Anticipated 2015 Reads! | Top 10 of 2014

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Today's theme for Top 10 of 2014 is 'Top 10 books I'm looking forward to in 2015'. I'm not very good at keeping up with the latest trends, or at least I'm not very good at reading them, so I found this list a little tricky to put together at first because there are already so many books on my TBR that have been around long before 2015. But a bit of snooping later and I had my list of 10!

Fairest by Marissa Meyer: The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favourite series, so it's only natural that Fairest is on my list. I'm really looking forward to reading Levana's story - I have faith that Meyer has written her an amazing backstory.

Winter by Marissa Meyer: I'm so desperate for this book it's unreal. Like I said I love The Lunar Chronicles and I'm so excited for the release of Winter, I really want to know how this fantastic series is going to come to an end! Oh well, it's only 11 months away...

The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker: I love witchy books, and I really like the premise of this story. Hopefully I can get my hands on a copy of it following its release!

Love Hurts, edited by Malorie Blackman: I'm on a mission to collect short story collections, because I just don't read enough of them, and to be honest I'm all over anything with Malorie Blackman's name on it. I adore her Noughts & Crosses series, it's still one of my favourites, so I trust her whole-heartedly to bring me a short story collection of star-crossed lovers.

Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan: I'm a cheating a little with this book. It's the sequel to Little Beach Street Bakery, which I haven't actually read yet! I've recently started reading Colgan's books and they're really fun and sweet. Last month I picked up a copy of Little Beach Street Bakery for just £1.99 and it has great ratings on Goodreads, so I'm hoping I'll enjoy it enough to pick up a copy of Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery next year!

Mistress Firebrand by Donna Thorland: My list wouldn't be complete without some historical fiction, and I'm guilty of some fun historical romance every now and then. Plus any piece of historical fiction involving a female playwright rather than a male one already has my vote!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab: This book just sounds cool. I still haven't read any Schwab, though I do own a copy of Vicious now, so I'd love to get my hands on a copy of this.

The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milan: SFF featuring dinosaurs? Um, yes please! Considering I was obsessed with dinosaurs when I was little I don't think I've ever actually read a book with any dinosaurs in it that weren't fossils, so I'm really eager to get my hands on this.

The Well by Catherine Chanter: This book is Chanter's debut novel, set to be released in May, and it just sounds really interesting. I have something of a weak spot for novels featuring protagonists who have been released from prison. It probably stems down to my eternal love for Sirius Black.

The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester: This is another 2015 debut, and with its gorgeous cover and inclusion of the suffragette movement it just had to be on this list.

Which books made your list?

Best Couples of 2014 | Top Ten of 2014

While looking through the list of books I've read this year I realised that I haven't actually read all that many books which are romance orientated. Obviously a book doesn't have to be romance orientated to include a great couple, but I haven't come across many of those this year either. I've read a lot of great books this year, but not a lot of couples made my heart melt.

But there were a few that I loved, and a few that I liked, so I've managed to put together a list of ten! Quite a few of these are two couples from various series I've enjoyed most this year.

Couples I Love

Cinder and Kai from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: I had to use Scarlet for these two because I read Cinder in December 2013, and I didn't want to cheat! While I like Scarlet and Wolf they're probably my least favourite of the couples in The Lunar Chronicles purely because they were very instalovey, and I'm not a fan of instalove. Cinder and Kai I adore. I love their chemistry and the way that I can never quite predict what one of them is going to say to the other. Add to that that this is a retelling in which Cinderella has two prosthetic limbs and Prince Charming is Chinese and I'm a very happy bunny!

Sybella and Beast from Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers: So far Dark Triumph is my favourite book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy. I loved Sybella as a protagonist, she's raw and vulnerable and hard as nails, and I've loved Beast since meeting him in Grave Mercy. Put the two of them together and I love them even more. Plus it was nice to see a character being described as conventionally unattractive. Sybella never claims that he's handsome in any way but she still loves him, and that's something we need to see more of in fiction. Though I imagine it'll be a few years before anyone dares to publish a book with a conventionally unattractive woman in the starring role...

Natalie and Flynn from Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han: This was probably my favourite story in the collection - reviewed here! - and now I desperately want a whole novel dedicated to Natalie, though I'm sure the possibility of that happening is highly unlikely.

Dona and Jean-Benoit from Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier: These two were just so much fun to read about. I loved this book!

Lilian and Henry from Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan: These two are basically the reason that parts of Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams broke my heart in two. I'm still sad about it!

Couples I Like

Mia and Adam from If I Stay by Gayle Forman: I ended up enjoying If I Stay a lot more than I thought I would - look out for my review in January! - and I liked Mia and Adam's relationship. It feels like one of the more realistic relationships I've come across in contemporary YA.

Bod and Elizabeth from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Okay, so I know Elizabeth's dead and Bod is a child for the majority of the book, but at the very end of the story, when Bod is a teenager, there's a hint of something a little more there and I really liked Elizabeth.

Cress and Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Cinder and Kai are still my favourite, but these two were absolutely adorable. I want more of them in Winter, please!

North and Marigold from It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins: This time around I used the American cover just to spice things up a little. I hadn't read any Perkins before this and now I'd quite like to check her novels out. I really enjoyed this story, and thought North and Marigold were way cooler than I was as a teenager.

Ismae and Gavriel from Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers: I don't like these two quite as much as I like Sybella and Beast, but they're still a lot of fun; their growing fondness for each other was a lot of fun to read throughout Grave Mercy.

Who made your list?

Best Book Covers of 2014 | Top 10 of 2014

It's the second day of Top 10 of 2014, a book blogging event hosted by Two Chicks on Books and various lovely co-hosts to celebrate the last week of the year in bookish style!

Today's event is 'Best Book Covers of 2014', and the books we share must be books released this year. I'm not very good at staying on top of trends and the latest releases (which almost begs the question why I signed up for this event at all...) but thankfully I don't have to have read the books I mention, which is probably just as well. There are a lot of terrible books out there with gorgeous covers and vice versa.

So, on with my top 10!

YA Covers

Talon by Julie Kagawa: I've been drooling over this cover since I first saw it. It's so simple but it's still so rich; it looks so glossy and just plain gorgeous. There's no mistaking what this book is about.

Cress by Marissa Meyer: I love all the covers for The Lunar Chronicles, though I think Cinder is still my personal favourite. I can't wait to see the cover for Winter!

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige: Such a fun cover, I love it!

Alienated by Melissa Landers: This is another fun one. While I don't think it's particularly pretty, because I'm not that fond of people on book covers, I do think it's a good cover for its story.

Half Bad by Sally Green: When I first saw this cover I had to look at it a few times before I realised the blood makes a face. I'm a little dumb.

Adult Books

Symbiont by Mira Grant: Such a cool cover. The cover for Parasite, the first book in this series, is brilliant too.

Miss Carter's War by Sheila Hancock: I don't know what it is about this cover I like so much. I really like the colour pallette used, and I like that we can't see the cover model's face - as I said before I'm not that keen on book covers with people on, but this is a very classy cover.

Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre: I love this cover. If I had to pick an absolute favourite from all the covers here it'd be this one. I love the contrasts between the Renaissance art and the pop art-esque typography; it reminds me of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton: This cover's just beautiful. It looks so warm and cosy.

The Bees by Laline Paull: This cover's so bright it just draws the eye, but the main reason this cover made my top ten is because I love the detail on the cover beneath the dust jacket, too. When publishers put effort into the appearance of the books they sell it makes me so happy, and this is a great example of a well produced book.

Which covers made your top ten?

Best Books of 2014 | Top 10 of 2014

Today is the first day of Top 10 of 2014, hosted by Two Chicks on Books! I wasn't sure whether I was going to take part initially, but in the end I thought: why the hell not? I love events like these because they always introduce me to new blogs and bloggers that I've been unaware of before, and it's a lot of fun seeing which books other people talk about.

The first category is Best Books I've Read in 2014. I've been a little naughty in that, through Top Ten Tuesday, I've actually already listed my top ten, but I'm still going to do it again and leave a link to my Top Ten Tuesday post here.

So, in the order I read them, my Top 10 Books of 2014 are:

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (reviewed here!)
2. Cress by Marissa Meyer (reviewed here!)
3. Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
4. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here!)
5. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
6. Feed by Mira Grant (reviewed here!)
7. The Undressed by Jemma L. King
8. Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
9. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (reviewed here!)
10. Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan (reviewed here!)

Which books made your list?