I swear, my body clock is positively screwed over. It's freaking 7.40AM here as I type this and I had 0% of sleep, I'm not kidding when I'm saying I tried sleeping for 3 hours. And I'm still crazy wide awake. It's already 2016 here by the way. (It can be presumed that this year already hate me - like seriously, it wants me to die from lack of sleep on the 1st of January.) It could be due to the fact I had two cups of coffee at 8pm yesterday or something like that. But come on, a little caffeine can't hurt?
I want to start this year by saying 2016 is going to suck. Because YAY HAPPY O-LEVELS YEAR. If you don't know, it's the 'Ordinary Level' Exam which is totally not ordinary at all because it's a Cambridge examination and also a national examination where I live. I know you see where I'm going with this. I spent 2015 preparing for this examination and now I'm dedicating 2016 to it. #justshootmeplease
I want to start this year by saying 2016 is going to suck. Because YAY HAPPY O-LEVELS YEAR. If you don't know, it's the 'Ordinary Level' Exam which is totally not ordinary at all because it's a Cambridge examination and also a national examination where I live. I know you see where I'm going with this. I spent 2015 preparing for this examination and now I'm dedicating 2016 to it. #justshootmeplease
Moving on from me spreading my joy and happiness for the upcoming 2016 days, YAY to my top 15 favourites of this year! Now I'm just going to head over to goodreads to check if I even have 15 favourites this year :::::::::D
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Let's go with 13 instead :D
Note that they are not ranked in any particular order, I love them all for different reasons.
An Ember in the Ashes It's one of my favourite books! Of course I would tell you why I love it and convince you to read it right?! Nope, not really if my memory of it is blurred. Oh she can't even remember it! It mustn't have been that good! Truth be told, I have terrible memory and all books I've read vague details. (Sorry man, my brain has to make space for geography, chemistry, physics, literature stuff.) Just to tell you there's one thing I clearly remember, I remember loving this. I don't have much faith in dystopian really - I see you, dystopia-ness stop acting fantasy. What are reviews for? Here you go ;) MINE |
NEXT UP
A Breath of Frost Again, another book I have a vague memory of. To sum up here are some words I would totally describe it with:
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The next best-moments-of-my-year-in-some-paper goes to:
Crown of Midnight It's a I-still-can't get-over-this-book kind of book. This book is bound to stay in my forever in love list. Contrary to the majority's opinion of each sequel in the series getting better and better, I still stand by my opinion that Crown of Midnight is by far the best book in the series. It's got everything: bad ass, hot, sassy, action, mystery, Chaol (cross my heart, I'm not biased). This book is almost perfect. Almost. To this date, I think it can still be considered a controversy for readers of this book but again, my stand on this issue doesn't change - SJM I see what you're trying to do there. A little warning: the entire internet is filled with spoilers for this book. Check out my review for more on this book! |
NEXT
Pivot Point I'm happy to announce that Kasie West is officially in my favourite author list. This book is fantastic. Marvelous. Hilarious. Cute. Fun. Everything. The characters were extremely likable, especially our protagonist Addie, she's quirky and smart. Most importantly, she cherishes friendship a lot a lot more than our YA protagonists these days. Pivot point explores a unique world of supernatural abilities. And of course what fun would it be if it wasn't lighthearted and chick-lit ish ;) Trust me on this one. Review: Got you covered. |
More of Kasie West obviously. Hey, she just joined my favourite authors club!
The Distance Between Us Mediocre. But this is the first contemporary read I truly loved. Maybe Kasie has her own way with words, sarcasm and characters. This book was just full of everything. Somehow Kasie always manages to do it, with fantastic characters, a unique protagonist. As for Caymen, she can literally get a degree for dry sarcasm. The ending might come off as a bit abrupt but alls good. (Unfortunately, I did not type a review for this when I still had a fresh memory of it oops) |
Do you even need to guess whose book is up next?
The Fill-in Boyfriend Let's face it. Kasie has some sort of magic. Though, I suppose this is one of her not-so-well-received books but hey I loved it! I felt that this concept of "fake boyfriend" was handled really well here and I can absolutely understand why readers disliked Gia. I mean, to like this book you really have to get pass how annoying she was at first. She was a huge brat but she grew, a lot, and realise the world isn't always about her. Since I felt really bad for not reviewing The Distance Between Us, I made sure I reviewed this one. Read it here. |
Well, as for the next book I am vaguely surprised by how much I loved it.
Dangerous Girls This might have been the first mystery/thriller books I've read. But I tend to avoid this genre a lot because I always end up unamused by exactly how predictable it was. I just guess the ending in a snap of my fingers. I'm not going to tell you this is very different. I did guess the murderer way beforehand. But Haas' writing is so evocative and compelling, it really gets you thinking and reading on. And believe me, this book will stay on your mind for a really long time. You will never stop thinking about it. As usual, you can read my review here. |
I mean, I've really been hung up on romance in 2015 so don't mind me.
Illusions of Fate For one, I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. If I were to describe this, it would basically be - a fantasy book, fun sized. Not only does it deliver some good action, magic and however vague (given that it's one short book), a little world building. It's definitely for anyone who wants to read a short, fun and attention-grabbing fantasy book. What really won me over for this book is really the undeniably cute romance. Like everyone should read this because romance. And if you are interested to continue reading about my hard-selling and fangirl mess of a review, you are welcome to do so here. |
Next, isn't really romance... well, okay it is. But it was fantastic.
Poison Study With that sort of cover, I was completely sold before I even started reading this. Though, my version of the book is the first edition but you have no idea how badly I want this version of the cover which is so unfortunately unavailable in a physical copy. This may be one of my favourite reads and all of my favourites, I actually give full 5 stars. Poison Study, on the other hand, I'm still very conflicted so I guess it's the only book I can't give solid 5 but it is without doubt one of my favourites. For more of my opinion on this book, continue reading here. |
I would swear the next book isn't about romance but I would be lying.
| Finding Audrey Honestly, if you are looking for romance in this book though, it's not going to happen. I consider the romance aspect of this a very minor subplot despite the summary of the book saying otherwise. This was an extremely unique book anyone and everyone should read. It focuses on family relationships and really brings out the best in families, one of which is the unity despite the daily bickering. Not only does it do that, it also humours you constantly on every page. It's very comical seriously if you haven't read it, you're missing a lot. Got you covered with another review! |
Okay, we're reaching the end soon, please continue to be patient with me...
Hex Hall So I read this more than a year ago. And I have terrible memory. And I hardly have a decent review for this. And I know the cover is hideous but just ignore it. Because this book is bloody fantastic, at least that's what I recall from my vague memory. It's super humourous and well, I have the whole trilogy stacked on my shelf and I know I should be guilty I haven't continued yet. But rest assured I will. In the mean time, if you haven'tread this, you should totally check this out. I promise it'll be worth it. |
As for the last two books, I have officially become a huge fan of this particular author.
Vicious If you haven't read this book, I say you stop reading my post and go get one copy immediately. V. E. Schwab is probably one of the most underrated authors ever. Just compare it to all the hyped authors, seriously you'll see what I mean. This book deals with a lot of psychological stuff and I do consider it a mild thriller too. It's addictive and you can't stop reading. When you finish it, you just can't stop thinking about it. You can't stop thinking how perfect everything was and that Schwab is a genius. Superheroes and villains, as cliche as it might sound, that's what you get in this book. For more of my thoughts, click here. |
Lastly,of course, we have to end on a big bang.
A Darker Shade of Magic Reading this book was honestly one of the best things that ever happened to me in life.You have no idea how magical, how compelling, how colourful this book was. I absolutely love every aspect of the book whether it was the relationships, world, characters, plot. Everything was there not for the sake of being there but all of them were there to weave together a perfect masterpiece. As i write this, I have already finished the second book of the series. And I shit you not, you gets better and better and a lot better than the first book. Really if you haven't read this book, same thing - drop everything you are doing and grab a copy at once. And well if you're interested in more of my thoughts on this, my review is always here. |
So that's it for my favourite books in 2015. I'm very well aware it's already May 2016, and I have been so busy and tied up this year I barely have any time for reviews. At least the good news is that this overdue post is finally out. Since I took approximately half a year to do this one, well now would be a great time to start preparing my favourite reads of 2016 post so as to get it out in time. Until my next post, bye! :D