Bed with Books

Time to find out what I personally recommend to you, my lovely bibliophiles!!! After what I hope was a bookish Christmas full of gift cards and novels wrapped in pretty, festive paper, I am bringing to you the fifth annual Stand-Out Books of the Year post! Being that I am working full-time and sadly have less time to read than I used to, a lot of my numbers have dropped when it comes to statistics. However, what has not changed is the fact that there are a whole lot of books that stood out to me in 2014! As always, the books don’t have to have been released in 2014 – I’ll just have read and/or reviewed them in 2014. So: How many books did I read? 120 That's 45 less than in 2013. How many pages did I read? 41,186 That's 15,123 less than in 2013. How many pages, on average, did I read per day? 113 That's 41 less than in 2013. Like I said – far busier as I get older – but a bibliophile I shall always be!!! This year there are a whopping 44 books on the Stand-Out Books of...

Love Me is the second book in the YA 1930s Hollywood Starstruck series by Rachel Shukert. As this is a highly serialized series, I strongly suggest that you read Starstruck – reviewed in October - before Love Me . Ya hear? If you have yet to read Starstruck , avert your eyes from this synopsis… After becoming an overnight sensation and sparkling movie star, Margaret Frobisher is now truly Margo Sterling. She’s also involved with heartthrob Dane Forrest – someone whose picture was over her bed back in Pasadena not that long ago. Now the issue is not losing it all… Amanda Farraday is nursing a broken heart after her seedy past as Ginger was revealed to Harry Gordon, hotshot screenwriter. She’s sure if she could only talk to him she could convince him that the love they have overcomes her scandalous former life… Popping pills and downing alcohol is getting easier and easier for childhood vaudeville star Gabby. She’s still waiting for her big break after Harry Gordon decided to go in a d...

Title: Four Author: Veronica Roth Series: Divergent (Short Story Collection) Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books Release Date: 8 July 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0007582891 Synopsis Two years before Beatrice Prior makes her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader does the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is his chance to begin again. Newly renamed 'Four' he discovers that initiation is only the beginning. Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. And his decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system. Two years later, Four is poised to act but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her it might become possible to be Tobias once again. My Review I was so excited when this came out, but I haven't bo...

Title: Take Me On Author: Katie McGarry Series: Pushing the Limits (Book 4) Publisher: MIRA Ink Release Date: 6 Jun 2014 ISBN-13: 978-1848452909 Synopsis Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from. Yet he won't last five seconds in the ring without her help. West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping him fighting for her is a shot at redemption. Especially since it' s his fault her family is falling apart. He can't change the past, but maybe he can change Haley's future. Hayley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they'll f...

Princess of Thorns is a YA fantasy Sleeping Beauty retelling by Stacey Jay. Sleeping Beauty’s story did not end with Happily Ever After. Instead, she sacrificed her life in the arms of her seven year old daughter Aurora in order to give Aurora her fairy magic – and a chance to survive the coup of the murderous ogres. Now, ten years later, Aurora has learned that magic always has an unexpected, bitter result – and though it has given her excellent fighting skills and a merciful heart, it also has barred her from ever having true romantic love. When her younger brother, Jor, is captured by the Ogre Queen, she sets off to raise an army to rescue him while dressed as a boy and hunted by the Ogre Queen’s followers. Meanwhile, Prince Niklaas is searching for Aurora – his life depends on it. A curse laid down by his own father leaves him with only days before his fateful eighteenth birthday – a birthday that will claim his humanity, as it did his ten older brothers. His only hope, as he was ...

Synopsis for Awoken :         Around the world humans are hallucinating after sleepless nights. In a sterile, underground institute the forecasters keep reporting the same events. And in the backwoods of Texas, a sixteen-year-old girl is about to be caught up in a fierce, ethereal battle. Meet Roya Stark. She drowns every night in her dreams, spends her hours reading classic literature to avoid her family’s ridicule, and is prone to premonitions—which are becoming more frequent. And now her dreams are filled with strangers offering to reveal what she has always wanted to know: Who is she? That’s the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. But will Roya live to regret learning the truth? Links: www.sarahnoffke.com https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/9830676.Sarah_ Noffke https://www.facebook.com/ officialsarahnoffke bit.ly/TheLucidites BIO Sarah Noffke is the author of The Lucidites Series. She’s been everything from a corpor...

Preston  and Nick endured the breakup of all breakups when Nick accused her of cheating on him. He insisted, and she denied while the rain pounded against her driveway and thunder roared in the distance. Then they both ran –  Preston  to a life of Rock and Roll, and Nick to a career in the Army.   Over four years later, they’re damaged and broken almost beyond repair. He’s carrying baggage from his military days, and she bears the scars of living a lifestyle she’s grown to hate.   When  Preston ’s label forces her to take time away from music, their paths cross in a parking lot not twenty-four hours after her hometown return, anger and sparks flying in a confusing blend. But regardless of the feelings neither has been able to shake, too many lies and secrets stand in the way of the one thing they need in order to recover.   Each other. http://www.amazon.com/Tail- Lights-Lyric-Book-1-ebook/dp/ B00PBV1EEE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8& qid=141554899...

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a middle grade fantasy for all ages by Catherynnne M. Valente. Twelve-year-old September has gotten rather tired of the sameness of each day – washing the same dishes, sleeping on the same pillow, etc. That is why she leaps at the chance to go to Fairyland when the Green Wind and his flying leopard extend an invitation. Adventure at last! Yet Fairyland is in turmoil – things are not as they once were now that the evil Marquess is ruling after the suspicious disappearance of the beloved Queen Mallow. With the help of a dragon-like creature who has memorized A-through-L of the encyclopedia and a blue boy who is almost, but not quite, human – September will try to restore Fairyland back to its former glory. Days after finishing The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making I am still thinking about it! The prose and plot is astonishingly rich in its cleverness, inventiveness and beauty. I had to ex...

The Last Enchantress by Scott & Judith Powell Being nineteen for over three hundred years bites, and being single in New York with magical powers isn't much better. Eva is trying to live an everyday life in New York. When this fails, she takes a seemingly unmagical job as a translator for a wealthy American family in Spain. Eva cannot stay out of trouble for long as she runs into a friendly but hungry vampire named Louis. Eva feels drawn to this handsome, dangerous stranger who has problems of his own. Louis's life was just fine until Eva walked into his church. She smells like heaven. Or is it hell, always smelling but never partaking? Surely she is the devil coming to collect on his lost soul. Amazon Download a FREE copy of The Last Enchantress Available December 15th to 17th Author Biography Scott Powell was born in Burlington, Vermont, to a father who was a police officer and a mother who emigrated from South Korea. He received a degree in marketing from the University...

Title: Eternal Author: C C Hunter Series: Shadow Falls After Dark (Book 2) Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Release Date: 28 Oct 2014 ISBN13: 9781250044617 Synopsis All her life, Della's secret powers have made her feel separated from her human family. Now, she's where she belongs, at Shadow Falls. With the help of her best friends Kylie and Miranda, she’ll try to prove herself in the paranormal world as an investigator—all the while trying to figure out her own heart. Should she chose Chase, a powerful vampire with whom she shares a special bond? Or Steve, the hot shapeshifter whose kisses make her weak in the knees? When a person with dark connection to her past shows up, it’ll help her decide which guy to choose–and make her question everything she knows about herself.   My Review As soon as I know there is a new book by CC out I go totally crazy, I couldn't wait for this one and discovering more about Della. The day this book arrived I was literally ju...

Follow Friday is an opportunity to discover and follow other book related blogs! Want to join? Check it out at Parajunkee or Alison Can Read   This week's question feature is MIA Do you have a favourite place to read?   via  Liberamans My Answer: Not really, anywhere I can curl up with a book is fine. But I tend to do most of my reading on the sofa at home. Happy Hopping and Blogging!    

Title: The Hobbit (Or There and Back Again) Author: J.R.R. Tolkien Series: Middle Earth Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books Release Date: 7th November 2013 (this version) Originally Published: 1937 Synopsis Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon… My Review That's right, I had never read The Hobbit before. Apparently this was very shocking! I saw the first 2 Lord of the Rings films as a child and really didn't like them, i think i was too young for them and just wasn't into that thing at the time, but because of that I had avoided the series from then on. But a...