Hey, y'all! So, last year, I did a post talking about my top 10 songs and CDs of 2013, and I decided that I should really continue the tradition this year (link HERE if you want to check out my 2013 faves). This year, however, there are a couple slight changes. The first of those is that I don't have a top 10 this year, at least for CDS. There were only a handful of CDs and that I really, really enjoyed in 2014, so I'm not even going to bother with trying to come up with more just to fill in places.
Last year, I also gave the songs the stipulation that they had to be singles. I didn't do that this year. My favorite songs of the year tended to be the songs that artists didn't release as singles, and I didn't want to neglect them. Last year, I also gave the stipulation that there could only be one song/CD from each artist. That's not the case this year, because I'd be neglecting several amazing songs and CDs.
Best CDs of 2014
#6: Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 6
by Various Artists
These are always just so much fun. Sometimes my biggest problem that I have with a pop song is that I hate the singer or their voice. Punk Goes Pop never fails to take the fun of pop songs and make it just a bit grittier and more enjoyable.
Best songs: Problem by Set It Off, Royals by Youth in Revolt, and Chocolate by KnucklePuck
#5: Oh, What A Life
by American Authors
For the first half of the year, this was the only CD on my favorites of 2014. I was actually starting to worry that there wouldn't be any others on the list. I really like the folk/pop blend that American Authors create throughout pretty much all of their music. It's really interesting and pretty unique and their songs are nice to just chill out to. Plus, I really love their band name and the album's cover art/ typogrphy. Everything about this CD is just a win.
Best Songs: Heart of Stone, Hit It, Best Day of My Life, Luck
#4: That's Christmas To Me
by Pentatonix
Pentatonix can do no wrong. They're flawless, as is this Christmas CD. I generally don't listen to a ton of Christmas music, but I've listened to this SO. MUCH. I love that they switch up the parts more on this than they usually do, so that everyone gets lead more often. This just got me completely in the holiday spirit. So much fun.
Best Songs: Let It Go, White Winter Hymnal, Sleigh Ride, and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
#3: Don't Kill The Magic
by MAGIC!
I blasted this CD all summer long, and even into the fall. I listened to it over, and over, and over. It's just so good. I love almost all of the songs, and the ones I don't quite love are still pretty good. It's just so chill but so fun. I love the reggae-pop mix that they have going on.
Best Songs: Stupid Me, Paradise, Little Girl Big World, and Mama Didn't Raise No Fool
#2: McBusted
by McBusted
I was actually slightly disappointed that this CD didn't make #1 on my list, but the one at #1 has quickly become one of my all-time favorite albums ever. Anyway, McBusted is absolutely amazing. I still love my beloved McFly more and hope that they'll decide to continue on as just McFly and Busted at some point in the future, but I did really enjoy this CD, and love them as a superband.
Best Songs: Get Over It, Air Guitar, Sensitive Guy, and Hate Your Guts
#1: PTX, Vol. III
by Pentatonix
Yes, I'm fully aware that this is only a 7 song EP and not a full-length album, but I DON'T CARE. This is flawless. I absolutely love this EP. Every song is amazing. I can't accurately express how incredible this is. It was released in September, and I've had it on an almost constant repeat ever since and I'm nowhere near sick of it. I can't imagine how Pentatonix could ever top this. It's just so amazing.
Best Songs: All of them. But since I have to choose, I'll just least them from absolute favorite to less-absolute favorite.
On My Way Home. Problem. La La Latch. Rather Be. See Through. Standing By. Papaoutai.
Best Songs of 2014
I tried really hard to order them from least favorite to favorite, but this order is pretty interchangeable, especially when it comes to #2-7. #10: Lemonade by SOPHIE
This song is so random for me, because I typically don't listen to anything like this at all. But one week on Superfruit (the YouTube channel that Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying from PTX have together), this was Mitch's song of the week, and I was curious so I went and listened to it, and I've been listening to it ever since. It's so unique and weird but super cool and I love it.
#9: Kick Me by Sleeping With Sirens
This is the Sleeping With Sirens that I love. It's so aggressive and angry and I'll be 100% happy if their next album sounds a lot like this song. Love the message, love the music. LOVE.
#8: Here's To The Zeros by Marianas Trench
Marianas Trench squeaked onto the list at pretty much the last second with this song. I've been listening to it on repeat since its release in the last week of the year, and I really love it. It's got me really excited for their new CD that's coming out in the spring. And the lyrics are great.
#7: Rather Be by Pentatonix
I've been obsessed with this song ever since I heard Mitch's first opening theme. I'm not a huge fan of the original song, but I love this one a lot. I also think that the music video is really great. It's fun to see them just wandering around Japan, and I especially love the little Scomiche (Scott+Mitch= Scomiche) moments that we get.
#6: Air Guitar by McBusted
This was the first single that McFly and Busted released as a single entity, and I really enjoyed it. A lot of people thought that there was too much Busted and not enough McFly, but I didn't really feel that way. I thought that Air Guitar (more than most of the songs on the CD) was a really great mix of the two bands.
#5: La La Latch by Pentatonix
I love how this song highlights all 3 of the main singers of Pentatonix and gives them all their little moments. The video pays homage to the way that they circle up to do their arrangements. And speaking of arrangements, this one is great. They never fail to combine songs in amazing ways.
#4: Pop 101 by Marianas Trench
This song has been on repeat ever since I found out that it existed. This song is basically just Marianas Trench using the medium of a pop song and sampling pop songs to make fun of pop songs and point out all of their flaws. It's hilarious and amazing and extremely accurate. I really love this song.
#3: Problem by Pentatonix
When this came out, I didn't listen to anything but this song for about a week. Not kidding. Even though I do still wish that Mitch had gotten to sing the really high parts, that's literally the only complaint I could make about this. Mitch's rap is perfection and so sassy. All of the sass. Kevin's beatboxing and whispers are on point. I don't even know what to call Avi's throat thing, but it's incredible too. Everything about this song is just so awesome.
#2: Get Over It by McBusted
This is McBusted's latest single, and it's definitely my favorite from their CD. It's just so much fun and I've been listening to it on repeat for quite a while now. I love these boys, and if they continue as a supergroup into the new year, I hope that their music continues to be this awesome.
#1: On My Way Home by Pentatonix
I don't even have the words to say how much I love this song. The first time I listened to it, my jaw hit the ground. This is by far my new favorite original Pentatonix song, and is honestly probably my favorite Pentatonix song of all-time. It has such a cool world music vibe, and the harmonies are so amazing, and I love everything about this song. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
So, those were my favorite songs and CDs of 2014! This was definitely the year of Pentatonix. It was also definitely not the best year of releases. As much as I loved the ones that were on this list, I had to abandon my usual rules in order to have lists of music that I actually really, really enjoyed. I hope that this time next year, my lists are full of 10 CDs by 10 artists and 10 songs by 10 artists, and that I'm struggling to figure out what amazing music I'm going to have to cut from the list. Wishful thinking? Probably. But with releases from at least 3 of my 5 favorite bands coming out in 2015, I'm thinking that it's going to be a great year.
I've started doing Booktube a little as well, so if you want to check that out, you can click HERE. I plan to post most of my videos to my blog, but just in case I miss one or decide not to post it on here, that will keep you up-to date.
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Hey, y'all! So, the making of this video has been a very, very long process. It's been pretty much a year in the making. Throughout 2014, I've kept a running ranking of every single book I read. Each time I finish a book and give it a rating, I add it to my list and put it in the spot I think it deserves. And finally, at the close of 2014, and after finishing my last book of the year, I finally have the list complete and am ready to rank my 2014 reads.
This list will include all of the books that I read this year, excluding re-reads. Because that just wouldn't be fair to the new books I read this year, since I re-read several of my all-time favorite books this year. I've also ranked every book on an individual basis, rather than lumping a series or trilogy into a single spot. This also means that it's not just books released in 2014. As long as I read it for the first time in 2014, it counts, regardless of when it was released.
On top of this, I also made a video where I discussed my top 14 reads of 2014, so once that goes live on YouTube, that video will appear below. Without any further adieu, let's jump into the list!
#33: Looking For Alaska
by John Green
Rating: 4/10
I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I really didn't like this book. I know a lot of people really liked it, but I just didn't. I didn't like any of the characters. I felt like Alaska was trying way too hard to be the stereotype of the cool introspective girl. And I really hated Pudge. I hated Pudge. And none of the twists surprised me. I just was not impressed at all.
#32: Shatter Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Rating: 6.5/10
I really don't get all of the hype surrounding this book. I liked the rest of the trilogy a bit more, but this first book just isn't that great. I thought that the stream of consciousness writing was interesting, but I thought that Tahereh Mafi tried to be too metaphorical for her own good. Some of the metaphors were just really really dumb. And on top of that, the instalove was ugh and it really felt like nothing happened.
#31: Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Rating: 7/10
People like to say that Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 are the big, important, classic dystopians. In my opinion, this is by far the worst of the three. The world wasn't developed enough for me, and the first 3/4 of the book wasn't very interesting. And even when it did get interesting, I wasn't super invested in it. And the whole book is just Bradbury's commentary about how he thinks TV will destroy your life, which is just silly now.
#30: Allegiant
by Veronica Roth
Rating: 7/10
This was definitely my least favorite in the Divergent trilogy. I just wasn't a fan of the direction that it took the trilogy in. I liked both of the first two books, but then we got to this book and I just wasn't feeling it. And not just because of that thing that happened at the end. I didn't like the thing that happened at the end, but it wasn't what made me not like it as much. There were unnecessary deaths, characters acting out of... character..., and I hated the dual perspective. I didn't hate the book, but I just wasn't impressed with the way the series ended.
#29: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore
by Robin Sloan
Rating: 7/10
This book was just... weird. And not really in a good way. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't exactly like it. Nor will I probably re-read it. It was alright. It was certainly interesting. It just really wasn't my thing.
#28: The Giver
by Lois Lowry
Rating: 7/10
With The Giver, I had some of the same problems that I had with Fahrenheit 451. I thought that the world wasn't developed enough for me. It's also a really short book, so I didn't feel like I had enough time to care about the characters either. The plot was mildly interesting, but it wasn't nearly exciting enough for me.
#27: You Are Not So Smart
by David McRaney
Rating: 7.5/10
I thought that this book was very interesting. As a music and psychology major, I found all of the different concepts to be really interesting. However, I had the same problem with this book that I tend to have with most non-fiction books. Because it's non-fiction, it lacks that excitement and curiosity and the "whoa what's gonna happen next?!?!" factor that fiction books have. Some of the things that get me so invested in fiction are the plot and caring about the characters, and those don't really exist in a non-fiction book. That being said, I really enjoyed the author's voice. He was amusing, funny, and sarcastic. It was one of the most entertaining voices I've read in a non-fiction.
#26: Horrorstor
by Grady Hendrix
Rating: 7.5/10
This was a very quick, fast-paced read. It kept me interested and intrigued the whole way through. The formatting was really cool as well. However, the actual story didn't feel very unique. The characters were very basic. It felt like there wasn't really much of a plot. It just felt like a quick read with no substance.
#25: Insurgent
by Veronica Roth
Rating: 8/10
This is a good book, but it's definitely a step down from the first book. I thought that the plot was fast-paced and exciting and that it was a nice continuation of the trilogy. My biggest complaint was that the relationship drama got on my nerves. Overall, it was a perfectly good book, but nothing particularly special.
#24: Unravel Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Rating: 8/10
I was really disappointed by Shatter Me, and this was a definite step up from the first book. I really appreciated the character development and actually became invested in the series. This book isn't incredible, but it's good and I did enjoy it. Although, there is one quote that I really hated and felt the need to share:
"Sometimes I wonder about glue. No one ever stops to ask glue how it’s holding up. If it’s tired of sticking things together or worried about falling apart or wondering how it will pay its bills next week." Seriously, that's possibly the most ridiculous quote that I've ever heard. Why would ANYONE wonder how glue is paying its bills? It's glue!
#23: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
Rating: 8/10
I went into this expecting a really creepy, mysterious book, and I got something very different. That doesn't mean that I didn't like it. I definitely enjoyed it. However, it was a very slow book. If we were getting a ton of world-building, I would have enjoyed that. Even though we did get some character development and world building, I thought that it wasn't nearly enough to sustain the large chunk of the book that was slow. The last couple chapters were really great because they finally became more fast-paced and set the scene for the next book. But overall, though it was interesting and I enjoyed it, I wasn't overly impressed.
#22: 172 Hours on the Moon
by Johan Harstad
Rating: 8/10
I think I expected a little too much from this book. The first half was very slow. A couple intriguing things happened, but the first half just took a while to get through because it was very slow. And then when we got to the second half, it seemed like everything happened almost instantaneously. There was no suspense, it was just one thing after another happening. And not in a way that felt fast-paced and exciting, but rather in an underdeveloped "This happened. And then this happened. Next this happened." way. I'm not sure if that made sense, but it was hard to explain. I've complained about this book quite a bit, but aside from the pacing and some really annoying instalove, I enjoyed it. It kept me guessing. I had no idea what was going on until it was revealed. And the ending was really impressive too. Overall, like the other 8 starred books, I liked it but wasn't overly impressed.
#21: Hollow City
by Ransom Riggs
Rating: 8.5/10
This sequel was definitely better than the first book. Some really cool and exciting stuff actually went down in this book. Rather than just seeing the kids and learning about them, we actually get a really cool adventure. We got to explore this really interesting and unique world that Ransom Riggs has constructed within our own world. I think that the one drawback for me with this book, and the series as a whole so far, is that I don't feel personally connected with it. I've read so many books where I fell in love, cried, had book hangovers, etc. and I don't get that at all with this series. I enjoy them as I read, and I was interested enough that I decided to continue on to the second book after reading the first, but I didn't feel any need to have the third book ASAP or have any extremely strong feelings afterward. And it wasn't hard for me to pick up my next read. That's a real test for me. When I really love a book, I dwell on it for days after finishing it, and often need at least a day to move on, if not more. And when I do move on, I'm still thinking about that other book. With this one, I easily detached myself and continued to my next read.
That was a very long explanation, but I hope that someone else out there knows what I'm talking about here.
#20: Carrie
by Stephen King
Rating: 8.5/10
This is a book that really makes me question liking vs. appreciating. And I think that for me, I appreciated this more than I actually liked it. Which is why it didn't get a slightly higher rating. I really loved the way it was written. Sometimes, I don't like King's writing style. But it really worked in Carrie. I loved the back and forth between the plot and the interviews, book excerpts, etc. after the incident. I thought it was really well done. However, I can't see myself reading this one again. I didn't fall in love with it, but I did think that it was pretty good.
#19: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 8.5/10
This was definitely my least favorite of The Hunger Games trilogy. By itself, I think it was pretty good and I had only a few problems. However, it was just such a huge shift in focus and tone from the first two books that I had trouble enjoying it as much as I might have if there had been more buildup to the conclusion of the trilogy. I'd heard that a lot of people disliked it, and while it's my least favorite in the trilogy, I didn't hate it at all, and did enjoy it, even if it wasn't my favorite.
#18: Ignite Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Rating: 9/10
This was, by far, the best book in the Shatter Me trilogy. While I definitely wasn't blown away by this series, I did really enjoy this last book. I loved the growth that the characters displayed. I flew through this book, and really came to care about several of the characters. Also, I did come to appreciate the love triangle present in the trilogy. I think that it was really well done. I do wish that we had gotten more world-building though. While the romance was the important factor in the trilogy, we did get a little back-story in this book, and I wished we would have gotten the full back-story while Tahereh Mafi was at it. Overall, I thought it was a pretty solid conclusion to the trilogy.
#17: Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
Rating: 9/10
I think this is another of those books where I lean closer to "appreciation" rather than "like". Maybe it's because it's hard to fall in love with such messed up characters, maybe it's because it's not in my normal genres, who knows? My point is that even though I probably won't re-read it, I'll definitely recommend it to others. I really enjoyed Part 1, because it kept me the most intrigued, with the "did he or didn't he" plot. This book was really well-written and intriguing, and I thought it was pretty good.
#16: Shades of Earth
by Beth Revis
Rating: 9/10
Although I love all three of the books in the Across The Universe trilogy and gave two of them the same rating, this one gets slightly lower because of my slightly more mixed feelings about it. I fell in love with the setting/world surrounding our characters in the first two books, and was sad to not be within that in this one. It also took the series in a completely different direction. And that's not a bad thing! I thought it was a really great conclusion. However, the tone shift and the setting change made me question whether I truly didn't like the changes or if I was just trying to adjust to changes (because change is not my forte). In the end, I thought it was a really good book, but it did take me a while to adjust to the things that were different.
#15: Across The Universe
by Beth Revis
Rating: 9/10
Like I said, this one and Shades of Earth are mostly equal. I had one major complaint with this book, and it was that I figured out who the villain was when I was about 30 pages in. I figured out their identity so easily that I was halfway convinced that Beth Revis was going to go "NOPE!" and make someone else the villain. But alas, she did not. However, I feel like this didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book, because the world is just so well-developed and insanely interesting, and I loved it. I just wish the villain wouldn't have been SO obvious.
#14: City of Lost Souls
by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 9/10
This isn't the worst book in The Mortal Instruments series, but it is probably my least favorite. So that should tell you how much I love the series, since it got 9/10. I'll be vague in an attempt to avoid spoilers. My favorite character isn't exactly themself throughout most of this book, and that made it really hard for me to read it. Most of the time, I just wanted to throw it against the wall, because I hated what that person was doing. Also, on top of that, some relationship drama goes on that did not please me at all. Ugh it upset me. If you've read it, you know.
#13: 1984
by George Orwell
Rating: 9/10
This is my second favorite of the big 3 classic dystopians, although I do tend to go back and forth about whether or not I actually like Brave New World more than this. 1984 has one of those endings that I'm not a huge fan of story-wise, but I really like the statement that Orwell was making with it. Overall, the world was really great, and I really enjoyed it.
#12: Clockwork Angel
by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 9/10
It's my least favorite book in the trilogy, but it still gets 9 starts because the trilogy is just that good. Seriously, I absolutely love the Infernal Devices trilogy. The characters are great, the world is amazing, and the plots are awesome too. This one is slightly less amazing than the other two, but not by a lot.
#11: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 9.25/10
There were some things that I liked better in Catching Fire than in The Hunger Games, and some things that I liked better in The Hunger Games than in Catching Fire, so I found it difficult to decide on a rating for this. I really liked all of the political strategery in Catching Fire. It was really clever and exactly what I love from dystopians. However, *HUNGER GAMES SPOILER AHEAD!!!* I didn't like the games as much in this book. Although they were definitely more cleverly designed, I thought that they weren't as fast-paced. Overall, the book was really great, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
#10: A Million Suns
by Beth Revis
Rating: 9.5/10
A Million Suns is easily my favorite book in the Across The Universe Trilogy. The entire trilogy is really great, extremely underrated, and leagues better than most of the young adult trilogies that are getting a ton of hype right now. And this book is definitely the best of the trilogy. There are so many secrets that are revealed, and there are so many issues going on with the ship and the characters. It's just an extremely awesome book, and possibly the only trilogy I've read where the second book is the best in the trilogy.
#9: Clockwork Prince
by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 9.5/10
Before we even get into the book, can we just talk about this beautiful cover? This is, by far, my favorite of the Infernal Devices covers. It's just so pretty, and it has Jem on it. And who doesn't love Jem? (Idiots, that's who!) Anyway, this trilogy just gets steadily better and better. You find out so many things about the characters in this book, and the plot just gets more complicated, and I couldn't help but love every second of it.
#8: Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 9.75/10
Yes, I know that my star rating is extremely specific here, but I just felt like it was better than a 9.5, but not quite a 10. And 9.75 is kinda my cut off for giving books 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads (fun fact that I thought I'd just throw in there for you). Anyway, although I tend to enjoy contemporary novels, they're by no means anywhere near my favorite genre. But I fell in love with this book and these characters. Cath is just so incredibly relatable. When I went to college, I was basically Cath. I was really introverted, wrote fanfiction, and didn't really want to deal with meeting new people. And I feel like a lot of young adult readers are really similar to Cath, and a lot of them are also closing in on the time that they'll be going off to college as well. All of the characters are just so real and lovable. I really like this book.
#7: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 9.8/10
I really wish that I had read this book before watching the movie, because I think that would have given me the full enjoyment of this really great book. If I hadn't known the way it ended, the twists and turns, and the deaths, I think I would have given this 10/10. But either way, this was a really fast-paced book, with lots of twists and turns, and I really enjoyed it.
#6: The Diviners
by Libba Bray
Rating: 9.8/10
I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this book going into it. I'd heard a lot of people raving about how great it is, but I was a little skeptical about if I'd like it because historical fiction isn't really my fave (unless it has paranormal/fantasy elements, which explains all of the historical fiction on this list) and I'm also not a huge fan of the 20s in general. It's not that I hate the 20s, but rather that I generally prefer the current time unless the different time setting makes a huge difference. But I absolutely loved this book. I didn't think it was as creepy as everyone thought it was, but that's not really a good or bad thing. I loved the paranormal elements, I thought the characters were great, and I even loved the setting. And I can't wait for the second book to come out in April. Can it be April already, please?!?!
#5: Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Rating: 10/10
I fell head over heels in love with this book. I started it and just could not put it down. I fell in love with the world and the plot more than anything. It's just such and interesting and exciting and fast-paced read, and I absolutely loved it. I just wish the rest of the series was as good as this one.
#4: City of Heavenly Fire
by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 10/10
If Cassandra Clare knows how to do one thing, it's how to write an amazing conclusion to a series. Every single series conclusion that she's written has been absolutely incredible, and without question, the best book in its series (including City of Glass, since that was originally supposed to be the conclusion of The Mortal Instruments). As I was reading the last bit of this book, I was just sobbing because it was so beautifully bittersweet. And I loved the tie-ins with the Infernal Devices.
Even though I've already listed a few 10 star books, the top 3 on the list are my ultimate, absolute favorites of the year...
#3: Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
Rating: 10/10
This book tho... THIS. BOOK. It's so absolutely incredible. OASIS is just basically the coolest thing ever and all of the 80s references are fantastic, and the world is so insanely interesting, and it's so fast-paced, and all of the puzzles are so awesome, and I seriously can't say enough awesome things about this book. After I finished it, I wanted to read something else just like it, but it's such a unique book that there wasn't really anything similar. So this was so amazing that it actually put me into a reading slump. Too great. Love.
#2: The Bone Season
by Samantha Shannon
Rating: 10/10
I first saw The Bone Season in a book haul that Regan from PeruseProject did, and the second that she put dystopian and fantasy in the same sentence, I was sold. I immediately went online and bought a used copy and then read it over Thanksgiving break. It was amazing. All of the different types of clairvoyance are so cool, and I fell in love with the characters. It was just so incredible. I need the Mime Order like NOW. I don't want to wait a month. It's my most anticipated book of 2015.
#1: Clockwork Princess
by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 10/10
This book. This book. THIS BOOK. This was more perfect than any conclusion that I could ever have thought of. The epilogue was probably the best epilogue I've ever read. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more- Cassandra Clare knows how to write the perfect conclusion to a series. It was beautiful. It was (dare I say)... perfect. I read it in a single day and was sobbing for at least half the book. It was too amazing. I loved it.
So there you go, those are my rankings of all of the books that I read in 2014! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What were your favorite reads of the year? Let me know in the comments!
I've started doing Booktube a little as well, so if you want to check that out, you can click HERE. I plan to post most of my videos to my blog, but just in case I miss one or decide not to post it on here, that will keep you up-to date.
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Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!
Hey y'all! So clearly, I'm just eating my words all over the place lately, aren't I?! Remember how I said that my last book haul was probably my last book haul of the year? Oops. I bought more books. But this is definitely, absolutely, the last book haul of the year. PROMISE. Cross my heart and hope to die. Starting in the new year, I plan to do a book haul every two months rather than just doing one whenever it's ready.
But let's not waste any more time with introductions. Let's just jump right into it!
The Kingkiller Chronicles
Book 1: The Name of the Wind
Book 2: The Wise Man's Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss
I'd been planning to get The Name of the Wind for quite a while and finally ordered it off of Amazon. I hadn't planned on buying The Wise Man's Fear quite yet (although I'd definitely been considering it), but then I happened to find a used paperback copy at a used bookstore for only $6. And it was in pretty good condition so I just couldn't pass it up. I'm so anxious to read these that I plan to read The Name of the Wind before the end of the year and then start the year by reading The Wise Man's Fear.
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell
The used bookstore near my school has some really pretty editions of classic children's novels, and I've been eyeing this one for a very long time. I included this book in my 30 Books Before 30 post (link here), and since it was fresh in my mind, I decided to finally go ahead and buy it. I read the kid's version several times, but I've never read the real thing, so I really need to get onto that.
The Wizard of Oz
by L Frank Baum
Contrasting the situation with Black Beauty, I actually did read the real version of this book when I was younger, and I really enjoyed it. And this version of the book was also at the used bookstore near my school, and it's even more beautiful than the Black Beauty one, and I just couldn't pass it up.
Obligatory BookOutlet Purchase...
(Black Friday Edition)
Ten
by Gretchen McNeil
I was immediately intrigued upon learning about this book. because it's a retelling of my favorite stand-alone novel, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Do I expect it to be great? Nope. Nothing deep, nothing amazing, just a fun, fast-paced read. And if it's so bad that all I can do is laugh at how bad it is, that's great too!
Through the Ever Night
by Veronica Rossi
This is the second book in the Under The Never Sky trilogy. I don't have the first one, and I haven't read it yet, but I do like to marathon series if all of the books are out. I've been planning on reading this trilogy for quite a while, and this was less than $3, so I decided to get it and just go ahead and get books 1 and 3 when they're back on BookOutlet for cheap.
The Lost Code
by Kevin Emerson
This is the only book of the haul that I kinda just bought on a whim. All of the other books, I'd at least had an eye on for a little while. But I just came across this one while doing my Black Friday shopping and decided to add it into the cart. From the synopsis, it sounds like a really fast-paced dystopian with an interesting world. And it has a male lead, which is rare in a YA, so that should be really interesting.
The Final Empire
by Brandon Sanderson
I'm not exactly sure why the name of the series is HUGE on the cover, and the actual title of the book isn't even on the cover, but that's beside the point. I've been wanting to read this series for a while now, and the first book was less than $3, so I decided to go ahead and get it. I also included this in my 30 Books Before 30 post, so you can check that out hereif you want to.
No One Else Can Have You
by Kathleen Hale
This seems like a really great, really cheesy, murder mystery. And those are just buckets of fun. I actually saw someone haul this a while back (can't remember who) and so when I saw it on BookOutlet for really cheap, I decided to go ahead and get it!
The Chronicles of Nick
Book 3: Infamous
Book 4: Inferno
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
I just love that BookOutlet has all of the books in this series for so cheap. I already have books 1 & 2, so I'm just adding on to my collection so that I can marathon these in the future. It seems like it's going to be really great!
Ruins
by Orson Scott Card
This is the second book in Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder series. I don't have the first book yet. It was on BookOutlet and was in my cart, but went out of stock before I could get a copy. So I just have the second book, and plan to get the first one eventually. I've heard lots of good things about these books, so I'm really excited to get into them!
So there you go! That's my last book haul of 2014! Hopefully, in the new year, I'll buy books at a slightly slower pace. I need to work on that.
I've started doing Booktube a little as well, so if you want to check that out, you can click HERE. I plan to post most of my videos to my blog, but just in case I miss one or decide not to post it on here, that will keep you up-to date.
I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.
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