Here's a list of the best books I read this year according to category:

 

 

 

 

Best thriller

 

I love Pierre Lemaitre and I picked this psychological thriller up when I saw it in my local bookshop. It was narrated by two broken people who's lives intersected in a fascinating way. This twisty thriller had the perfect pace and great depth. I loved it. 

 

 

Best YA

 

I'd never read anything by Sophie Kinsella before and apparently this was quite a departure for her. It ended up being one of two five star reads this year. It's about a girl who has extreme anxiety and hasn't left her house for some time. I really identified with this character as I experience acute anxiety myself at times.

 

 

Best New-Adult

 

An unexpected marvel, Unteachable tells the story of a girl who meets the right guy at the wrong time. The writing was spectacular and unlike anything I've ever read. The description had my senses on overdrive and it influenced my writing in a profound way.

 

 

Best Literary Fiction

 

I haven't reviewed this yet even though I read it a month or two ago. It's set  in Glasgow and written in Scottish dialect. It follows a man who has suffered a severe beating by the police and has gone blind as a result. A stream of consciousness, this book manages to create staggering closeness between the protagonist and the reader. It felt so authentic and gave me much to think about.

 

 

Best Classic

 

Another book I didn't review, mostly because everything's been said about it. I was amazed by the strength of the plot and it's reflection of Stalinist Russia.

 

 

 

Biggest Disappointment

 

I had been wanting to read this book for a long time and rewarded myself with it after a long month of writing. Unfortunately I found the plot and characterisation weak. The ending only slightly made up for this disappointment.

 

 

This book wowed me on so many levels. I’d heard of Leah Raeder before and had begun one of her other books, but really didn’t like the subject matter (a cam girl), so set it down. I decided to give her a second chance when I saw the reviews that were gushing about her prose. I’m so glad that I did because it wasn’t just one of the best books I’ve read this year, but it’s influenced me hugely in my writing in the best possible way. Half of my kindle copy is highlighted; there were so many descriptions I didn’t want to forget.

 

At the beginning of the book eighteen-year-old, Maise O’Malley is at a carnival and meets Evan. They end up hooking-up in his car and sleep together. Maise isn’t one for commitment so quickly makes her escape, but doesn’t stop thinking about him. Then she sees him again, but this time in the role of her teacher tutoring a film-studies class she’s signed up for.They try and resist each other but the sexual tension is palpable and soon they begin an affair.

 

From the very start I knew that this book was something different. The prose was intoxicating; a literal drunkenness of the senses came over me when I read the descriptions of the smells, sights and sounds. This author is the queen of metaphor, most of them conveying just the right atmosphere.

 

None of this fantastic writing did anything to diminish the plot, by the way. I had thought that a student-teacher love affair might come off a bit sleazy, but it didn't. It was handled delicately, just like the prose and the secondary plots complemented it well. I thought the  relationship Maise had with her mother was authentically delivered, as was her relationship with Wesley. Each sub-plot bolstered up the main plot and tied in with it masterfully.

 

The characters were fantastic. Maise was everything that you want in a protagonist, strong, feisty and brimming with emotion.

 

Oh and let's not forget the sex. I think the author caught just the right balance. There wasn’t too much or too little. It was hot as hell, too. Usually I find sex scenes cringe-worthy, but not here.

 

There were two reasons why I didn’t give this the full five stars. The first is that while the writing was fantastic, the descriptions vivid and the metaphor masterful, sometimes it was so good that it ripped me away from the experience. Sometimes I would pause because a line was so good and while that's a truly great experience, it does mean I found it hard to re-immerse myself.

 

Secondly, while the similes and metaphors were perfect for the most part, some of them didn’t correlate to Maise. By that I mean that quite a few of them were science related and this would only have made sense if she was a chemistry student or something.

 

This book shows how great new-adult can be and is the best one from this genre I’ve ever read. If you're even mildly curious, read it.

The prose in this book is unbelievable. I am seriously jealous of Leah Raeder, being that I'm a writer myself. Man can she write. Take a look at this...

 

 

The snow came down in a soft rush, erasing the world over and over, struggling to wipe out all of our mistakes.

 

 

That's just the cusp of the blade. There's more, much more. If you're a fan of lyrical prose do yourself a favour and get this right away.

I don't even know if I can write a review of this yet. I'm still processing this book, so I'll probably just make this short and come back later to add to it if I feel like it.

This books hooked its claws into me within the first few pages and didn't let go until the last word. Actually, I don't think it's let go yet. I have a feeling this is going to cause a serious book hangover. I'm not sure I breathed properly the entire time I was reading it. I know I held my breath a lot, and spent a lot of time rapidly muttering "oh no," "uh oh," "omg," etc. over and over while reading this book.

Unteachable is not a fluffy, sweet romance. But it isn't entirely dark, either. It exists in the hazy land between right and wrong and other clear cut opposites. It's easy to look at the subjects covered and pass a quick judgment, but the this book did a really good job (in my opinion) of showing how not everything is as simple as some people believe.

I have to admit I went into this book with high expectations. I think that is part of why I did not enjoy Unteachable as much as I could have. High expectations always ruin the reading experience because it is seldom that they can be met. The other part why I did not enjoy Unteachable more than I did was the middle part of the book but I will get to that later.

 

Unteachable is a contemporary New Adult book. It is the first New Adult book I have read, I think. The main character Maise is a senior in high school and falls in lust with an older guy at a fair. It turns out later that this man is the new teacher at her high school.

 

I liked the beginning of the book. Even though the book takes place in high school it definitely did not read like a Young Adult book. The beginning of Maise’s and Evans’ relationship was interesting. Maise certainly is not your typical main character. She knows how to use her body, comes from a bad home, and tends to be arrogant at times. She thinks she is so much more grown-up than her fellow students. To sum it up she is not the most likeable person. On the other hand she is very honest with herself and I felt for her especially with the upbringing she had.

 

The middle part of the book brought this rating down a lot. Unfortunately it is the biggest part of the book. Raeder decided to write sex scenes. I do not mind a well-written sex scene. I do mind, however, hundreds of pages of repetitive sex scenes. I started to skip pages. Those scenes did nothing for the storyline. I wish Raeder would have focused on the other problems and relationships in Maise’s life.

 

Raeder did that at the end of Unteachable and that is when the book became interesting again. The last couple of pages were fantastic but unfortunately, the middle part kind of ruined all the potential this book had.

 

I have not decided if I will pick up Black Iris by Leah Raeder. I think Raeder is a great writer but I am worried that her second book will also focus too much on sex for my liking.