My Best of 2014

2014: what a bumper year for reading. I had set a fairly modest target of 100 books for the year, given that once I had finished off my degree in the first half of the year, I would have a good six months or more to complete the target. Then, in early February, I stumbled across some intriguing reading challenges on Pinterest that I was compelled to undertake. I've been tracking my progress throughout the year in the column to the right and regular readers of this blog will know that as the year has drawn to a close, it has become ever-harder to 'fit' my reads into the categories that I've had left. I wasn't able to complete all three of my reading bingo challenges, but that's for another post.

I did manage, however, to complete my original target of 100 books - exactly. According to my Shelfari profile, my 100 reads can be broken down in genres roughly as follows:


Romance - 47
Steampunk - 7
Children's - 4
New adult - 2
Young adult - 16
Anthology/serial -7
Non-fiction - 5
Chick lit - 2
Urban fantasy - 2
Fiction - 4
Fantasy - 3
Crime - 1

Romance clearly takes up the bulk of my reads, but I've used the heading to encompass the sub-genres of contemporary, historical, medieval and erotica, amongst others. About 12 were re-reads and what re-reads they were. 2014 will be memorable not only for discovering new authors and titles, but re-discovering ones that I've loved in the past.

This is now my third 'Best of the year' post since I started this blog in February 2012. It's always hard to narrow down my favourite reads, and this year was no different. I came across my first favourite of the year very early on, and they didn't stop coming. By the end of the year, I had around 20 'favourites' that have been further (painfully) slimmed down, as follows below (in order of review):


1. Deeper by Robin York, a pseudonym for Ruthie Knox (2014) (reviewed 10-03-2014, Grade A+) (YA reading bingo challenge: A book that made you cry)
Ruthie Knox was my favourite new-to-me author of 2013 and this year, she didn't disappoint. 2014 saw Ruthie Knox tryng her hand at new adult, proving that she's just as adept at this hot new genre as she is at contemporary romance. Deeper and its sequel Harder follows college student Caroline Piasecki when she becomes a victim of revenge porn at the hands of her ex-boyfriend. Bad boy West Leavitt is the last person anyone expects to come to Caroline's aid, but he teaches her how to ignore the haters and accept herself and find joy again in her life. A gritty story that will make you cry - in the best way.

Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure by Ruthie Knox

Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure (2014) (Loveswept) (serial)
Ruthie Knox
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance/funny
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley

RBC 2014: A funny book 

Ashley Bowman will do anything and everything she can to stop her late grandmother’s Florida Keys holiday resort being knocked down by a developer – even chain herself to a tree on the grounds just as a hurricane is about to hit. Once she meets Roman Diaz, she’s determined to prove to him exactly how his plans are going to affect the elderly community who have been visiting the resort for years – even if it means she has to drag him across the country to do it.

Harder by Robin York

Harder (2014) (Bantam Dell)
Robin York a.k.a. Ruthie Knox
Grade: A+
Genre: New Adult
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
Caroline & West: (1) Deeper, (2) Harder

YA Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book without a love triangle

A year ago, Caroline Piasecki’s life was turned upside down when she became a victim of revenge porn. Thanks to her ex-boyfriend, everyone at college suddenly knew who she was, what she looked like naked, and she was receiving daily explicit messages from strangers taking advantage of her plight. A less-than-conventional relationship with campus bad-boy West Leavitt makes her happier than she’s ever been, giving her the confidence to overcome this hurdle in her life – until family circumstances force West to give up his scholarship and return home to Oregon.

Deeper by Robin York

Deeper (2014) (Bantam Dell)

Robin York a.k.a. Ruthie Knox

Grade: A+

Genre: New Adult

Sex scenes: hot

Source: NetGalley 

Caroline & West: (1) Deeper, (2) Harder

YA Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book that made you cry

Warning: intentionally crude language ahead. 

Caroline Piasecki was always the good girl: a good daughter to her widower father, a good student planning to follow her father into the law and a good girlfriend of three years to her high-school boyfriend. That is, until she broke up with Nate the summer before she returned to Putnam for her sophomore year in what she thought was an amicable break-up. When her naked pictures are suddenly all over the Internet attached with her name, home town and college, Caroline’s knows her good girl status is lost forever. Instead, she’s a slut, a whore, a dirty bitch who deserves what’s coming to her. That’s what the anonymous messages all echo and what the refrain in her head drums repeatedly like a broken record: she deserved it.

My Best of 2013

2013 was a fantastic year. I had planned to write a LOT more reviews, but that unfortunately didn't happen, resulting in the rather dry few months I had at the end of the year. Apologies.

Like my 'Best of 2012' post last year, this is a round-up of the best books I read in 2013. I've had a LOT of favourites this year and so it was excruciatingly difficult in trying to decide what should and couldn't make the list. The following are listed in their order of review. I hope this inspires you to add a few books to your TBR list!


1. Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox (2012) (reviewed 14-1-2013, Grade A)
Just as Tiffany Reisz was my favourite new-to-me author of 2012 and as Gail Carriger held that title in 2011, Ruthie Knox was my favourite new author of 2013. I ended up reading four of her novels (Ride With Me, Along Came Trouble, Flirting With Diaster and Making it Last) but Ride With Me easily topped the list. Lexie needs a cycling partner for the TransAm cycling route across America, but once prospective partners find out she's a woman, they can't backtrack fast enough. Tom is tricked into becoming 'Alex's' cycling partner by his sister and it doesn't bode for an easy partnership. Their first ten minutes is plagued by a puncture - cue a very memorable scene involving some very hot tongue action!

Timeless by Gail Carriger

Timeless (2012) (Orbit)
Gail Carriger
Grade: A+
Genre: steampunk / historical
Sex scenes: very mild
Source: own 
Parasol Protectorate: (1) Soulless, (2) Changeless, (3) Blameless, (4) Heartless, (5) Timeless

Alexia Tarrabotti Maccon and her husband, Conall Maccon, have gotten used to their new home in Lord Akeldama’s third closet. A household of vampires and werewolves living next door to each other might theoretically be a recipe for disaster, but Akeldama’s drones (wannabe vampires in waiting) have acclimated well and serve their resident pack without complaint.

Making it Last by Ruthie Knox

Making it Last (2013) (novella)
Ruthie Knox
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
Camelot series: (1) How to Misbehave, (2) Along Came Trouble, (3) Flirting with Disaster, (4) Making it Last

Amber Mazzara has been married for ten years, loves her three kids to pieces, but has had enough. After ten years of constantly having to look after at least one child, all her boys are now in school, leaving her bereft as she waits at home for them to finish school; her husband Tony is forced to travel to where the work is as the housing market has yet to pick up, and Amber feels like she’s losing herself.

Flirting with Disaster by Ruthie Knox

Flirting with Disaster (2013)
Ruthie Knox
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
Camelot series: (1) How to Misbehave, (2) Along Came Trouble, (3) Flirting with Disaster, (4) Making it Last

Katie Clark is recently divorced and finally making something of herself in her hometown of Camelot, Ohio. Married straight out of school, she followed her husband, Levi, as he pursued his dream in Alaska. They couldn’t afford two sets of tuition fees, and so Katie gallantly agreed to work while Levi took classes, waiting her turn. Then, several years went by as Levi started his business and Katie pitched in, and school became a distant dream. When Levi then ran off with all their money, Katie had no choice but to return home, telling no one of what had happened to her.

Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox

Along Came Trouble (2013)
Ruthie Knox
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
Camelot: (1) How to Misbehave, (2) Along Came Trouble, (3) Flirting with Disaster, (4) Making it Last

Ellen Callahan might love her brother to pieces, but the reporters camped out on her driveway and sneaking up to her house from the back woods, are too much to bear for the entertainment-lawyer sister of a world-famous pop star. She has a young son to think of and doesn’t care for the fact that the reporters are making her their subject, second-best for when they can’t get shots of Carly, Ellen’s neighbour. At 7 months pregnant and the recent ex-girlfriend of Jamie Callahan, Carly is hot news, especially since Jamie’s not the father. Jamie might be powerless while he’s in LA, but he’s bringing in reinforcements.

Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox

Ride With Me (2012)

Ruthie Knox

Grade: A

Genre: contemporary romance, road romance

Sex scenes: HOT

Source: own, eBook

Of the 135 rejections I got from NetGalley in 2012, Ride With Me is probably the one that hurt the most, and I hadn’t even cracked open a Ruthie Knox book before. I’m not sure whether I first saw it on NetGalley and it caught my eye, or Heroes and Heartbreakers did a feature on it, but either way, I previewed it on Amazon and with less than two chapters, I was HOOKED. Ten minutes into a 4000 mile bike ride from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia, Lexie has a flat that Tom finds with his tongue. Yes, that’s right. Unbelievably hot. Read below if you don’t believe me. Frustrated is a good word to describe how I was feeling when my request was rejected!