My Favorite Books of 2015 ~Bonnie

I actually really struggled with putting this list together. So, that is why it is so late. I intended on posting it earlier in the week. I rated quite a few books as five stars this year but I am not sure they were all necessarily favorites. I came up with nine books that I would consider my favorites. I find that to be slightly sad with the amount of books I read. Anyway, here it goes:



9. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

I listened to this book on audio and loved it. There was so much emotion in it for me, especially towards the end. I have to get the physical copy on my shelves. It is a book I want to hang on to forever. Some how I did not realize that there was going to be more than one. I mean, it tells you on Goodreads it is #1, but obviously I was oblivious to that. So, it really tore me up at the end. I cannot wait to get to the next one.



8. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This book spoke to me on so many levels. It was just so lovely and so well written I thought. I understood what both Finch and Violet were going through. Like Finch I struggle with depression and like Violet I lost a family member this year. This is the only book that I have read by Jennifer Niven but I intend to find more from her and read them all.



7. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

This book was spectacular and at the beginning of the year it probably would have been my number one. I don't think there is anything bad I could say about it. But now that it is the end of the year, there is not really a lot of this book I remember. Is that horrible that it is still on my favorites list and I don't remember much of it? Even if I don't remember it really, I know that it deserves to be here. I think I am going to have to re-read it sometime this next year to refresh myself. 



6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The thing I loved about this book was honestly just everything 80's! Being a product of the 80's myself there were so many things I had forgotten about in my young life. It brought back so many memories hearing about these things again. Also, being a gamer, and maybe I am using gamer slightly loosely because mostly I only play World of Warcraft. There are occasionally other games I might play. But I mean, a virtual reality where I could walk through Azeroth myself... come on... yes please! I am bummed I have to wait so long for the movie of this.



5. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

I know there are quite a few people that had there issues with this book in the series. For me I really thought this was the best book of the series so far. I pretty much read all of these books back to back. Which is not really something I do quite often. I almost didn't read it because I didn't want it to end just yet. I need book five ASAP!

 

4. The Diviners by Libba Bray

This book creeped me out so bad! I skipped chapters I couldn't handle reading but it was so wonderful! I have tried to read book two a few times since I finished this one. I got one hundred pages into it and had a horrible dream that night. So, book two is gonna be a little bit harder for me to finish I think. But I will do it! Sometime... eventually!



3. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This is another book I listened to the audio of and it was fantastic! I love all the talk about books and different stories within this book. I love the growth of the characters from the beginning to the end. It's a beautiful book overall. I actually already had some books by Gabrielle Zevin on my shelves that I haven't read, before I listened to this one. I am for sure going to try and get to those sometime this next year. I loved the way this one was written so much that I want to read more from her. I have also been picking up other books by her as well. 



2. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

The last half of this year I tried to mix in some non-fiction into my reading. I of course had to include this book. A few years after I started playing WoW I discovered the The Guild on YouTube and absolutely loved it. This book was another one that brought back so many memories for me. There was talk of old games I used to play as a child/teen and then of course the talk of making The Guild was great! 



1. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Of course this book is on the list and number 1! This spoke to me on so many levels, it was exactly what I needed to read this year. I will love this book till the end of times. I really don't know what to say about it but it was the best thing ever. If you haven't read it, just do it already. I want more books by Adam Silvera and I am sad I have to wait so long for his next one.

If you have read any of these let me know what you thought. 

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

At first I really enjoyed this book! I flew threw about 75% of it in a matter of days. I just lost interest some where around the time Darcy tells her parents about her relationship, maybe right before. I don't really know what happened. I think the only reason that I finished the book is because I checked it out on audio book from the library. This allowed me to finish it while I worked today.

Overall, I think I would give this book some where between a 3.5 to a 4 star rating. Flipping back and forth between Darcy and the book she wrote made this book all the more fun in the beginning for me. I guess after so much it almost annoyed me, but not enough to make the book any worse for me.

Other parts just seemed so way out there to me. This is fiction and the author can really do whatever they want. So, I wouldn't say this really upset me greatly, it just kept me on the outside. I'm not sure that makes much sense. 

When I read a book I want to be immersed in the world. I want to feel like I am apart of the story. With this one I felt very much on the edge of the world created. Sure there are plenty of books that have so much that there is no way that could happen. But if I have been pulled into the world, then they tend to be things I can over look. I did not have that happen with this one.

Anyway, if you have read the book let me know what you thought in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Books I Was Planning on Reading ~Bonnie

Hello all! Hope everyone is well! I just wanted to make a quick post about my failure to do a couple of things. One, I never made this original post back in August. It was to be a post about the books I wanted to read by the end of this year. Second, I only read one book from this list. I still really want to read all of these. Maybe it will be something that I can accomplish the first half of 2016. So, here it goes:

I have had the Lux Series by Jennifer L Armentrout waiting to be read for the entire year! I still really want to give this one a try. I have only read one book by this author, but I gave that one 5 stars on Goodreads so maybe this series will be something I enjoy as well.

The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken is another series that I have had all year. I have read the first one at least, but I am not sure why I have not picked the next one up yet. I don't typically like to marathon a series. I actually like a little break between the books, but it has just been too long now. I am tempted to read the last bit of The Darkest Minds before picking up Never Fade. 

If you read my books I have not finished, you know that I have been working on this one for about 3 years or so. I don't know if it's the way it is written or the story itself, but I can pick any of these books up and know exactly where I am. I haven't picked this book up in months but I know that I am just passed the wedding and they have a drunk/drugged servant they are trying to figure out what happened. So, maybe the wedding part seemed a bit slow and that's why I have been able to let it sit for so long. I really don't know. 

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is yet another one that I have had waiting since the first of the year. I was so excited to find this cover (though in paperback) for so freaking cheap. I wanted to read this right away... still have not picked it up. Why??? 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, OMG my new (one of them) all time favorite authors I found this year. The Throne of Glass series is so unbelievably amazing. I bought this book ASAP when it came out. Emily and I are talking about starting a little book club thing next year. Even if it is just the two of us. So now I am just waiting until we pick this book for whatever month. I can't wait!

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson was actually recommended to me a few years ago. A friend that I play WoW with said that it was really good. Then the more and more I watched booktube this year I saw there are quite a few people that have liked it. I have picked up the first book a few times and I even tried it on an audio book. I'm not giving up on it though. I will persevere and read at least the first one before I decide if I really don't like it. 

I also really wish that I had the covers I used for the picture above. I think they are the UK covers. Sometimes UK covers are just so beautiful. Go look at the Thrones of Glass series UK editions if you haven't. Actually, here 

I would absolutely love to have these ones! Though, the US ones are pretty as well. Okay, let's get back on track. I'm almost done.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera is the one book that I actually did read the last half of the year! What?! I know I can't believe it either, I really did read at least one of these. Another new favorite author of mine this year. Sadly since this was his first book published I will have to wait until he finishes something else. For me this book was beyond amazing. I love the way it is written, but then also I really think that this book came out at the right time for me. This was something that I really needed to read this year. And I am already thinking of re-reading it. Which is something I don't really do. Once I read something that's it; I am the same way with movies. But this book here, is one that will stick with me the rest of my life. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is one that I have eye balled for a long time. I really wanted to get this and Hollow City read before the final book came out. I did read the graphic novel a few weeks ago. That is something that I really regret. The graphic novel was enjoyable but I really should have read the whole story first. 

So, there is my list of 14 or 15 books that I wanted to read by the end of this year. Yay for at least getting one of them read! I read 115 books so far this year (there is still time to finish more.) I am not sure why I couldn't fit this small amount of books into these last 6 months.

If you have read any of these let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Vengeance Road is a wonderful read, I gave it 4 stars overall. Westerns have never really been something I thought I would enjoy. When I heard about this book and read the blurb I knew I would give this one a go.

The beginning of the book was a little slow for me, but it was still interesting enough it kept me want to come back. Not to mention that it was such an easy read. I mean easy read as in it just seemed to flow so well for me. Things weren't rushed a long and at the same time they weren't drawn out.

This was written with just the right amount of action, some mystery and even a little bit of romance. I was really glad that the romance didn't just happen right away. I liked that you could almost feel it build within the story. It wasn't just something that happened right away and everyone was all mushy. Mushy just doesn't work for a western anyway.

If Erin Bowman chooses to write more YA westerns I will get them and read them. Every single one of them. Even if you don't think you will enjoy a western, try this one. You may find, like myself, that they can be wonderful when done so well.

If you read this let me know what you thought in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Books I have not finished ~Bonnie

These are the books I have yet to finish. Though, this picture is slightly deceiving. I have read City of Bones at least once. But we are going to start with the most recent to the worst. All of these I have put down for months and/or years. I have pretty much always read multiple books at a time and these are ones I have put down and not picked back up. So, here it goes.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I freaking love the shadowhunter world! These books are everything to me but I have never been one to reread books. I keep all my favorites; there is no way I can part with them. But I decided, sometime over the summer, that I was gonna read this again. I love it so very much, why not? I have 100 pages left to go and then I could say I have read a book twice. Seriously, 100 pages, that's it! Why not just do it already. But no it has sat for 6ish month just waiting to be finished again.  

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This book I actually set down right before City of Bones. I am pretty sure that my bookmark was moved. I could have sworn I was way passed the 200 page mark. I really struggled with this one. I know that reading and loving a classic is not something that defines you as an "actual" reader. But I want to be able to say that I have read some of them. Or that I do really like such and such book that was written way back when. Someday, I will be able to say this. It just may not be someday soon.

After We Collided by Anna Todd

This one is really pretty bad. I started this at the beginning of the year and here we are almost to the end. These books are huge! I love this story, I really do. But I just don't know, I haven't been feeling it much these year. Not like I did at the beginning. I'll finish it, eventually. I only have maybe 300 pages left. I could finish that in a day. I really should just do it. My fear is, that if I push myself to read it when I am not feeling these type of book, I will push myself into a slump. I have been super into fantasy for so many months now, I kind of want to stay there for now.

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

This one is the very worst out of these. I started reading this book three years ago! I am probably half way through the book. The thing I love about these books is that I know exactly where I am in the story no matter how long it has been since I read them. Whenever I am in the mood for some Jamie and Clare, I pick this up and read. It may only be for the day or even just 50 pages, this book is always there for me. 

 I wouldn't say I actually dislike any of these. Even though I was struggling with Wuthering Heights, it isn't that I don't like it. I will give it a go again. Do you guys have any books you have set down and not picked back up yet?

If you do set down a book, when you pick it back up do you start all over? Or do you just continue where you left off? I tend to start where I left off. I might go back a chapter to get my bearings. Or if I didn't get very far into it to begin with, that is when I would start over.

Let me know in the comments!

Now that I am done with this post I think I will go finish that last bit of City of Bones!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie