Skip to main content

Angie's Best Books of 2015

I'm amazed that it's actually that time again. The last day of the year. I have my annual list of favorite books of the year. Twenty-three this year, guys. Three more than last year, a couple less than the year before. We seem to be holding steady right around 20 stellar reads a year, which thing maketh me exceedingly happy.


(in the order in which I read them)

Act Like It by Lucy Parker

FYI, that's 13 contemporaries, 6 historicals, 3 fantasies, and 1 urban fantasy. So, essentially contemporaries are still on the rise, historicals are up, urban fantasies are down, and straight fantasy is holding steady.

Best New Discovery of 2015

Ellie Marney came roaring onto the YA scene with her spectacularly entertaining contemporary teen Sherlock Holmes trilogy. They've been taking their time making their way over to the U.S. from Australia, and I may have ordered more than one from Oz bookshops because I am just that impatient a reader. But they're worth it and then some. Favorite new discovery of the year, hands down.

Biggest Character Crush of 2015
Kaz Brekker
kevinwada.tumblr.com

Like Kaz himself, I don't need a reason. I have a couple or hundred, of course. But I don't need any. This thief, you guys. This particular thief. This close-lipped, leather-gloved, cane-wielding dark genius. He's going to be the death of me in next year's sequel to Six of Crows. I can feel it.

Book I Reread the Most in 2015

It only came out this year, and I still managed to fit in three reads since. Palmer appears to outdo herself with each book she writes. I'm a little agog at what she'll produce next. But it wouldn't matter what it was, because Anna Wyatt (and Lincoln Mallory . . . I mean) are clearly going to last me a long time.

Best Books I Read in 2015 that were Published in a Different Year



Happy New Year!

Comments

You Might Also Like

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count by months. H

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

This book has made the rounds and no mistake. I started seeing early reviews awhile back and read a few delightful interviews with Leanna Renee Hieber and found myself intrigued to read her first novel-- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker . I was, therefore, tickled to receive a copy for review from Ms. Hieber and quickly set about settling in. I knew it was a Gothic paranormal mystery of sorts, featuring (among other things) a group of loyal comrades, a private London academy, a bit of magic, an albino, and a swoon-worthy broody professor a la Richard Armitage in North & South . *moment of silence for the awesomeness of The Armitage* And that was the extent of my pre-reading knowledge. That and the fact that I loved the cover with its simple yet moody, midnight blue and its slightly off-kilter, scripty title. Miss Percy Parker is about to embark on an adventure, albeit a much larger one than she imagines. Leaving the convent--the only home she's ever known--a

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a