Today’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish, is: Top Ten Books I Read In 2014 (Overall, By A Particular Genre, 2014 Releases).
I decided to go with all of my highest rated reviewed books. It’s interesting to me that looking back, some of the ones that I rated so high aren’t necessarily my favorite books of the year. I still love them, obviously, but my usual rating system (a star rating averaged from Plot, Characters, Readability, and Enjoyability) skews more towards best written, rather than most enjoyed. I’m doing a top 12 since these are all the books I’ve read so far this year that got above a 4 Star rating. Still no books this year got 5 stars from me.
1. Landline by Rainbow Rowell. 4.5 Stars
2. Cress by Marissa Meyer. 4.44 Stars
3. The Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes. 4.375 Stars
4. Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan 4.375 Stars
5. Criminal by Karin Slaughter. 4.375 Stars
6. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. 4.375 Stars
7. Perfect Lies by Kiersten White. 4.25 Stars
8. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi 4.25 Stars
9. Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White. 4.125 Stars
10. One Plus One by Jojo Moyes 4.125 Stars
11. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas. 4.125 Stars
12. The Dead will Tell by Linda Castillo. 4.125 Stars
What are your top books of the year? Agree or Disagree with any of my choices?
Stephanie's Book Reviews 
I’m always happy to see Jojo Moyes on a Top Ten list. I think she’s an amazing author. I also really enjoyed Cress!
She’s definitely my favorite new author of the year!
I really need to read Tahereh Mafi’s series. I’ve heard so many good things. Also, I’ve never read Jojo Moyes, but a lot of my patrons (at the library where I work) seem to like her. Maybe I’ll give her a shot!
My TTT!
You should totally read both of them! They are great, in very different ways!
Cress fell just out of my top 10 list. Unspoken is on my TBR but isn’t high up on it. I had read Mind Games but wasn’t blown away so I haven’t tried Perfect Lies yet. Thanks for sharing! Here’s my Favorite Books of 2014.
I love Unspoken, you should move it up on your TBR! If you didn’t care for Mind Games, you probably won’t care for Perfect Lies, either. But I really enjoyed it!
Great list. I loved The Last Letter From your Lover.
Thanks! I love that book, too! My first Jojo Moyes book!
The besy two I’ve read this year are “The Night Circus” and “Gone Girl”.
I don’t think we ever discussed your thoughts on Night Circus. But I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that, yes, you should read every book I tell you to! 🙂
I love Jojo Moyes. Me Before You is one of my favorite books of 2014 too. Unspoken was an interesting read.
I love her too! Just discovered her this year!
I had 18 5 star reviews this year. I remembered liking some books more than I rated them as too. Cress made my list too! (At the very top) I just like fun books with humor. Unspoken is on my shelf! I’m glad it made your list. Shatter Me and Illusions of fate are both on my wishlist! 🙂
Wow that’s a good number of books for 5 stars! What do you rate them on? Just on how much you enjoy them? Or do they have to be “the perfect package”?
Mostly personal enjoyment. For me books are usually average or terrific! I read a lot of new and popular books, that might be why I had so many high ratings.
I loved Cress, it’s by far my favorite in the series, but I am more taken aback that you’ve read The Dead Will Tell! Gah! I so enjoyed that one too! It was actually one of my first mystery novels 😛
Have you actually followed the Burkholder series from its inception?
Yes, I love the Kate Burkholder series! I actually grew up a county away from Holmes County where the story is based (though Painter’s Mill is fictional). I got to meet Linda Castillo on the release day of The Dead Will Tell at a local library, too!
Gah! I’m so jelly! What is she like!? Can you imagine having a cup of tea with her and listening to a short Amish mystery tale!? MmMmm.
The Dead Will Tell was my first Castillo experience, I loved it! I am definitely going to pick up the previous ones 😀
Is Holmes County just as she paints it? XD You should not have mentioned you met her, now I’m going to poke at you 😛
She does paint a pretty accurate picture of Holmes County. It’s fun when she mentions things like Pomerene Hospital because I know people that work there.
Here’s my post from when I got to meet her: https://stephaniesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/the-dead-will-tell-by-linda-castillo-book-tour-stop/
You should definitely read the rest of the series! I really enjoy it!
I want to read so many of these!
I recommend all of them. Obviously, haha 🙂
I feel the same with you regarding highest rated books not being included in my list as well. I think with only a year of actual reviewing under my belt, I’m definitely a harsher critic than I was earlier just willy-nilly throwing 5 stars at everything haha. And if I could on Goodreads, I would also award things 4.125!
Cheers,
joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts
I wish Good Reads would accept fractions, too! I was going into each book on my 4 star shelf so I could see the ratings haha
Right? I think we can even justify the 0.005 margin of difference if someone needed us to.
I can’t really agree or disagree… as I haven’t read any of these books! I’m hoping to get to Scarlet (and maybe Cress) next year; Cinder was just okay for me, but I’ve heard that the subsequent books are better.
Cinder was just ok for me, too. It actually took me a couple tries before I could get into it and finish it. But it’s really true that each book just gets better! You should definitely give the next one a try!
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