I've started sharing my #BestReads2014 one by one on Twitter and Facebook and will continue to do so all through December. This was a fantastic year for me in terms of reading and I found some little jems, discovered some amazing author and their stories which brought so much emotion, both joy and tears in my life.

I've divided my best reads of the year in twoposts since they are too many for a single one. The books are listed in chronological order of reading them. I read a lot of romance, some m/m, some New Adult, a little bit of fantasy and it's all reflected here. I hope you will find something you like and give it a try in the New Year.

Read my review / Add the book on Goodreads 

/ Buy the book on Amazon

The Chocolate Temptation (Amour et Chocolat #6) by Laura Florand. I find this series just delicious and Patrick and Sarah's story was no exception. Emotioanlly intense and beautifully written.

Here are the October picks for my monthly meme with Recommended reads from the previous month.  

I was contacted by the author, Ms Alexi Lawless, with a request to review the first book in this series back in the summer. I usually don't take such request since I don't really have the time, but something in the blurb of the book told me to make an exception. And I was so glad I did since I ended loving Complicated Creatures: Part I so much that I recommended it to all my friends on GR. It ends with a cliffhanger and I couldn't wait for its sequel. Complicated Creatures: Part II didn't disappoint. It has everything I look for in a good book - competent and strong writing, engaging story and characters, plot twists and turns, passionate love. 

Feel free to share your Recommended Reads from September in the link up tool or the comments. I'll be happy to check them out :)

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Release Date: 7 Oct 2014

Add on Goodreads

Pre-order: Amazon

Why am I waiting for this? I generally adult romances but I also love YA/NA stories of coming-of-age and first love. The blurb for this one got me intrigued and I requested an ARC on NetGalley which I'm happy to say I received and will be reading it soon. 

Synopsis

Shannon MacLeod has always gone for the wrong type of man. After she drifted from one toxic relationship to the next, her last boyfriend gave her a wakeup call in the worst possible way. With her world shattered, she’s sworn off men—especially those of the bad-boy variety.

Cole Walker is exactly the sort that Shannon wants to avoid—gorgeous, tattooed, charming, and cocky. But his rough exterior hides a good man who’s ready to find “the one.” He’s determined to pull Shannon from her self-imposed solitude and win her heart.

As Shannon opens up in the face of Cole’s steady devotion, the passion between them ignites to blazing levels. But when Shannon’s past comes back to haunt her, her fears may destroy the trust Cole has built between them—and tear them apart for good…

Why am I waiting for this? I really enjoy this contemporary romance series and I've read all the books but one. I had some issues with the last one, Fall From India Place, but Cole (the hero in this one) made a nice impression on me and I'm curious about his story. I like Ms Young's writing style and hope this book will ne another winner for me.

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Synopsis

Sarah McCall, food truck co-owner and recent Manhattan transplant, savors each moment of her new job—whether it’s refining the truck's menu, learning the city, or spending afternoons in bed with the hot paramedic who's fast becoming her favorite customer.

Tim Cannon spends his days sprinting from one emergency to the next. He eats like he works—at top speed—somewhere along the line he lost his ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures. Hooking up with Sarah is just another way to cope with the stress of his job, until their afternoon trysts coax Tim into enjoying everything he's avoided. Can Tim learn to balance his job saving lives with the everyday delights that make life worth living? If anyone can teach him, it’s Sarah.

Why am I waiting for this? Anne Calhoun writes intensely emotional and realistic love stories in a engaging style and I can't resist a good romance by a favourite author. 

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Synopsis

When you open up, who will you let in?

When Alex Morris loses her fiancé in dreadful circumstances, she moves from London to Edinburgh to make a break with the past. Alex takes a job at a Pupil Referral Unit, which accepts the students excluded from other schools in the city. These are troubled, difficult kids and Alex is terrified of what she's taken on.

There is one class - a group of five teenagers - who intimidate Alex and every other teacher on The Unit. But with the help of the Greek tragedies she teaches, Alex gradually develops a rapport with them. Finding them enthralled by tales of cruel fate and bloody revenge, she even begins to worry that they are taking her lessons to heart, and that a whole new tragedy is being performed, right in front of her...

Why am I waiting for this? - It's a new to me author and I'm intrigued by the blurb - a realistic contemporary story with some mystery and characters dealing with difficult psychological issues. It's right up my alley.

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme hosted The Broke and the Bookish. There is a new topic for each week and the participating bloggers are invited to post their Top Ten lists on it.

 

Top Ten Books I Wanted to Read but I'm Not Sure Anymore

The Promise by Kristen Ashley – I loved Benny and Franky in At Peace, but I’ve read far too many negative reviews of their book and I’ve been disappointed in the latest books by Kristen Ashley that I read.

What books are you hesitant to read? Leave me a comment and I'll stop by the check your blog.

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Genre: Romance, YA/NA
Add on Goodreads
Release Date: 26 Aug 2014

Why am I waiting for this book? - I came across this book by chance and I was intrigued by the idea of telling the love story of the main characters through the eyes of the people around them. I'm always on the look out for romances outside the box and this sounds like a cute, fun read which I'll enjoy.

It's been a while since I've done a Teaser Tuesday post but I'm back in the game today. I'm sharing an excerpt from Lay It Down by Cara McKenna. It's a contemporary romantic suspense and I absolutely loved. It releases on today, 5 Aug. I'll be posting my review later this week.

Lay It Down

(Desert Dogs #1) 

Synopsis

Backbreaking days, wild nights, and the hard hum of steel between your thighs...

That’s a life well lived, according to the Desert Dogs—four friends who call Fortuity, Nevada, their badlands home.

Vince Grossier is the self-crowned outlaw king around here. But when Fortuity’s slick new mayor invites a casino development to town, greed isn’t far behind—and it claims Vince’s good friend as its first casualty. With the law turning a blind eye to the mysterious death, Vince must seek his own brand of justice. The pretty photographer hired by the developers might be the key to uncovering the truth. And she’s a temptation too good to pass up.

Finally free of a controlling ex, Kim Paget’s not looking to be taken for a ride—not on the back of some tattooed roughneck’s bike and definitelynot in his bed. But when she uncovers evidence supporting Vince’s suspicions of murder, Kim must entrust her safety to a man whose body threatens danger of a whole different kind.

 

Title: Beauty and the Mustache 

(Knitting in the City #4) 
Author: Penny Reid
Genre: Romance, Humour
Release Date: 9 Sept 2014

*** *** *** 

Why am I waiting on this? - I'm a big fan of Penny Reid and I've heard and loved all her books in the Knitting in the City series. The heroine in this installment, Ashley, is a bookaholic, so I already like her. And according to Penny's Pinterest, her character inspiration for the hero includes Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy TV series), Travis Fimmel (Viking TV series) and Ben Dahlhaus (male model) - now that's what I call irresistible. Now, I can't wait to meet Drew in September :)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

After some absence I'm back with the Teaser Tuesday Meme. Today I want to share a few sentences (it's a longish excerpt but it's really powerful one) that I stuck with me for a while after I finished Shied of Winter by Nalini Singh. It's book 13 her Psy-Changeling series and I published my 4-star review of it on the blog last week.

Love was a concept of which Vasic had no comprehension, though he knew how to recognize the signs of it in others. Learning the subtle physical cues that betrayed emotional bonds had been part of his training, intended to give him tools he could use to exploit targets from the emotional races. He didn't, however, actually understand what it was any more than a trained animal understood the words spoken to it. 

He could ask Judd to explain it to him, but he suspected he simply didn't have the correct emotional foundations to comprehend the explanation.

Shield of Winter

(Psy-Changeling #13)

Nalini Singh

Synopsis

Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life. 

For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…

Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to stifle her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she'll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…

My Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

Sons of Anarchy - I love this show and despite the ending of the previous season which broke my heart, I can't wait for the final season, starting this autumn. #TeamJax

I joined a new book meme last week. Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Synopsis

Veterinary intern Emily can’t believe she wound up in the small town of Sunshine, Idaho, instead of the Los Angeles clinic she had always imagined. Now she has to put her plans to move to L.A. on hold for a whole year while she fulfills the obligation of her vet school scholarship.

Then Wyatt, her gorgeous one-night stand from a Reno vet conference, introduces himself as her new boss. And Emily is just as drawn to his seductive looks and quiet strength as she was on that very steamy night. She soon learns that Wyatt isn’t just a laid-back doctor, but a delicious alpha male tempting her away from her carefully laid-out plans...

Why I am waiting on this? - I'm a big fan of Ms Shalvis' romances and her Animal Magnetism series is one of my favourite. Hot sexy animal doctors, in this case both the hero and the heroine are vets, what's not to like about it :)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read 

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) or a few more “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

My teaser this week comes from Fall from India Place (On Dublin Street #4) by Samantha Young. I just finished it and it was a nice romance but I expected more from it. 

I was costing along, almost a little smug not only in my present contentment, but also in the fact that I'd beaten my issues with the past. Little did I know that the past doesn't take too kindly to smugness, to disinterest. The past can be spiteful. It can creep up on the present to taunt it with the memories and all the old hurts. 

Fall from India Place (On Dublin Street #4)

Samantha Young

Synopsis

When Hannah Nichols last saw Marco D’Alessandro, five long years ago, he broke her heart. The bad boy with a hidden sweet side was the only guy Hannah ever loved—and the only man she’s ever been with. After one intense night of giving into temptation, Marco took off, leaving Scotland and Hannah behind. Shattered by the consequences of their night together, Hannah has never truly moved on.

Leaving Hannah was the biggest mistake of Marco’s life, something he has deeply regretted for years. So when fate reunites them, he refuses to let her go without a fight. Determined to make her his, Marco pursues Hannah, reminding her of all the reasons they’re meant to be together.…

But just when Marco thinks they’re committed to a future together, Hannah makes a discovery that unearths the secret pain she’s been hiding from him, a secret that could tear them apart before they have a real chance to start over again…