Top 10 favourite books of 2014

Hi book-lovers

First of all let me say that 2014 has been a great reading year for me. I had set my Goodreads 2014 reading challenge at 50 books and I managed to read 58 books. Yay for me! Actually, because Goodreads doesn't include re-reads, I've read 63 books, but who's counting ;-)

I would also like to mention that the books in my top 10 weren't necessarily published in 2014.

And now on with my favourite reads: (Click on the titles and authors to go to the Goodreads pages to read the summary.)

#10 The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead (Technically this isn't one book, but I've marathoned this series, so I want to discuss them as a whole.)

The reason I've put the VA series in the n°10 spot is that I didn't like books 4 and 5 as much as the other ones. I still gave them 3 stars on Goodreads, but the first halves of both books were extremely slow. Luckily the second halves picked up the pace, which made them turn out okay.
But the final book made struggling through book 4 and 5 worth it. What a finale to a series!

#9 The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas (Again, not one book ...)

 

This series isn't finished yet and I haven't read Heir of Fire, but I enjoyed the first three books. The Assassin's Blade consists of all the prequel novellas and I'm glad I've read this first, because they give you a good insight in Celaena's behavior in the following books. Heir of Fire is on my TBR for 2015.

#8 The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth (Here we go again...)

Although a lot of people felt really betrayed by how the story evolved in Allegiant, I actually liked how the trilogy ended. I'm not going to go into details because I don't want to spoil you in case you haven't read the books, but I just want to say that in my opinion a book doesn't always need a happy ending...


#7 The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi (Yep, you've guessed it...)

These books were some of the first books I read in 2014 and also some of the first books I read on my e-reader. I experienced a lot of emotions reading these books. They were fast, exciting reads and I really enjoyed the novellas. They tied everything together.
And oh yeah, for those of you who are curious: after a hesitant start I completely became Team Warner :-)

#6 Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I read this for the #AntiBullyReads hosted by Sarah Churchill. I really liked this book and it has made me think about how I react to people who look different. High school pupils should really this story as it would get them thinking about their own behavior.

#5 The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

It took a while for Cinder to really grab me, but once it did, it didn't let go. Neither did Scarlet and Cress. The books kept getting better and better. I really liked the fact that these stories are fairytale retellings. Oh, and the male characters in these books are serious book boyfriend material :-) I can't wait to read Fairest and Winter.

#4 The Pushing the Limits companion series

These were some of the first contemporary books I've read and they convinced me to read more books in this genre. 
Although I enjoyed Dare You To a bit less than the others, I still really, really, really liked this series. I'm currently reading Breaking the Rules and I'm loving it!!

#3 If I stay by Gayle Forman

I absolutely loved this book, it is so beautifully written. It takes you on a constant emotional roller coaster and yes, I cried while reading this book. I also watched the movie - I cried even more then - and it was a really good book-to-movie adaptation.


It's been a real struggle to decide which book was my 2nd favourite book of the year and which one was my absolute favourite and I would rather put them both in the number 1 spot...

#2 Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I have only one thing to say about this book: I read this in one sitting and had a major book hangover afterwards - okay, that's two things :-)


And my absolute favourite book of 2014:

#1 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I honestly don't know why I haven't read this book sooner. It was very well written, packed with a wide range of emotions. I cried my eyes out - really ugly crying - during several scenes and even more so with the movie. Again, I found this to be a very good book-to-movie adaptation.
And this book gave me my first book-hangover of 2014.


I hope you enjoyed my top 10 books of 2014. Let me know in the comments what some of your favourite books of 2014 were.

Bye

Annelies