Welcome back to Top Five Wednesday! This week Chelsey and I talk about our favourite reads of 2014. Yes, I know we’re pretty late to the ballgame and we’re pretty much one month into the new year already… but better late than never!
We decided that were were going to talk about our favourite reads instead of releases. There were a lot of awesome books that we read this year but weren’t released in 2014 and we didn’t want to disqualify them for that.
So, these are the books that were the most memorable and made us the most happy. We’ve done reviews for all of them and I’ll give links at the bottom of the post.
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
1. THE RAVEN CYCLE – MAGGIE STIEFVATER
We went to BookCon and went to the Maggie Stiefvater panel. Chelsey informed me that her book Blue Lily Lily Blue was coming out and we should check out her Raven Cycle series. I agreed and then promptly forgot about it. When we finally got around to reading these books, we were hooked.
We love the characters, we love the world, we love the use of mythology. These books are as close to perfect as you will ever get.
2. THE DISASTER ARTIST – GREG SESTRO & TOM BISSEL
This was a book that surprised us. The Disaster Artist chronicles the creation of the best worst film ever The Room. You find out about all the crazy things that happened behind the scenes of the film. Like how they went through three film crews or how Tommy Wiseau spent a small fortune buying film equipment instead of renting it.
If you like The Room or cult film or just like really random crazy stories that are almost unbelievable, then this book is for you.
3. THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING – ERIKA JOHANSEN
This book was in both of our TBR piles. When I finally picked it up I read it in a record nine hours, that also includes going to work and sleeping. The pacing in this book was perfect, there was never a dull moment and scenes led into one another perfectly. The characters were likeable and believable. In one of our recent episodes of the podcast we talk about how dark fantasy is a really popular genre right now. Tearling wanders into the dark fantasy genre but at the end of the day it’s pretty light. Yes the world is dark and things suck, but the characters are actively trying to make their world a better place.
This is the first book in a trilogy and on top of that Emma Watson bought the rights to film it two weeks before the book even came out. Which means we have some movies to look forward too!
4. THE IRON TRIAL – CASSANDRA CLARE & HOLLY BLACK
This book felt really nostalgic. It was the closest thing we were ever going to get to reading Harry Potter again for the first time.
The Iron Trial was a great take on the traditional chosen one and magic school narratives. You come out of this book with no idea where the rest of the series is going, but you’re excited to see how the story develops. The book is considered middle grade, but it doesn’t pull any punches. We totally recommend you check this book out and get excited for the next book this fall The Copper Gauntlet.
5. THE BROTHERS CABAL – JONATHAN L. HOWARD
Getting this book was the highlight of my reading year.
What’s great about this book is that both Chelsey and I love one of the main characters. We don’t have to fight over them and that gives us flashbacks to our 90s boy band days. I love Johannes because he’s a bundle of laughs (but not really) and Chelsey loves Horst because he’s so blasie about everything and has such a great heart. Then you put the two of them together and its magical. You wouldn’t think that this would work and someone would end up dead (spoilers, that’s what happened the last time).
Horst has been dead for a while and after being brought back he decides to go and find his brother. He’s partly convinced that Johannes is dead but is surprised to find that not only is Johannes alive, but he’s saved the world a few time. Horst is so proud and wants to go find him and hug him forever.
So, those were our favourite reads of 2014! What were yours? Tell us about them in the comments below. What are you excited for that’s coming out in 2015… or well, what’s coming out this year?
Until next week and next Wednesday, Happy Reading!
