Top Books of 2016

Hello everyone!  I know it's been radio silence on this blog, but I HAVE been reading, I promise!  I have read some AMAZING books this year!  Not all of them were published in 2016, but I discovered them in 2016.  

As a fun little round up for the end of the year, I thought I'd list some of my top picks of the books I've read in 2016!

I got to start the list off with the latest book from my favorite author ever!

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book leaves you on a razor's edge keeping you teetering though moments of joy and moments of pain; an uncomfortable journey to be had, but one worth traveling. 

Next up

Half Bad by Sally Green

Like nothing I've read before, this is not the typical "boy discovers he has magic" book.  Harsh and desperate, this world keeps you on your toes as you hope the main character survives.

Next up

George by Alex Gino

Necessary, heartbreaking, inspiring. I hope that this finds its way into the hands of everyone. The struggle that George is going through can open everyone's eyes & see that love is love is love. And that loving yourself is the most difficult step of all, especially when loving yourself might alienate the others you love.

Next up

Wax by Gina Damico

Hilarious and quirky, delivered in a quick-pace, this "waxy" adventure will keep you in stitches the entire time!

Next up is another amazing book by a favorite author

Local Girl Swept Away by Ellen Wittlinger 

An examination of the power people can wield over others and how one event can thoroughly rock the reality of a friendship. Set in the beautiful wilds of Provincetown, the sea and art are just as much characters in this story as the humans.

Next up is the very first audiobook I've ever listened to

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper

Hilarious and rough, just like being in love is like. Really fun and a quick read. Enjoyable for all those who've experiences the trials and tribulations aid love and so relatable to those just going through it. A perfect main protagonist, you can't help but fall a little in love with Seth Baumgartner!

Next up

Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

An amazing debut by Katie Kennedy.  Super funny, surprisingly deep--examining the big questions in life: girls, math, and the end of the world!

Next up

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

Powerful story about faith, love, truth, and trust. A robust examination of the walk with faith that LGBTQIA+ individuals deal with every day, and how to be true to yourself and stand up for the love you believe in.

Finally, the last book up

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes

this book was beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring and tremendous. A journey that gives weight to the tragedy of 9/11, and creates a way for everyone, but especially kids who didn't experience it first hand, to connect

Obviously, I read MANY more books than these, and they were all excellent in their own way.  But what each of these particular books had in common was that they all impacted me either through humor, heartache, or insightfulness.  

Let me know what were some of your top books in 2016, and if you've read any of my picks, what you thought, in the comments!

Happy New Year everyone!  Hopefully 2017 will be a fresh start for my blog and reading!

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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Review)

Title: The Raven Boys
Author(s): Maggie Stiefvater
Edition: Audiobook, 11 hours/10 cds
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Source: Library
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

(Goodreads)

My Opinion

I want to preface this with the fact that I "read" The Raven Boys on audio.  My first foray into audiobooks in fact, which may have not been completely the best idea as Maggie Stiefvater's books tend to be very detailed and complicated.  I would suggest reading a hard-copy of the book because those details and complexity was sometimes overwhelming at times when listening.  And while I realize there are probably a million reviews out there for this book, I think another one won't hurt.

Blue Sargent comes from a family of female physics, but she is the only one without the gift.  Within the town she live in, Marietta, her family witness the crossing of the dead, and each year Blue goes with, never seeing the souls as her family does.  Except for this year, when one soul walks towards her and whispers his name. And Blue is told by her Aunt Neeve: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said.  “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”  (pg. 16 of the hardcover).  This one sentence pretty much sets the tone of the book, and the action takes off.

Rich in detail and mythology, Stiefvater's Marietta is a character in of itself, and seems like a beacon gathering the 5 main characters together.  As with all Stievater books, the mythos within The Raven Boys is rich, pulling from legends existing within the real world.  Each boy, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, is multi-layered and complex.  Sometimes you hate them, but more often you love them, much like Blue herself.  With each new turn of the story, you sink deeper and deeper, becoming a part of this quest that Gansey and his fellow Raven Boys are on.  And while this is one quest, you find yourself on a simultaneous journey with Blue, navigating the possible result of her predicted future.

Lyrical, complex, and compelling, The Raven Boys delivers a story steeped in magic, both of the fantastical and the ordinary.  This is sure to pull you in and not let you go!

Final Rating

Book Cover: 5/5 
Book Title: 5/5
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 9/10
Ending: 8/10

Overall: 45/50: A

Extras

Book Trailer

Other Books in Series

Photo credit: Maggie Stiefvater

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BLOG TOUR --- USELESS BAY BY M.J. BEAUFRAND [Spotlight + Giveaway]

I love a good mystery, and this one is particularly twisty!  While a quick read, you'll be hooked right away.  Darkly atmospheric, Useless Bay is a great new book from Edgar Award Nominee M.J. Beafrand!

Title: Useless Bay
Author(s): M.J. Beaufrand
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, 240 pages
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - iBooks - Book Depository

Tour Schedule

 Week One:
10/10/2017 - The Autumn Bookshelf - Interview
10/11/2017 - Zach's YA Reviews - Review
10/12/2017 - The Alchemy of Ink - Review
10/13/2017 - Bean's Bookshelf and Coffee Break - Review
10/14/2017 - Curling Up With A Good Book - Interview

Week Two:
10/17/2017 - Michelle4Laughs: It's in the Details - Excerpt
10/18/2017 - In a bookish world - Excerpt
10/19/2017 - The Bookworm Central - Review
10/20/2017 - Eli to the nth - Spotlight (ME!)
10/21/2017 - Owl Always Be Reading - Excerpt

The Summary

A gritty, psychological thriller about a mythic set of sixteen-year-old quintuplets searching for a young boy, Useless Bay is sure to bring the twists and turns.

On Whidbey Island, the Gray quintuplets are the stuff of legend. Pixie and her brothers have always been bigger and blonder than their neighbors, as if they were birthed from the island itself. Together, they serve as an unofficial search-and-rescue team for the island, saving tourists and locals alike from the forces of wind and sea. But, when a young boy goes missing, the mysteries start to pile up. 

While searching for him, they find his mother’s dead body instead—and realize that something sinister is in their midst. Edgar-nominated author M. J. Beaufrand has crafted another atmospheric thriller with a touch of magical realism that fans of mystery and true crime will devour. 

(Goodreads)

Other Books by Author

                    

                              Dark River                         The Rise & Fall of the Gallivanters

About the Author

Mary Jane grew up in Gresham, Oregon. She’s a graduate of Wellesley College and has an MFA from the Bennington Writing Program. Currently she lives in Seattle with her husband, two children, and dogs. In the eighties she had a bad perm.

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BLOG TOUR --- ROSE & THORN BY SARAH PRINEAS [Spotlight + Giveaway]

I am very excited to bring you a spotlight on a deliciously twisted retelling of Sleeping Beauty.  Set in the same world as Sarah Prineas first YA book, Ash & Bramble, readers will re-visit the world of fairytales in Rose & Thorn.  Imaginative, Prineas manages to invoke the feeling of the original story but give it a modern update.  Fans of fairytale retellings will be in for a treat, and lovers of dark fantasy will fall in love as well!

Title: Rose & Thorn
Author(s): Sarah Prineas
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, 416 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - iBooks - Book Depository

Tour Schedule

 Week One:

10/10/2016 - Novel Novice - Interview

10/11/2016 - A Dream Within ADream - Review

10/12/2016 - Seeing Double In Neverland - Guest Post

10/13/2016 - Mom with a ReadingProblem - Review

10/14/2016 - Two Chicks on Books - Interview

Week Two:

10/17/2016 - Once Upon a Twilight - Review

10/18/2016 - YaReads - Guest Post

10/19/2016 - Eli to the nth - Spotlight (ME!)

10/20/2016 - The Cover Contessa - Interview

10/21/2016 - Mundie Moms -  Review

The Summary

This beauty isn’t sleeping!  Sarah Prineas’s darkly imaginative retelling breaks down the classic story of Sleeping Beauty in a big, bold way. Brimming with action and romance, beautiful Rose must escape the curse that will force the kingdom to fall into a century-long slumber and fights for the freedom to find her own happily ever after.

After the spell protecting her is destroyed, Rose seeks safety in the world outside the valley she had called home. She’s been kept hidden all her life to delay the three curses she was born with, curses that will have drastic consequences if they take effect. Accompanied by the handsome and mysterious Griff and Quirk, his witty and warmhearted partner, Rose tries to escape from the ties that bind her to this forced fairy tale. But will the path they take lead them to freedom, or will it bring them straight into the prescribed story they are trying to avoid?

Set in the world of Prineas’s Ash & Bramble fifty years later, Rose & Thorn is a powerful retelling of Sleeping Beauty. If you like your fairy tales dark, your heroines daring, and your suitors dashing, this is the book for you.

(Goodreads)

Other Book in Duology

Ash & Bramble 

About the Author

Hi there! I'm Sarah Prineas, author of the Magic Thief series published in the US by HarperCollins and in 17 other languages around the world, and the Winterling trilogy. I live in rural Iowa with my mad scientist husband, two kids, and two cats. My latest book is called Ash & Bramble, and it's a YA; with it's companion, Rose & Thorn, out in 2016.

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