Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is: Top Ten Books I Read In 2014 (Overall, By A Particular Genre, 2014 Releases)
Why, The Broke and the Bookish? Why you be so mean? Listen, I am going to narrow this the best that I can, but I am not making any promises. I am not going to count ARCs releasing in 2015, because I have enough problems. I am also not counting older releases that I read this year, because I have to draw the line somewhere. So, the 2014 releases that I loved the most, in no particular order except how they popped into my head:
Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley
Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson
Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Forbidden by Kimberley Griffiths Little
The Cure For Dreaming by Cat Winters
In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo
One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King
So, which books were your favorites of the year? Were you better able to narrow it to ten than I was? (Sixteen is clearly a fail. If it helps, I had fifteen, then added the sixteenth for the sake of symmetry. No?)
I’m planning on reading The Cure for Dreaming over the next month while I’m on break, so I’m glad to see it on your list. Lots of other books I need to check out too- Forbidden and Glory O’Brein, oh and I’ll Give You the Sun.
Great List!
Thanks! Definitely so many good books this year, and so many I still have to read. Ugh, I need more time 😉
I’ll Give You The Sun, yes! That, of course, made my list too, it was just so so so good!
Also, obviously you had to add a 16th, it would have driven everyone crazy if you hadn’t! I was actually surprised that I was able to narrow it down fairly easily, I think it helps that I haven’t read a ton of new releases this year…I also mostly read contemporary…I’m really not sure how that happened…
Anyway, great list! =)
Thanks! And yeah, I couldn’t not include that 16th, unless I had made 3 rows of 5… but I didn’t have time for that 😉
NO I WAS NOT ABLE TO NARROW IT TO ONLY TEN. Though now that I think about it I did read a couple of really bad eARCs, but in the end I had a lot of 4 and 5 star books. ALSO I HAVEN’T READ ANYTHING ON YOUR LIST what is wrong with me?
I mean, 10 was the joke number right? Had to be 😉
I agree too, this was a really good reading year. LOTS of 4 and 5 stars (and I had a couple of ARC DNFs too) and only a few 2 stars. Really a quality reading year. I am worried that 2015 won’t be able to live up!
I haven’t read any of the books you’ve mentioned in your post. I’ll have to check them out! Here is a link to my TTT list for the week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2014/12/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-i-read-in.html
Hope you like them if you do!
Yeeeeessssss, In a Handful of Dust was so good! I love that series.
Such an amazing series! Mindy McGinnis is a fabulous author, I cannot wait to read whatever she comes up with next.
I still need to read I’ll Give You the Sun. Gah, i’m so behind!!!!
I do hope you love it when you read iT! Don’t worry, I am hopelessly behind too 😉
I finished reading To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before two nights ago and I adored it! It was quite cute, though a little bit infuriating. I still need to read I’ll Give You the Sun. It sounds really promising! I must get on top of my TBR ASAP
SO cute! I identified so, so much with Lara Jean too, I think that is part of the appeal. Good luck with the TBR, I feel your pain 😉
Argh, amazing list Shannon. I now want to read a lot of the books on your list that were on my radar but I’m yet to read them…like In A Handful of Dust, Only Ever Yours, I’ll Give You The Sun and Rites of Passage.
That’s how I was with basically everyone’s lists this week. It is so hard! Too many amazing books, too little time.
Great list! I’d really like to read The Jewel. 🙂
The Jewel was a bit of a “guilty pleasure” addition for me. I LOVED it, but there were some flaws. Like, in the beginning, there are some obvious Hunger Games comparisons and some insta-love. But I still couldn’t put it down!
It’s really hard, yes. Only Ever Yours is the only book I read that’s included in your list (and the only one that got published this year!). I really want to read Rites of Passage but a: I can’t afford it in hardcover; b: I want most of my books in paperback.
Oh, boo, The Book Depository doesn’t have it in paperback, does it? Grr. Well, hopefully the paperback will come out! Or maybe you will win a giveaway 😉 I will find it as a new release SOMEWHERE to make it count, I promise!
Man, I have read so many good books that it is hard to narrow down! Sea of Tranquility definitely makes the list. Also, I just read An Untamed State and it was AMAZING!!!
It is impossible to narrow, my goodness. I mean, probably 1/3 of the books I read could have made the list. Which I suppose is a very good thing 🙂
It wasn’t too hard for me to narrow down, despite my large reading amounts. When I got down to 7-8, I changed a few in and out, trying to decide which ones, but overall, it was pretty easy. 20 would have been perfect though. 🙂 Thanks for sharing! Here’s my Favorite Books of 2014.
Well, I am certainly impressed! I probably could have done top 5 to be honest, but when I tried to spread it out to ten, it was too hard! I think there were too many “almost favorites” in the bunch!
I haven’t actually read most of these, but Ignite Me and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before were some of my favorites as well! I’m really excited to read Don’t Touch and I’ll Give You the Sun – I have both on my shelf and I’m thinking of reading them during Christmas break!
And don’t worry – I could barely reduce mine to 13, and that was after my original list of 19 😛
LOVED Rites of Passage, Ignite Me and One Past Midnight! I really want to read The Book of Ivy and The Cure for Dreaming 🙂
I hope you enjoy them when you do!
I had to do 2014 releases only too. We don’t have any in common for once, weird. I really want to read Unwind and Shatter me though. Oh and Book of Ivy, the Jewel, One Past Midnight and Cure for Dreaming. What can I say, you made them all sound so good. I almost put Ruin and Rising on my list, but I don’t remember liking it as much as I did when I wrote my review. I couldn’t stand it if it wasn’t symmetrical either.
Ruin and Rising probably wasn’t as good as it was in my fangirling head, but that’s okay, I’ll take what I can get 😉
Um, I uh, haven’t read ANY of these! Fail, so much fail. I pretty much want to read all of them too, and at least finish the two series above that you have. The Shatter Me and Shadow and Bone ones. Clearly, I gotta find the time for all of these books. SOMEONE INVENT SOMETHING THAT GIVES US MORE TIME IN A DAY PLEASE.
I think it’s interesting that you only chose 2014 releases. I count everything; older, upcoming ARCs, ones that published in the same year. Because I don’t read enough books that actually publish in the year I’m in, and also because I want to include ALL books when it comes to the top ten lists. 🙂
Hahah I need that “more time” thing too. Desperately. I honestly would not have been able to narrow if I didn’t do just 2014 releases 😉 And for some reason this year, I read mostly 2014 releases anyway so it kind of worked out.
Rites of Passage and The Book of Ivy were both SO GOOD!!!! I’m glad you enjoyed them too 😀
Thanks! I agree, so, SO good! And both were unexpectedly good for me too!
Ooh, glad to see you enjoyed a lot of these books that are on my TBR! 😀 I need to read so many of these…especially To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Cure for Dreaming, I’ll Give You the Sun and Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future…I WANT THOSE BOOKS SO BADLY. I always hear good things about Rites of Passage and The Book of Ivy…I’ve never read any reviews for either book, because I jut have this feeling that both of them aren’t for me…that’s totally unfair on the books, I know, but I just can’t help it. I’ll have to check them out now, since they’re on this list…I didn’t participate in this weeks TTT, but you can see my favourite books that I read this year here, if you’re interested. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Shannon!!
Your 2014 favorites include a lot of books I NEED to read. Like, I started listing them but stopped because there were so many! I have probably half of them, and must get to them ASAP!
Rites of Passage was one of those books that I was SURE I was going to hate. I said the same, that it absolutely was not for me, and it ended up being my favorite book of the year! As for The Book of Ivy, it is a dystopian, which I was kind of “over”, but then it threw in a lovely new take on it. Just something to consider of course 😉
I have my post Best of 2014 coming up tomorrow, and I really wanted to narrow it to just 10. You have no idea how hard it was! But my list also features Rites of Passage and Forbidden. The Book of Ivy came close 11th place, but it sadly didn’t make the list. However, I’ll have to save your list somewhere and read the rest of those books!
Aw, missed the cut 😉 I am impressed that you whittled it down to 10! I didn’t even bother trying, if I am being honest hahah.