It’s a complete coincidence, but my Top 10 is pretty much a combination of Aila and Jenna’s Top 10 Books of 2015, they have good taste guys. Just sayin’.
It’s been a truly fantastic year of 2015 releases and books that I finally picked up this year. It’s always the hardest thing to pick my top favourites and I really struggled with this one! But in 2015, I found some of my favourite reads, I cried to these books, I hugged and felt SO much with these books, I held my breath and was absolutely exhilarated with these books and these characters found their ways into my heart. All of these books touched me in such a profound way that I’m pleased to give them the title of the top 10 favourite books of the year!
10. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell – Our Discussion Review
Jenna and Aila will agree with me but Simon and Baz are one of, if not THE OTP of the year for me. Although it had a slow start, the longing that Simon felt for Baz and just the amount of adorable encounters that just made your heart MELT when they kissed was so adorable. I love their banter and their antagonistic relationship! Check out our discussion review here.
9. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – Review
What really made Illuminae shine was the unique way the story was told, through a compilation of news articles, chat logs, surveillance reports and A.I. language. Featuring the feisty Kady, the loyal Ezra and AIDAN, the most interesting A.I. character you’ve never met, Illuminae is a thrilling space adventure.
8. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes – Review
I loved the uniqueness of this book so much! It’s about a disabled character, a girl with no hands escaping from a cult who finds her place in juvie prison. Diverse, heart wrenching and a story that negates the perception of weak disabled characters. It really taught me a lot about strength and what it means to believe in yourself.
7. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertelli – Review
My other favourite OTP of the year is Simon and Blue, who communicate through super cute chat logs as they find out that they’re falling for each other. Their flirting banter, constant thoughts for each other and total adorableness was such a great drawcard of this book! This is a really great LGBT read and I loved it so much.
6. Night Film by Marisha Pessl – Review
The best thriller that I’ve read this year, Night Film is immersive, haunting and addictive. At over 600+ pages, it never felt too long building an intriguing back story of the renowned film director, Robert Kordorva and his penchant for realistic horror. The mystery kept me guessing and the snippets of news stories and other items definitely brought it all to life.
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – Review
Being a massive fan of the Throne of Glass series, I was a bit wary going into this one, unsure of whether it was going to live up to her other series. But oh my gosh, this one was SO good! Feyre was a wonderful artistic hunter and the three new fae warriors here were totally HOT *fans self*. Although it starts off slowly, it gets pretty epic towards the end!
4. Golden Son by Pierce Brown – Review
While Red Rising was mainly about the world building and an insular war games of the Institute, Golden Son was so much more epic, with war, politics, revolution and a power play between the ruthless Darrow, his allies and friends. If you loved An Ember in the Ashes, you’ve seen nothing yet. This series is about the brutal Greco-Roman setting but in space, and it’s freaking brilliant.
3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik – Review
Being the second Beauty and the Beast retelling I’ve read this year, Uprooted was completely off the charts when it came to epic world building. The friendship between the selfless and charming Agneiszka and her loyal and beautiful best friend Kasia is part of what makes this book awesome. Capped off with a restrained suitor, an evil forest and an awesome magic system, this book was epic all round.
2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – Review
Ready Player One is one of my favourite books OF ALL TIME. The virtual reality, the gaming and 80’s pop culture references, the endearing characters and the exciting search for the holy grail. It was such a Jeann book and my gosh, you HAVE to read this! Also the movie is coming out, directed by Steven Spielberg.
1. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas – Review
Completely surprising no one, Queen of Shadows was my absolute favourite book this year. This is the book combines the epicness of the multiple characters and the kingdoms in Heir of Fire, but brings everyone from Throne of Glass and Heir of Fire together. Packed with romantic development, absolutely epic fighting battles and so many feels, I was captivated from the very first page. I’m so pleased that this won the Goodreads Choice Award for the best YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy!
Honourable Mentions: Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Review), Winter by Marissa Meyer (Review to come.)
Are any of these your favourite reads as well?
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Amazing selection of the books and all of them very good thanks for suggest me .
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Illumaine and Simon vs made my list too! Love those books SO much. I still need to read Uprooted! Also glad to see This Fractured Light and Winter made your honorable mentions. <3
Happy New Year, lady!
Yessss they were both amazing reads! Happy New Year Danielle!
Great list, Jeann! I’m very intrigued by The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly and looking forward to read it.
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Thanks so much Ksenia! I hope you pick it up, it's a great book.
Oooo I approve of all the speculative fiction up in here 😉 Golden Son made my list this year as well – I still cannot get over that cliffhanger ending and I am numb from waiting for Morning Sun XD! Needless to say, QoS and how much of a fangirl I turned into made the list as well.
Yessss we have similar tastes Aentee! I loved Golden Son so much, I want to re-read the series before Morning Sun comes out!
ACOTAR and Uprooted are definitely on my lists. I'm still sour about Queen of Shadows, but I still really liked it! 🙂 I still gotta read Illuminae, nice picks <3
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YESSS I loved both of them so much! Awww I kind of know what you mean, despite loving it.
ILLUMINAE! Surprised that it only made it to 9th spot though Jeann, but completely agree with Ready Player One. It's one of the few books that hubby and I completely agree on and being a kid of the eighties, my goodness how I luuuuuurved it! I was so disappointed by Armada though, I think it tried a bit too hard to recapture that magic, rather than being able to stand on it's own two feet. Queen of Shadows WAS pretty epic. I can't believe how long it took me to getting around to even starting the series. Awesome list Jeann, I still need to crack open my copy of Simon Vs, I must be the last YA reader who actually hasn't read it <3
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Yes, it was a great read but hard to connect to Kady and Ezra, also they had a big plothole about how Ezra got out. Yesss after all your raving about RPO I have to agree with you! Yeah, Armada was definitely a disappointment, especially after all the hype. It was shoved full of references without explanation.
I've only read three books on your list, but I loved those three so much! Totally happy they are in your top reads for this year. Some of your other picks intrigue me very much. And I didn't know Ready Player One was being made into a film! I'll probably wait for the movie to come out just to see how I will like the story.
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So glad to hear that you enjoyed those same reads Charlene! I knowww, man ready Player One is going to be AWESOME!
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly made my list as well. I absolutely loved that one! I didn't read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda until after the list was created or it would have made my list as well. I thought that book was so adorable.
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I'm so glad to hear that! It was such a fantastic read, I feel like more people should know about it! Simon vs was such a fantastic book with so much cuteness, I'm glad you loved it as well Cyn.
Omg I've had Ready Player One on my bookshelf for close to a year now! What have I been doing?!! But I'm super glad that I now own Red Rising so that I can catch up on the series before Morning Star comes out! And I also have These Broken Stars now so I can see what all the Their Fractured Light feels are about!
Ahhh I can't wait for you to read it Jenna! Yesss Red Rising is one of my favourites! so many amazing fantasy reads to discover Jenna!
Very nice list! Minnow Bly and Illumine made my list too! I liked ACOTAR a lot too. And I MUST read Queen of Shadows, Uprooted, Simon Vs, Winter, the whole Starbound series, Red Rising and Golden Son… man, I have a lot of reading to do 😉
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Yesss I am so glad that Minnow Bly was on your list too! I feel like it was so underrated. So many amazing books here to catch up on Shannon!
YAS YAS YAS ALL THE FANTASY!! I can't get over how amazing the fantasy books of 2015 were, it just makes me super duper excited to jump right into 2016 😀
I completely agree Joy! There were so many great reads I struggled to pick my favourites!
QoS for sure. That one wrecked me! I'm grateful I got the house all to myself that weekend, otherwise I won't be able to bawl my eyes out freely.
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I totally agree Braine! It was such an intense read wasn't it? I loved it so much!
Great list! I always like hearing about people their favourite books of the year. Ready Player One is on my wishlist, it sounds like a great book and I heard a lot of good things about it. Illuminae also sounds good, but not sure if I will like the special format.
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Thank you so much Lola! I think you'll love RPO tbh because of the pop culture and gaming!
AHH. Such fabulous choices Jeann! <3 I absolutely loved all of these too – especially Illuminae, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly and Ready Player One. xD Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous post! <3
Thank you so much Zoe! I'm so glad you loved Minnow Bly as well <3 I know we're on the level when it comes to thrillers that we love!
You've already read The Golden Son? I can't wait to get my hands on it!!
Happy Holidays, Jeann 🙂
Oh my gosh I read it when it first came out because I LOVED it! Happy Holidays dear!
Oh, I got my Red Rising Trilogy books all mixed up… I read and loved Golden Son in January, too… I thought you had gotten your hands on the third book 😀
What a wonderful list of books. I have many of these on my TBR. Sigh, So many books. So little time. I have heard Illuminae is exceptionally good. Anyway, happy holidays to you
Thank you, there are so many wonderful books to read and don't worry – they're not going anywhere! Happy Holidays Resh!
I'm such a slacker this year. The only one I've read on your list is Golden Son, and SO MUCH YES! It's going on mine too.
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Yesss! So glad to hear Christy, How freaking epic was it!
YES TO QUEEN OF SHADOWS. Sarah J Maas blew me away with its amazing-ness,intensity and swoon worthy moments! The same goes for ACOTAR. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out,Sarah J Maas is seriously slaying it this year.
I completely agree! I was absolutely glued to it and man, sooo soo good!
I've read about half these books haha, but all of them are on my favourites list as well. I really need to get to the others, particularly Uprooted and Ready Player One.
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Yessss you're welcome 😉 Lots of great reads here Bec! I think you'll LOVE THEM BOTH
I was worried about ACOTAR for the OPPOSITE reason, since I didn't really like Throne of Glass that much. BUT OMG it was so good. And I still have to read Carry On, it's gathering dust on my bookshelf!
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Yessss I am so glad you loved ACOTAR, despite not loving ToG! Are you continuing with the series? It takes off in CoM!
I read Illuminae and Simon and loooooved them! Well I actually heard the audio but they were fantastic.
Sadly, Sarah J Maas is on my 'lost interest' author list.
Hope you have a great reading year in 2016 too!
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I'm so glad you loved them both! Awww man sorry to hear about SJM books! Why was that? Thank you Nereyda <3
Illuminae was great, and I'm looking forward to trying the Maas books in 2016. I've seen so many good reviews of those.
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Oohh I'm so excited for you to read SJM! I absolutely LOVE them, my all time favourites!
I NEED to get my hands on Carry On. I am ready to sail on this Simon/Baz ship. Golden Son is definitely brutal and I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared for Morning Star. I'll have to stock up on my comfort food that's for sure though haha.
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Yayyyy in that case you won't be disappointed Lois! I loved Golden Son so much omg! Definitely need lots of comfort <3
I love the picture you posted! So festive *dances with lights*
erghhh I MUST start Red Rising. I've heard great things about it, and the author is also pretty, err, good-looking (from a superficial point of view lmao). Other than that, Night Film sounds exciting! And since you and Jenna both loved The Secret Lies of Minnow Bly, I must add that to my TBR too! (It sounds so gut-wrenching omg)
Hehe thank you so much Aila! I think I'm feeling festive now too with our Christmas tree up! OMG Red Rising, HAHAHA yeah I appreciate his instagram too 😉 Night Film was SO good, atmospheric and awesome! I hope you love it too Aila!
I've heard a lot of awesome things about The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, definitely need to check this out! (I need to read Simon, too!)
Uprooted! Also, yay, Ready Player One! So awesome.
Great list, Jeann!! Fantasy for the win! 😀
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I loved that one so much Cyn! RPO is one of my favourites ever! Haha thank you, you know what I like XD
Night film sounds amazing!!!
Ohhh it really was Tonya! I need to get a copy for my shelves!
I've been wanting to read so many of these titles, but just didn't get around to reading them this year. I'm definitely going to have to read Uprooted and A Court of Thorn and Roses in 2016.
I'm also glad to see The Sacred Lies of Minnow on your list. I've been hemming and hawing about possibly reading that one for a while.
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Yesss I absolutely LOVED the both of them! I definitely recommend Minnow Bly, so many people seem to have passed it up but I'm shouting from the rooftops about it!
There are so many of these that I still need to read! I swear, this top ten topic gave me heart palpitations, reminding me of all the awesome books I MISSED this year! I need like a full week just to read and do NOTHING else!!
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I know, I'm just seeing everyone come out with awesome recommendations and I'm totally going to get to reading some of these backlist books!
Hmmm… apparently there are still quite a few 2015 titles that I need to read! 🙂 I totally agree with ACOTAR… but that's the only book on your list that I've read. >.< I know, totally unacceptable. I'll have to remedy that soon! 🙂
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There are so many fantasy ones I've read particularly lol! So glad to hear you loved ACOTAR Lisa!
I need to read Minnow and also the Pierce Brown series! I'm so happy to see Illuminae, Uprooted and Winter on your lists!
I adore those books too. 🙂
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Yesss so many amazing books this year, it was hard to pick! I love Red Rising, my favourite <3
What an awesome list Jeann! RPO is one of my all time favorites as well. And I can't believe I haven't read Carry On!! I need to get a copy soon…so many great books, I haven't read them all but many are on my wish list:-)
Thank you Tammy, I loved RPO SO MUCH! More people should read it! I loved Carry On <3
I agree, Golden Son is freaking brilliant 🙂 The best book I have read this year. I am equally scared and excited for Morning Star!
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I'm so glad you loved Golden Son as well! I saw someone reading it the other day and was like YES good choice!
AN AMAZING LIST JEANN! I've been wanting to read ACOTAR, Throne of Glass series, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens for a long long timeeeee. But still haven't read them or even got a copy (I blame school, UGH i can't even go to the bookstore because of the things i need to do GAAAH, THE TORTURE) but seeing them in your list makes me want to get them a lot more than I already do. I might get ACOTAR as a Christmas gift for myself 😉
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Thank you so much Jules! There are so many amazing books, I think you'll enjoy ACOTAR! What a great Christmas present!
I pretty much need to read all of the first five. Well, not "pretty much," I do! Like, really badly. I have a copy of ACOTAR, so I'm hopefully going to get to that one soon, as well as Heir of Fire. I also want to read Ready Player One and Red Rising and I NEED Uprooted SO BADLY. Glad you enjoyed all of these ones, Jeann! Happy holidays! 😀
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Ooohhh yessss ACOTAR!!! I loved that one so much, that's where I would start too! Thank you so much Ebony! Hope you're having a great holiday!
Many of your books are also in my list too, Jeann! (or would be if I had not limited myself to books read in 2015, which excluded Golden Son that I read on 2014), but there are some that I still haven't read but are on my TBR pile like Ready Player One and The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly!
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You have good taste Pili 😉 I loved Golden Son so much! Ready Player One omg my favourite.
I totally ADORED Minnow Bly too!! I put it off for, eerm, forever, but it was perfection and I couldn't stop reading it once I started. 😀 Plus Illuimane and Simon Vs both get on my top lists because afjdksalfds so many feels. SIMON AND BLUE WERE SO CUTE. XD I have Carry On to read next year so I'm excited for that too! (Simon is the popular name of the season?! lol)
I feel like Minnow Bly is so underrated, so I'm shouting from the rooftops about it's diversity! I can't even find it in the bookstores anymore (except for dymocks). I completely agree, OMG Carry On was so good!
I have Red Rising and Golden Son on my Kindle and I still haven't read them. I guess I should plan on adding them to one of my tbr challenges. I am getting to Illuminate in the next day or two. Great list!
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Yesss I love that series so much, I wouldn't mind re-reading it actually! Great to hear, I hope you enjoy Illuminae!
Cannot get enough love for my two Simons! 😀 <3
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I completely agree Bieke! I love them both <3
Pleased to hear that WINTER made your honorable mentions! I haven't yet read it–probably sometime next year I'll get to it–but SO glad to see that SIMON is on your list. I completely forgot to include it in mine, but I absolutely loved it. 🙂
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Yesss so many amazing Simon books! <3 I loved Winter, it was a fantastic read!