My Top Reads This Year -- 2015

As 2015 draws to an end I'm looking back at my year of reading. I have not made my goal of 60 books, (as I'm writing this I have 57--I believe 58 will happen by the time it published, alas!  Not 60). I did come very close and also found some really great books this year.

Without further ado, my top ten eleven books of 2015--in no particular order (in the end I couldn't cut one of these out).

1. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
I devoured this book and can't wait until the next one comes out!  It was amazing.

2. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel
I'm not sure what I had been expecting when I sat down to read this, but I was amazed.  It was really beautifully written, terrifying, and wonderful at the same time.  Great choice in a dystopian book.

3. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I was blown away by this one.  It was just a random buy at Target one day.  It completely sucked me in and had me worried about characters and rooting for them within pages.  

4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Just beautiful.  Absolutely beautiful.  I listened to this one, but I'm planning on reading it over the summer so I can experience it again holding the book in my hand.

5. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Not only is this hilarious, but I really loved some of the "advice" she has.  I'm looking forward to reading Why Not Me? soon.

6. The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins
You'll be drawn into Rachel's world as she travels every day into the city and watches for that one house, that one window, that one couple.  She's created a life for that couple, but when it's discovered the wife is missing, Rachel starts to piece together the puzzle.

7. Cress by Marissa Meyer
This may or may not be my favorite in the series.  Please note that Winter also made the list below.  I just can't tell yet.  I do know that she is my favorite.  (No review of this one.  When I read it I was in the midst of a class that took up all of my time and I never was able to review it.)

8. Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

A really quite wonderful and magical story about the power of believing in magic.  If you like Harry Potter, you'll probably be drawn to the Harry Potter-esque feel it has.

9. These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Victorian.  Murder.  Mystery.  Romance.  This was really great!  And what I loved the most was that although the romance was somewhat central to the plot, it wasn't the most important by any means.  It was just an element.  What was important was the mystery and our main character Jo was awesome!

10. Winter by Marissa Meyer
I tore through this book.  It arrived at school (I had it delivered there so I could begin reading it ASAP) and then I carried it around me whenever I left my room that day.  To make copies, to speak with my vice principal about an issue, to show off to my colleagues at lunch.  It was a bit much, but totally worth it!

11. A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano
I fell in love with this book.  It's creepy and dark and yet not at all scary.  It's just what a middle grade novel should be.  

12.  Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

This one was a late one and I squeezed it onto my list just in time!  It was really beautiful and I enjoyed the strong female character and the magic and the themes of friendship.

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9 Best of 2015 Lists to Peruse

If you're like me, you're not always on top of the new books that come out every year.  Maybe it just slipped by you and you're wondering how you could have missed that book in the first place.  Or maybe you almost started reading it, but something else came up instead.  Whatever it is, take a look at some of these "Best of 2015" posts that I've compiled.  I love reading lists of good books.  Peruse at your own pleasure!


NPR Concierge -- Great place to actually see all the covers.  I love being able to see the cover of a book and NPR Concierge lets you either view their list by the cover or in list form.  In addition, you can narrow it down by genres, and they've given you a good selection of genres too!

Goodreads Choice Awards-- Who doesn't love the Goodreads Choice Awards?  I love voting for my favorite books that made the cut and waiting to see how well they did in the end.  The best part about this list is that they don't just give you the winners of each genre, but you can see all the books that were in each category.  So you can discover more books!

Buzz Feed Beautiful Covers-- Looking for some beautiful covers of 2015?  Here are 34.  So if you love to look at book covers, or purchase your books based on the cover (we all do this sometimes, just admit it!) then this is a quick look at those.

Huffington Post-- Their list of 18 best fiction books of 2015.  This also includes links to more information, reviews, and interviews.  So you could definitely get lost for days in this one!

NYTimes-- A list of the 10 best of 2015.

Wall Street Journal--Their best of the best books of 2015.  They split it up into four different categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Mystery/Thriller, and YA.

Young Adult Library Services Association--You want a book?  Ask a librarian.  Chances are they have read every book there is!  YALSA has a super long list here.  The only downside is you don't get to see the covers.  This could also be a good thing, but with only the little one or two sentence snippet, it's hard to get a good hold.

A List Devoted to Picture Books-- Another from Huffington Post with 21 different books for you to discover.  Read them for yourself or share them with a child.

Best Children's Books of 2015-- The Guardian has their list of 8 children's books.  The only thing I'm not too happy about is that it includes both picture books and one YA.  I prefer to have them separated.

My top 10 for 2015 will be coming soon, but I have books in my list that weren't published in 2015.  Check out that list on New Year's Eve.  I am trying to give myself as much time as possible to read as many books as possible.

Happy Book Searching!!

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