2014 has been another great year for books. And I know I say that every year, but the last few years have been especially good to me in the way of wonderful reads. So these are the books I've rated 5 stars over the past year with a short description of each. Enjoy!
- True Colors - Kristin Hannah. A provocative, compelling and heart-wrenching story about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption and the meaning of family.
- Before We Met - Lucie Whitehouse. A harrowing, haunting novel about the secrets even those we're meant to know inside out harbor and the destruction those secrets can wreak.
- Orange Is The New Black - Piper Kerman. An honest account of Piper's time served in a women's prison on charges of money laundering. At times hard to read but Piper injects humor into even the darkest accounts.
- Before I Die - Jenny Downham. A tear-jerking young adult novel following Tessa as she works through her 'bucket list' in the precious few weeks before her time runs out.
- All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr. Interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the way people try to be good to each other, even against all odds. An emotional read.
- Virgin - Radhika Sanghani. A humorous account of one womans endeavors to lose her virginity. Cringe-worthy, hilarious, uncomfortable and, ultimately, experiences many women can empathize with!
- You Against Me - Jenny Downham. A brave and unflinching novel that explores loyalty and the choices that come with it. At it's heart, this is a love story; boy meets girl, but it's never that straightforward.
- A Gift From Bob - James Bowen. This heartwarming novel from James and Bob explores the last Christmas the pair spent working on the streets and how Bob taught James the real meaning of Christmas.
- A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride. An intense and moving debut novel that touches on everything from family violence to sexuality and the personal struggle that comes from intense trauma.
- The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell - Marilyn Manson. The bestselling autobiography of controversial rockstar Marilyn Manson. A shocking and candid memoir.
- Love, Rosie - Cecelia Ahern. Misunderstandings, circumstances and bad luck have kept Rosie and Alex, childhood best friends, apart. But when the opportunity arises, will they gamble everything for true love?
- The Reader - Bernhard Schlink. A brief tale of sex, love, reading and shame in post-war Germany. A novel that wrestles with many more demons in its few, remarkably lucid pages.
- The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton. A ground-breaking, timeless story from a brilliant writer. Ponyboy knows what to expect from life, until the night things go too far and things change, forever.
- Me Before You - Jojo Moyes. A remarkable novel about an unlikely pair bought together by unusual circumstances. Neither of them know they're going to change the other for all time...
- The Girl You Left Behind - Jojo Moyes. Two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for what they love most, whatever the cost.
- A Time To Kill - John Grisham. A bestselling, gripping thriller that introduces Jake Brigance, a lawyer hired to defend a black man guilty of killing two white men who raped his ten-year old daughter, to Clanton.
- Tears Of Jade -Tim Hunt. The third installment tells of two friends who have both lost love and fail to notice the love they have for each other, until one day they are separated and they come to see what was always right under their noses.
This year I've acquired two new authors in Jojo Moyes and Tim Hunt (whose first two books in the series I also loved!) I've renewed my interest in young adult fiction with Jenny Downham's two wonderful novels. And I've managed to enjoy some lighter reads besides the darker ones; "Virgin" and "Love, Rosie" being some of the lighter reads, "The Reader" and "The Outsiders" being some of the darker ones. I hope you had an equally good reading year and maybe you'll check out some of the books on my list!
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