#3 Top Ten Books of 2014

In March of this year I set myself a goal to read twenty books on goodreads.com, with two weeks left of the year I have read 17 books, not bad seeing as I set the goal three months into the year and 2014 was a crazy year.

Here are my top ten books out of the seventeen I have read (including basic summary - from goodreads, wikipedia and my own summary and a rating out of five)

This list was difficult to come up with I absolutely adore all but one of these books!

(Mostly spoiler free)(ordered least least favourite to most favourite)

Everyday by David Levithan

This book follows the story of A, A wakes up in a different body everyday, something he has accepted until he wakes up in Justin’s body and meets his girlfriend. From then on the reader is taken on a ‘mission’ where A tries to be with Justin’s girlfriend no matter what.

I loved the concept of this book, personally it was new and interesting and I really liked A.

Rating out of five: 4/5

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
This book is one of those wonderful clichés, dorky slightly unattractive girl meets dorky slightly unattractive boy. This book is such a sweet read full of heartwarming as well as heart wrenching moments. “Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try”

I adored this book, Eleanor and Park are such adorable characters and despite the cliché and slightly overdone boy meets girl aspect I loved it

Rating out five: 4/5


The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox

Waking up at the Hotel Atessa Charlotte discovers she was murdered. As well as adjusting to her new surroundings with new people, she also has to work out who her murderer was so that she can get out of the Hotel Atessa.

This book is great, the majority of the characters are quirky and loveable, and I fell in love with Lorna, though Charlotte can sometimes be annoying. I just found the theme of the book so interesting!

Rating out of five: 4/5


Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

This novel follows the confession of “Verity” following her imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp after “Verity” and best friend Maddie’s British spy plane crashed in Nazi occupied France in 1943. The second part of the novel focuses on Maddie revealing the events after the plane crash and Maddie’s attempts to find her best friend.

I read this novel whilst on holiday and I simply loved it, the characters were well-written characters and as I was studying history at the time I found the novel fascinating, I’d definitely recommend the book and the sequel is on my to-read list.

Rating out five: 5/5


The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read this during the summer holidays.

Set in 1922 (a decade I find fascinating) the novel follows the story of Jay Gatsby (the protagonist) and is narrated by Nick Carraway, a World War One veteran.

The novel tells the story of Gatsby with his large parties attended by many (the majority of which did not actually know/had met Gatsby) and his love for Daisy, Nick’s cousin.

This novel is incredible and I definitely need to re-read it, the story is hard to explain other than it’s incredible and you should read it!

Rating out of five: 5/5


Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Twins Cath and Wren have spent most of their lives being obsessed with a seven book series by the name of Simon Snow (a homage to Harry Potter). Cath spends the majority of her time writing fanfiction whereas Wren has started to move on from it all. The two girls move to college they start to drift apart leaving Cath on her own.

Fangirl follows Cath as she settles into her new life, her new friends and love.

I loved this book as I felt a strong connection to Cath – both love to write (I used to write a lot of harry potter fanfiction when I was younger) and we both study creative writing at university. I just loved how easy it was to jump into this book and I loved how the characters were written, I can’t recommend it enough!

Rating out of five: 5/5


Shift by Em Bailey

Following the life of Olive, previous “school queen-bee” suffering with mental health issues. New girl Miranda quickly becomes best friends with Olive’s old best friend Katie but after Katie’s death (again not technically a spoiler, the blurb literally says “and then Katie dies”) Olive becomes suspicious over Katie’s death. Shift covers identity, loss and toxic friendship and is great read.

This story is just so fascinating and I could not put it down, I just simply adored it.

Rating out of five: 5/5



If I Stay by Gayle Forman

As Mia Hall as deals with the aftermath of the car crash involving herself, her parents and her younger brother Teddy, If I Stay follows Mia as she experiences an out-of-body experience whilst her body is in a coma. Mia plays through the story of her life and memorable moments, both good and bad as she decides whether or not to live or die.

I found this book really difficult to get into at first and I’m not really sure why, however, after watching the recent film adaption I found myself being unable to put the book down. I fell in love with Mia, her boyfriend Adam, her parents and her little brother. If I Stay is such a beautiful novel and I urge anyone to read it and watch the film!

Rating out five: 5/5



Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went, the sequel of If I Stay, is the story of Adam (Mia’s boyfriend in the first novel) set three years after Mia Hall’s accident and the breakup of Adam and Mia we see Adam still dealing with heartbreak. Chance brings Adam and Mia back together and the two revisit their past and open up to each other. 

“Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance” 

I bought this book pretty much straight after finishing If I Stay and finished it three days later, I was hooked, thought it didn’t really catch on straight away that the book was set in Adam’s point of the view.

Rating out five: 5/5

In 2015 I hope to read thirty books and I already have fourteen books in my to-read section on goodreads!

Vicki x

Disney princess in training ♛

goodreads account - neverlandvicki