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.

A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton

These past three-and-a-half weeks have been a crazy haze of essay writing, editing, reading and revision. I have pretty much lost all sense of dates and days of the week, but there remains a ticking countdown in my head checking off the days and hours until my degree is finally over. I'm handing in four essays totalling 15,000 words in four days, my first exam starts in five days and the last exam of my academic career is in twelve. As much as I can't wait for the freedom, I also wouldn't mind if another couple of weeks materialised somewhere so I can revise some more!

Anyway, that's the reason why the blog has been dead for a month. A Dark and Twisted Tide was one of my most anticipated books for 2014 and is published today (8 May) and so here's my review. Now, back to the edits and revision ...


A Dark and Twisted Tide (2014) (Bantam Press)
Sharon Bolton
Grade: A-
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Sex scenes: MORE sexual tension
Source: NetGalley
Lacey Flint: (1) Now You See Me, (1.5) If Snow Hadn't Fallen, (2) Dead Scared, (3) Like This, For Ever, (4) A Dark and Twisted Tide

Fiction Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book by a female author 

Crime keeps coming to find former detective Lacey Flint. After her last big case, Lacey took the difficult decision of going back into uniform and taking life easy – or so she’d hoped. She’s now part of the Thames Marine Unit, getting used to living on a houseboat and her new peaceful lifestyle, but murder has other ideas. Swimming in the Thames one morning, Lacey comes across a body laboriously wrapped and preserved in some sort of burial ritual that the police are unable to identify. Lacey can’t help but get involved and her former team are more than willing to have her back.

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!

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star (2011) (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Maureen Johnson
Grade: A
Genre: YA
Source: own
Shades of London: (1) The Name of the Star, (2) The Madness Underneath

Aurora 'Rory' Devereux is an American in England and about to start school during the worst time to be in London. Someone is committing Jack the Ripper-style murders, replicating the scenes almost down to the name of the victim. Wexford is bang in the middle of the crime scenes, and Ripper tours are passing by the gates every day, with everyone on the edge waiting for the next date of when the second murder took place.

Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton

I read and started this review at the end of March, straight after I read If Snow Hadn't Fallen. Yes, it's taken me this long to finish it - whoops. Here you go. Beware of hyperbole.

Like This, For Ever (2013) (Lost in the U.S.) (Bantam Press)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller horror
Sex scenes: n/a, but seriously the most frustrating sexual tension I've ever read
Source: NetGalley
Lacey Flint series: (1) Now You See Me, (1.5) If Snow Hadn't Fallen, (2) Dead Scared, (3) Like This, For Ever

S. J. Bolton scares the living shit out of me.

And yes, that’s exaggerating just a little, but it’s 3:24am, I’ve been reading for something like 5 hours, couldn’t wait to start reviewing and considering how much of my EU essay I’ve neglected, I’m in the exaggerating mood.

In just eight weeks, five young boys between 10 and 11 years old have gone missing around London, and the killer is picking up the pace. The victims are disappearing faster and bodies are turning up quicker; the latest discovery of the bodies of twin brothers Jason and Joshua is just one more reason for parents across the capital to give their sons curfews. It won’t be long before the Met starts getting the blame.

The Prince by Tiffany Reisz

The Prince (2012)
Tiffany Reisz
Grade: A
Genre: erotica
Sex scenes: This is Tiffany Reisz - nuff said
Source: NetGalley 
The Original Sinners (The Red Years): (prequel) Seven Day Loan (1) The Siren, (2) The Angel, (3) The Prince, (4) The Mistress

If you’re familiar with my blog, then you’re aware of how difficult I find it to write reviews with as few spoilers as possible. When I was given The Prince on the condition that my review was free of spoilers, I found myself faced with a Herculean task. Don’t get me wrong, it makes perfect sense: The Prince is book three of Ms Reisz’s Original Sinners series and any review has to appeal to readers who have already started the series as well as those who are new to it. Considering that The Original Sinners is the quite possibly the most explosive and twist-heavy series that I’ve ever read, I think all reviewers who conform to the brief should be getting a medal or something. Or, even better, a signed ARC of The Mistress – we deserve it.

Back to the story. It’s the day that we never dreamed of happening: Nora has left Søren. For Wesley.

If Snow Hadn't Fallen by S. J. Bolton

There are a dozen other books I should be reviewing before I do this one, but I can't help myself.

If Snow Hadn't Fallen (2013) (short story) (book 1.5 in the Lacey Flint series)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller horror
Source: own, eBook 
Lacey Flint series: (1) Now You See Me; (2) Dead Scared

Ever wonder what Lacey got up to between the closing of Now You See Me and the opening of Dead Scared? Now is your chance to find out …

It’s like trouble follows DC Lacey Flint’s heel like a loyal Labrador. Off-duty and on her way home, there’s a call for assistance on her radio, just a stone’s throw away from her flat. Instinct and duty prompt her to answer it, but it’s not the teenage scuffle or canoodling couple that she expected to break up and hurry along. Five masked persons surround a burning pyre in the centre of the park. A burning pyre of human flesh that’s still alive. Lacey’s appearance sends the perpetrators running, but with such extensive burns, there’s little she can do to prevent death.

My Best Of 2012

This is a rather delayed round-up of 2012, but better late than never. I'm sorely disappointed with my reading statistics for 2012 (102 books) and while it's understandable that I hardly had any time to read, I'd like 2013 to be better. Can't see how that's going to happen, but I've set myself a more manageable goal of 100 books for 2013 and it would be a tragedy if I couldn't even manage that.

I found some fantastic authors in 2012 and there's a number of books that have made it to my keepers shelf, so I wanted to take some time to share these with you all. These are by no means all books that were released in 2012, just my favourite of the year, so here goes my top eleven of the past year in the order in which they were reviewed:

1. Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts (1988) (reviewed 29-4-2012 grade A+)
Given the sheer quantity of books that NR has published (over 200), the fact that I'm close to reading three-quarters of them and her genius at storytelling in general, there's a lot to choose from when picking my favourite. For a long time, Honest Illusions occupied that coveted spot but Sweet Revenge has by the tiniest margin knocked it off - at least, until I can get my hands on the former again for a re-read. Fantastic cast whose protagonists have possibly my all-time favourite occupation for fictional characters (thieves), brilliant writing, dialogue and just a wonderful feel-good story.

Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton

Sacrifice (2008)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller horror

Source: library

In my experience, ‘S. J. Bolton’ and ‘happy endings’ are not used together in the same sentence. Now, I’ve only been blogging seven months, but I’ve already reviewed Awakening, Now You See Me, Blood Harvest and Dead Scared; Sacrifice makes it a full complement. I would describe none of the first four titles as having a happy ending. Sure, the crimes are solved, the bad guy is locked away/punished and the protagonists are no longer in danger, but their futures are often left uncertain and Ms Bolton perversely leaves us unsatisfied with the paths she’s made for the characters we’ve come to love. The exception is the secondary couple in Dead Scared, so there’s some hope left in me yet for her future works.

Sacrifice was Ms Bolton’s first novel and it’s a chilling and stunning debut. Annoyingly, it’s the book I’ve read last, but what can you do. It’s terrifyingly good and I’m finding it very hard to measure it against her other novels; one thing I do know is that it is a definite keeper.

Dead Scared by Sharon Bolton

Dead Scared (2012) (Bantam Press)
Sharon Bolton
Grade: B+
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Source: own
Lacey Flint: (1) Now You See Me, (1.5) If Snow Hadn't Fallen, (2) Dead Scared

Straight-up compelling.

I read this in something like four hours straight, until past 2AM, despite the fact that I knew I had to be up at 6.30 that day to be on campus for 8. Each time I looked at my phone, I'd tell myself 'at 11' which would then become 'at 12' and you get the picture. I might not have liked it as much as Now You See Me, but I think Dead Scared has the edge when it comes to the unputtable-down factor.

Cambridge University has, in DI Joesbury's own words, "[developed] a very unhealthy record when it comes to young people taking their own lives." Twenty students have committed suicide in the last five years and Head of Student Counselling, Evi Oliver doesn't believe that it's a coincidence that the mostly female suicidees all chose inventive, violent methods to end their lives. She contacts her old university friend Dana Tulloch who then refers it on until it lands in Joesbury's hands. He needs Lacey to pose as a vulnerable student to see if she discovers any underground network that is working to glorify and encourage suicidal behaviour.

Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton

Blood Harvest (2010)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: B+
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Source: library

Alice and Gareth Fletcher have lived in the little village of Heptonclough with their three young children for a few months, but the community still hasn't really accepted them. If anything, Heptonclough are trying to get them to leave. The Fletchers are not at all fazed by the fact that their new house is next to a church and surrounded by a graveyard, which I guess is ominous in itself. When the new vicar Harry Laycock arrives in town to reopen the church for worship, they bond over their common outsider status and become fast friends.

Tom is ten years old and at that age where he's determined not to run complaining to his parents when he's bullied and pranked at school. But it isn't just the bullies that have him constantly on edge. He doesn't feel safe playing in his own garden and being the eldest child, he feels that it is his responsibility to ensure that five-year-old Joe and two-year-old Milly are safe. Tom knows that someone is watching them, but can't get any solid proof to take to his parents. To make matters worse, Joe and Milly are perfectly comfortable in 'Ebba's' company and seem to be conspiring against Tom when he tries to convince his parents and Harry that someone has been watching them.

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton

Now You See Me (2011) (Bantam Press)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Sex scenes: n/a but again, even better sexual tension than Awakening
Source: Transworld/RHCB building / NetGalley
Lacey Flint: (1) Now You See Me

Jack the Ripper has become somewhat of a mythical figure since the days he stalked the streets of Whitechapel, disemboweling women in populated areas with not a single scream to give him away. As the theories have developed, the already murky truth got murkier as the stories distorted; Now You See Me lays out many of these theories and Ms Bolton follows the path of the one she feels is most credible, leaving the reader to question whether this take on history is indeed what really happened, and if not, which other theory might be right.

Most scholars agree that Jack was only responsible for five of the murders that took place; the others were the result of copycats. In Now You See Me, the killer is imitating the murders usually attributed to Jack, and the police - much like as they had been in the nineteenth century - are helpless to stop him.

Awakening by S.J. Bolton

Awakening (2009)
S.J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: Gothic thriller crime (from the mouth of the lovely Sharon Bolton herself)
Sex scenes: n/a but some wonderful sexual tension
Source: bookshelf in the Transworld/RHCB building

Clara Benning is very happy as a wildlife vet in Dorset, tending injured badgers, birds and hedgehogs as well as the more mundane household pets, despite being perfectly qualified to work in a big zoo - something she tried but didn't like. Quiet village life suits her, though Clara makes a concerted effort to avoid seeing and coversing with the few neighbours she has; despite being deliberately blunt and rude, her neighbours continue to be nothing but friendly. When Clara begins to see an increasing number of snake cases, she refuses to believe it to be the work of the local gang as many suspect; herpetology being a speciality of hers, she investigates deeper.