Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read in 2014

Hey everyone! I'm here again for Top Ten Tuesday, which as always is brought to us by Broke and Bookish. Today's list is the top ten books I've read in 2014.

1. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

2. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

3. Split Second by Kasie West

4. Let's Get Lost Adi Alsaid

5. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

6. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

7. Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith

8. One of Ours by Willa Cather

9. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson 

10. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Overall, it was a rough reading year for me. I'm going to be lucky to finish the year out with 25 books read. Next year, I'm hoping to make more time for reading. Have you read any of these books? What were some of your favorites from 2014? Let me know in the comments.

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors of 2014

Hey everyone. Top Ten Tuesday is brought to us, as always, by the Broke and the Bookish. Today's the list is "New-to-Me Authors of 2014." Of course, I hardly read outside my coursework in 2014, but I do have some new favorite both from my courses and from reading for fun.

1. Dorothy Allison
I think in a lot of the posts I've written since last spring have mentioned her debut novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, but I thought I'd mention it again anyway. I cannot explain how much I enjoyed this book. It's just one of those books that stays with you. I bought her other novel Cavedweller, and I am so excited to read it soon.

2. Richard Yates
This is my other life-changing read from last spring, though I would say less to the extent than Dorothy Allison. Revolutionary Road made me think a lot and was an incredible reading experience. Sadly, I do not own more of his work, but I'm interested in reading more.

3. Morgan Matson
Early in summer, there was a lot of buzz around her new book Since You've Been Gone. I put it on hold at my local library and decided while I was still hyped, I would read Second Chance Summer since it's one of her earlier books. And it wrecked me. It just wrecked me. Definitely a fun summer read, especially if you enjoy crying.

4. Gayle Forman
Once upon a time, I bought a copy of If I Stay at my favorite used book shop because I heard it was good and I got on clearance so it was around $1.00. Flash forward to RT Convention in Kansas City where I awkwardly got my book signed even though I had never read it. Flash forward to last summer when the movie was coming out, and I thought to myself, "I should probably read If I Stay." I read it on my flight from Atlanta. And I cried.

What are some of your favorite authors you've read in 2014? let me know if the comments.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten (Six!) Characters I Would Want on a Desert Island with Me

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is brought to us by the Broke and the Bookish.This week's topic is "Top Ten Characters I Would on a Desert Island with Me." I decided that my goal of having all these characters with me would to get off of the desert island.

1. Molly Murphy from City of Darkness and Light
Despite the problems I had with this book, Molly was not one of them. She would be very resourceful and help solve the mystery of how we got to the deserted island and how we would get off.

2. Nancy Drew from the Nancy Drew series
Same reason as above. Two heads are better than one. And afterwards, we could open a detective agency.

3. Addie from Pivot Point
While Addie would have great difficulty adjusting to deserted island life (so different from the Compound or Texas), she could always Search if needed to determine the best course of action.

4. Percy from the Percy Jackson series
Percy could help us build a raft and then sail it. With the help of his father Poseidon, we would be out of their in no time.

5. Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series
Annabeth is actually my favorite character from this series, and naturally if I'm going to bring her boyfriend, I might as well bring her. Plus, as a daughter of Athena, she would be very useful as well.

6. Katniss from The Hunger Games
I don't think we'll make it off of the island right away. Therefore, Katniss will be here to help us hunt and cook and just generally survive.

I'm probably forgetting someone who would be incredibly helpful but I think this team of six and I could do it!

Who would you take with you to a desert island? Let me know in the comments. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten (or Seven) TV Shows

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is brought to use by The Broke and the Bookish. Today, we diverge from bookish topics to other types of stories. This topic is timed perfectly because I have been watching a lot of TV recently. Let's get started!

1. Warehouse 13
I love this show so much! It combines everything I love: sci-fi, history, humor. I'm on the fourth season right now and it's killing me not to watch it all. It's the show my fiance and I watch together so I feel bad watching it without him. Hopefully, we'll finish the season soon!

2. The Mindy Project
This is a show I just finished. I started watching it on Hulu then signed up for a free trial of Hulu+, in which I proceeded to binge watch both seasons. This show is so hilarious and I cannot wait until the next season.

3. Gilmore Girls
If I had to choose one show that had a profound influence on me as a youth, it would be this show. I started watching it when it started running on ABC Family and became obsessed. I own all of the seasons (this was pre-Netflix days, although it's STILL not on Netflix.) I'm actually planning on rewatching it soon.

4. Friends
This is another show that had a profound influence on me. One summer, I decided I was going to watch Friends every time it was on in order to see most of the episodes. And I did. My sophomore year of college, I would watch it in bed on Nick at Nite until I fell asleep  (or until George Lopez came on).

5. Parks and Rec
I enjoy the small town feel of this show, plus I admire Leslie Knope's ambition and determination.

6. Psych
I have been watching this show forever and it is absolutely hilarious! I haven't seen the last season yet, but I'm really excited about it!

7. How I Met Your Mother
After seeing the series finale, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this show. I went through a phase where I really liked it, but now with some distance, I think it's okay but not super fantastic! I put it on the list though, because at one time I really liked it.

Do we share any favorite tv shows? Do you have any recommendations? Let me know in the comments. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Blogging Confessions

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is brought to us by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is blogging confessions. I'm really surprised I actually have ten on this list; when I first saw the topic, I thought I would be lucky to have three. After researching this topic thoroughly, I think I have a list that is confession worthy. Note: Some of these are about books, some of them about blogging, and some of them are about book blogging.

Books
1. I prefer library books over buying books.
If there is a book I'm unsure if I'll like or if I don't think I'll want to read it again, I would much rather use the library than buy the book. Buying books is expensive and I can't afford to buy every book I want to read. Which is why libraries are the best. I seriously don't understand why more book bloggers don't use them.

2. I prefer used over new.
When I do buy books, I much prefer to buy used over new books. Why? For one, it's less expensive, which allows me to buy more books withe the money I have allotted. Also, if I bought a new book, I'd want to keep it in pristine condition. Otherwise, I'd feel like I "ruined" it. For my sanity, it's just easier for me to buy used.

3. I write in books.
Gasp, the horror! I know. But it's an occupational hazard. If you don't bookmark a quote with a sticky, you'll never find it. Sometimes, if you sticky it but don't put some sort of indication of what exactly it is you're saving, you'll never find it. This is another reason I never buy new.

Book Blogging
4. Sometimes I don't feel like reading
This is a thing that happens. I read in spurts; I'll finish three books in a shorter amount of time, then I'll take a break and do something else. Sometimes I feel I don't read enough in comparison to other bloggers, but I have to remind myself it's okay not to spend every waking minute reading.

5. I get tired of YA
Don't get me wrong, I still love YA, just not like I used to. It was all I read when I originally started this venture. I've learned to accept that I'm not going to read every YA novel I come across on other blogs or even most. I'm learning to discern what I think I would actually read and focusing on that.

Blogging
6. I feel like I'm not very creative.
I don't have a lot of interesting ideas lined up in the future for this blog. In fact, I'm struggling to come up with ideas. (So if you have types of posts you'd like to see, let me know in the comments!) This is difficult for me because I used to consider myself a creative individual.

7. My blog design frustrates me!
 I'm constantly unhappy with the theme and layout of my blog. Constantly. It's not exactly what I want, but I have no idea how to get exactly what I want. But until I either buckle down and learn how to design or cave and pay someone to design it for me, this will be my state. If it feels like I change the layout a lot, this is why.

8. I wish I was able post consistently. 
Every time I create a posting schedule, it never works out. I've been working on one from now until the end of the month and hope it will actually work out. It only gets worse when I go back to school. It always feels like I have zero time to work on my blog.

9. I wish I was more confident to share my blog with people I know. 
I could not tell you why this is such an issue for me. It took a lot for me to start sharing my posts on Twitter. While I had a blog twitter for awhile, it just was not being used when I was actually blogging. So I caved and started using my regular Twitter.

10. I have no idea when my blogaversary is.
Couldn't tell you. Which is sad because then we can't have celebrations.

What are some of your blogging confessions? Let me know in the comments.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Have Stuck With Me

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is hosted by Broke and Bookish.This week's topic is a freebie, so I chose the Top Ten Books That Have Stuck With Me. I think these sort of lists are fascinating, as they help you see not only what kind of books people like but what kind of books stick with people. Because it can be hard to explain why a books resonates with you, I'm just going to simply list them, and then we can talk about how great they are in the comments. Let's get started!

1.Paper Towns by John Green

2.Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

3. The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

4.The Little Prince by Antoine de Sainte-Exupery 

5. The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth

6.The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
7.Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
8. The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
9. The Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

What books have stuck with you after you read them? Leave them in the comments. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books About Friendship

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is hosted by Broke and Bookish. I haven't done one of these since December, so excuse me if I'm a little rusty. Today, I will be listing my top ten books about friendship,in no particular order. Since I'm having trouble thinking of ten books where friendship is the central theme, I've decided to do "Top Ten Book Friendships". 

1. Lizzy and Charlotte in Pride and Prejudice
Oh, these two! I love their friendship so much! They are very supportive of one another. They weather quite a bit together, and at the end of the novel they are still fantastic friends.

2. The Sailor Scouts in Sailor Moon
When it comes to friendship, there is nothing quite like the sailor scouts. They set aside all of their differences and work together to save the world. 

3. Anything by Ally Carter
Ally Carter's books are phenomenal. In both her Gallagher Girls series and her Heist Society series, there are fantastic friendships. 

4. Colin and Hassan in An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Colin gets dumped and what does Hassan do? Takes him on a road trip to cheer him up. If that's not friendship, I don't know what is. 

5. Radar, Ben, and Q in Paper Towns by John Green
What can I say, I love John Green's books. Ben, Radar, and Q all good friends, so much so that they travel across the country together. They also accept each other faults, which is important. 

6. Nancy, Bess, and George in the Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
These three are  a dynamic trio in solving crimes. Their personalities compliment each other nicely. 

7. Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Here is another dynamic trio that compliments each other nicely. I always loved Hermione, but all three of them were fantastic friends, sticking by each other through thick and thin. 

8. Pam, Elizabeth, and Alice in the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Yet another trio! I seem to really like them. This trio features three girls coming of age dealing with everything you could possibly imagine, and they stick together through it all. 

9. Cath and Reagan in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
This pair of roommates, though an unlikely pair, really work well together as friends. Reagan helps Cath and Cath helps Reagan. 

10. Gigi, Bea, and Neerja in Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer
I was surprised how much I loved this book. I think a lot of what sold it for me was these three ladies' fantastic friendship. 

What are some of your favorite book friendships? Let me know in the comments. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, there is a new topic and you make a list based on that topic. This week's topic is "Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever". I usually don't find characters very frustrating so this may be another difficult list. Let's get started! 

1. Scarlett from Gone With the Wind
Oh Scarlett. You are so annoying and selfish. But yet you triumph in hard times because of your selfishness. But you're ungrateful and not very likable at all. 

2. Tris in Insurgent
I really enjoyed Insurgent, but Tris's "save-all-the-people" attitude got annoying sometimes. (I'm sure there's a better way to phrase that.) Similar to what Harry suffered in The Order of the Phoenix. Angst, angst everywhere. 

3. Lena in Beautiful Darkness
So I am reading this right now, and OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO ANNOYED! She is just doing so much stupid stuff, and it upsets me. It's vaguely reminding me of New Moon, except Ethan is being proactive. But hopefully the reason for Lena being so annoying will be explained at the end of this book. Note: I finished it, and while I am still annoyed by Lena's angst, I do have a better understanding of it. 

4. Ky in Matched
As you are probably aware, I didn't really care for Matched. And here is the reason why: Ky is the typical guy with a troubled past, even though the past is different because it is set in a dystopian society. I just found him really annoying during his and Cassia's whole "falling-in-love" section. 

5. Jessica Darling in Sloppy Firsts
Don't get me wrong- Sloppy Firsts was great! However, I found Jessica really annoying for the first half of the book. She was an angsty teenager. Thankfully, she improved and has improved as I have progressed with the series. 

6. Andi in Revolution 
I'm beginning to see a pattern here... Andi annoyed me for a bit because of her angst, but at least she had good reason for it. Revolution general is kinda an interesting read. 

7. Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey
Catherine isn't so much frustrating as she is naive. You really just feel bad for her as you read the book, mumbling to yourself, "Oh, Catherine..."

8. Aislinn in Wicked Lovely
I did not enjoy this book, which may be part of the reason I found the main character so annoying. The world building was done well, but I didn't like any of the chracters. They were all dull. 

9. Katniss in Mockingjay
I know I'm not the only one who was a little annoyed with her in the last book of the series. She and Tris (#2) have the whole "save-all-the-people" problem. (still must be a better way to phrase that). 

10. Mia in The Princess Diaries series
I can't remember in what book (it's been awhile since I read all of them) but Mia did annoy me in some of the books during her sophomore year, I think. Which is understandable, because sophomore year of high school is difficult for all of us. 

Those are my most frustrating characters. I am sure there are others I am forgetting. 

What are your most frustrating characters? Let me know in the comments! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Settings I'd Like to See More

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, there is a new topic and you make a list based on that topic. This week's topic is "Top Ten Settings I'd Like to See More". Let's get started! 

1. Paris
I really enjoy books set in Paris. I don't know if it's because they are romances most of the time or what. But I enjoy them. 

2. London
I also really enjoy books set in London. Probably for the same reason I enjoy books in Paris. 

3. The American South
This is especially true for paranormal books. I enjoy the haunting feeling of books set in the American South. This was the primary reason I liked Beautiful Creatures. 

4. Kansas City
I don't think I've ever read a book set in Kansas City. I think it's doable and could be interesting. 

5. A paranormal/fantastical world not too different from our own
Think like Harry Potter. A whole paranormal universe connected to the one we live in, but because we're mortals, we don't realize it. Same goes for fantasy. My boyfriend refers to this as "Paranormal America". 

6. Boarding School
I really enjoy boarding school books, especially if they have elements of #5 in them too. 

7. 19th Century historical fiction
The 19th Century is really interesting in terms of technological and social revolutions.l I really enjoy fiction set in that time, especially if there is some sort of interesting twist (paranormal, steampunk, etc.) 

8. Road trips
I like road trips novels because they are set all over the place! I like the variety of places that one can go in a road trip novel. The possibilities are endless! 



I can only think of eight settings that I really enjoy and would like to see more of. There are settings I really enjoy, but setting isn't necessarily something I prioritize. It's more like, "Oh this book is set this place, I'll have to check it out." 


What settings do you like? What settings do you hate? Let me know in the comments. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2013 Debuts

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, there is a new topic and you make a list based on that topic. This week's topic is "Top Ten 2013 Debuts I'm Looking Forward To" This actually took some research because I am generally not good about keeping up with new releases and debuts- something I hope to be better about this year. 

1. The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd Jan. 29th. 
I mentioned this book in my new releases for January post. It looks really interesting and I'm excited to see how it will turn out. 

2. Pivot Point by Kasie West Feb. 12th 
What if you could see both the outcomes to any choice you make? As someone who is a constant planner/worrier, I find this concept fascinating. 

3. Dualed by Elsie Chapman Feb. 26th 
In order to survive, you have to destroy your alternate- a genetic copy of yourself. Looks super action-packed. 

4. The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett Mar. 5th 
This also looks really good. I really enjoy books about enchanted boarding schools. 

5. The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller May 7th 2013
This is the exact opposite of what you would expect from a typical YA novel. A popular girl who is a nerd deep down. I'm excited to see how the author plays this. 

6. Triangles by Kimberly Ann Miller June 18th 2013
This looks like a fun summer read with a dark place. It takes place on a cruise ship and she ends up living a ton of alternate realities. 

7. Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor July 30th
This looks like a fun girly read with a dark twist.  


8. Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger Feb. 5th
This isn't a debut novel; however, it is her first YA novel so that is kinda the same thing. Summary reminds me of Gallagher Girls, so I am really excited to read  it.  

9. Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed Jan. 22nd
This is another not debut but first YA novel. This mystery looks really appealing and I'm excited to read it. 

10. Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger March 5th
This story looks really unique and I'm excited to read it! 

These are the debuts/first YA novels I'm looking forward to in 2013. What books are you looking forward to?