Top 14 Books of 2014: A Personal Favorites List

As I sit down to share my personal favorites from 2014, I must admit that I'm super excited about this list because these books are just so good and you really need to pick them up because they're so great. However, I've decided to skip over sci-fi as it's not really my thing, despite my goal of getting into it more in 2015.

Moving on to the next category, fantasy is definitely a favorite of mine, and I have to start with "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J Maas. I recently got my hands on the hardcover edition, and I just can't get enough of it - I mean, who wouldn't want a book that matches their room? This series is about a female assassin named Celaena who's competing in a tournament to become the best assassin, and it's just so crazy and awesome. Selina is an amazing character, and all the other characters are super enjoyable too. It's really great for anyone who loves fantasy, as it's unlike anything I've ever read before.

Another series that I absolutely loved is "The Grisha Trilogy" by Leigh Bardugo. I've only read the first two books so far, but they're just incredible - I mean, have you seen the covers? Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm are both fantastic reads, with a world-building that's unlike anything I've ever experienced before. The writing is top-notch, and it really draws you in and makes you want to keep reading.

I also want to mention "The New Soul Trilogy" by Jody Meadows, which I was pleasantly surprised by when I started reading it. I went into the series with low expectations, thinking it wouldn't be anything special, but oh boy, was I wrong! It's basically about a thousand souls who've been reincarnating for millions of years, and then one of them dies, leaving space for a new soul to come in. It's just so interesting and intriguing, and the world-building is incredibly intricate.

Moving on to something completely different, I have to mention "The Infernal Devices Trilogy" by Cassandra Clare. I was a bit skeptical at first, given that I loved her Mortal Instruments series but wasn't as big of a fan of it. However, this series took place in Victorian England and dealt more with the Downworlder world, which really drew me in. It's an awesome series that I enjoyed way more than the Mortal Instruments.

For my paranormal favorite, I have to give a shout-out to "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. This book is just fantastic - it tells the story of a boy whose entire family was killed, and he wanders off to a graveyard as a baby, where he's raised by ghosts. It's such an interesting read, with some amazing pictures throughout.

Finally, I want to mention "The Diviners" by Libba Bray, which is just a fantastic series in general. I only got to read the first book, but it was so good that I'm definitely going to pick up the rest of the series. It's basically about this paranormal story set in 1920s New York, and let me tell you, it's a real page-turner.

And there you have it - my top 14 books from 2014! If you like fantasy, you'll definitely want to check out some of these titles.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone is Haley and today I'm going to be doing the final two videos in my top 14 of 2014 series kind of miniseries that had been doing on my channel this week leading up to the new year I was supposed to upload a video for the series yesterday but I ended up working all day and then I came home and filmed it and the lighting was just absolutely atrocious like I could not upload it so I just decided I would rather it be a better quality video than kind of rushed and just thrown out there so I'm going to be filming both of those today and uploading them both today hopefully so today I'm going to be doing my top 14 of 2014 these are basically the overall top 14 books that I've read in 2014 there's actually 16 but whatever so let's get into it and I don't know if I mentioned this but these are all excluding the books that were published in 2014 because I have a separate video for that which I will link down below ok so I have these kind of organized slightly into like genre so the first genre it's not really a genre but the first category is series so the first series I wanted to talk about is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan I didn't read this like in my childhood as most people did I just read all of these this year I read one a month for five months and it was really fun I absolutely loved these books they were so just fun and quirky and funny and the humor is just so good and I really like Greek mythology like any mythology I really like so I love the fact that it centers around Greek mythology it's just a really great series that I think anyone no matter how old or how young you are you will just enjoy it because it's funny but action-packed and just awesome the next series is actually one I haven't finished yet but I have read most of them so I decided to include it anyways and that is the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling so I read the first three as a kid when I was eight and then I kind of just gave up because the books got so big I was just kind of over it so I have I've reread this year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter in the chamber secret and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then for the first time I've read Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire and I am currently reading Harry Potter in the order of the Phoenix I'm almost done I grew up watching the Harry Potter movies and all of my family would always read the books as they came out I just wasn't that big of a reader so I never read them but it is so fun to be reading them for the first time now I just absolutely love this series it's literally so good so the next genre is contemporary and first I wanted to talk about fangirl by Rainbow Rowell I absolutely love this book this is the second Rainbow Burwell book that I have read I read Eleanor & Park first but I liked this one a lot more I mean it's not that I didn't enjoy Eleanor & Park it's just this one is so relatable the main character is one she's a fangirl so like she's absolutely crazy for this Simon snow universe which is kind of like the Harry Potter universe and - she is in her first year of university and she's an English major I'm in my second year of university as an English major and it's just still really relatable for me because it reminded me so much of my first year of university and it's just really such a great book even if you're not in university the main character cath is just such a relatable character and so I like all the people that she meets in university it's just really a great book so the next book I want to talk about is Amy and Rodgers epic detour by Morgan Matson so this is the second Morgan Matson book that I've read I read since you've been gone but I just absolutely loved this one I really liked since you've been gone as well but this one I just liked a little bit more Morgan Matson is really well known for having like quirky little things in her books of course they can't find it whenever I go to find it on a video I can never find it but she has like these little playlists and she has playlists and since you've been gone as well but this one just has like that little bit of extra like it has these little pictures and everything it just adds so much to the story and makes a just so much more fun and you really feel like you're on this road trip with Amy and Roger and it's just it's great next is winger by Andrew Smith so I was really apprehensive when I looked at this book at first because it looks like a very boy book like it's it looks like a boy book and not that I'm a super girly girl but like I knew it was about rugby and stuff and I was like I don't know if I'm really gonna like it but I decided to kind of pick it up just on a whim and I absolutely loved it it's not really like centered on rugby sure that's a part of it but that's not like the main plotline at all it's really a coming-of-age story and it deals a lot with friendship and bullying and really important issues that need to be discussed and I just thought this book was fantastic like it's serious but it's also super funny and really heartwarming but also heartbreaking it's a lot of things just read it if even if you're apprehensive you really just need to pick it up and then you will understand why so many people rave about this book and my final contemporary favorite of 2014 is and I'm the French kiss by Stephanie Perkins didn't see that one coming did you I'm just kidding you probably did I loved this book so much I read the whole companion novel trilogy but this one particularly was my absolute favorite I just loved it Yen I really I did kind of like Anna Anna I just watched frozen so I said ah no but I really did love it Yin Anna was okay like she was a little bit of a brat at times but I just thought this book was so fantastic I absolutely loved this setting of Paris and it was just the cute romantic love story that I would have just been looking for it's literally like I will definitely be rereading this sometimes they own it because it is so freakin fantastic like if you need a cute fluffy just easy romantic love story read this is the book for you next category is dystopian and obviously it's kind of inevitable that some series are going to show up in few of these categories because basically all dystopian xand like fantasies are parts of series but anyway so the first one I wanted to talk about is the darkest minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken I don't have the darkest minds on me right now my sister is borrowing it but I do have never fade and in the afterlife which i marathoned the whole entire trilogy so I've read these as well and it was just so fantastic I absolutely loved it I loved the characters I absolutely loved Liam like so much and it's just such an interesting story it's a very different dystopian it's not kind of the typical like the wherever they live is like factionalized and you have like everyone is sorted into groups based on who they are like it's not really like that at all it's about these kids who have like these special abilities because of this disease that went through the states and it killed off every all the other kids but the kids who survived get these special abilities and then they're put in these concentration camps it's just super interesting and I would definitely recommend it for any dystopian lover who's kind of looking for a new dystopian this is a great one to pick up my next dystopian favorite is the selection series by Kiera Cass so I have read the selection the elite and the one this year I'm marathoned thumb in three days and it was fantastic these aren't really like literary gems or anything they're just really enjoyable stories and they're just interesting and cute the romance is just fantastic and I just love Maxon like I would marry him in a heartbeat I mean this is like the bachelor like The Bachelor but the bachelor is a prince like come on that's just awesome it's so awesome and my final dystopian favorite is another trilogy shocker and that is the shatter me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi so there is shatter me unravel me and ignite me and ignite me was my favorite out of all of them but these books are just so in true saying it's a very this one is a very very different concept for dystopian as well if you're kind of tired of the whole like government corruption and being like the main focus of the plot from the very beginning and everything I would definitely pick up for this or the darkest minds because that's not the main thing it's just it's super interesting and you really just need to pick these up because they are so good so I'm skipping over sci-fi because I don't really like sci-fi that much I'm trying to get into it more in 2015 that's one of my goals so yeah I don't really have any sci-fi favorites the next category is fantasy and of course I have to start with throne of glass by Sarah J Maas I just got the hardcover edition and I just really really really liked it I have the paper back too but I like the hardcover because it matches but anyways so this is a series about a female assassin who's in a competition to like for who is the best assassin it's really really crazy it's super awesome Selina is such a badass character I love her and all the other characters are super enjoyable too it's just really a great book if you like fantasy you will probably love this because it's just it's great next I have the first two books in the Grisha trilogy by Leigh bardugo I haven't read the last one yet but I have read and very much enjoyed shadow and bone and siege and storm these books are just so good it's such an interesting fantasy it's really like nothing I've ever read before I mean the world that Leigh bardugo creates is so interesting and it just makes you want to keep on reading and her writing is fantastic it's just so so good and then I have the first two books in the new soul trilogy by Jody Meadows so I have incarnate which gorgeous covers on these and asunder so I went into these books kind of not really expecting much I thought I was gonna be like an okay series but they are so good I don't know why this isn't about more on booktube because it's I think it's so so good it's basically the same like few thousand souls have been reincarnating for millions of years and then all of a sudden one of the old souls who had been reincarnating dies and this new soul comes and is living so everyone's really confused and they're really mad at this new soul because someone else had to die for her it's really crazy you just need to read it it's so it's so good I it's just it blows me away like the world that's created and here is so interesting and intriguing and intricate Oh next is the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare so there is Clockwork Angel clockwork Prince and clockwork princess which has a gorgeous cover so I read these kind of going into an apprehensive because I do like the Mortal Instruments series but it's not my absolute favorite I I think it's like a four star series for me and I'm kind of getting tired of reading about the Mortal Instruments universe to be honest so I was kind of like eh but these take place and like Victorian era England I want to say but they kind of deal more with the downworlder world I think and I really just enjoyed that I thought it was really awesome and this series was just really really great I liked it more than the Mortal Instruments series for sure next I have one paranormal favorite and that is the graveyard book by Neil Gaiman this book was just so good it tells the story of a boy who his parent his whole family it was killed and he wanders off to a graveyard as a baby and then he is raised in the graveyard by the ghost it's so fantastic and very interesting you just need to pick it up the writing is fantastic and it has like some pictures in it it's just it's really great and the last shanwa is historical fiction and I have my last two favorites for this one so the first one is the lux Vienna God person I only read the first book in this series but I just thought it was so good it's like Gossip Girl but in the 1800s and the setting is awesome the characters are awesome it's just a really great book and my final favorite is the diviners by Libba Bray I thought this book was just so good the characters were so fun and even the whole setting was fun it's basically like this paranormal story that takes place in 1920s New York and like 1920s New York is like such a setting like oh my god it was so good I definitely recommend this to anyone literally anyone so those are all of my top 14 for 2014 I am going to go film after this my top 15 most anticipated books for 2015 so I will link that down below and stay tuned for that because it will be being uploaded shortly after this one and also a Christmas book haul and a book outlet unboxing we have lots of things coming to you so yeah I'm gonna go and film the next video bye but not really bye because we'll see you in a secondhey everyone is Haley and today I'm going to be doing the final two videos in my top 14 of 2014 series kind of miniseries that had been doing on my channel this week leading up to the new year I was supposed to upload a video for the series yesterday but I ended up working all day and then I came home and filmed it and the lighting was just absolutely atrocious like I could not upload it so I just decided I would rather it be a better quality video than kind of rushed and just thrown out there so I'm going to be filming both of those today and uploading them both today hopefully so today I'm going to be doing my top 14 of 2014 these are basically the overall top 14 books that I've read in 2014 there's actually 16 but whatever so let's get into it and I don't know if I mentioned this but these are all excluding the books that were published in 2014 because I have a separate video for that which I will link down below ok so I have these kind of organized slightly into like genre so the first genre it's not really a genre but the first category is series so the first series I wanted to talk about is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan I didn't read this like in my childhood as most people did I just read all of these this year I read one a month for five months and it was really fun I absolutely loved these books they were so just fun and quirky and funny and the humor is just so good and I really like Greek mythology like any mythology I really like so I love the fact that it centers around Greek mythology it's just a really great series that I think anyone no matter how old or how young you are you will just enjoy it because it's funny but action-packed and just awesome the next series is actually one I haven't finished yet but I have read most of them so I decided to include it anyways and that is the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling so I read the first three as a kid when I was eight and then I kind of just gave up because the books got so big I was just kind of over it so I have I've reread this year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter in the chamber secret and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then for the first time I've read Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire and I am currently reading Harry Potter in the order of the Phoenix I'm almost done I grew up watching the Harry Potter movies and all of my family would always read the books as they came out I just wasn't that big of a reader so I never read them but it is so fun to be reading them for the first time now I just absolutely love this series it's literally so good so the next genre is contemporary and first I wanted to talk about fangirl by Rainbow Rowell I absolutely love this book this is the second Rainbow Burwell book that I have read I read Eleanor & Park first but I liked this one a lot more I mean it's not that I didn't enjoy Eleanor & Park it's just this one is so relatable the main character is one she's a fangirl so like she's absolutely crazy for this Simon snow universe which is kind of like the Harry Potter universe and - she is in her first year of university and she's an English major I'm in my second year of university as an English major and it's just still really relatable for me because it reminded me so much of my first year of university and it's just really such a great book even if you're not in university the main character cath is just such a relatable character and so I like all the people that she meets in university it's just really a great book so the next book I want to talk about is Amy and Rodgers epic detour by Morgan Matson so this is the second Morgan Matson book that I've read I read since you've been gone but I just absolutely loved this one I really liked since you've been gone as well but this one I just liked a little bit more Morgan Matson is really well known for having like quirky little things in her books of course they can't find it whenever I go to find it on a video I can never find it but she has like these little playlists and she has playlists and since you've been gone as well but this one just has like that little bit of extra like it has these little pictures and everything it just adds so much to the story and makes a just so much more fun and you really feel like you're on this road trip with Amy and Roger and it's just it's great next is winger by Andrew Smith so I was really apprehensive when I looked at this book at first because it looks like a very boy book like it's it looks like a boy book and not that I'm a super girly girl but like I knew it was about rugby and stuff and I was like I don't know if I'm really gonna like it but I decided to kind of pick it up just on a whim and I absolutely loved it it's not really like centered on rugby sure that's a part of it but that's not like the main plotline at all it's really a coming-of-age story and it deals a lot with friendship and bullying and really important issues that need to be discussed and I just thought this book was fantastic like it's serious but it's also super funny and really heartwarming but also heartbreaking it's a lot of things just read it if even if you're apprehensive you really just need to pick it up and then you will understand why so many people rave about this book and my final contemporary favorite of 2014 is and I'm the French kiss by Stephanie Perkins didn't see that one coming did you I'm just kidding you probably did I loved this book so much I read the whole companion novel trilogy but this one particularly was my absolute favorite I just loved it Yen I really I did kind of like Anna Anna I just watched frozen so I said ah no but I really did love it Yin Anna was okay like she was a little bit of a brat at times but I just thought this book was so fantastic I absolutely loved this setting of Paris and it was just the cute romantic love story that I would have just been looking for it's literally like I will definitely be rereading this sometimes they own it because it is so freakin fantastic like if you need a cute fluffy just easy romantic love story read this is the book for you next category is dystopian and obviously it's kind of inevitable that some series are going to show up in few of these categories because basically all dystopian xand like fantasies are parts of series but anyway so the first one I wanted to talk about is the darkest minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken I don't have the darkest minds on me right now my sister is borrowing it but I do have never fade and in the afterlife which i marathoned the whole entire trilogy so I've read these as well and it was just so fantastic I absolutely loved it I loved the characters I absolutely loved Liam like so much and it's just such an interesting story it's a very different dystopian it's not kind of the typical like the wherever they live is like factionalized and you have like everyone is sorted into groups based on who they are like it's not really like that at all it's about these kids who have like these special abilities because of this disease that went through the states and it killed off every all the other kids but the kids who survived get these special abilities and then they're put in these concentration camps it's just super interesting and I would definitely recommend it for any dystopian lover who's kind of looking for a new dystopian this is a great one to pick up my next dystopian favorite is the selection series by Kiera Cass so I have read the selection the elite and the one this year I'm marathoned thumb in three days and it was fantastic these aren't really like literary gems or anything they're just really enjoyable stories and they're just interesting and cute the romance is just fantastic and I just love Maxon like I would marry him in a heartbeat I mean this is like the bachelor like The Bachelor but the bachelor is a prince like come on that's just awesome it's so awesome and my final dystopian favorite is another trilogy shocker and that is the shatter me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi so there is shatter me unravel me and ignite me and ignite me was my favorite out of all of them but these books are just so in true saying it's a very this one is a very very different concept for dystopian as well if you're kind of tired of the whole like government corruption and being like the main focus of the plot from the very beginning and everything I would definitely pick up for this or the darkest minds because that's not the main thing it's just it's super interesting and you really just need to pick these up because they are so good so I'm skipping over sci-fi because I don't really like sci-fi that much I'm trying to get into it more in 2015 that's one of my goals so yeah I don't really have any sci-fi favorites the next category is fantasy and of course I have to start with throne of glass by Sarah J Maas I just got the hardcover edition and I just really really really liked it I have the paper back too but I like the hardcover because it matches but anyways so this is a series about a female assassin who's in a competition to like for who is the best assassin it's really really crazy it's super awesome Selina is such a badass character I love her and all the other characters are super enjoyable too it's just really a great book if you like fantasy you will probably love this because it's just it's great next I have the first two books in the Grisha trilogy by Leigh bardugo I haven't read the last one yet but I have read and very much enjoyed shadow and bone and siege and storm these books are just so good it's such an interesting fantasy it's really like nothing I've ever read before I mean the world that Leigh bardugo creates is so interesting and it just makes you want to keep on reading and her writing is fantastic it's just so so good and then I have the first two books in the new soul trilogy by Jody Meadows so I have incarnate which gorgeous covers on these and asunder so I went into these books kind of not really expecting much I thought I was gonna be like an okay series but they are so good I don't know why this isn't about more on booktube because it's I think it's so so good it's basically the same like few thousand souls have been reincarnating for millions of years and then all of a sudden one of the old souls who had been reincarnating dies and this new soul comes and is living so everyone's really confused and they're really mad at this new soul because someone else had to die for her it's really crazy you just need to read it it's so it's so good I it's just it blows me away like the world that's created and here is so interesting and intriguing and intricate Oh next is the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare so there is Clockwork Angel clockwork Prince and clockwork princess which has a gorgeous cover so I read these kind of going into an apprehensive because I do like the Mortal Instruments series but it's not my absolute favorite I I think it's like a four star series for me and I'm kind of getting tired of reading about the Mortal Instruments universe to be honest so I was kind of like eh but these take place and like Victorian era England I want to say but they kind of deal more with the downworlder world I think and I really just enjoyed that I thought it was really awesome and this series was just really really great I liked it more than the Mortal Instruments series for sure next I have one paranormal favorite and that is the graveyard book by Neil Gaiman this book was just so good it tells the story of a boy who his parent his whole family it was killed and he wanders off to a graveyard as a baby and then he is raised in the graveyard by the ghost it's so fantastic and very interesting you just need to pick it up the writing is fantastic and it has like some pictures in it it's just it's really great and the last shanwa is historical fiction and I have my last two favorites for this one so the first one is the lux Vienna God person I only read the first book in this series but I just thought it was so good it's like Gossip Girl but in the 1800s and the setting is awesome the characters are awesome it's just a really great book and my final favorite is the diviners by Libba Bray I thought this book was just so good the characters were so fun and even the whole setting was fun it's basically like this paranormal story that takes place in 1920s New York and like 1920s New York is like such a setting like oh my god it was so good I definitely recommend this to anyone literally anyone so those are all of my top 14 for 2014 I am going to go film after this my top 15 most anticipated books for 2015 so I will link that down below and stay tuned for that because it will be being uploaded shortly after this one and also a Christmas book haul and a book outlet unboxing we have lots of things coming to you so yeah I'm gonna go and film the next video bye but not really bye because we'll see you in a second\n"