Ana's Top 5 Reads of 2016

2016 has been a tough reading year for me. I'm not sure if it's been my busy schedule or if the books I have been picking up, but they just haven't grabbed my attention.  I cannot tell you how many books were DNF for me this year.  I would start them and I would just be bored with it or just not feeling the story. I t sucked because I am so used to reading all the time.  I also cut back on the fantasy books and focused more on the contemporary ones. I may be sort of burnt from all the fantasy books that were released early in the year, which were 95% of the books I DNF.  Even though there were a lot of DNF, there were also lots of books I totally loved and kept me up into the wee hours of the night. 

 Here are my top 5 for 2016!

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)

by Sarah J. Maas 

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

This huge book, with the most gorgeous and badass cover, kept me up at night. I just couldn't put it down.  You know when you are reading a book and you say, just one more chapter? Yeah, well, one more chapter turned in to 2, 3, 10! This series just keeps getting better.  Everything I thought in ACOTAR, went out the door after reading ACOMAF! If you haven't started this series yet, I strongly suggest you do in 2017, because it's all kinds of hot and sexy and one word: Rhysand. That is all...

Click HERE to read my review

One True Loves

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a "Best Book of the Summer" by Glamour and USA Today—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

One True Loves has to be my #1 Contemporary book of 2016.  Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing is superb and amazing. I cried, like, a lot while reading One True Loves. Can you imagine losing the love of your life in a tragic accident, then finding love again, and then finding out your first love is still alive? What do you do? Who do you stay with? Who holds your heart now? A beautiful book that is equally beautiful as it is painful.  I strongly suggest it if you love books that make you wonder, what if? 

Click HERE to read my full review.

Swear on This Life

by Renee Carlino

 

When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.

Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.

That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.

The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?

Rene outdid herself with Swear on This Life. It is by far one of my favorite second-chance romance books. The swooning, the heartache, the angst, just everything that we want in a great love story. If you love second-chance stories and are looking for a book that will make you look at life a little different, please read Swear on This Life.  

Click HERE to read my full review. 

The Lovely Reckless

by Kami Garcia 

Seventeen-year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: Nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad—an undercover cop. She transfers to a public high school in the Downs, where fistfights don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.

Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him—and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?

I looooooved reading The Lovely Reckless by Kami.  OMG it was soooo good! "The Lovely Reckless is a story that teaches us that we all deserve a second chance.  We are molded into who we are today by the experiences we encounter throughout our life. I cannot tell you enough just how much I love The Lovely Reckless.  Kami has given us all a little gem for sure." 

Click HERE to read my full review

Paper Princess (The Royals #1)

by Erin Watt (Elle Kennedy & Jen Frederick)

From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.
These Royals will ruin you…
Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.


Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.
Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.
He might be right.
Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.

OMG this trilogy is AMAZING!!!!! "PAPER PRINCESS is a blend of Mean Girls, Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions. If that didn’t get your attention, then you have really bad taste in movies/shows. Just kidding! But seriously, PAPER PRINCESS is all kinds of epic. From the romance to the drama and all the Reed swoon worthy moments, it had my head and heart pumping! Oh, so good!"

Click HERE to read my full review