Rose Red's Best of 2015

2015 has been an excellent reading year for me! I've almost read 200 books! And that doesn't count the novellas and graphic novels I've read this year! I'm actually amazed that I've managed to read so much this year!

Unfortunately, that also makes it hard to choose an all encompassing top ten books of the year so I'm going to be sharing with you some of my favorite books I've read this year in several different categories. That way I can share more of my favorite books of 2015 with you! :) This is going to be a long post so I hope you all are comfortable.

New To Me Authors

I know what you're thinking. Rose Red, how have you never read any of these authors before this year?!? I know. I am ashamed. I kind of want to go back and slap past Rose Red for not picking up these books sooner. Then again, I'd have to give her a hug as well because I enjoyed the heck out of binge reading these series this year.

I am absolutely loving Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series! I just got to book seven and it's been a wild ride! Merit is my spirit animal! My goal is to read the last five books and two novellas by the time Midnight Marked is out in March.

I've said it before but 2015 is going to be known as the year that I became obsessed with Nalini Singh's books. I binge read both of her paranormal series this year. And ZOMG! I adore them both so much! SO SO MUCH! I wrote Read This F@!%ing Book posts for both of them. You can find the Psy-Changeling post here and the Guild Hunter post here. :)

I've heard a lot about how amazing Written in Red by Anne Bishop was for years now but I never found the time to pick it up. Oh my goodness! Why, Past Rose Red? Why?!? I freaking adored all the books in this series! I'm anxiously awaiting Marked in Flesh's release in March. WHY IS IT NOT MARCH YET?

Urban Fantasy

 

You all know that Urban Fantasy is where my reading heart is at. It is my favorite genre hands down. I could probably write up a top ten books of the year list with urban fantasy alone! SO many excellent books. It's not surprising that I had a hard time choosing my favorites of the year, is it?

This year I finally picked up Patricia Briggs's Alpha & Omega series and OH MY GOODNESS! WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG? Let me be honest, I was nervous to pick it up. I adore the Mercy Thompson series and I didn't want A&O to turn out to be not awesome. My fears turned out to be ridiculous since I adored A&O just as much as Mercy! I'm still not sure whether Hunting Ground or Dead Heat is my most favorite of the series but I love the whole series hardcore. And by reading it, I finally was able to catch up on Mercy! Oh my goodness! I'm so glad for that too! Frost Burned and Night Broken were amazing! I can't wait to get my hands on more books by Patricia Briggs!

Okay. You all know my all-encompassing love of the Kate Daniels series. So of course Magic Shifts was going to be on this list! There's been a bunch of mixed reviews about it throughout the blogosphere but I adored it! It was so fun to see Kate and Curran in a setting other than Beast Lord and Consort. I need the next book so badly!

My favorite urban fantasy debut this year definitely goes to Owl and the Japanese Circus! This book was unique and fun! I really enjoyed it! And the sequel, Owl and the City of Angels, was a non-stop thrill ride! If you all haven't read this series yet, you need to! It's great! And you all will fall in love with Owl's vampire hunting cat, Captain. I totally did!

As I mentioned earlier, I fell in love with Chloe Neill's books this year. I adored The Veil! It's set in a post-magical apocalyptic New Orleans and all persons with magic are imprisoned in what is essentially a concentration camp called Devil's Isle. I'm so excited to see more of Claire and Liam in the next book, The Sight!

I haven't read many YA books that I've enjoyed this year. In fact, I've DNFed a lot of them this year. But I have read some that I've loved! Cold Burn of Magic falls into that category! It was so great! How could I not love a book that has both a magical mob and monsters?

And the last series I'm going to mention in this section is The Edge series by Ilona Andrews. This was everything I wanted it to be and more! I loved the world and the characters SO much! I really how Ilona Andrews comes back to this world and some point! I'd love to see more! Maybe it could focus on the younger generation in this book? I totally would read about all of the shenanigans George and Jack will get in to!

Science Fiction

2015 is also the year that I read more science fiction. I had kind of fallen of the band wagon the last few years in the genre. Not that there hasn't been good books, I just didn't feel like reading the genre. I have lots of books to catch up on but let's talk about my favorites of this year.

Time Salvager was the sci-fi/dystopian/thriller mashup that I never knew I wanted before I read it. It was kind of a dark and depressing take on time travel. And I loved it! It was refreshing to see that time travel has physical, emotional, and mental consequences. Too many books and movies, gloss over it and never show the downside to time travel. I should know by now that Wesley Chu will never let me down when it comes to science fiction. I can't wait for the next book to come out this next year!

Now, let's talk about Zero World! This book was pure high octane awesome! It was an amazing sci-fi spy thriller... in space! And I was enthralled from page one! It was everything I wanted it to be and more! If you haven't read any of Jason Hough's books and you like sci-fi, you need to pick his books up ASAP! I've loved everything he has written so far.

Now this last book might be cheating since I'm only half way through it at the time of this post, but ZOMG! I'M LOVING IT SO MUCH! It will definitely be one of my favorites of the year. I've adored the whole Lunar Chronicles series from the first and Winter is looking to be the series finale that I've been hoping for. Really. How could I not like a series that is made up of sci-fi fairy tale retellings? I can't begin to tell you how sad I am that this series is ending. I'm reading it slowly so it will last longer.

Romance

Oh, Romance! As a genre, you make me giggle in delight like a little girl. I love you and your variety so much! It also made limiting myself to three books very hard.

First up, I binge read the last five books in Kristen Callihan's Darkest London series and I adored all of them! But if I had to choose a favorite it would definitely be Evernight although Moonglow is a close second. I adored Holly! I loved that she's a brilliant scientist. She also went through hell in book four so she had a lot to work through with her PTSD, but she was still brilliant. I also adored Will Thorne. He's charismatic, crude, and cheeky while being loyal and sweet. And he went through an even larger hell than Holly did. I loved their relationship and how they used each other to become less broken. I'm eagerly waiting for more books in this series!

You all know that I adore Jennifer Armentrout's Wait For You series so it's not a surprise that one of the two books released this year made it on the list. I had a hard time choosing because they were both amazing but Roxy's book won out in the end. Fall With Me is just one of those books that makes you fall in love with New Adult. If you haven't read this series yet, you need to change that ASAP! It's so good! It gives me so many warm fuzzies. Also, the male leads in this series are collectively called the Hot Guy Brigade in this book which is a super accurate description. Also, you all need to meet Reese! He is my favorite!

Finally, the last book I'm going to talk about in this genre is my second most favorite YA book of the year after Winter. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart surprised the hell out of me with how much I loved it! I was a little nervous going into this book because I’m not a big fan of contemporary books whether they’re adult or YA. But I absolutely adore Jenn Bennett’s adult series so I decided to give her YA debut a shot. And I’ll admit that the premise fascinated me! I’ve never read a book that’s a romance between an aspiring anatomy artist and a notorious graffiti artist. Heck! I don’t think I’ve even heard of a book with an anatomy artist in it. From the very second that these two meet, I was hooked. I wanted more of them… more of their banter and more of them falling for each other. Seriously! I loved them! YOU ALL NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

Fantasy

 

 

Urban fantasy may hold my heart but that doesn't mean that I don't love epic/high fantasy and steampunk a lot too! And there have been so many awesome fantasy books released this year not to mention a few older fantasy books I finally got to.

It wouldn't be my favorites in fantasy if I didn't mention the latest Brandon Sanderson book. I've loved everything he's ever written so it's not a surprise that I adored the latest installment in his Mistborn series. Shadows of Self was everything I've come to expect from Brandon Sanderson. The Mistborn world is still epic and fascinating and Wax and Wayne are still my favorites. I need the next book after that ending though! Good thing we only have to wait until January for it or I might die of feels and curiosity.

If I had to choose my absolute favorite book of the year, I'd have to choose Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I still can't talk about this book without gushing and I have pushed it on so many friends and family members. It was one of those books that just remind you of why you love a genre as much as you do. This book made me feel like I did when I first discovered Robin McKinley and that's one of the highest compliments I can give a book.

If I had to choose my second favorite book of the year, that honor would go to A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. I've been a Schwab fangirl for a while now and this book blew all of my expectations out of the water. There's parallel Londons, magic, cross-dressing thieves, a wannabe pirate, sadistic royalty, and a prince who channels both Prince Harry and Jack Harkness. It was absolutely amazing! Schwab  proved yet again why she is one of my favorite authors. Also, I've never been more excited to find out that a book is the first book in a series. I need book two yesterday.

And for my final fantasy pick falls to an author's debut book. The Emperor's Blades came out last year and was one of those books I regretted not getting to until this summer. It was amazing! There was nothing new or groundbreaking in the tropes used in this book, but it reminded me why I adore some of those tropes. Also, this is a book about SIBLINGS! I loved Kaden, Valyn, and Adare! How many books do you know focus on siblings? I haven't read very many lately and it made this book even more amazing! Also, there are giant hawks that are used to transport this world's elite band of assassins! How cool is that? I want to ride one!

Books I Wish I Had Gotten To In 2015

 

 

At the end of every year, I have a list of books that I wanted to read but just ran out of time before doing so. These are all books I really wanted to read this year. They will definitely have high priority in 2016.

This was a hard post to write but those are my favorite books of the year! What books were your favorite this year? Do we have any in common?