Favorite Books of 2014!

I know, we're more than a week into 2015 and I'm only now doing my favorites of 2014. Where have I been? What have I been up to? More importantly, why have I been so lazy with this blog? Well, I've got an answer for that and I think it's a good one. The truth is, I've been reading. A lot. I can't believe how many really great books I've managed to read recently, it's amazing.

Before I get into my favorite books, though, I want to talk a little about my reading year overall. The first half of the year started out pretty good (I'm going to pretend that Requiem never happened). I marathoned the first 3 books in the Lux series which is so unusual for me because I don't normally read books in the same series back to back like that. Aside than a few stand-outs (Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Eleanor and Park),  the first half of the year was a pretty average reading year for me. The second half was an entirely different story (no pun intended?). In August, I read Throne of Glass and just happened across Crown of Midnight a few weeks later and absolutely, head-over-heels fell in love with it. I, of course, desperately needed to get my hands on the Heir of Fire, which, thankfully, had already come out by this point. As soon as I got my hands on it, I started reading and pulled my first official all-nighter. It was a truly momentous occasion for me. Not only because it was a first or because HoF turned out to be such an amazing book but because Sarah J. Maas herself tweeted me back!!!!!!

Yup. That actually happened!

While 2013 will forever be remembered as a year of bad series finales, 2014 was a year of fantastic endings, exciting new beginnings and fantasy, lots and lots of fantasy. I let go of some series that I adored and yet it wasn't too bad because they got the ending/conclusion they deserved (Evertrue, Ruin and Rising, Falling Kingdoms) and I also discovered new series (The Winner's Curse, The Young Elites, The Raven Boys) that are equally good, if not better, to fill the holes left behind by my ex-ongoing series.

Here it is. My list of my favorite books read in 2014.

10. The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Am I surprised that this book turned out to be good despite the super hyped up expectations I had for it? Yes. Because when you say "Assassin's Creed 2 meets X-Men" my expectation level goes from 0 to 1000 in a nanosecond.

9. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Feels and feels and cuteness. Also, they bond over comic books!

8. Evertrue by Brodi Ashton

The kickoff to  my year of great and satisfying sequels. Even if things didn't turn out how I wanted them to...

7. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Look! I actually started reading a series before everyone else did! 

6. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara's story kept me on edge the entire read but in the best way possible. There were a million question marks floating around my head when I read this. They might still be there because I have yet to figure what is going on with Mara Dyer.

5. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Belly is one of the most relatable characters I've ever read. The feels!

4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

I love love love love love Maggie's writing style. Love.

3. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

I've heard people talk about what a great conclusion this was and now I know why.

2. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Another great conclusion to a series. Karou and Akiva forever!

1. Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I can't choose. Please don't make me choose.

For clarification, the top 4 are in definite order and after that it all sort of gets hazy.