Favorite reads of 2015

This was a difficult list to bring together so thank goodness for Goodreads because after having read 82 books I had no idea how to even begin to narrow it down to my favorites.  

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

This book is beautiful and so real and I love feeling represented in books I read. It's like authors saying "I see you, I hear you & I understand." One of many examples: "I wasn't allowed to claim the thing I felt and I didn't feel the thing I was supposed to claim." referring to feeling American but not being viewed as one by your peers and the conflicting emotions that follow. This book is an emotional, unique look at the immigrant experience from many perspectives and definitely worth a read.

The Girl by Madhuri Blaylock

This book is so good and I feel like everyone needs to know about it. All the characters are so fleshed out and different and YES. Dev is a hybrid, half demon, half angel and she's awesome. We get to go through her ups and downs with her and it's easy to connect to her in a way. Wyatt is a warrior and we get to see how as soon as he meets Dev there's a connection. Like when I say their chemistry is off the charts like it jumps off the page. Ryker is his partner in crime, brother, all the words to connect these two because they understand each other like no one else can. Jools is Wyatt's sister and she's a firecracker! Darby is a vampire and she's like a female Magnus Bane mixed with Lestat to me. I love her sassiness and her intense connection to Wyatt and Ryker. Lastly, the Breslins are deliciously evil and my love of villains was just cemented in reading about them.  Madhuri's characters need to be experienced by all. I haven't even delved into the story itself because just go experience it for yourself. The entire trilogy is just a journey that will fill you with all the emotions.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

This story shows how something that happens when you're younger can have a powerful impact on how you view the rest of life. This is my second book I’ve read by Murakami and I really enjoy how he writes, specifically the descriptions of how Tsukuru views people as they board the train at stations was just beautiful to me. I can’t wait to keep reading more books by him this year.

The Secret History  by Donna Tartt

The only reason I thought I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did was my strong dislike of the characters throughout most of the novel but that's the point. These aren't likeable people, they're despicable in many aspects and you still grow to care for them. This book set in an elite boarding school is about drugs, crime and how knowledge can be power. Richard, the narrator, reminded me of Nick from Gatsby in certain ways because while he did not have money, he shows how easy it is to let yourself be smitten by it. Therefore, he was the perfect narrator because of the change we got to go through with him. What intrigues me is what if we would've gotten this from Henry's, Camilla's or Francis' or even Bunny's point of view? Bunny is a clear picture of the worst kind of person in that even when his family doesn't have that much money, he is so uppity and egotistical. I also loved that Richard is deciding to write this story years after the fact and therefore leaves things to the imagination; it adds so much more to it for me. All in all, I loved this look at the lives of these people and even the setting of this story, typewriters and letters in the mail, just adds to the mystery.

salt. By Nayyirah Waheed
A collection of stunning poems about race that is just done in such a beautiful and profound way.

A Thousand Pieces of You  by Claudia Gray

This was such a fun read. The writing is beautiful and Marguerite is such a great narrator as she takes us through these parallel dimensions. I loved the first one, the details like the futuristic holograms in the calls and of course Russia because of the wealth but also because of the old school from the letters to the modes of transportation to the royalty aspect. Claudia does a great job of describing it all and I totally could imagine this cold, beautiful place. The parallel universes just add to this story but the important part is just the love in this family and how it transcends time and space. 

Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

In this second book, I could totally see that Warverse and the Russian mob version. A great part of this sequel is the growth that Marguerite goes through. She can no longer depend on her genius parents and their graduate students to explain things to her; she had to go out there and get into these crazy life threatening situations and come out a stronger human. I love that it wasn't just a simple solution. Nothing is an easy fix in this story, not the science, not the feelings she feels for her family and these two important men in her life, Paul & Theo, and especially not the different versions of herself that she jumps into in every dimension. Every version just added to her understanding of who she was and how to see the world differently and broadly and that was brilliant.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

This book made me so happy. Since being wrapped up in the world of booktube and social media and such it’s easy to feel like you know so much about publishing, so it was great to read about the struggle of editing your first draft while reading the novel itself. Brilliant concept, Westerfeld.  Darcy driving Imogen crazy with all her insecurities about her first book while Imogen was trying to figure out her next book was such a fun dynamic. Darcy and Imogen were the cutest. Yes for LGBT representation! I loved the other authors we got glimpses of like Kiralee and how you can have fun and compare them to whoever your favorite authors are in real life. The story within the novel was brilliantly done. Darcy's fear of changing her ending came through the pages and I was even scared for her. I think the ending she chose was great. Westerfeld knows what he's doing y'all.

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

This is the sequel of The Bone Season and this one was a whirlwind. This sequel takes Paige, the main character, back to London and you get to learn so much about Scion and the world Samantha has created. I loved getting into the nitty gritty of the mime lords and queens and the crazy way this citadel runs. This is so important because it really sets up this world for what is going to be a wild ride in books to come. I am so happy about how much Paige grew so much in this; she's smart, genuine about her feelings and how they will get in the way of things but that's what's important and it's only going to get crazier from here. She's becoming one of my favorite leading ladies. 

Lastly, no spoilers but this sequel gave me chills at how you can draw a parallel to things going on in the world and two instances really stood out to me:


Paige: "Why don't we do something?" The frustration almost choked me. Chat: "Apathy's a killer. The way most people see it, we can survive like this if we stay out of the way."
Paige: "Isn't hope just another kind of naïveté?"Warden: "Hope is the lifeblood of revolution. Without it, we are nothing but ash, waiting for the wind to take us.”

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Allyson and Willem aka the ultimate OTP.  It’s the last day of Allyson’s graduation European tour when she meets Willem and he invites her to forget everything and go to Paris with him. She goes and this day is everything; a whirlwind of emotions and romance. The travel is my favorite part and the identity. & the sequel Just One year and novella, Just One Night are just as good.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

A heist novel and so much more!

Goodreads review because it’s still what I feel :]

Kaz is a genius and and I can't wait to see what crazy antics, him and his group get up to next. Kaz is such a great reader of people and while people can think he's on the losing end, he knows what cards to play next so the game is always leaning in his favor. The way Leigh unraveled his backstory was brilliant as well. The way she slowly showed how interconnected the group is brilliant as well. I fell in love with Inej, Nina, Jesper, Mathias and even Wylan. This unlikely group seems like a ticking time bomb itself and with every chapter there is so much that can go wrong and oh while it did, I would cheer whenever something did go well. I can't wait to see what plans Kaz has next because man oh man, he's going to need all the help he can get. With the way it ended, it seems like there's many ways this can go if he continues to play his cards oh so carefully. 

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Spoilers because it’s the 4^th in the series and just yeah.

This is an amazing addition to the Throne of Glass series. I didn't think I could love some of these characters more than I already did. Aelin is at her best. She is a cunning, smart individual. I can go on ad nauseum about how much I dig her. The relationships with the people around her just made the story for me. Being a Queen is no joke and anyone that doubted her can surely shush after reading this. The multitude of ways in which she showed off how she can handle any situation thrown at her was impressive. I was like Aedion just jaw open while reading many scenes. While this series is about the growth of our beautiful main character, the people that surround her are full of depth. Rowan, Aedion, Chaol, Dorian Lysandra, Nesryq are just multifaceted, wonderfully fleshed out characters that I love getting to know more and more. Something I didn't have strong feelings about in the third book was the Manon and the witches storyline and this book shut me right up. I grew to care so much about Manon and Asterin. The Thirteen are a force to be reckoned with and I can't wait to see how this all evolves in the last two books.

Winter by Marissa Meyer

The finale of the Lunar Chronicles made me such a happy human. I love how much time was given to each storyline and it was all so detailed and just yes A+ Marissa Meyer. This series has been a crazy ride from Cinder to Scarlet and Cress and now with Winter, we get such a great look at just how far these characters have come. This is a fairy tale retelling that if you haven’t read you should get on that because it’s just such a fun time and the couples from Cinder and Kai, Scarlet and Wolf, Cress and Thorne to Winter and Jacin need to be enjoyed by all. Cyborg Cinderella is my favorite because of course with Cress aka Rapunzel as a close second because having her backstory being her imprisoned in a satellite since childhood is just so perfect and her romanticized view of things is just beautiful but heartbreaking.  The settings of New Beijing and Luna are great in that we really get to appreciate this world with humans, cyborgs and lunar people just that much more.

Favorite line forever and ever amen: "I would suggest that no one use my youth to believe that I am also ignorant."

I think I've gushed on enough. Let's talk favorite books on twitter @bettyreads or down below, friends.