mignon mykel { reviews }: { top books || of TWENTY•14 }

Thursday, January 1, 2015

{ top books || of TWENTY•14 }

Whoop!

Can you believe it's already 2015? This last year went by both fast and slow -- mainly fast.

I have been so thankful to have discovered NetGalley and the world of Book Blogging this year. Pre-June 2014, I was known to "put a book away a day", but because of my schedule and whatnot, I'd read a book, get busy, and realize a month later that I hadn't read in AGES.

Well... that's not the case anymore. I have the opportunity to read as much as I want (save for the times I should be working... you know, doing the adult real world thing). I sometimes will read a book a day... sometimes I manage 2 a day... but I've been averaging 4 or so a week (and in instances such as right now, I have 4 going; yes, I can read more than one book at a time and keep them straight).

There were a few books this year that really stood out to me. My original plan was to be sure they all had reviews up so I could link them, but unfortunately some of those TITAN books... well, they still need official reviews.

And for the record? My 2015 list has already begun :) WORTH THE FALL's follow-up, WORTH THE RISK, has already made that list (with a few others I've managed to get my hands on well before publication date).

I've read 130+ books (courtesy of NetGalley, InkSlinger, and individual authors) with 2014 publication dates -- since June.

My goodness...

So, in no particular order... the 25 that stood out the most.

mignon's top books of { TWENTY•14 } .

Debuts
WORTH THE FALL (Claudia Connor)

IT WILL ALWAYS BE YOU (Tina Ness)

RUNAWAY HEART (Amity Lassiter)

DANGEROUS TERRITORY (Emmy Curtis) -- novella for ALPHA OPS series

ONLY WITH YOU (Lauren Layne) -- while this wasn't her first published, it was her 'break' book

Military

SAVAGE SECRETS (Cristin Harber)

HART ATTACK (Cristin Harber)

HOT REBEL (Lynn Rae Harris) -- favorite of this series

IGNITED (Kaylea Cross)

Contemporary

TEACH ME (Ella Sheridan)

A LOVE OF VENGEANCE (Nancy Haviland)

ACCIDENTAL ASSASSIN (Nichole Chase)
PIERCED (Sydney Landon)
TRUTH OR DARE (Mira Lyn Kelly)

LUCK ON THE LINE (Zoraida Cordova)

CAN'T GET ENOUGH (Molly McLain)

THE CHARLOTTE CHRONICLES (Jen Frederick) -- originally 'published' via newsletter

UNCIVILIZED (Sawyer Bennett)

Paranormal

CHARMING THE BEAST (Cynthia Eden)

MARKED (Rebecca Zanetti)

BDSM

DESIRED (Stacey Kennedy)

New Adult
BROKEN (Lauren Layne)

Sport
ALEX (Sawyer Bennett)

Historical
HOW TO BEGUILE A DUKE (Ally Broadfield)
IN LOVE WITH A WARRIOR (Kara Griffin)

No comments:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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Thursday, January 1, 2015

{ top books || of TWENTY•14 }

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