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Once again, thanks to The Broke and The Bookish for organising the themes for Top Ten Tuesday. It's recently become one of my favourite blog features and I look forward to participating a whole lot more in 2014.
Honestly, I haven't had the chance to read as many books as I would like to this year but luckily there have been a few gems in the mix.
Enjoy :)
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- Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith - If given the chance to describe Wild Awake in only a few words, I would say it is a love letter to bike riding and punk rock (what an awesome combination). It also manages to be a really well written book on mental illness while also being free of those overused cliches often found in the YA genre.
- Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil - The author has managed to write a refreshingly honest and realistic main character in Sammy, who is perfectly content obsessing over obscure zombie films with his band of geeky friends. That is until a World of Warcraft playing girl turns up at school one day and changes his life for the better. I also loved the awesome movie recommendations in this book, I added a heap of horror flicks to my must-watch list :)
- Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis - While I often say I'm not a huge fan of fantasy or sci-fi, this series has broken the wall down for me. It quickly became one of my favourites back in 2011 and I highly recommend the enthralling series to anyone who has even the slightest interest in YA. *SPOILER* After a tumultuous journey, we finally see Amy and Elder reach Centauri-Earth but of course it is not the paradise they had envisioned and there is quite a bit of work to be done if they plan on making it habitable for all who chose to make it to the final destination.
- Wildlife by Fiona Wood - In a companion novel to Six Impossible Things (which I also loved), we are introduced to Lou and Sibylla who each have their own demons to face at Camp Fairweather. I absolutely loved this book for it's simplistic and humorous writing style. And of course, almost any Aussie YA can win me over extremely easily... they just seem so damn realistic to me :)
- Chain Reaction (Perfect Chemistry #3) by Simone Elkeles - Another series finale enters my favourite book of the year list. While I really enjoyed this book, I think I much preferred the first instalment with the format getting a little tired in books two and three. A little more variation would've been nice but still super enjoyable to read!
- The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen - From the very beginning, Sarah Dessen has been my favourite YA author and I think it will always be that way. There is no other author who has such a loyal band of followers for such simple plot arcs. As the title says, Emaline wonders how she can have "the moon and more" in this story which focuses on a small beachside town and choosing the "best fit" college.
- Inside Out & Outside In (Insiders #1 & #2) by Maria V. Snyder - After completing the Across the Universe series, I was feeling game for a little more sci-fi in my reading catalogue so I picked up both these books. I guess they caught my interest because they gave away so little detail in the blurb, before long I was moving on to the second book which just shows how much I really do enjoy this genre.
- The Originals by Cat Patrick - I'm a huge fan of Cat Patrick's previous books Forgotten and Revived so it was an easy choice to make when The Originals was released. This one follows the lives of identical triplets who are living the life of one girl.... which means they each spend a third of the day at school, etc.
Q: What were some of your favourites from the past year? Any recommendations on what I've missed?
