Best of The Best: 2015 - Miscellaneous Class

Hey, ladies!


Happy last-day-of-2015! Today's best of 2015 list is the miscellaneous class; these are the books I loved, but don't read enough of the type to fill an entire post (or, as in the case with the erotica section, didn't read much that was good ;)). It's a mishmash!

Best Horror

A refreshing take on vampires, touched with romance and with a very unusual setting.
My Review

Book 3 in the Experiment in Terror series. I'm not gonna lie: I slept with the lights on after reading this. *shudders*
So. Damn. Creepy. 

Best Historical

This is fantastic smut! Well written, deliciously filthy, with a good storyline along with the fun times. The only historical I read this year, ha ha. 

Best Erotica/Erotic Romances

Shhhh....I know, I know. It's complete trash, but I can't help but love it and the rest of the series. Completely addictive!

So filthy. So well written. So suspenseful. So. Damn. Dirty.

This would win if it was just a battle of epic smut. The storyline faltered, but otherwise....*fans self*
My Review

Best Non-fiction

Raw, honest, and eye opening. I loved it. 

Best YA

Wildly entertaining, well written, and a surprisingly emotional read.
My Review

Best of The Best: 2015 - Audiobooks

Hey, ladies!

Today's post is for my top 5 best audiobooks of 2015!
I've only been listening to audiobooks since September of this year, but I've quickly fallen in love with them. I can read so much more while my hands are free! I listen while I walk or run, while I train the dogs, while I clean, ect. It's fantastic, and it's become addictive.

I think audiobooks can make or break a book; they can salvage an average read, or sully a good story, depending on your narrator. Some narrators read the book, and some bring the book to life. It's so fun to discover them!

Best Audiobooks of 2015!

(in order, for once)

5.

Kyland by Mia Sheridan 

Narrated by Erin Mallon and Stephen Dexter

This was a highly emotional book, and both narrators captured that flawlessly. The male narrator took a bit to get used to, but I think he perfectly pulled of the heartache of Kyland. Erin Mallon is a favorite narrator of mine, and she carried out her role with her usual talent. 

4. 

Addicted for Now by Krista and Becca Ritchie 

Narrated by Erin Mallon and Charles Carr

Another Erin Mallon one! Carr has a very specific voice, and he really becomes his character. The pair does the entire Addicted series audiobooks, and are a fantastic team. This is a series I'd suggest listening to over reading. 

3. 

Sweet Filthy Boy by Mia Sheridan

Narrated by Shayna Thibodeaux

One of my top 5 contemporaries of the year! I've listened to all the Wild Seasons books, and I've come to really enjoy Thibodeaux style. She became Mia to me, and I grew to truly appreciate the way she does Ansel. 

There's no number two (gross), since these tied for the top title!

Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning 

Narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante

I freaking adore this duo and the way they've done books 4 and 5 in the Fever series, and then Dani's novels. This is the best dual performance, in my opinion. Ross does all the female voices, and Gigante does the men. I don't understand while every other audiobook I've listen to won't do it that way, rather than the woman doing both male and female voices in her chapter, or vice versa!

Gigante's voice....goddamn, he could talk you into an orgasm. He makes the perfect Barrons. <3

Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost

Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Best solo performance goes to Tavia Gilbert! What a wildly talented narrator! Every single character has a unique voice, each wildly different from the one before. She captures Cat flawlessly, and brings so much emotion to her readings. I really hope she picks up the Outtakes From The Grave audiobook. 

What about you? What was your best audiobook in 2015?

- The Bibliophile Babe

Top Ten Tuesday: My Most Anticipated Releases for The First Half of 2016

Hey, ladies!

It's time for the last Top Ten Tuesday of 2015! This week's theme is Most Anticipated Releases for 2015, and is hosted again by the fabulous The Broke and The Bookish girls.

2016 will be a fantastic year for new releases; I am absolutely salivating to get my hands on these books! This isn't in too much of an order. Can't wait to see what everyone is waiting on!

My Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2016:

10. Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers - May 3rd

This is a little out of my normal realm, but it sounds so interesting!


His world is music…
…Her world is silent. 

Ali Collins was a prodigy destined to become one of the greatest musicians of the 21st century. 

Until the brain tumor struck. 

Now seventeen, Ali lives in a soundless world where she gets by with ASL and lip-reading. So when she meets Jace Beckett, she thinks he’s her worst nightmare come true. Jace is the lead singer for the wildly-popular band Tone Deaf, and he’s exactly the kind of success-story Ali hates and resents. 

Nineteen-year-old Jace has it all: fame, money, and legions of fans. Every night on tour brings a new performance and a new girl, which is just what he needs to avoid the pain of relationships. 

But when Jace learns Ali is being abused, he reluctantly proposes a solution: Run away with him and his band as they tour the country. With freedom in sight, Ali takes the offer. Immediately, she’s swept into a world filled with wild punk music, wilder musicians, and maybe—just maybe—love.

9. Wicked Sexy Liar by Christina Lauren - February 2nd

I'm such a sucker for this series! I believe this one is about Lola's friend, London, and Mia's ex, Luke.

Dating a friend’s ex is supposed to be off the table. But sometimes what’s really, really wrong is actually really, really right.

8. Never Never: Part 3 by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher - January 26th

I neeeeeeed this, now.
No summary for it, oddly enough. 

7. The Lie by Karina Halle - February 15th

The cover is releasing sometime this week or next, but check out that summary!

Their love led to a lie
Their truth led to the end

Brigs McGregor is crawling out from the ashes. After he losing his wife and son in a car accident and his job from his subsequent downward spiral, he's finally moving forward, getting a prestigious teaching position at the University of London and a new life in the city. Slowly, but surely, he's pushing past the guilt and putting his tragic past behind him.

Until he sees her.

Natasha Trudeau once loved a man so much she thought she'd die without him. But their love was wrong, doomed from the start, and when their world crashed around them, Natasha was nearly buried in the rubble. It took years of moving on to forget him, and now that she's in London, she's ready to start again.

Until she sees him.

Because some loves are too dangerous to ever indulge.
And some loves are far too powerful to ignore.
Their love just might be the life and the death of them.

6. He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker - February 2nd

I love K.A. Tucker, and I'm excited to see something a bit different from her!

The USA TODAY bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series makes her suspense debut with this sexy, heartpounding story of a young woman determined to find justice after her best friend’s death, a story pulsing with the “intense, hot, emotional” (Colleen Hoover) writing that exhilarates her legions of fans.

A woman who almost had it all . . .

On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?

A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .

Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.

Until he became her ruin.

On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered. 

5. The Score by Elle Kennedy - January 11th

This series is a complete guilty pleasure for me. No judging!

He knows how to score, on and off the ice 

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands. 

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over 

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

4. Soulless by T.M. Frazier - February 23rd

I freaking loved Lawless (click for review), and it ended on one hell of a cliffy. Can't wait for this!

The finale to Bear and Thia's epic love story.

3. Fighting Solitude by Aly Martinez - February 2nd

I love the On The Ropes series, and I've been waiting months for Quarry's story!

I was born a fighter. Abandoned by my parents, I spent my life forging my own path—one guided by my fists and paved with pain.

Untouchable in the ring, I destroyed everyone who faced me, but that’s where my victories ended. Outside the ropes, I repeatedly failed the few people who loved me. Including my best friend, Liv James—the one person I’d die to protect.

Even though I didn’t deserve her, Liv never stopped believing in me. Never gave up. Never let go. After all, she understood what I’d lost, because she’d lost it too.

Liv was everything to me, but she was never truly mine.

That was going to change.

I lost my first love, but I refused to lose my soulmate.

Now, I’m on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.

Fighting to be the man she deserves.

Fighting the solitude of our pasts.

Fighting for her. 

2. One With You by Sylvia Day - April 5th

My guiltiest of guilty pleasures. There's so much wrong with this series (Angst! Drama! Co-dependency!), but I can't help but go at them like a fat kid at a candy bar.
It bothers me that this cover doesn't flow with the others, though!


Gideon Cross. Falling in love with him was the easiest thing I've ever done. It happened instantly. Completely. Irrevocably.

Marrying him was a dream come true. Staying married to him is the fight of my life. Love transforms. Ours is both a refuge from the storm and the most violent of tempests. Two damaged souls entwined as one.

We have bared our deepest, ugliest secrets to one another. Gideon is the mirror that reflects all my flaws ... and all the beauty I couldn't see. He has given me everything. Now, I must prove I can be the rock, the shelter for him that he is for me. Together, we could stand against those who work so viciously to come between us.

But our greatest battle may lie within the very vows that give us strength. Committing to love was only the beginning. Fighting for it will either set us free ... or break us apart.

Heartbreakingly and seductively poignant, One with You is the breathlessly awaited finale to the Crossfire® saga, the searing love story that has captivated millions of readers worldwide.

1. Outtakes From The Grave by Jeaniene Frost (audio version) - February 1st

I absolutely love the Nigh Huntress audiobooks ! This is a series where I would suggest listening rather than reading.
This audiobook releases Feb. 1st, and I really hope Tavia Gilbert is on board for this one. It's still with Blackstone Audio, so I don't see why she wouldn't be on. Fingers crossed!

Cat and Bones fans, sink your teeth into this new outtakes compilation from New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost! 

Indulge your love of paranormal super couple Cat and Bones with this ultimate “director’s cut” collection of deleted scenes and alternate versions from the first four novels in the Night Huntress series, complete with author commentary on each selection. Includes: the original beginnings of Halfway to the Grave, One Foot in the Grave, At Grave’s End, and Destined for an Early Grave: a chapter written in Bones’s point of view; alternate versions of sections of Halfway to the Grave, One Foot in the Grave, and Destined for an Early Grave; the “white wedding” scene between Cat and Bones that never made it into the final books…and much more!

- The Bibliophile Babe 

The Best of The Best: 2015 - Romance

Hey, ladies!


This week I'll be recapping my top books of 2015! I've read around 270 this year, and it's been quite difficult to narrow this all down...or figure out just what my categories should be. Best of YA? New Adult? Paranormal? Romance? What if it's a young adult paranormal romance?! There's too much crossover!!! *melts into a puddle of OCD freak out*


I suppose I'll do Best Romance for today, Best Audiobooks on Wednesday, Best Miscellaneous on Thursday, and then Most Emotional on Friday. That's the way that makes me the least twitchy. :p


Romance made up the bulk of what I read this year, so this will be the longest list by far. I touched on this in a Top Ten Tuesday not too long ago!
I've excluded erotica, historical, and a few books that only had romance undertones. They're going in the Misc. class. Some of these books are series, but I've just picked my favorites from them. These were all 5 or more star reads, and I would happily reread them (or have already reread them!).

My Top 20 Romances of 2015 

(in no order)

20. Sins and Needles by Karina Halle

One of my few 6 star reads this year!
My Review

19. Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle

Book 8 in the Experiment in Terror series, and I LOVED it! The perfect blend of horror, humor, paranormal, sweet romance, and steamy sex. 

18. Racing The Sun by Karina Halle

One of the best new adult books I've read!
My Review

17. Six of Hearts by L.H. Cosway

This was such an intense and spellbinding 6 star read!
My Review

16. Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren

Oh, Ansel! *swoons*
My Review

15. Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

One of the funniest books for the year!

14. Fisher's Light by Tara Sivec

I'm due for a reread on this gorgeous second chance romance! Maybe I'll do a review for you all soon. :)

13. Slammed by Colleen Hoover

It's a bit cheesy, but this was my first Hoover book and it gave me all the feels. 

12. Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan

I have a love/hate relationship with this author, but this novel was incredible!

11. Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

BARRONS!!!!

10. Burying Water by K.A. Tucker

My first experience with K.A. Tucker, and I was impressed!
My Review

9. Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

My favorite Kate Daniels!

8. Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez

I loved this intensely emotional friends to lovers romance!

7. At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

This was one of the best in the series! That one reunion scene....

6. Outtakes from The Grave by Jeaniene Frost

So many questions answered, and fantastic new material revealed!
My Review

5. The Fall Up by Aly Martinez

So, so good! I want my own Sam.
My Review

4. Never Never (1 and 2) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

So twisty, so mysterious, so fast paced!

3. Empower by Jessica Shirvington

The only YA on this list! I loved the Violet Eden Chapters series. 

2. The Hooker and The Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid

Hilarious, sexy, and so easy to relate to!

1. Nocte by Courtney Cole 

Such a mindfuck!
My Review

So there you have it! These were my best romances for 2015. What were some of your favorites?

- The Bibliophile Babe

The Sunday Post/It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Hey, ladies!

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/whatever you celebrate! Mine was pretty good, just extremely hot. I was given a few things I've been dying for, so yay! Great little family time in the morning, then a long and taxing extended family lunch. :p I will say though that not eating sugar or gluten severely limits your food options at other people's houses.

Check out these temps! Granted, this is Florida, but the north part. This time last year it was in the 40s during the day, and the 20s and teens at night.

I was dying for this book!

An okay step week. Christmas was the only day in a long time I hit less than 10,000 steps. I'm still eating as much a football linebacker, despite my 113lb, 5'6" frame. It's insane, truly.
Still need to get new running shoes! I've been very good about walking the dogs at night, which I really enjoy. It's soothing, and I've found I prefer running at night instead of the mornings.

Sunday - 12,955
Monday - 14,033
Tuesday: 15,809
Wednesday - 10,481
Thursday - 10,530
Friday - 7,936
Saturday - 12,534

Total - 84,276

This Week's Recap

Book Haul!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Books I Wouldn't Mind Finding Under My Tree

{Book Review} Outtakes From The Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Coming Up

This week will be recapping my best books of 2015!

The Best of The Best: 2015 - Paranormal/Urban Fantasy

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for The First Half of 2016

The Best of The Best 2015: Dark/Suspense/Different Romance

The Best of The Best: 2015 - Miscellaneous & Smut Class

Best of The Best: 2015 - Most Emotional 

Read This Week

4 stars. Fantastic idea, likable enough characters, fantastic final 20%. Way too fast of a romance. Eagerly wanting to read the next book though!
Audiobook

5 stars! My favorite in the series, by far.
Physical book 

2.5-3 stars. Eh. It was better than Before We Were Strangers, but that's not saying much. The characters were ridiculous, the heroine a complete bitch, everything moved too fast, so much drama for the sake of drama, and the ending absolutely dragged. The last 30% could've been cut without problem.
Audiobook

5 stars! I cried so hard. This was a fantastic, beautifully honest short book that made me cry. Highly, highly recommend. eBook

Currently Reading

I...will...finish. I...will...finish! 75% complete and the ending can't come soon enough.

Only a couple chapters into this one, but really enjoying it so far! I may stop and get the audio version instead, though. 

What Will I Next?

Your guess is as good (probably better than) as mine!

- The Bibliophile Babe