’s underestimated Wren and Callum.

The explosive finale to the Reboot duology is full of riveting action and steamy love scenes as Wren and Callum become rebels against their own kind.

My Review: 

I was so thrilled when I was able to download this from Edelweiss this week. I just read Reboot this weekend, and I was already dying to read Rebel. I went to check on Edelweiss just to see if they had it and I could possibly get my hands on it, and it was an automatic approval download. I pretty much squealed with excitement.

I am really impressed with this series, for many reasons but I’m hugely impressed with the fact that its a duology. There aren’t a lot of authors writing a two-part series-most do trilogies-and I really applaud Amy for doing so. I’m writing a duo, so it makes me feel really good to see a sci-fi/dystopian duo, and a great one at that, because it gives me the confidence boost to do it myself. Plus I think its incredible for an author to make a world like this, and create a complex story like this and start and finish it in two books. It says a lot about their story telling abilities and I think Amy is a fantastic story teller.

When I finished Reboot, I was definitely wanting to read Rebel but I didn’t feel that automatic pull. There wasn’t a HUGE cliffhanger that made me DIE for the book. What really made me want to read the next book was the characters. I really felt attached to Wren and Callum and I wanted to read more about them, and what would happen to them in the future. So while the story itself wasn’t bringing me back, the characters were. All of Amy’s characters are very rich and genuine. Even though Ever is only in the first book, and only part of it, she is a character that really stays with you and I think that definitely continues in Rebel.

The story, however, does grab you very quickly. Callum and Wren land themselves in this Reboot reservation and they think its an escape, that it’ll be better than being under the crushing boot of the HARC, but it doesn’t quite work that way. We meet Micah very early in this book and I knew right away that there was something very wrong about him, and I think our characters knew it too. This is obviously a problem, and its what keeps you stuck in that book, turning the pages, wanting to know what is going to happen next. I needed to know what Micah was up to, what he was capable of and what Wren and Callum and the other Austin Reboots were going to do about it, if anything at all. Micah is a compelling villain and a believable one, because sometimes you can’t figure out whether he has a point or not. He leaves you with some hefty logic but he seems so inherently evil. Its so confusing and addicting.

The Last Word

Basically, here is what you need to know: Amy takes the story that she created in the first book and blows it up in the second book…in the best way possible. She wraps up the first one like it could be the end, but then takes the story further in Rebel and opens up the world and the possibilities. She creates a fantastic, creepy, and compelling villain in Micah and she made me fall in love with Wren, and with Callum even more. The character development, the story development, the love story, the action, all of it equals into a really amazing book. This is one that is a MUST pick up when it comes out in early May. Don’t miss out on this, and if you’ve read this and haven’t read Reboot yet, I’m sorry for the spoilers but get off that butt and go buy it. You definitely won’t regret it.

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WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme, cheapest hosted by Should Be Reading.

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The three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll be reading next?

Remember, price clicking the book cover will take you to the review. If it doesn’t take you to a review, that means either A, you clicked on a book under the ‘currently reading’ or ‘reading next’ or B, I haven’t written the review yet! 

What are you currently reading? 

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I got this in the mail a few days ago, and I’m excited to read it. It comes out April 1st so I want to read it before it comes out. I’m about 100 pages in and I’m really enjoying it so far. Its so different from what I’ve read from her before. Its so….historical, but also magical at the same time. I am seriously loving it so far.

What did you recently finishing reading? 

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This book blew my mind. Seriously. Read my review, read the book.

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After seeing the movie in a prescreening, I needed to reread the book. I felt like the movie was really close to the book, and I couldn’t remember if I was close or not. A re-read made me love the movie even more.

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I re-read this book too, to really give Cora Carmack a try again. I have “Finding It” too, so maybe I’ll keep going. Its just not quite what I expected. I really liked it until about 75% of the way through. Sigh.

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I was looking to see when the sequel of Reboot came out, and noticed that you could download a review copy of Rebel on Edelweiss, and got SUPER excited and busted my way through it.

What do you think you’ll be reading next? 

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I’m not super thrilled about this book but Jennifer L. Armentrout tends to surprise me at every turn so I want to give it a chance, even though its not something that I would normally read. I want to have faith in her.

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When I read this book awhile back, it really didn’t jump out at me, not like An Abundance of Katherines or Will Grayson, Will Grayson, etc. But that was awhile ago and with the announcement of John Green’s appearance at the Festival of Books, I really want to re-read it and give it a chance that maybe I didn’t in the past.

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What are YOU reading this week? Share in the comments!