Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

Once again I am back for another Top Ten Tuesday! For today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic it’s the Top Ten Best Books I Read Overall in 2015. If you haven’t read any of these books in 2015 you should make sure they’re on your 2016 TBR list!

1.The Good Girls by Sara Shepard

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Illustrated Edition) by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay

3. Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling

4. The Death Cure by James Dashner

5. Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

6. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

7. Ali’s Pretty Little Lies by Sara Shepard

8. Paper Towns  by John Green

9. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han

10. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

 

Book Review: The Good Girls by Sara Shepard

Title/Author: The Good Girls by Sara Shepard
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult
Publication Date: June 2^nd, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 341
Rating: ★★★★.5 stars

I loved this installment and I think that this was Shepard’s strongest work to date. I was hesitant to pick up the sequel because the first book bored me, but I’m glad I decided to pick this one up. Shepard’s addicting writing style keeps you hooked until the very end with a plot twist that was beyond crazy. I personally did not see that plot twist coming at all and my mind was completely blown by it. Hands down one of my favorite Sara Shepard books thanks to that plot twist. But the ending did have a Pretty Little Liars vibe to it. Even though I think this series is a duology and is over now, I can totally see Shepard adding on more and more books to this series and having this become the next Pretty Little Liars series. Overall I highly enjoyed this thrilling book and rated it 4.5/5 stars. If you’re a Sara Shepard fan you must read this duology as soon as possible!

Book Review: Vicious by Sara Shepard

After finishing the last and final book in the Pretty Little Liars series I’ve decided I need an award. I’ve put up with all fifteen books to finally reach this last novel. Let’s just say I had very high hopes going into this installment, but I became quickly disappointed. I’ve broken down my review into two parts; pros and cons. Here are my thoughts about Vicious by Sara Shepard.  Also if you haven’t read this book, this book review is full of spoilers just to warn you!

Pros

• I call sticking around for the final installment a pro. Seriously who puts up with all this crap and drama this series gave out and still reads it?
• I also loved how all the girls came together once more and all became friends. Much deserved happy ending.

Cons

• My first con has to be the pacing of this novel. While Toxic dragged on, I felt as if this novel lacked the speed and action it deserved. The beginning of the novel felt like it took forever to read, but once I moved past that, things were still quite slow. The only really plot twist we had was a huge predictable flop. I thought this novel would have tons of mystery, suspense, and a few big plot twists. Maybe my expectations got in the way, but I was very disappointed with this aspect.
• Prediction. I had many theories set up after Emily went “missing”. From that point on in the novel I made many predictions, and almost all of them came true. I was upset with this point hoping that this novel would have a more wow factor.
• How Ali got caught was another huge con of mine. This really let me down. I was hoping all the girls would catch her and not only serve her a taste of her own medicine, but get caught in an awesome way. It really upset me  that the only one to find her was Emily. Not only that, but it took two seconds to take down Ali. I wished Ali and Emily had a bigger and greater fight against themselves rather than just a small fight in the lawn.
• And last but not least the ending. The last sentence to be exact. “Soon enough, I’m coming to get you all” WHAT THE HECK. WHY. JUST WHY. I was so mad it ended with this sentence. Like what the hell Sara Shepard. You can’t keep doing that and dragging out the series even longer than it needs to be. I get you want Ali to come back and get the girls. Whatever. I got that part. But this series could have ended at book eight and just been fine, but with stalling it out to be twice as long with nothing really happens between books seven and fifteen is just infuriating. Whatever. I’m just glad I’m done with this series now. Sorry about this short rant as well.

It’s safe to say that I’m glad this series is finally complete and that I finally finished it. I don’t think I will be picking up any other books by Sara Shepard for a long while. I wished this novel had a bit  more action, mystery, suspense, or even a huge awesome plot twist. With being disappointed I decided to rate this book 2/5 stars. It would have been a one point five star rating, but since I’ve stuck along this far I’ve decided to bump it up to another star. My only advice about this novel and this series is either stop at book eight and save your time and money, or read till book eight and just skip to this book.

Current Thoughts on Reading…

So this month has been ultimately crazy. With projects on projects and prom, I’ve been busy up to the brink. But here’s the bad thing that comes with all of this craziness, no reading time what so ever. Yeah, I haven’t enjoyed the books I’ve read this year and lack of free time is not helping my feelings for the books that I am currently reading. I just feel reading is more of a chore than a fun free time activity for myself.

For the next month I plan on reading a bunch more. My last day of school is quickly approaching which brings the positive side; more time to read! I’ve picked a few books from my contemporary section so that hopefully this can get me back into my love for reading. The books are…

1. Eleanor & Park by: Rainbow Rowell

 

 

 

 

 

2. My Life Next Door by: Huntley Fitzpatrick

3. Twisted by: Sara Shepard

 

 

 

 

4.   And continue reading A Geeks Guide to Dating by: Eric Smith

I don’t know what’s up with my reading lately and I think I just need to take a break from all distractions and school work to just feel no pressure at all, and get back into the swing of my love for reading.