Endless Bliss | Happy Lifestyle Blog: My 10 Top Reads of 2014.

My 10 Top Reads of 2014.

2014 was an awesome year for me as far as books are concerned. I read so many great books that have been on my to-read list for so long. I've also learned to appreciate the art of audio books. While traditional reading is my reading method of choice, I still love to enjoy audio books on my commute to work, while I'm in the shower (okay, I'm weird), and before I go to bed.

I set a Goodreads goal for myself to read 40 books this year, and I ended up reading well over 50, which I'm super pumped about. I did a lot of YA reading, particularly ones with a dystopian theme. I didn't realize that until I was putting this list together. I didn't get the chance to write a review for every single book that I read this year, but you can still check out my book ratings on my Goodreads account and view all of the books I did review on the blog here

These were my favorite reads from this year:

10. Matched by Ally Condie
I was enticed by the plot of this book - a world ruled by the Society who tells you what you can do and when you can do it. I'm a sucker for a book with a great heroine, and Cassia fit the bill. She was curious, intelligent, and brave. She also wasn't afraid to ask questions and believe in herself.

9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
I still can't believe it took me so long to read this book. I loved everything about it. I was so intrigued by Hannah's story and the patience she took in recording all of these tapes before she killed herself. I also adored Clay, and, of course, I also felt sorry for the poor guy. 


8. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
I just finished reading this book last week, and holy cow! It was incredible. While the second book fell off for me (as they always seem to do when I'm reading a trilogy), I'm currently in the middle of Requiem, and I'm still excited to see how Lena's story ends. What makes me love this book even more was the fact that I was able to meet Lauren Oliver and hear about her journey in making this book well before I actually picked the book up. Now I have a beautiful signed copy sitting on my bookshelf, and the most awkward picture with an author that I've ever taken. 


7. Cress by Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer inspires me in so many ways: 1) Her novels started out as NaNoWriMo projects, 2) she adores her fans and responds frequently to my tweets, and 3) her books are absolutely incredible. Cress is the third book in her Lunar Chronicles series, and I feel like I'm always talking about her on my blog. This book follows the story of Cress, which is a futuristic Rapunzel. Instead of being trapped in a tower, she's trapped in a satellite. Brilliance all around. I loved this book so much. 

6. The Program by Suzanne Young
The only reason I heard about this book was because Suzanne Young was at the Austin Teen Book Festival two years ago. I'm kicking myself because I hadn't read her book, so I didn't take the time to meet her, and now I'm really sad about it. The Program was such a quick read for me, and Suzanne is absolutely brilliant and adorable.


5. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
I've pretty much shared my love for this book on all possible avenues. I still can't believe the brilliant ending the author left us with. I really didn't see that coming. 

4. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Speaking of surprise endings... I follow Jodi Picoult on Twitter, and I see her retweet all of these things that fans have said about Leaving Time, a lot of them being a surprise ending. I went into the book trying to guess what the surprise ending would be, and I still didn't see that one coming. This book also made me unhealthily obsessed with elephants. It's making me want to hop on a plane to Thailand so I can be BFFs with some elephants or just adopt an elephant online because they're brilliant and loving animals, and I need an elephant pal. 


3. The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
Being a marshmallow, I knew that I was going to like this book, but I didn't think I was going to love it as much as I did. It picked up right where the new Veronica Mars movie left off, and it takes you on another crazy mystery. I loved experiencing Veronica Mars through a book rather than watching it on TV. I love both mediums, obviously, but reading it just brought a little something extra for me. 

2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The question of the year: Why did I wait so long to read this book!? Rainbow Rowell is such an amazing author (even though I've only read two books by her, I can already tell). I loved this book to pieces, and I really just wanted to jump in the book and be Cath's best friend (and also strangle her sister in some parts, but that's beside the point). 

1. The Selection by Kiera Cass
I still can't get over how amazing this entire series is. Like I mentioned before, usually when I read a trilogy, the second one just tapers off for me. With this series, the second book was my least favorite book, but I still loveloveloved it. The first book in the series was my absolute favorite, and I really just want them to make this into a movie or a TV series or something just so I can see all the pretty dresses and watch (*spoiler alert*) America and Maxon fall in love.

Honorable Mentions
These books weren't in my top 10, but they still all got 5 stars from me, and I loved them.
11. The 100 by Kass Morgan
12. Panic by Lauren Oliver
13. Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
14. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

What were your favorite books that you read this year?

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

37 comments :

  1. So many of these books have been added to my "Must-Read" list since seeing them on your blog, thanks for the inspiration :)


    xoxo, SS


    www.TheSouthernStylista.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. We Were Liars and Panic were on my top 10 books that I've read this year! I read Matched, but I really didn't get into it, and I didn't even finish the second book in the series. It tied with Cinder for my biggest letdowns of 2014.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read the Selection series after reading about it here, and I really liked it! It was a nice quick read when I needed distractions when traveling. My favorite book I read this year was probably... The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. It was beautiful and thought-provoking.. I loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We share Fangirl on both our lists! I love both '13 Reasons Why' (which the film adaptation still needs to hurry up and be put through production already), and 'Delirium. Such thought provoking novels!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A lot of your books are on my to-read list which means I finally get to read them next year! I've always been adding books to my to-read list but never getting around to them because I always find a random book to buy or borrow. For next year's Goodreads challenge, I'm only tackling books on my to-read list... looking forward to the Delirium series!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That makes me so happy, Jordyn! I love sharing my favorite books! If you have any recommendations for me, I'd love to hear them. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's such a great book! I'm glad you love it too, Claire!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sad day! I loved Cinder and the rest of that series so much! We Were Liars and Panic were such awesome reads though. If you haven't read Delirium, you definitely should! I just finished the series. The first was great, and the last two fell off a little, but it's worth finishing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so happy you liked the Selection series! I've been telling everyone who has the same taste in books as me that they should read it. I've been wanting to read The Unbearable Lightness of Being! That might have to be next on my list to read!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fangirl was such a great book! I loved it! I didn't know they were going to make Thirteen Reasons Why into a movie! That would be such a great movie. They definitely need to get on that! I loved Delirium so much! Such a great book.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yay! That's so awesome! My TBR list for 2015 is already ridiculous! I have the same problem as you. I also keep buying books that I haven't read yet and then I still go to the library, so my new books never get read. That's a great challenge for 2015. Maybe I should do that too! I hope you enjoy the Delirium series!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohh these look so much fun! I've only read Delirium on this list–It was such an awesome series!! But I hope to check out a few others on your list! Thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. We Were Liars was my favorite! omg that ending though!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love all of these!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. All of these seem great, but I have to say I'm most intrigued by The Program. We Were Liars is on my to-read list as well. That's so awesome that you beat your book reading goal this year. My goal is to finish reading my personal library before I buy anymore books. I'm so bad about getting halfway through and hitting up Amazon for my next book... Happy reading! =)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love Goodreads! I didn't know you can set goals for yourself there? I am totally doing that for 2015.

    I am going to look into some of these!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thirteen reasons why is one of my absolute favorite novels.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I feel like I don't read much in terms of YA books, but a lot of these sound really great! The only book on the list I read was Fangirl, which I LOVED!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have a new scribd account and I am always looking for new books to read. I love to have some reviews first before I dig into a book. Love this list

    ReplyDelete
  20. Delirium is definitely on my TBR! Trying to tackle the series next year!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Looking for another epic dystopian-themed story after being captivated by the Hunger Games and Divergent, I stumbled upon Matched and was thoroughly satisfied as well. It's one of those unique plots that you can just eat up over and over. I haven't read any of the other books on this list, but I see a lot that definitely capture my attention (the Selection especially looks good). I'm so glad I found this list, because I was starting to get reader blues/boredom before my winter break was even over... and that would be a complete tragedy.

    www.theladyhood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I completely agree with what you said about Matched. That was such an interesting concept for a book series. The Selection is one of the best trilogies that I've ever read. You should definitely check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I've been meaning to check out Scribd!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I really need to graduate from YA to adult books, but I can't seem to fully make the transition. I just read an adult novel or a memoir every now and then, but for the most part, I can't stop reading YA. I loved Fangirl too! So amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's such an incredible read. I loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  26. You should! This was the first year I set a goal for myself on Goodreads, and I'm so happy I did. It motivated me to read more. I think you can find it on the dashboard when you first sign in. Somewhere on the right of the screen, maybe? I don't quite remember.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Yes! The Program was absolutely incredible, and I'm thrilled that she's writing a sequel. I need to see what happens! We Were Liars was such a good books - one of the best that I've read in a long time. I think I need to have the same goal as you and read all of the books in my personal library. I have a book buying problem, and I also go to the library. So many books, not enough time.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I wasn't expecting that ending at all! It was incredible though. E. Lockhart is a genius!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Delirium was such a great series! My favorite was the first book. I hope you enjoy some of these reads!

    ReplyDelete
  30. All these books sound amazing (several of them have been hanging around on my read-this-sometime list!). :] I've never heard of Cress though, and I feel like I'd love it! <3 I love re-imagined fairy tales! I'll definitely have to check that one (and uh, all the others) out! :]

    ReplyDelete
  31. My favorite book of the year was "The Gospel According to Larry", amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Every single one of these is on my TBR list, except the Veronica Mars one because I actually read that one.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I read Thirteen Reasons Why in high school, and it's been one of my favorites ever since!

    ReplyDelete
  34. If you love re-imagined fairy tales, then you'll definitely love The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. I think the fourth book in the series comes out this year, but in the meantime, you can catch up on Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress. I loved them all!

    ReplyDelete
  35. I've never read that! I'll have to check it out!

    ReplyDelete

09 10