Favorites of 2014: Part 1

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Pride & Prejudice in an Asian setting!)

A captivating story that  sucks you in with its vivid descriptions of the setting, clothing and the people. The writing style and how this story was set up added a lot to my enjoyment in that every chapter was a different character's point of view as well as some characters would have their own little clips within the chapters. It kept the events feeling fast paced and me wanting to flip the page to see what else Nick Young's family would do in order to sabotage his relationship with Rachel Chu.  The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker The Golem and the Jinni is such a powerful book. This story brought together two outcasts and made me care for them individually. I was cheering for them to have their happy ending, whether that was together or not. I like how this was not a love story by any stretch of the imagination but I still found myself rooting for them to end up together. It was important that each of them had their own journey to go on and go through hardships to find out about the world around them. I adored that the dual POV's were so wonderfully intertwined with the points of view of people in the community, so you got to see how people viewed Chava and Ahmad outside of what they thought of themselves. I also loved the glimpse at New York at a time where there was so much hope in every person that reached Ellis Island and the subsequent glance at how every person had to deal with many difficulties to find some sort of comfort.

China Dolls by Lisa See
This unique tale made me go through a range of emotions from: happy, sad to mad because these girls did go through it all. Stereotypes played a big part in some of the decisions taken by these ladies and I think that the time (1938 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and beyond) it was all occurring played a huge part as well. I think it's definitely worth the read to get an insider's look into an entirely different world.

Wanderlust by Elizabeth Eaves
Oh, this book. I knew I was going to love it because wanderlust is something everyone has and since I've begun traveling I have it oh so much. Elisabeth takes the reader on quite a journey, emotionally and physically. The revolving door of men from Stu to Justin to Raphael to Dominic just made me feel for her even more in that she used them as a way to propel her travels forward while simultaneously falling for them. Her inability to be attached to anyone she was romantic with is something that I also connected with. "Girl, I feel you!" was said every other page in this book. Will ignite the traveler in you!

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr What a beautiful story. I fell in love with Marie-Laure and Werner and cared about everything that was going to happen to them and that did happen in this crazy time of Hitler. Marie-Laure's blindness was just a secondary aspect and I loved how the disability did not hinder her and made her so much more captivating. Her love of stories and the sea was something I could relate to and felt so much. The tale of the Sea of Flames felt like a main character as well and I loved how it added this air of mystery and what if to the story. The timeline propelled the story forward in such a way and while you'd think it'd be easy to get lost in the switching of perspectives and years, the sections made me not want to put the book down. There was so many cliffhangers within the sections that were just captivating and made me want to keep reading. This book is just brilliantly setup and it's difficult to explain. I can feel the change that this story has made in me already. I can go on and on. A new favorite and a must read for a lover of tales and history for sure.

Vicious by V.E Schwab
Just read this book full of twists and devious, complex characters and let me know who you think the villain is. Is there a villain? Convinced to read it yet? Go!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Dunnes are brilliant. I did not think I'd enjoy this as much as I did but the mystery on top of the intelligent, chilling, suspenseful narration got me good. A must read.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Lincoln's the IT guy for the newspaper called The Courier. He is basically paid to read people's emails when they are flagged for "inappropriate" talk. The reason that's even in quotations is because the reason he meets Beth and Jennifer is over innocent emails in which they talk about their lives, which end up in his flagged folder. First,the way this story is written is brilliant. It alternates between Lincoln's life narration and then the emails between Beth and Jennifer. It makes the reader feel super attached to all the characters. At least, that's how it was for me. Lincoln becomes invested in Beth and Jennifer's life without having met them and so did I. I felt their ups and downs and they felt like people I actually knew so that's why I definitely understood and sided with Lincoln when he decided not to report them and just keep reading. So pick this book up and do just that!