2014 Favourites Part 4

Check out part 1 here

Check out part 2 here
Check out part 3 here

It's the end of the year. Ahh! This is it, the 4th quarter is over. 2014 is over. So it's time to wrap up my favourite reads that I read between October 1st through December 31st. In those 3 months I read a total of 58 books. A little less than I would have liked. But it is what it is. I had a few DNF's in there. I also did a lot of re-reading, especially in December. I love re-reading. Anyhow, that brought my grand total for the year to *drum roll* 242! WHAT? I'm not even going to pretend to know how I did that or feel like I'll even come close again next year. But we'll leave that for another post.
I don't think there was any big surprises this quarter. Books I expected to like or love I did. Sure there were a few I picked up on a whim and ended up enjoying quite a bit. That's the fun thing about reading. If we take out my re-reads, my average star rating hovered around a 4*. Which is great! I think that's what my average for the year will probably be(I'll have to do some math to really find out). I have a few series that I finished off. Quite a few sequels. And even more NA. It was a good fall. I may not have read as much as I'd hoped but for the most part I enjoyed what I picked up.
Without further ado, here are my favourites from the last 3 months.

It's no secret that I love this NA companion series that's set in Scotland. Soooo good. Echos of Scotland Street was highly anticipated as it's about one of the earlier characters little brothers. When we first meet him he was like 10ish. Now he's all grown up and just lovely. Cole is definitely all grown up. Working at a ink shop. My kind of guy. Him and Shannon have great chemistry. And I love how all the previous characters are right in the story too. That's the main thing I love about this series, they're all family and friends, so of course they're going to be in this characters life. I cannot wait for the next book. I hope this series never ends.

We finally got to get inside the very mysterious, Rowdy's head. It was brilliant. The Marked Men series is another of my fave NA series. I'm really sad there's only one more book to come. Nevermind, this is about Rowdy and Salem. They have a lot of intense history that is brought to the forefront when Salem surprisingly enters Rowdy's life. It's saddness, frustrating and a little hard to deal with at time. But also lovely, intense and hot. A fantastic installment to this series. I love watching these intense, scary yet beautiful looking guys find love. They all have these big hearts and once they find their lady that can match them and their intensity it's game over. It's quite enduring and heartwarming.

Are you surprised? Of course SCT made my favourites. This book! This series! It's my crack! I really think that this trilogy is JLA at her best. The dialogue is so snappy and organic. Not only does it give us Roth(swoon), but also Layla. And really all the other characters are fantastic. JLA really knows how to write a paranormal romance that gives its readers every aspect that we could want in a paranormal romance. SCT had so much twists and turns. Action and swoon. This is exactly what I want in a sequel, for me not to be reminded it's a sequel, to just read it as part of the whole story. #TeamRoth

I did read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer when it first came out. But failed to continue on with the series, mostly because the 3rd book kept getting pushed back. I'd say the wait was worth it. I think the Evolution is my favourite of the 3. Although they are all brilliant and twisty. It's really hard to describe these books without spoilers but I guess they're like a mystery/thriller/paranormal hybrid... There's so much confusion and WTF moments that I just couldn't put any of the books down. They're one sitting reads. I love how messed up Mara is. I love Noah(swoon). I love so many of the characters. It's been weeks since I finished the trilogy and I'm still trying to comprehend everything. I will definitely do a re-read in the nearish future. It's a need.

The Walled City is at first glance a dystopian. But than I read it and realized the book is based off of real events. There was a walled city in China. There was no rules in this city. Crime runs rampant. Graudin brought this really scary but intriguing city to life in her book. I love the Chinese culture(diversity for the win). I found this to be a complete page turner as it's just full of thrilling and action filled moments. The 3 MC's had their good moments and their flaws. I just found The Walled City really unique. It kept my adrenaline running on high.

I am a massive fan of Keyes. So of course I jumped up and down when I heard she had a new book coming out this year. It sure as hell didn't disappoint. I love her dark humor. As well as how real her characters are. They are real people with plenty of flaws, that make the wrong decisions. Realism, what... This book is about Stella. There's kind of like four different time lines happening(not all at once but they do go back a forth). There's the present, when Stella is back home in Ireland after everything feel apart(at this point we don't know what feel apart, besides her life). The before before is the lead up to her time in the hospital and than her time in the hospital. Than once we've covered that before we go to the most recent before where Stella was in New York and what happened there. Which than leads us back to the present. Confused? It seems confusing written like that, but in actuality it really worked. I was never once scratching my head wondering where I was in Stella's life or what everything was pertaining to. I loved reading all the different timelines, but I was definitely flipping those pages as fast as I could possibly read them because I wanted to know what happened to make Stella's life go to shit. There was a lot highs and lows, frustration and shady moments. But there's also reality and a lot of heart warming moments. Brilliant.

Forbidden was something I put off reading for a long time. All I kept hearing was how it would break my heart. Add in the very dark, taboo topic of the book. That's something you have to prepare yourself for. Forbidden definitely broke my heart. It's beautiful and disturbing story. Suzuma is the ultimate queen of heart break. I know incest is wrong. The brother and sister know incest is wrong. But Suzuma just makes you want to see them come through this in one piece. I was talking to Lily well I was reading along(she'd read this already), and said to her does it make me crazy to hope they get to be together. I'm rooting for them. There was many points I forgot they were siblings. Luckily, Lily said she had the same thoughts and feelings. But still... There's more to the story than the incest. So much more. For anyone that is scared and put off by that topic, I assure you that you don't need to be. Pick up this beautiful and haunting book. 

"How can something so wrong feel so right...?"

Yes, I jumped on this train. And if you have yet to, you obviously have a huge chunk of your life missing. I just can't even with this series. It is wonderful and hilarious and just so so so good. I didn't even know what to expect from this 4th volume and even if I did I wouldn't have guessed on where the story was going. It felt so real this time. There was actual marriage problems. And that didn't even seem out of place in something that is very sci-fi. That ending! Ah! There isn't even a release date for the next volume. The wait will surely kill me.

This book. This book! I am beyond speechless. ACOTAR is absolutely perfection. Intricate and unique world. Needing a cold shower because the romance is so hot. I ship it. As much as I ship Celaena and Chaol. And that's saying something. The bits of Beauty and the Beast that are woven into the story are the best bits. Leave it to Maas to make me fall in love with a fae story. I can't even begin to describe everything that is brilliant about ACOTAR. Heir of Fire was easily my top read of 2014 until I finished ACOTAR. I won't say it blew HoF out of the water, but it upped the stakes. Pure brilliance. Once I get my thoughts in order I will definitely be jumping into a reread.
If you haven't already, pre-order this book. The wait is well worth it.

The Ascendance Trilogy is one the most brilliant and intelligent fantasy series I have read. I can't believe it took me the whole year to get around to finishing it. But I wanted to re-read the first 2 books, which I did, so I would have a total refresher going into the last installment. I obviously can't say much because of spoilers. But it was the perfect ending. What originally captured me about The False Prince is the MC, Sage. He is so sassy, tricksy and intelligent. I love him. He is that wonderful character through all 3 books. Than you add in mind blowing twists and solid side characters and ah, perfection. This trilogy needs more exposure. It deserves to be read by everyone.


There you go. I'll catch you guys in my "Top 14 of 2014" post. Than you can see the ultimate best of the year.
What were your favourite reads from the past 3 months?

Happy reading!

Brittany