This list was one of the hardest things for me to comprise, but not for the typical reasons. I only read about 30 books this year, and I loved a lot of them. The difficult part was taking the thirteen books, which were the obvious winners, and put them in numerical order. However, I did it, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
13.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was a classic that I had to read for my English Literature class in March or April. I didn't go into this book with high expectations due to the bad experiences that I have had with classics in school, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is so dense for how short it is, full of imagery and metaphor and morals. The story was amazing, and we read it just in time for the movie (Which, let's face it, was a bit of a let down,) but it gave me a little bit more incentive to finish the book. Over all, I loved it!
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
12.
I have wanted to read Struck by Lightning for quite a while, and when I went to visit some family in the city and found the book for cheap, I couldn't help but buy it. I read the entire book on the ride home and absolutely loved it. For some reason, which I have not yet managed to identify, I really connected with Carson. I don't even really know how to explain the plot of this book, but it was so much fun to read. I went from laughing to crying in a matter of minutes. I can still remember sitting in the back of the car reading it, and my mother looked back to me to find out why I was making weird noises, and rolling her eyes to discover it was just my reaction to a book. I recommend this to anyone who was even mildly interested in the movie, as the book was AMAZING!
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
11.
This was one of the first books that I read in University. It was recommended to me by my friend Ashley, the first friend that I made away from home. She told me that it was the book that sparked her interest in reading, so of course I had to read it. The book is about Tiger Lily, the Indian princess from Peter Pan, and her story from before Wendy shows up in Neverland. The really interesting thing about this book is that it is told from Tinkerbell's point of view. Over all I really enjoyed this book, and I found it to be so much fun to read. It was such an interesting take on the story that we all know and love.
STAR RATING: ★★★★
10.
I know that it is crazy that I didn't start reading the Hunger Games trilogy until this year, but it is true. I read Catching Fire in May, and I absolutely loved it. I haven't read Mockingjay yet, but I think it is safe to say that this will be my favorite book in the trilogy. I won't go into the synopsis of this one as it is the second book, but I highly recommend the trilogy if even just to get to this book, as it was amazing.
STAR RATING: ★★★★
9.
Another recommendation from a friend, this book was ridiculously adorable. Once Upon a Marigold is Jean Ferris' own fairy tale, and I can't get over the amount of cute that she packed into this book. The story follows Christian, a boy who was lost in the forest and taken in by a troll. Every day he watches the princess Marigold with his telescope, and one day he sends her a letter and she responds. They soon become best friends, but when Christian wants to be more than friends, he goes after her. I loved this book so much, and I can't wait to read the rest of the Trilogy!
STAR RATING: ★★★★
8.
This was the first book that I ever read for a book club, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The story follows a girl named June whose uncle has just died. She was always very close to her uncle, and she learns how to deal with all of the new information that she learns about him after his passing. The story is filled with some interesting, although very strange content. I am so glad that my book club made me read this book, because by reading the synopsis I never would have read this book by myself and I ended up loving it!
STAR RATING: ★★★★
7.
Don't let the cover of this book deter you. This book was absolutely amazing! The story follows a man named Victor who works with Mutation technology. When he and his wife find a surrogate mother to help them have a second child, he decides to experiment on the zygote before it is implanted in the surrogate mother. His idea was that the child would be his dream son, however he turns out to be Victor's ultimate nightmare. This book was, again, recommended to me by a friend and I am so glad that he did. As an adult fiction book, this is something that I never would have picked up for myself (especially with this horrible cover), but I LOVED it.
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
6.
Anna Dressed in Blood was the book that I read for Halloween this year, and I absolutely loved it. This book weaselled its way into my heart, and I am so happy that it did. The story follows a boy named Cas who is a ghost hunter. He moves to Thunder Bay when he gets a call about Anna Dressed in Blood, but when he meets the legendary ghost, he learns that everything isn't quite as it seems, and of course romance and other beautiful things follow. I will admit that this book isn't for someone with a weak stomach, as there are some very graphic gory scenes, but they are used to move the plot ahead, and add to the tone of the story.
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
5.
Chris Colfer manages to make his way onto my list twice, this time with his middle grade novel, The Land of Stories, the Wishing Spell. This story follows a pair of twins who fall into the land of all of their favorite fairy tales and have to find their way back out. As a lover of all things fairy tale, I absolutely adored this book. You get to see all of your favorite fairy tale characters we know and love in new in different ways with new stories and morals galore! This book was so much fun to read!
STAR RATING: ★★★★
4.
I don't even know where to begin with this book. The story follows Seth, a young boy who drowns and dies quite violently, but instead of moving on to the afterlife like he expects, he wakes up in his childhood home in England. The story is super confusing at first, but as the book unfolds, so do the mysteries within it. More Than This is such a fantastic novel with such great, fascinating characters which were so much fun to read about. This was my first Patrick Ness book, and I can't wait to pick up some of his other work.
STAR RATING: ★★★★★\
3.
I have been in love with John Green's writing for quite some time, and reading this book only solidified that love. The story follows Hazel, a young girl with cancer to meets a boy named Augustus in her support group. Gus helps her learn the importance of life and how to live the life she has to the fullest. This book is filled with humor and tragedy in their most fantastic of forms and I cried so hard while reading it. I can't wait for the movie to come out in June!
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
2.
I can already hear people screaming at me for not only including this book on my list, but for how high it is on my list. Obviously as it is the last book in the Divergent trilogy I can't dive into the synopsis, but I can say that I really enjoyed this book. I felt that the ending was realistic given their situation and I think it was the perfect way for the series to end. Out of the entire trilogy this book was definitely my favorite, and I hope that Veronica Roth writes many more books in the future so that I can enjoy them.
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
1.
And finally taking first place is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I read this book in the summer, almost entirely during my breaks at work. Due to the time frame that I had to read during those breaks, it did take me a long time to finish the book, but I think that was a good thing. As I was reading it I kept hoping that it would take longer and longer to finish so that I would have more story to love. For those of you who don't know, the book follows a young girl who is sent to live with a foster family in Nazi Germany. The girl comes into a habit of stealing books. However, she and her foster family are all put into danger when they start hiding a young Jewish man in their basement. The story is told from the point of view of Death, which makes it even more interesting to read. This book is probably the only book to ever make me cry as much as I did while reading it, and I am so glad that it made me feel as much as it did. I can see myself re-reading this very soon, and loving it for the rest of my life.
STAR RATING: ★★★★★
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was a classic that I had to read for my English Literature class in March or April. I didn't go into this book with high expectations due to the bad experiences that I have had with classics in school, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is so dense for how short it is, full of imagery and metaphor and morals. The story was amazing, and we read it just in time for the movie (Which, let's face it, was a bit of a let down,) but it gave me a little bit more incentive to finish the book. Over all, I loved it!
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