Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week I’ll be sharing my top ten best reads of the year! Of course, December isn’t over yet, so I could discover some awesome books, but let’s be honest it’s very unlikely because I’ve been in the worst reading slump of all time. Anyway! Onwards!

The Martian by Andy Weir

I read this because Tatum had been shouting about it for a million years. I was convinced it wasn’t going to be great but in reality, it was everything I wanted and more. In case you’ve been living under a rock, it’s about a man called Mark Watney (my husband) who gets stuck on Mars after a mission goes slightly wrong. He has to try to survive on potatoes for the next five years. Mark Watney is the most hilarious character, and this book includes some of my favourite quotes of all time. That humanity quote? Let me die.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

I knew this was going to be good, but I wasn’t expecting a five star book. The Throne of Glass series has gotten progressively better since the first book was published, and I would say that Queen of Shadows is close to perfection. I thought Heir of Fire was brilliant, but this was in another world. I don’t think SJM is going to be able to top this! It had everything I wanted: more female characters, worldbuilding that is coming together spectacularly, and AELIN JDFGDJKGHDHGDFG. Oh, and Rowan. All the Rowan.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I’ve owned this book forever but I picked it up on a complete whim, and I am so glad that I did! It’s set in post-war Russia, where Stalin is ruling over everything, and the main character (Leo <3) is part of Stalin’s police force. It feels like a dystopian novel in the sense that the government controls every single thing, and people can’t even have their own thoughts, but the scary thing is that this stuff actually happened. The plot is about Leo as he realises his country isn’t all that great, and there’s also a murder mystery going on. I loved it!

Gentleman Bastard by Scott Lynch

I buddy read this entire series (well, the three books that are out so far) with Tatum at the beginning of the year and OH MY GOD, it’s flawless! It’s right up there with Mistborn for me. The Gentleman Bastard series is about a guy called Locke Lamora who is the leader of a gang of thieves. There are flashbacks and cons and heists and it’s a FANTASY. The worldbuilding is some of the best, and Locke/Jean are so OTP that it’s not even funny any more.

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

This is another book that I’ve had on my shelf for ages but only picked up because I was just in that kind of mood. It’s absolutely brilliant, and I’m currently waiting until I’m in the mood to read the final book in the series before I start the spin-off series. It’s about a princess who is heir to the throne, but the wizards in this world are kind of dickish and are making things difficult for her. There’s also a streetrat who was the leader of a street gang who is epically adorable.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

This is probably the cutest contemporary anyone has ever read. TATBILB (that was so hard to type) is about a Korean family made up of a white father and his three girls. The middle girl has a gigantic crush on her sister’s ex-boyfriend, but there’s also Peter K. who is just !!!!.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Weir

Not as good as the epic Code Name Verity, but this is pretty amazing. It’s set after CNV and one of the main characters from that book shows up in this one. But there’s a new American main character who gets sent to a concentration camp and it’s beautiful and sad and it made me ugly cry.

Words of Radiance Part 1 by Brandon Sanderson

Okay so I’ve only featured part one because I haven’t read part two yet. I KNOW. I’M SORRY. But I want to read Warbreaker and then start the Stormlight Archive again, because apparently you get a lot more from it that way. But I’m loving this series so far and WoR is epic.