Top Ten Tuesday: Books Read in 2014

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by Broke and Bookish. Today's topic is top ten books you read in 2014, and with the year coming to an end it's so very hard to choose just ten. However I did manage to whittle it down! The links lead to the Goodreads summary!

1. The first, and by far my favorite, book of this year was The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima. Chima was a new author to me, and when I picked up the first book in this series (The Demon King) for five dollars, I have to admit I wasn't expecting anything special. But boy, was I wrong. Romance, action, and intrigue, the Seven Realms series hooked me and my love for reading was re-lit. All four books were amazing, but my favorite was the final book, The Crimson Crown
2. Next up is a book that I read based upon the hype surrounding it, which was Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I love fantasy, but science fiction is not really my thing. So when I read this book (and the other two in the series) I was greatly surprised! I loved it!
3. The Selection by Kiera Cass is next on my list, and again, is a book that surprised me. I had heard nothing but awful things about these books, but I quite enjoyed them. I read the first book in only two days, and the second one in less than one day. Both were fun, light reads.
4. Although I don't read much Middle Grade, The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani definitely stood out to me this year. I had been excited to read it, and it lived up to my every expectation. It was a fun but intense book, and I am so excited to read the second and third books in the trilogy.
5. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson came as a shock to me when I read it. I read it as an assignment for school, and nothing more, but then, I became hooked. The characters are so strong, and the ending came as a real shocker for me. This was a historical fiction book, so not something I normally would read, but it deserves a place in the top ten without a doubt.
6. I'm not sure if it's a favorite, but Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta stood out to me from this year. The writing was so, so, beautiful and I felt as though this novel, seemingly light from the cover, was so much darker and more intense than I expected.
7. I know, I know, another Cinda Williams Chima book, but to me, The Enchanter Heir was a great read. I didn't love it as much as The Seven Realms series, or some of the others on this list, but it was fun to read either way.
8.  The 100 by Kass Morgan was a book I had been looking forward to reading, because of the hype around the TV show. It was a good book, and a fast read, and while I had a few problems with it (my book review is here if you'd like my more in-depth thoughts), I had no trouble balancing the four POV's and it ended in such a cliffhanger!
9. Another science fiction book I enjoyed this year was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I loved this book, and it definitely deserves a spot on my top ten list. What a fast-paced, action-packed plot! I loved the idea and how it was carried out, and this was another super fast read for me.
10. Last but certainly not least, is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I know I'm not the only one who could really relate to Cath, as a socially anxious author who has a thing for peanut butter... it was such a great and relatable read, and Rowell's writing is great. I hope to read more books by her in the future.

November Wrap-Up

Sorry for not keeping up to date on my Wrap ups these past few months!! Here's my wrap up for November...

This month I read 3 books.

The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

The third in the "Heir Chronicles" series, Chima's book, The Dragon Heir was probably my favorite of the first three. I loved the surprises and action that took place in the book, and near the end I was almost in denial of a few events taking place to a certain few characters... if you've read the Warrior Heir and The Wizard Heir, and were iffy about continuing, I'd like to say it was well worth it.

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I hadn't ever been planning on reading this book, because of reasons. But it was for a school assignment, so obviously I had to, haha. (Got 100% on the assignment by the way... *yes*). It was okay, and I liked the characters in the book. I thought the prospect of having a child as the main character was a very smart move. Overall, I can see the appeal with this book. It would be fun to discuss with someone, I think, since most people in my class loved it.

3.5/5 stars on Goodreads

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

I had been really looking forward to reading this! Two books in one, a look at the publishing world, and paranormal reads? Sounded fun. I loved the representation in this book, and it was a fun read. I liked the fact that we got to read Darcy's book, as well. Zipped right through this one!

4/5 stars on Goodreads

NaNoWriMo 2014 Wrap Up

Hello, friends! I know my posts have been dwindling as of late, but for those of you who still keep up with my blog and everything, I want you all to know how grateful I am.

So, as you all know, last month I participated in NaNoWriMo-- or National Novel Writing Month. I am pretty sure everyone knows what this is, but the goal is to write 50k words in the month of November. My goal was to double that and write 100k.

And guess what?

I did! I wrote 100k exactly, on a fairytale retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses called Of Roses and Royalty. The book went a direction I didn't think it was going to (and I haven't quite finished it yet... oops?) but I'm glad I got the quantity of words I was aiming for, even if I did not get the quality of the words.

Now for a few quick stats.

Total Word Count: 100,000
Day Reached Goal: The 30th
Day Reached 50k: The 11th... my fastest ever!
Highest Words Per Day: I got 15.3k words for my first day word count... beating my previous highest (11k) by more than 4,000 words!!

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? If so, how'd you fare?