Top Ten Tuesday: Best Ten Books I Read In 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

You guys, I'm going to cry! There are at least 5 books I still need to review because I've been putting it off for so long! I have so many feelings about all of them but am sadly lacking in the mental capacity and endurance it will require to write about them. I'm pretty long-winded in case you haven't noticed... In the meantime, let's just keep things moving right along with this week's Top Ten Tuesday, which, incidentally, I've also been seriously slacking on. (I can't help it! Work has been busy and it's holiday season and, and, and...)

This week we are talking about TOP TEN BOOKS IN 2014. This year I read so many great books – in fact, I read more books this year than I have in the past (the first Goodreads challenge I've successfully completed, woo hoo!). But there are a select few that really rise to the top for me. So in some rough semblance of order...

10. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. The writing is so effortless and beautiful, the story sticks with you, and the places and details are just mesmerizing. This is the book that inspired me to make a trip all the way up to the Cloisters. It makes me want to explore every little crevice, every corner, every alleyway of New York City.

9. Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor. (By the way, I'm counting series as one book. Because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. I'm also just now realizing that I don't have posts about a lot of the books in my top ten list this week because I didn't start this blog until halfway through the year. Womp.) I still think about some of the passages in this book because they are so dreamy and magical. Also, I need this shirt.

8. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I finally got around to reading this a few weeks ago! Even though it is purely fiction, it is so painstakingly researched that everything that happened felt entirely plausible. One of the most intense books I've ever read in my entire life – by the time you reach the end, the only words you will be able to say are "MIND BLOWN." I'm going to hold this book up as the highest standard one could reach for a historical fiction novel.

7. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. This is a series that has really grown on me as it progressed. The more I discover about Celaena Sardothien, the more I like her and – surprisingly – relate to her. I'm excited for Book 4 to come out next year.

6. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I hate/love this book. It is the worst/best book. It will make you want to love someone/be alone forever. The ending makes me die/gives me life.

5. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. This book captured everything I love and fear about, well, love. It made me cry for days. For me, Dept. of Speculation was one of those books that echoed my deepest beliefs but also taught me new things about myself, which is partly why I think it was one of my favorites from 2014. I waxed poetic about it in my review, so read that if it strikes your interest.

4. Lumatere Chronicles series by Melina Marchetta, goddess of everything. I thought I loved Evanjalin, but then I discovered Froi and Quintana and my life was never the same after that. Melina Marchetta is one of those authors with a crazy talent for taking imperfect, flawed people and striking a match to them (err... you know what I mean, right?) and bringing them to life. This series is one of my favorites in particular because the setting is so grandiose and the events that occur are so trying that all the characters' personalities and character are really magnified.

3. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. I read a bunch of Sarah Dessen novels earlier this year, when I was stuck on the idea of love, and this is the one that really punched me in the gut. Remy Starr is my favorite Sarah Dessen narrator. She and I look at the world, at relationships, at people in eerily similar ways. It's enlightening to experience her shift in perspective.

2. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith. (When is this lady's next book coming out??) Love, love, love this book. I love Skunk. I love Kiri. I love the way they interact. Wild Awake explores mental health, not as something debilitating, but just as a daily part of life – this is something I relate to and strongly respond to. Like many of the other books in this list, I'm sure I've mentioned and/or talked about this one in previous Top Ten Tuesday posts...

1. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Of course. Could my absolute favorite book of 2014 have been anything BUT this one? Taylor Markham is one of the best narrators I've read this year – she has a complicated history that has left her a little bit vulnerable, a little bit angry, a little bit cynical – but still she finds beauty and wonder in the past, in the people around her... I have a lot of feelings about this book. Honestly, it was probably the first book I had actually purchased in years – I loved it so much that I needed a physical copy for my personal collection. Je ne regrette rien!

Review: Trouble by Non Pratt

Title: Trouble
Author: Non Pratt
Publisher: Walker Books
Publication date: March 6, 2014
Rating: ★★★

Summary (via Goodreads):

When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”

Can we just talk about this book cover for a second? I somehow completely missed all the little sperm swimming around at first but, um, GENIUS.

Okay. Moving on now.

I had such conflicting feelings about Trouble. I saw it on the shelf at the library and picked it up, read the summary on the back cover, and put it back on the shelf... continued browsing... then circled back, picked it back up again, and brought it to the checkout. Books about teen pregnancy are not really my thing. I get all squeamish and my throat constricts and my arms get kind of itchy... but I've seen this book all over the book blogosphere so I decided to give it a chance. When I finished Trouble, I gave it 4 stars, then I changed it to a 3.5, and then decided this was a solidly 3 star book.

Almost all of the characters were intriguing – Katie, Marcy, Tyrone, Rex, Aaron, Jay, and of course Hannah – which is promising, given my obsession with character development. But it seemed like many of them were explored and then dropped out of nowhere. One of my biggest literary frustrations is when an author introduces really compelling and complex characters and writes about them and makes them feel significant, but then lets them taper off and disappear completely. I also hate when characters start out as complex individuals with both flaws and redeeming qualities, but become very black/white over the course of the book.

I just expected the story to be more (especially with the amount of focus on specific characters) and was kind of disappointed that they turned out only to be a means to an end. Tyrone was the reason for Marcy to hate Hannah. Marcy was the reason for Katie to ditch Hannah. Rex was the reason for Marcy to hang out with Katie, who was the reason for Hannah to make new friends.

Based on what we saw of Jay, it was difficult for me to understand why he mattered so much to Hannah – quite frankly, he seemed like a terrible human being. I was also kind of surprised that nothing really ever happened with him – he was such a big talking point in the second half of the book that I expected something to come out of it. For all the conflict and struggle that Non Pratt built up throughout the story, the ending of Trouble felt like a cop-out, almost as though we were missing 40 pages from the book.

I did love the way teen pregnancy was illustrated. Nothing was glorified a la Teen Mom, but it didn't feel like a public service announcement either. I liked the way Hannah came to terms with pregnancy but she still remained fifteen years old. She still had exams and wanted to look good and had friend drama, and that was a nice realistic detail.

In general, I also liked the way Non Pratt discussed sex – she wasn't overly preachy (if anything, she may have been a bit overly encouraging...) and clearly Hannah was comfortable with her own sexuality. Mostly I'm glad that there was no sex-shaming (or if there was, that it rolled right off Hannah's back).

However, none of these things were enough to really make me enjoy this book. It just felt like too much stuff going on and not enough space to really tie up all the loose ends.

Review: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Title: This is Not a Test (This is Not a Test #1)
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication date: June 19, 2012
Rating: ★★

Summary (via Goodreads):

It's the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won't stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she's failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she's forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group's fate is determined less and less by what's happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life – and death – inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Yes, yes, I am in the minority of those who did not like this book. I didn't just "not like" this book. I straight up COULD NOT STAND IT. Courtney Summers can write some mean prose, but I found the entire book to be well-worded fluff. For a zombie novel, nothing really happened. There was a significant amount of walking and showering and having the same conversations over and over. But what really irritated me about this book was how stale all the characters seemed.

Let's start with Sloane, the narrator of this story. I'm just going to put it out there: I found her to be painfully unbearable, such a stark contrast to people who actually wanted to survive but couldn't. I found myself not caring whether she lived or died. In retrospect, I don't know if there was nothing happening in the book so much as that Sloane was only telling us the things she cared to see. She doesn't seem like the most reliable narrator.

Next: Lilly, Sloane's missing sister. I still don't understand why she had such a significant place in the story. I mean, it's not hard to infer – older sibling who cares for and bonds with younger sibling over their abusive father – but quite frankly, based on what Sloane tells us of her, Lilly sounds like a hypocritical control freak who just decided to cut loose.

Then there's Grace and Trace, whom Sloane finds herself hiding out with. Both Trace and Grace are utterly ridiculous and a pain to read. They are privileged, self-righteous, and obnoxious, and they are somewhat disturbingly obsessed with each other. Also, they are twins. Named Trace and Grace. Enough said.

Little Harrison was useless from beginning to almost the end. Courtney Summers could have left him out of the book entirely, and I honestly doubt anyone would notice – which is unfortunate since he's ignored and pretty incompetent and slightly invisible in the book as well.

Rhys and Cary were the only redeemable characters, in my view. Aside from Sloane, they are the only ones who had to make hard decisions, who did the best they could given the circumstances. I found it so frustrating that both of them were constantly torn down (mostly by T(/G)race) for having to make those decisions. Maybe I'm naive but in times of utter chaos/panic/uncertainty, I assume that people will work together to survive, instead of criticizing each other to no end. Sure, in real life, there are always those who will take advantage of others, but when people are in suffering and suffering together, I've always noticed people letting down their walls a little bit and compromising and forming more of a community. I don't know. Maybe my experiences and the stories I've heard are an outlier.

And I just have to ask... what was the point of Mr. Baxter? He was entirely a means to an end – he came out of nowhere, literally. All we got were some random details about his life before the zombie uprising and some vague notions of what happened after, but that whole part of the plot felt completely slapdash.

Honestly, This is Not a Test was probably the one book I found most difficult to finish this year. It was so nihilistic and filled with senseless death. I think there's meant to be a flicker of hope at the end of this book, but quite frankly I was too caught up in trying to figure out what all just happened in the last 15 pages to really grasp it.