Stephanie’s 2014 List of Must Reads

So far in 2014 I’ve read 290 books.  I marked 76 of them as 5 stars.  So I went through the list of them to see which ones out of that 76 made a big impact after or during the time I read them.  Several of these I’ve dreamed about after reading them.  I’ve narrowed the 76 down to 17.   I will tell you a bit about each one as to why it was meaningful to me.

These are in no specific order other than how they were listed in my GoodReads stats page when I was looking up my year end review.

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 This is an awesome series.  I absolutely love it.  Merit suddenly becomes a vampire after being attacked one evening as she walked across her college campus.  Leaning on her inner strength is something she’s already familiar with – but definitely helps her get used to the idea of now being a creature of the night – along with mega hottie vampire Master.
Every little girl who’s heard of Cinderella has a dream of marring Prince Charming one day.  In The Selection the members of this society choose one female to represent them to be the possible future Queen.  I am a big Cinderella fan and absolutely loved this story and it’s liking to the rags to Queen process.

This series takes place in my native North Carolina along the Outer Banks.  I think it’s amazing how Author Denise Grover Swank has pulled the story of the Lost Colony into this trilogy and the thought that the Colony was hidden for so long because of a curse one of the Native American gods had created.  It’s a thought provoking and a story I definitely dreamed about after reading.
I loved how these two characters chatted with each other frequently and once Hannah decided to move back home she found herself also in the same town as her online chat and co-writer buddy Matthew Sky.  Matthew has lots of secrets and  trying to fetter them out was a huge ordeal for Hannah.  They have major issues – yet she’s the only one who can bring Matt to his senses.  This is the first book in a trilogy.
This is the final book in Innocence trilogy.  If you haven’t read the other two the order is Blindfold Innocence then Masked Innocence.  You can still get to them by clicking on this cover.  So The End of Innocence is the must anticipated ending of Brad DeLuca and Julia Campbell.  Will she live or die?  Will his secrets all come back to haunt and taunt them for good?  How safe is Julia really?  Is her relationship with Brad even worth it?  I thought it was an awesome trilogy.  I loved the characters and definitely thought about the ways Alessandra could have taken this story.
This is the third book in the Lawyers in Love series but each book is a stand alone.  If you’ve not read N.M. Silber before you should check out her books!  She has funny characters.  I was always laughing to the point of tears with these guys.  Crazy lawyers jokes included.  The characters of Legal Briefs have been at each others throats since preschool.  He teased she barbed him back with insults.  Never in her life did Lily think Adam had the hots for her.  If you like a funny and HOT love story – grab this one!
This much anticipated third story in the Forever Evermore Series answered several questions but then added more!  I love this series.  It’s a definite must read if you’ve not started this series before it begins with King Hall.  Definitely an awesome story for Paranormal readers.
In this debut stand alone by Tiffany Aleman there’s a lots of drama, angst, and hot steamy scenes.  Tiffany doesn’t disappoint with this story.  She’s done a fantastic join keeping you on the edge of your seat with what will happen next!
This particular release by Lily White is one of my absolute favorites.  One – because she modeled several of  the characters after people we know – one of those being me(!).  Two – because this was the first book that she totally fooled everyone with the ending.  I refuse to spoil this book for you.  You’ll just have to read it.  There are some dark parts to this story but it’s not violent.  It’s a story that will really mess with you mind.  Lily is fabulous with totally confusing the reader with what’s actually happening in the story.

 

Lily White release several books this year that I loved.  One of them was banned by Amazon for content violation and is actually on my list for must reads.  You can only get Her Master’s Courtesan on Smashwords or Barnes & Noble.
Fall is the first Science Fiction story I actually read on purpose.  I love Scarlett Dawn’s Paranormal so when she asked if I would review her SciFi I said sure, I’ll try it.  This is a series of novellas.  I absolutely loved the story once I got past all the technical stuff building the frame of the story line.  There’s lots of terms that probably mean lots to those who like SciFi on a regular basis that I skipped over.  HA!  I would definitely recommend this book/series.  Even if you don’t read Science Fiction.  I don’t prefer that genre and tend to stay away from it.  This one, however, I highly recommend.
This was a fun story to read.  Loved it!  Erika Ashby did a great job with this story.  She found a way to make a porn star out of a character who never thought she would go down that path.  The unexpected turns in peoples lives can make a huge impact.  Who knew the first assignment Lucy would take for her job would take such a drastic career path change for her.  It was life altering. Absolutely fabulous story.  I read this one so fast – it had to be on my list for this year end “review.”
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this story.  I bought it in September and devoured it!  I found the author on Facebook and messaged her to say how much I loved the story and to beg for the follow up story – Captured Love.  Captured Secret will suck you in and you’ll be right there with the characters.  Rooting for them.  Disappointed in them.  Enraged for them.  Genuinely concerned for them.  Definitely a must read.  A handsome photographer needs an assistant and his best friends girlfriend’s BFF happens to be a work-a-holic that can help.  Sizzling attraction.  Playboy photog every female wants…
Such an amazing story.  Penelope Ward did an awesome job with this story.  I absolutely love this one for all the feeling she poured into these characters.  Generally this story might be considered taboo but there’s nothing really taboo about it.  The two main characters are close in age who happy to have a parent married to the other’s parent.  Secrets galore surround the stepbrother and his father.  I claim Elec as my new Book Boyfriend.
On my goodness!  I loved this debut story by Mariah Deitz.  She did such an amazing job with her characters.  They seemed to come to life while I was reading this book.  I definitely was sucked into this story.  I felt for the main female character – Ace.  Ace had a “normal” upbringing and absolutely adores her family.  She’s a pretty tough cookie.  Her next door neighbor has pretty much ignored the face that Ace is alive until one summer between college semesters.  Oh how their roller coaster rolls.  I’m anxiously awaiting the second book in this series.
I think this may be my first real MC book I’ve ever read.  I think some might consider this story to be a dark read.  *shrug*  I don’t know but it’s an awesome story.  This is a debut novel for M.N. Forgy.  She did a fabulous job bringing her characters to life.  I did dream about this story after I read it – wondering where she would take us in the next book (The Scars that Define Us.)
This book doesn’t release until Jan. 6, 2015 but I read the advanced copy this past week and absolutely LOVED this story!  I’m a fan of rocker books and menage stories.  This has the two combined.  I will save my review for when I post about it on release day.  But I will tell you that I’ve asked a bunch of my blogger friends to hop on the 69 Bottles Tour!  You can preorder this book now!  I tell you – this is one you won’t want to miss!!!