Hello everyone and welcome to December! Its been a wild year full of wonderful (and not so wonderful) books!
I thought I’d start a fun book tag to round out the year. I’m doing a kind of “academy award” ceremony for the books I’ve read in 2015. If you do the tag, feel free to change the categories as you wish! The goal here is really to celebrate some our favorite reads of the year, and to act as a way of recommending these books to our fellow readers!
Enjoy and happy reading!
Most Kick-Butt Heroine
Celeana from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Why?: Celeana is the best assassin in the world by the time she is 18. It’d be pretty hard to beat her for most “kick-butt” heroine!
Most Intelligent Heroine
Kestral from The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Why?: I just love that it is her intellect which is stressed as being her greatest asset. What a wonderful change from the typical looks or fighting skills!
Most Swoony-worth male character
Major Tarver Merendsen from These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Why?: This was a tough choice because theres so many but the Major is just so awesome; he’s strong and fierce, but funny and poetic also. I just love him.
Best political drama
The Winner’s Series by Marie Rutkoski
Why?: I just love the complex and multi-layered political world that Rutkoski creates in her Winner’s series. The sequel, The Winner’s Crime is particularly intense!
Best star-crossed lovers
Angelfall by Susan Ee
Why?: This was a tough one because I love star-crossed or unlikely lovers stories, so I have a lot to choose from. But I’m trying not to repeat books during this post too much so I’m going to go with Penryn and Rafi from Angelfall. I love their journey and their differences!
Best surprise (twist, cliff hanger, or ending)
Darken the Stars by Amy A. Bartol
Why?: This is the final book int he Kricket series and this series was full of twists and turns that I was not expecting. But the final book, Darken the Stars, really goes in an unexpected direction and the ending was completely shocking to me! I never saw that coming!
Best fairy tale retelling
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Why?: This was a really great fairy-tale retelling, and even though I knew it was a re-telling, I was still pleasantly surprised by a lot of what happens in the books. It manages to stay true to the fairy-tale, and yet avoids being predictable or repetitive. Sarah J Maas is shaping up to be a most excellent story teller!
Best “didn’t expect to like it, but loved it” book
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Why?: Based on the synopsis of this book I really didn’t think I’d like it. I thought it was going to be just the typical love interest angst, and probably a love triangle. But the synopsis of this book is so not a good indicator of the book itself. I am blown away by the beauty and poetry of this story, and am obsessed with the display of friendship between Blue and the Raven Boys. What a surprisingly deep, touching, and wonderful story!
Best side-kick or best friend character
Kat from Alice in Zombieland
Why?: Kat is something of a break-out character in this series. She starts out as a side-character but she steals the show with her wit, wisdom, and honesty. I love “laugh out loud” antics!
Best debut author book
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Why?: Kat is something of a break-out character in this series. She starts out as a side-character but she steals the show with her wit, wisdom, and honesty. I love “laugh out loud” antics!
Best “little known” book
Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
Why?: I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this book, especially because its actually the second book in a series, and its far better even than its predecessor. This book had a great romance, complex characters, great twists, and an very original story-line (even though its actually inspired by a classic!). I just loved the characters, the politics, and the moral dilemmas dealt with in this story. Excellent!
Best series, overall
The Starbound series by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Why?: I can’t say enough good things about this series (which is not complete). It has totally blown me away this year. Its a sort of romantic, and yet still intense, emotional, political, dramatic, and epic sci-fi “space opera” adventure. The characters are all fully developed and unique from each other, the authors play with gender norms, and the action and moral implications of the outcomes are fully realized. Its a superb and very original series. In fact I haven’t been able to find anything that compares in its genre!
Best Book, overall
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Why?:This book is simply mind blowing. The writing is complex and utterly unique. This book is standing its genre on its head and changing what we think of when we think of a “sci-fi” book. Fantastically compelling, action packed, and full of twists, this is a nonstop ride through literary excellence. If you’re only going to read one sci-fi book, you might choose this one
Ok thats it for my Book-ademy awards for 2015! It’ve read A TON of books this year, especially YA and it is really hard to chose a “best,” but I’m fairly happy with my choices!
I’d love love love to see what some of the “book-ademy” awards are that you would give this year, so I hope a lot of you guys choose to do this tag. Please feel absolutely free to change the categories, but a link to my is always most appreciated!
Happy Reading as we go into 2016!
I tag:
Nikka @ Paper & Trees
Alahna @ The Charmed Reader
Samantha @ Thoughts on Tomes
Michella @ YA Books Girl
Emma @ Little Book Wyrm
Marie @ Mari Likes Big Books
Olivia @ Heir of Glitter
Aimee, Marga, & Zoe @ Deadly Darlings
Michelle @ Michelle, Books and Movies Addict
Tab and Cam @ The Geek Couple
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