My top 10 favourite books of 2016.

Hi booklovers

2016 is coming to an end, so it's time to take a look at my favourite books of 2016. Before we move on to the list, here is an overview of my reading year according to Goodreads:

I actually just finished book 59 literally 30 mins. ago.

Note: the books on this list weren't necessarily published in 2016.

#10. ACOMAF by Sarah J. Maas.

After finishing this book I would have put it in my top 3, because I suffered from a very serious bookhangover. But as time went by and I read / listened to some more reviews I started to see the flaws of this book. I still really love this book, but I've read 9 books that were even better (even if they didn't all give me bookhangovers).

#9. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.

Last year, my number one favourite book was Shadow and Bone and this year I finally continued and finished the trilogy. You might wonder why I didn't include Ruin and Rising, but even though I loved the conclusion to the trilogy and I did give it 5 stars, I was a bit disappointed with the ending, it was a bit anti-climatic. Siege and Storm, in my opinion, was better than Ruin and Rising and it didn't suffer from second-book-syndrome.

#8 and 7. Clipped Wings and Inked Armor both by Helena Hunting.

These were the first books I read by this author and they blew my mind. Some might say that these NA stories have a cliché storyline, but I disagree. To me, they were very gripping and raw and they really got under my skin.

#6. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

I read (listened to) this book for the anti-bully-readathon and I loved it. It was so touching and honest.

#5. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

It took me about 100 pages to get into the format of this book but after that I loved it. It was the first sci-fi book I read and it totally blew me away. Fun fact: the whole time I was reading the book I thought of the AI Aiden as being a 'she', but most other people think of it as a 'he'.

I can't wait to pick up Gemina very soon and hopefully that will make it to my top 10 of 2017 list.

#4. Long Way Down by Becca and Krista Ritchie.

Putting these books in my favourites list is becoming a tradition. This is the conclusion to the Addicted and Calloway Sisters companion series (not including the epilogue book Some Kind of Perfect - which I still need to read) and I don't even know how to begin to describe how much I love these books. I'm glad this final book was about my favourite couple Ryke and Daisy and it's a bit bittersweet that there will be no more books in this series. But luckily I can visit their stories one more time with Some Kind of Perfect.

And now for my top 3:

#3 and 2. Crooked Kingdom and Six of Crows both by Leigh Bardugo.

And no, I didn't put them in the wrong order, I enjoyed SoC a little more than I did Crooked Kingdom (I gave both of them 5 stars). Two more books that have me lost for words. Where do I begin to describe how much I love the Grisha world and the characters in these books. I loved all of them, but Matthias and Nina were my favourite, followed by Jesper and Wylan. And let me say that the last but one chapter of CK completely tore me apart! (Can you tell this was the book I literally just finished?!)

And now, my number 1 favourite book of 2016:

#1. Fractures in Ink by Helena Hunting.

This is the conclusion to the Clipped Wings trilogy and what a conclusion it was. Like the first two books this one was raw, realistic, heart wrenching, filled with both despair and hope and I loved it to bits.

I have to admit that the books in my top 3 could easily switch places, so maybe I should've put all three books in a shared number 1 spot.

All in all, I've had a very good reading year with very few disappointing reads. Let's hope 2017 will be equally as good.

What are some of your favourite reads of 2016? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

My top 10 favourite books of 2015

Hi booklovers

Another - reading - year gone by, another top 10 favourite books.

I would like to start by sharing my reading year according to Goodreads:
I've read 54 books. Again, Goodreads doesn't count rereads, so I read 58 books, which is 6 less than last year, but I'm totally okay with that :-)
 

I read a total number of 14 843 pages, averaging at 303 pages. The shortest book I read was 35 pages and the longest book 562 pages.
 

My ratings: 5*: 2
                4.5*: 9
                4*: 25
                3.75*: 3
                3.5: 11
                3: 7
with an average rating of 3.6*

Two sidenotes before I move on to my top 10:

1) The books I read weren't necessarily published in 2015.

2) It was really hard to rank these books, but since they made it to my top 10 I obviously love(d) them all.

#10: Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes

I've only read the first three books in the series so far, but I really enjoyed them. I gave each of them 4 stars. Since I'm a bit behind on reading the sequels in certain series, I haven't ordered Frozen Tides yet. I haven't read nor do I own 'A book of Spirits and Thieves', but I think I want to pick it up.

#9: Saga Volumes 1 and 2 by Brian K. Vaughan (Writer), Fiona Staples (Artist)

 

I only recently jumped on the bandwagon of the Saga graphic novels and I don't know why I waited so long to pick them up. I  gave them both 4 stars. I borrowed them from the library, but unfortunately they don't have the next volumes yet, so I might buy them for myself. These were the first graphic novels I ever read and because they are a bit 'different' it took some getting used to, but once I got into the story it kept me wanting to read more.
 

#8: Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

This is the third book in the 'His Fair Assassin's' trilogy and by far my favourite of the three. I gave it 4.5 stars. This one wasn't as political as the first two and I really loved Annith as a character.

#7: The Violet Blake novella series by Bre Faucheux

I've read a couple of Bre's books this year and I have to say the Violet Blake series was my favourite one, closely followed by The Keeper's Realm. I gave them all 4 stars, except for the first one which I gave 3.75 stars. I have read them as individual novella's but now they are sold as a boxset. This is a really good paranormal story with a lot of character development and some surprising plot twists.

#6: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

I couldn't not include a Katie McGarry book in my top 10. This is the first book in Katie's new Thunder Road series and I loved it - I gave it 4.5 stars. Rachel and Isaiah (Crash Into You) will always be my favourite Katie McGarry couple, but Oz and Emily come in a close second.

#5: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

This was the first Morgan Matson book I read and I really loved it. I have a non-spoiler review of this on my blog. I gave it 4.5 stars.
 
#4: Assissin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I discovered this book by watching Sam from NovelsAndNonsense rave about these books and this author in a lot of her videos and I'm very glad I picked it up. I also have a non-spoiler review of this book. I gave it 4 stars and I want to continue this series soon.

#3: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

This was my second 5 star read of this year and this book made me ugly cry so much. It was so emotional and well-written, I loved it - even more than Amy & Roger. I have Since You've Been Gone on my TBR pile and I want to pick it up during the spring of next year, because Morgan Matson has another book coming out in May 2016 and I want to read Since You've Been Gone first.

#2: The Addicted series and its spinoff series the Calloway sisters by Becca & Krista Ritchie

This is another series I've picked because of a BookTuber - Jillian of Bookishandnerdy. She was raving about the first book in the series and I decided to pick it up and I'm so happy that I did. I really had to pace myself to read this series because I've had some bad experiences with marathoning series and I wanted to make the series last as long as possible as well. I'm currently reading 'Fuel the Fire' which is the last but one of the Calloway Sisters series and I'm loving it.
I gave Addicted to you 4,5 stars (my first 4,5 stars of the year), Ricochet 4 stars, Addicted for Now 4.5 stars, Kiss the Sky 4,5 stars, Hothouse Flower 4,5 stars, Thrive 4 stars and Addicted After all 4 stars.
Can you tell I really, really like this series :-) I have a non-spoiler review of Addicted to you. Needless to say that Becca & Krista Ritchie have rapidly become my new auto-buy authors.

And now for the best book I've read this year - altough it was really hard to decide whether or not I would put this first or second on my list:

#1: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This was the first 5 star book of this year and there are no words to explain how much I loved this book. I did a 'while I read' series of posts, but beware, they contain major spoilers! I desperatly want to carry on with the trilogy - I don't own them yet - and then move on to Six of Crows because I've heard a lot of great things about this one as well.

What were (some of) your favourite books of 2015? Tell me in the comments below.

By for now

Annelies

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