Saturday, December 26, 2015

Best Surprises of 2015!

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni and today I'll be making a list of the best surprises of 2015! You guys seemed to really like when I recap-ed my 10 biggest disappointments, so I decided to keep with it. Down below are ten books that I had low expectations of and was happily surprised at how good they turned out to be! In fact, some of them are my favorites of this year!

If you haven't heard of these books, don't be hesitant to pick them up! I was in the same scenario and took the plunge. I am so happy that I did. These are in no particular order!

The Pact and The Offer by Karina Halle
These two are both companion novels by Karina Halle, an author I had heard nothing of until this year. I bought The Pact on a midnight whim for my Kindle and read it straight through! I was up until three in the morning because of this novel. The Pact follows best friends Steph and Linden from ages 21 to 30. They make a pact in the beginning of the novel that if they aren't married or in a serious relationship by the time they are both 30, they would get married instead.It was so fun and I loved the storyline.   Right after reading that, I picked up the Offer. The Offer features two characters that were minor characters in the first book. Both of these novels were sexy and fun! Check out my full review of The Pact here!

Him, Her, and Them by Carey Heywood
All three of these novels are part of the Him & Her Trilogy that centers around two best friends that fall in love with each other. Can you figure out that this is my favorite trope in books? Her novels aren't perfect, but are super fun! If you are looking for a quick and addicting read, check out her novels! Him and Them were my favorite two of the series. In fact, talking about these books make me want to read a couple scenes over again!

Touch Me Not by Apryl Baker
Touch Me Not has to be my biggest surprise out of all of these! What was so surprising was how professional this book came off considering it is a story featured on the Wattpad app! It was such a quick paced read and had a great balance between light and dark. There were times when I laughed out loud, and others where I cried! Please look this up on Wattpad if you are a new adult fan. I was so happy this was on of my first books I read on the app. To put it in perspective, I would pay full price for this book even though it is free.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
I don't know how many times I can gush about Maybe Someday without sounding too pushy, but guys. This. Book. Is. AWESOME. It is one of my favorites of the year and I could not recommend it any more. It is such a great book to read if you are just getting into new adult like I was at the time. My favorite aspect of this book besides the plot, characters, and narrative, was the focus on music. I am very passionate about music and I loved how it was a big part of this book. If you want to hear my full thoughts, check out my review where I basically just fangirl the whole time.

The Way to Never by O.E. Boroni
After reading The Beginning of Never, the first book in this trilogy by O.E. Boroni, I had pretty low expectations. If you read my review of The Beginning of Never, you would know that I had fun reading the first book, but it infuiriated me. The Way to Never took all the flaws I found in the first book and fixed them all. Every problem I had with the two main characters was basically gone becuase of the years passed between the two. I gave the first book three stars, but this one I gave four! I can't wait to finally get the third and final novel!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle is one of my biggest surprises of the year because of how much I loved it. The combination of it not only being a memoir, which I don't really read that often, and a book I had to read for school left me a bit hesitant. There is a massive stigma against school books, but surprisingly, everyone in my class liked it! In the end, I absolutely loved the book and would seriously recommend it to anyone.

Angelfall by Susan Ee
I didn't really have any expectations going into this post apocalyptic novel about angels. Right after reading this book, it became one of my favorites of 2015. Angelfall delivers a kick ass heroine, Penryn, six weeks after the world has gone to hell and her adventure with fallen angel Raffe as she fights to get back her little sister after her being captured. Check out my full review of Angelfall here!

Dark Elements Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout
For some reason, I had really low expecations for the Dark Elements Series. I'm always hesistant to read books about supernatural creatures that I haven't aquainted myself with yet. The Dark Elements series follows Layla, a half demon half gargoyle, and her story as she figures out what she truly is while being thrown into a great love traingle. Check out my review of the first book, White Hot Kiss, here, and the series as a whole here!


Breathe Into Me by Sara Fawkes
Breathe Into Me is one of those books you buy on impulse from Book Outlet that you know nothing about. I went into this new adult book blind and had such a fun time. This novel is drama filled to the max and I read it in one sitting! Feel for to stop on my and see my review here!


Cat Street by Yoko Kamio
I read Cat Street, an eight volume manga series earlier this year, in just about one week. The story arc is very easy to follow and though I didn't connect with the characters as much as I have in other manga series, I would still recommend this. I am still a beginner to manga, and I would say that if you are still testing the waters, Cat Street is a series you should pick up.

Those are my top ten surprises of 2015! Have you guys read any of these? What were some of your biggest surprises of 2015?

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you guys soon with another post!

Happy Reading!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!

6 comments:

  1. Angelfall is one of my favorites! The sequel is pretty great, too. I can't wait to read the third and final book in the series!

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    1. That's so good to here! I am so nervous about the second book. It doesn't help that my library doesn't have the third, so I'm holding out until they do! :) Thanks for visiting so often Lauren!

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  2. I've only read Angelfall and The Way to Never from your list and I loved both of them. I'm eagerly waiting for the third book in the Never trilogy as well! I'm definitely going to add all the rest of the books to my tbr because they sound like something I would definitely enjoy. Loved this post!

    My latest post Daydreaming Discussions- Things I Love and Hate about Blogging

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    1. Good to know me have such similar tastes! The Way to Never was such a big improvement to the first novel! Thanks so much Poulami! :) I'll be sure to check it out!

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  3. It looks like there were a lot of pleasant surprises for you this year, Genni - I'm glad you enjoyed so many! I read Maybe Someday this year too, and it was really good. I liked the focus on music too, but I didn't actually like the soundtrack that went with it (I'm a huge music fan, but I'm into my punk, emo, and deathcore! You can see why it wasn't for me, haha XD).

    I'm so so pleased you included The Glass Castle in this list! A really close friend of mine recommended it, so I picked it up from the library, but I'm a little bit hesitant to start it. This might have just given me the push I needed. Thank-you so much!!

    The other book I've read from this list is Angelfall, but sadly I really didn't enjoy it. I won a free copy in a Goodreads giveaway (I know, awesome!), but I ended up DNFing it because I just found it really slow. Loads of people have enjoyed it, so I might try and pick it up again, now!

    Amazing post, Genni! Thank-you so much for sharing this list - I loved it. I hope you read even more great books in 2016! :D
    Denise | The Bibliolater

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  4. Great post! I love top ten lists like these at the end of the year, it's a lot of fun to see which books you enjoyed less or more than expected. Although I definitely prefer those that are better than expected.
    I've seen The Pact and The Offer aroudn, but haven't read them, they do sound good! I have read Hopeless by Colleen Hoover when it just got released and I really enjoyed, but I haven't read any of her books since then, not sure why. Maybe Someday sounds like a good one! I still haven't started the Darkest Elements series, even though I own the first book. I am glad to hear it was better than you expected, as I have pretty low expectations of it as well.

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