Top 10 of 2014 is hosted by Jamie of Two Chicks on Books, Mindy of Magical Urban FantasyReads, Nancy of Tales of a Ravenous Reader, and Rachel from Reading YA Rocks. It's a yearly event where bloggers participate and make lists about top 10 things in relation to books. 

Today's topic is Best Love Quotes of 2014!



4. Aspen and Ben from Aspen by Rebekah Crane


5. Georgie and Neal from Landline by Rainbow Rowell



7. Tate and Miles from Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover


9. Wren and Grayson from The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Top 10 of 2014 is hosted by Jamie of Two Chicks on Books, Mindy of Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Nancy of Tales of a Ravenous Reader, and Rachel from Reading YA Rocks. It's a yearly event where bloggers participate and make lists about top 10 things in relation to books. 

For today's topic, we have the Best Books of 2014. This does not necessarily mean that these books were published in 2014. The only requirement is that they were READ in 2014. :)

So, without further ado, in NO particular order, we present the BEST BOOKS WE READ IN 2014! 

Doll Bones by Holly Black P599 P479.20
Half Bad by Sally Green P520 P416.00

I LOVE HOLLY BLACK! She is seriously one of my favorite authors EVER when it comes to the paranomal genre and I would read anything written by her. This one is middle grade for ages 10-14, but who cares. Half Bad, on the other hand, is a book that I started reading when I was in a bookstore in JFK airport last summer waiting for my flight. I sat there reading it not realizing I was already there for almost an hour until the lady in the counter finally came up to me and politely said "Oh, don't forget to put that back in the shelf when you're done reading." That was probably the nice American way of telling me to piss off, and she probably thought I was a smartass cheeky Asian kid so I put it back in the shelf and left. In an afterthought, I actually realized that I probably should have bought it just to show her that I wasn't that rude, but I was extremely broke that time... so yeah. Anyway, I never really did get to finish that book so I got it today! Hooray!


The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier Clay P680 P544
Wintertown by Stephen Emond P360 P288

YAY more books! I know from my sister that The Amazing Adventures is quite intense, so I just had to read it for myself! And Wintertown won me over with the pretty illustrations inside the book. Heehee, I'm such a sucker for beautiful covers and illustrations!

Doctor Who: Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell P439 P351.20
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris P315 P252

Everyone knows I'm a big whovian so it's no surprise that I have something Doctor Who related on my haul this year! I had actually planned on buying a different DW book, but it was out of stock so I got this instead! Ten is my favorite Doctor as well, so it makes sense that I got this one. Oh and I got Let's Explore Diabetes for my sister.

Look at this pretty bookmark I got for free! :D I don't normally use bookmarks because I like finishing books in one sitting, or on times that I don't, I have zero problems with remembering the last page I'm at. But since this is super cute, I just have to use it!


So that was my MIBF 2014 experience! Did you go to the book fair as well? What books did you get? Are you going tomorrow (It's the last day!)? What books do you plan to get?

Please please please help me decide which book to read first!

NEXT BOOK TO READ?

Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date: July 8th, 2014
Rating: 5/5 stars

WOW. I must say that Rainbow Rowell has done it again!

If written by any other author, this isn't the kind of book I would have picked up on my own (yes, even despite the covergasm) but since I completely adore Rainbow Rowell, I just HAD to read this.

What I appreciate a lot about Rowell's books is how diverse and different they all are. No two books are similar in its story, theme or even setting, and I wanted to point that out especially in the case of her newest one, Landline. Landline is NOT Young Adult like Eleanor and Park and Fangirl, but it is also not completely New Adult like Attachments. It's a mixture of both with a hint of paranormal in the story, and it's because of how these genres all mesh together into this wonderful book that I was able to appreciate more the careful prose Rainbow puts into every story she writes.

This book is a lot darker, sadder, more realistic and less happily ever after compared to her other books (though there is nothing sunshine and happy about Eleanor & Park). It's about Georgie McCool, a driven TV sitcom writer, who deals with the fact that her marriage is crumbling. She still loves her husband Neal very much, as well has her two children, but when she is forced to stay in Los Angeles for work, while Neal and the kids go to Omaha for the holidays, Georgie thinks that this time she has done it. Neal is visibly upset with her and goes to Omaha with the kids anyway, leaving Georgie alone during Christmas. When Georgie discovers a way to communicate with the Neal in the past, she grabs the opportunity to fix her marriage... but can she do it?

This book is first and foremost a love story, but it's not just that. It's a story about marriage, family, friendship, choices and happiness. I liked that the story does not focus just on Georgie falling in love with Neal, but also with how she falls in love with her career, her relationships with her best friend, her mother, her sister and her children, and finding the balance among your priorities in life. The book is well-paced and every single moment is important and necessary to the story. It was also a very realistic portrayal of married life and family, and I appreciated the honesty of it all. The characters are all so well-rounded, and we have to give it to Rainbow for her impeccable way of crafting amazing characters. Even the secondary characters are so distinct, the bit with the pizza girl and the puppies giving birth is one of the highlights of the book for me and these little tidbits make the book even better. The writing is also very crisp and fresh, nothing less expected from Rainbow's top notch writing and effortless narrative. Georgie and Neal's love story is of course the main focus of the book, and it wasn't difficult to ship them at all. Their story is told through bits of the present and the past intertwined together, and it was certainly a unique way to show their story.

Landline is the type of book you have to go into with open eyes. It's not easy to accept that things change and that life gets in the way, but that's the way it is. Sometimes you just have to hit the pause button and really think and try to remember why you chose to be the person you are now, and remind yourself why you wanted this. This is what Landline is about: making choices - whether it's about marriage, career, kids or whatever it may be. Georgie comes to terms with that realization towards the end, with a little help from the past. Which brings me to my favorite part of this book: the ending. I don't want to reveal much, but it was the story going full circle and it was just perfect!

Love is a choice, and I liked how that shone through in the novel. I loved how it was never perfect between Georgie and Neal, and even the ending does not assure us of the lasting relationship between them - but it was realistic, and I just know that they would continue fighting for each other and choosing to be with each other, even if it's hard. And that's what marriage - that's what love - is about.

So whether married or not, you just HAVE to read this book.

We all know that more and more people are reading ebooks. Even so, we still prefer physical copies. Since we barely have space in our house anymore for all our books, we only buy physical copies for books we really, really want. Today, we'll be making a list of the books that we want to have a physical copy of.