I thought I'd take a look through the books I've marked as read on my Goodreads profile this year and give my top five books of the year. I've read some fantastic works of fiction this year, across genres. Here are the five I enjoyed the most in ascending order:
Number Five: The Taker by Alma Katsu
The Blurb: This is an immortal love story. Have you ever loved someone so much that you'd do anything for them? When Dr Luke Findley turns up to his hospital shift in the small town of St Andrews, Maine, he's expecting just another evening of minor injuries and domestic disputes. But instead, Lanore McIlvrae walks into his life - and changes it forever. For Lanny is a woman with a past...Lanny McIlvrae is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. Hers is a story of love and betrayal that defies time and transcends mortality - but this tale cannot end until Lanny's demons are finally put to rest. Her two hundred years on this earth have seen her seduced by both decadence and brutality - yet through it all she has only ever had one true love in her life. Until now. An unforgettable novel about the power of unrequited love to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, "The Taker" is an immortal love story on an epic scale...
Alysha's Comment: WOW! This book took me on a journey that I didn't expect it to. I loved that the ending wasn't what you'd expect of an 'immortal love story', rather it was the ending that this love story deserved. The ultimate expression of love. Beautiful.
Number Four: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky
The Blurb: Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its champion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.
The Warden's life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his discovery of a murdered child down a dead end street . . . setting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House-the secret police-he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn't get investigated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psychotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.
Alysha's Comments: This book was my first introduction to Noir Fantasy and I'm a big fan. The Straight Razor Cure, also published as Low Town, is very gritty and raw. It's written from the perspective of a war scared veteran who makes his living doing illegal things in an unforgiving world. Yet The Warden is an intelligent character with a very fast wit. I loved this character from page one and couldn't stop until I'd finished the series.
Daniel Polansky is definitely among my list of go to authors for a fantastic read.
Number Three: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Warden's life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his discovery of a murdered child down a dead end street . . . setting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House-the secret police-he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn't get investigated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psychotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.
Alysha's Comments: This book was my first introduction to Noir Fantasy and I'm a big fan. The Straight Razor Cure, also published as Low Town, is very gritty and raw. It's written from the perspective of a war scared veteran who makes his living doing illegal things in an unforgiving world. Yet The Warden is an intelligent character with a very fast wit. I loved this character from page one and couldn't stop until I'd finished the series.
Daniel Polansky is definitely among my list of go to authors for a fantastic read.
Number Three: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Blurb: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favours with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behaviour. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
Alysha's Comments: I love a good mystery book and Gillian Flynn writes FANTASTIC mystery books. Damn woman! This book is so freaking good it'll have you on the hard edge of your seat, not caring that it's creating a permanent dent in your butt cheeks.
If you can guess the ending to this book, then you're unique because I don't think anyone saw this ending coming. Now if you're one of those people who skip to the back of the book to 'find out', please don't do that with this novel. The build up is worth it. Besides, if you do skip to the back of Gone Girl, I will appear before you, rip the book out of your sweaty palms and slap you senseless with it. No jokes. There's a trigger in every paperback that sends me a message. I'm like Santa, I know everything you do to this book. Okay...that just got creepy *clears throat*
For those of you that have read Gone Girl, I do recommend her other books. Especially Dark Places. Ooooh I've got some love for that twisted tale too.
Number Two: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Alysha's Comments: I love a good mystery book and Gillian Flynn writes FANTASTIC mystery books. Damn woman! This book is so freaking good it'll have you on the hard edge of your seat, not caring that it's creating a permanent dent in your butt cheeks.
If you can guess the ending to this book, then you're unique because I don't think anyone saw this ending coming. Now if you're one of those people who skip to the back of the book to 'find out', please don't do that with this novel. The build up is worth it. Besides, if you do skip to the back of Gone Girl, I will appear before you, rip the book out of your sweaty palms and slap you senseless with it. No jokes. There's a trigger in every paperback that sends me a message. I'm like Santa, I know everything you do to this book. Okay...that just got creepy *clears throat*
For those of you that have read Gone Girl, I do recommend her other books. Especially Dark Places. Ooooh I've got some love for that twisted tale too.
Number Two: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
The Blurb: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
Alysha's Comments: Seriously? I need to comment. It's John Green. And unless you've lived under a rock this year, you'll have read this book or at least seen the movie. You'll cry. Everyone on the planet has cried at this book. It's okay. I'd be more concerned if you didn't cry. By far John's best work in my opinion. Followed closely by Paper Towns. Which happens to be getting it's own movie too. YAY me!
Number One: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Alysha's Comments: Seriously? I need to comment. It's John Green. And unless you've lived under a rock this year, you'll have read this book or at least seen the movie. You'll cry. Everyone on the planet has cried at this book. It's okay. I'd be more concerned if you didn't cry. By far John's best work in my opinion. Followed closely by Paper Towns. Which happens to be getting it's own movie too. YAY me!
Number One: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Blurb: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble head first into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Alysha's Comment: This book was the first book I read in 2014 and in all honesty no other book can compare in my opinion. I've loved many books in my lifetime. Some have become favourites that I will always treasure and go back to. Then, I read The Night Circus. Instantly at the top of every list I've ever had.
If you have not read this book, you must. Seriously, you MUST. It's a beautiful work of fiction that is pure magic. Erin Morgenstern is a one of a kind author. The Night Circus is a one of a kind book. Your life will be richer for having them in it.
Lastly I HAVE to make an honourable mention to Dead Secret by Catherine Deveney:
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble head first into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Alysha's Comment: This book was the first book I read in 2014 and in all honesty no other book can compare in my opinion. I've loved many books in my lifetime. Some have become favourites that I will always treasure and go back to. Then, I read The Night Circus. Instantly at the top of every list I've ever had.
If you have not read this book, you must. Seriously, you MUST. It's a beautiful work of fiction that is pure magic. Erin Morgenstern is a one of a kind author. The Night Circus is a one of a kind book. Your life will be richer for having them in it.
Lastly I HAVE to make an honourable mention to Dead Secret by Catherine Deveney:
The Blurb: 'Growing up wasn't a process; it was a moment. It was the moment I watched Daddy die. Everything began to unravel then.’ When their father dies of a sudden heart attack, sisters Rebecca and Sarah Connaghan set aside their differences and return to the family home in Glasgow. Then Rebecca finds letters between her father and the mother she barely remembers that cast doubt on everything she’s been told about her family. Reeling from confusion and grief, she sets off alone for the remote Highlands village that may hold the key to the past. Above all, she is determined to prove the innocence of her father – the beloved, silent man she once thought she knew, now accused of a terrible crime.
Alysha's Comments: I couldn't leave this novel off my list. The subjects of death and grief are fascinating to me and this novel portrays them beautifully. With a mystery story thrown in and exquisite execution, I highly recommend you add this novel to your to be read pile.
Alysha's Comments: I couldn't leave this novel off my list. The subjects of death and grief are fascinating to me and this novel portrays them beautifully. With a mystery story thrown in and exquisite execution, I highly recommend you add this novel to your to be read pile.
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