Favourite Books of 2015

2015 has been a great reading year for me. My Goodreads Challenge started off at 50 books, then it was 60, then 70 and so on until I had it set for 100. In the end I reached 120 books and that's not including the books I have forgotten to add. The following is a list of my top 10 books of 2015. This list is in no particular order and only some of these books were published this year.

The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

This book which was released at the beginning of 2015 brought about the conclusion of the Bloodlines series and also brought about an absolutely fabulous ending to the Vampire Academy world. The ending of this book is one of those endings when you need more than 5 stars.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

This book was an intense and mind boggling read. This is one of those book that will test you and hold onto you long after you have read the last page. You will question everything in this book as to whether what you are reading is reality or not. So if you love a book that challenges your sanity this is your kind of book.

Click here for my full review.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander (previously published as Cross Stich) is one behemoth of a historical novel. But don't let this put you off. This story is filled with history, action, romance and a little bit of time travel. This book will draw you into a dark past and make you wish you could stay there.

Click here for my full review.

Red Queen by Victoria Averyard

While I must confess that it was the cover that originally drew me in, the story itself was absolutely incredible. It took me a couple of chapters to get hooked into this story but in the end I read it in one sitting. This book is filled with betrayal and treachery around every corner.

Click here for my full review.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

This is the first book in the Caster Chronicles and is set in a small Southern American town. This book makes many references to To Kill a Mockingbird and the two stories share many similarities in the sense that both books are about overcoming prejudice with Beautiful Creatures being the paranormal take.

Click here for my full review.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places is Jennifer Niven's debut novel. This book will make you cry and laugh as you are drawn into the intense and dark lives of Violet and Finch as they through each other they try and learn to find happiness. This book is an emotional roller coaster but well worth the read.

Click here for my full review.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor

This is the first novel in a trilogy and a book I can find no faults in. The characters, the plot, the worlds, the writing style. This book is like nothing I have ever read before.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

This sci-fi book which is set on Mars was not what I expected. While I was intrigued I never believed I was going to be amazed. The characters are well thought out and the plot is well balanced. The book is filled with quite a bit of politics but this did not diminish the story.

Click here for my full review.

Cut & Run Series by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban

Cut & Run is the first book in a 9 book series which follows two FBI agents Zane Garret and Ty Grady as they struggle with falling in love with each other and trying to solve some of their toughest cases yet. Where Garret and Grady are involved things are bound to blow up, someone is sure to get shot and their may even be a big cat or two.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Queen of Shadows is the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series. A series which is quickly forging itself a permanent spot on my favourites shelf. While many people feel that this book sees the characters developing some major character shifts, I personally felt that this book was the first time none of the characters had to pretend to be anyone else in order to survive.

Click here for my full review.

All the Bright Places

Title: All the Bright Places

Author: Jennifer Niven

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Young Adult

Number of Pages: 378

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Penguin

Summary: Theodore Finch wants to take his own life. Violet Markey is devastated by her sister's death. They meet on the ledge of the school bell tower, and so their story begins. It's only together they can be themselves. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink. How far will Violet go to save the boy she has come to love?

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is perhaps one of the most incredible books I have ever read. There is nothing better than when you pick up a book and it completely moves you...that it consumes your thoughts and makes you think. This is exactly what this book does. It fact I was stumped for days on how to describe this book. Conversations by me went a little something like this: "Have you read All the Bright Places? No, well you should its...I mean its just..." Words cannot describe the true incredibleness of this book.

The best way I can give a summary of this book is by saying that this is a story about "a boy called Finch and a girl named Violet."

To be honest you really don't need to know any more than that. In fact the less you know going in, probably the better.

The writing in this book is beautiful and moving, it draws you in and doesn't let you go until well past the last page. It will give you warm fuzzy feelings, make you role your eyes, laugh, and it will make you cry.

I'm not a fan of contemporary novels, I hate how they reflect that reality can suck - and lets face all books have something go wrong in them at some point, its what makes the story. At least when something goes wrong in a fantasy its usually because of magic or some other uncontrollable factor, not someones stupidity. I have little patients for self inflected stupidity; it makes me cringe.

All the Bright Places manages a work around this. Bad things happen, put thankfully for a change of contemporary pace, its not because one of the characters makes a poor decision based on an inability to let go of the past (some serious contemporary generalisation - but you get the drift); instead the bad stuff happens because the characters are trying do the right thing in a bad situation. That and there was no angst which I loved.

If there was a book that I could erase from my mind so I could re-read it, it would be this one. This book is not just a story but it is a piece of art. If I could give this book more than my 5 star rating I would, but I can't...so I reluctantly give it 5 stars because it deserves so much more.