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

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

{Book Review} Outtakes From The Grave by Jeaniene Frost

From Goodreads

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! 

My Review

5 Fantastic Stars!

I discovered the Night Huntress series early this year, and from the very first book I was completely addicted. I remember I had the first two books, finished book one, ordered the rest of the books, finished book two, and then couldn't wait for book three to arrive, so I went to Books-a-Million and bought it. It's a wildly addictive series, and is one of my very favorites. Each book completely sucked me in, that perfect mix of sex, action and humor relentlessly holding my attention.

However, I had some questions and thoughts that were never really answered during the series lineup. 

Enter Outtakes From The Grave. 

With tantalizing chapter titles like Bone's Point of View of Their First Time, Alternate Version of Cat and Bones's Reunion, Bones Discovers Cat's Tattoo, White Wedding, Bones Realizes Cat Almost Jumped, and a long novella length chunk for an alternate middle for Destined for an Early Grave, this book was like a Big Mac after a week of salads. 

I. Fucking. Loved. It. 

You need to have read the first four books (Halfway to The Grave, One Foot in The Grave, This Side of The Grave, and Destined for an Early Grave) before diving into this one. 

Not only was it beyond satisfying to see these alternate chapters and missing scenes, it was so interesting to see Frost's writing mature and evolve from the first alternate chapter for Halfway to The Grave, to the alternate middle of Destined for an Early Grave. What started as slightly tentative and a bit stilted turned into captivating confidence with an effortless flow. You're given author's notes in the beginning of each chapter; it was so neat to "hear" Frost's thought process on each part. 

Outtakes From The Grave has a slightly rougher, less-polished feel than the series novels, and I think it really worked for the book. You could see why certain things were cut - it was truly a behind the scenes look at the beloved series. Like I mentioned, you can see Frost grow as a writer throughout the story, and you can really see Cat mature in a way the series doesn't show. 

One of my favorite things in Outtakes was the missions, training and banter between Cat, Tate, Don, Juan, Cooper, and then eventually Bones. The series has always had richly developed side characters, and Outtakes fleshes them out even more. These were some of the funniest moments, and I loved getting a peek at Cat's life after she left Bones. 

There were a few short scenes that I truly wish had been included, like Bones finding out about Cat's tattoo, and then him finding about the almost jump. They filled in some non-vital but still incredibly wondering ideas I've had about the series.

We're finally given Cat and Bones's wedding, and let me tell you, it was both beautiful and smokin' hot. God, it was so good. 

The long novella length alternative middle for Destined for an Early Grave was amazing. We're taken on a totally different route than the published store (hence "alternate"), and I almost wish that had been what had happened. It's not something I would usually be for, but it worked for the flow of the series, and we were allowed to see such a different side of our beloved couple.

I really hope Tavia Gilbert picks up the audiobook version for this one! If that happens, I'll be the first to buy it. She puts on one hell of a performance, and how can you not love Bones's accent in the audios?

Overall, Outtakes From The Grave is a must have for any Night Huntress fan, adding a new level of history and richness to the series. A highly satisfying novel that fills in so many blanks, and still leaves you wanting more!

Thank you to the author for the ARC. :D

- The Bibliophile Babe

P.S. I'll see you all on Sunday! Have a safe and Merry Christmas!

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

Hey, ladies!

It's time for The Broke and The Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday! This week's theme is Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree This Year.

This was a really fun one for me! I've been reading a lot of Kindle books lately, so my physical bookshelves are a bit stagnant. These are books I've loved, but don't have a real book copy of. I'll get around to them soon!
In no order....

10. Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews

It's Kate Daniels. Duh. This is the only book in the series I don't have a physical copy of!

In the latest Kate Daniels novel from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Ilona Andrews, magic is coming and going in waves in post-Shift Atlanta—and each crest leaves danger in its wake…

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece… 

9. King of Hearts by L.H. Cosway

I loved this book, and the entire series. This one is my second favorite.

Welcome to the City, London’s most prestigious square mile, where finance reigns and Oliver King is a rising prince. 

I used to rule the world.

There might be wolves on Wall Street, but there were crocodiles in Canary Wharf. Some of us craved money. Some of us craved power.

I liked money, and power had its advantages, but what I really wanted was to excel, to surpass the men who came before me. I never cared much for love and romance until I met Alexis.

I could feel it the very moment she walked into the interview, with her outspoken charm and vivacious personality. She cast all the others in shadow, made me laugh when life held no humour. Our friendship should have remained professional, but it wasn’t long before the lines started to blur.

You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well, I never foresaw where my plans would lead, and only in my darkest hour did I finally see the light…

You can have all the money and prestige in the world and still be the poorest man alive. And love, well, I hate to use a tired old cliché, but love can be the thing that truly sets you free. 

8. November 9 by Colleen Hoover

My only non-physical CoHo book!

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist. 

7. Tyrant by T.M. Frazier 

I love this series. Plus, those covers...

I. Remember. Everything.

Only now I wish I didn't. 

When the fog is sucked away from my mind like smoke through a vacuum, the truth that has been beyond my reach for months finally reveals itself. 

But the relief I thought I would feel never comes, and I'm more afraid now than I was the morning I woke up handcuffed in King's bed.

Because with the truth comes dark secrets I was never meant to know. 

I will put the lives of those I love most at risk if I let on that my memory has returned, or if I seek help from the heavily tattooed felon who owns me body and soul. 

I don't know if I'm strong enough to resist the magnetic pull toward King that grows stronger every day. 

He's already saved me in more ways than one. Now it's my turn to do whatever it takes to save him. 

Even if that means marrying someone else...

 

6. Lawless  by T.M. Frazier

So good!

Thia is prim and proper.
Bear is leather and lawless.
It will never work between them.
It's a lie they almost believe...

It is necessary to first read King and Tyrant to fully enjoy Lawless.

5. The Fall Up by Aly Martinez

I freaking love this cover, and it had one of my favorite book boyfriends of all time!

I wanted to jump.
He made me fall.

As a celebrity, I lived in the public eye, but somewhere along the way, I’d lost myself in the spotlight.

Until he found me.

Sam Rivers was a gorgeous, tattooed stranger who saved my life with nothing more than a simple conversation.

But we were both standing on that bridge for a reason the night we met. The secrets of our pasts brought us together—and then tore us apart.

Could we find a reason to hold on as life constantly pulled us down?

Or maybe there’s only one direction to go when two people fall in love at rock bottom—up. 

4. The Play by Karina Halle

So, so pretty!

A troubled Scottish rugby player who doesn't play by the rules.
A vivacious man-eater who's given up on love.
When it comes to Lachlan and Kayla, opposites don't just attract - they explode.

Kayla Moore has always been comfortable with her feisty, maneating reputation. At least it was fine until she hit her thirties and saw her best friends Stephanie and Nicola settle down with Linden and Bram McGregor, leaving Kayla to be the odd one out. Tired of being the third wheel with nothing but one-night stands and dead-end dates in San Francisco, Kayla decides to take a vow of celibacy and put men on the backburner.

That is until she lays her eyes on Linden and Bram’s cousin, hot Scot Lachlan McGregor. Lachlan is her sexual fantasy come to life – tall, tatted, and built like a Mack truck. With a steely gaze and successful rugby career back in Edinburgh, he’s the kind of man that makes her want to throw her vow right out the window. But Lachlan’s quiet and intense demeanor makes him a hard man to get to know, let alone get close to.

It isn’t until the two of them are thrown together one long, unforgettable night that Kayla realizes there is so much more to this brooding macho man than what meets the eye. But even with sparks flying between the two, Lachlan can’t stay in America forever. Now, Kayla has to decide whether to uproot her whole life and chance it all on someone she barely knows or risk getting burned once again.

Sometimes love is a game that just needs to be played.

3. Nuts by Alice Clayton

Need this one to complete my AClayton shelf!

From New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton, the first in a brand-new romance series telling the humorously sexy tale of Roxie, a private chef who gets a taste of love—but is it to stay, or to go?

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown? 

2. Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

Despite its rushed ending, this was one of my favorite books of the year. The cover is stunning, too!

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerie… 

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town. 

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed. 

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale.

1. Lick by Kylie Scott

My guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

Waking up in Vegas was never meant to be like this.

Evelyn Thomas's plans for celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Las Vegas were big. Huge. But she sure never meant to wake up on the bathroom floor with a hangover to rival the black plague, a very attractive half-naked tattooed man in her room, and a diamond on her finger large enough to scare King Kong. Now if she could just remember how it all happened.

One thing is certain, being married to one of the hottest rock stars on the planet is sure to be a wild ride.

- The Bibliophile Babe

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Books of 2015 - Contemporary Romance

Hey, ladies!

It's time for The Broke and The Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday! This week's subject is Top Ten Books for 2015. This can be overall, by category, releases for this year, whatever you fancy.

I tried to do overall, but... I read so many amazing books this year. The list would've been pushing 50 books. I think I'll just wind up taking the last week of this month and assigning a category for each day to go through my top books, haha.
Taking that into account, I'm going with my top 10 contemporary romances for the year. This is strictly contemporary romance - no dark romance, no erotic romance (even though some have plenty of sex), no romantic suspense. You'll have to wait a bit to find out my picks for those!

This list is mostly in order!

11. Amour Amour by Krista and Becca Ritchie

4.5 "Love is a Circus" Stars! This was such an interesting, sexy, funny and sensual read! If you've never read the Ritchie twins, I highly suggest going with this book.
My Review


"Every day,” he says lowly, “I hold a person’s life in my hands. The circus is based one-hundred percent off trust. I give it all to someone, and they give it all to me.”

The best aerial technique won’t land 21-year-old Thora James her dream role in Amour—a sexy new acrobatic show on the Vegas strip. Thora knows she’s out of her element the second she meets Amour’s leading performer. Confident, charming and devilishly captivating, 26-year-old Nikolai Kotova lives up to his nickname as the “God of Russia.”

When Thora unknowingly walks into the crosshairs of Nikolai’s after-show, her audition process begins way too soon. Unprofessional. That’s what Nik calls their “non-existent” relationship. It’s not like Thora can avoid him. For one, they may be partners in the future—acrobaticpartners, that is. But getting closer to Nik means diving deeper into sin city and into his dizzying world. 

Thora wants to perform with him, but when someone like Nikolai attracts the spotlight wherever he goes—Thora fears that she’s destined to be just background to his spellbinding show.

10. November 9 by Colleen Hoover

5 emotional, plot twisting stars! This one may be my favorite Hoover book, excluding the novellas with Tarryn Fisher. It's definitely a bit cheesy, but that only added to my love. Hoover truly knows how to captivate her readers.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. 

Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. 

Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist. 

9. The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski 

4.5 "All The Fuckin' Feels!" Stars! This one has had one of my favorite endings of this year.
My Review

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

8. Easy by Tammara Webber 

5 realistic, intense, and captivating stars! This book touches on such an important issue in a raw way you can't help but respect.


 When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night - but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.

When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

7. Racing The Sun by Karina Halle

5 "Now That's How You Do New Adult!" stars! This novel was gorgeously sexy, full of travel and character development, and had an epic hero and heroine.
My Review


From the New York Times bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky comes a new adult novel about a young woman who becomes a nanny in Capri and falls for her charges’ bad-boy brother.

It’s time for twenty-four-year-old Amber MacLean to face the music. After a frivolous six months of backpacking through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia, she finds herself broke on the Mediterranean without enough money for a plane ticket home to California. There are worse places to be stuck than the gorgeous coastline of southern Italy, but the only job she manages to secure involves teaching English to two of the brattiest children she’s ever met.

It doesn’t help that the children are under the care of their brooding older brother, Italian ex-motorcycle racer Desiderio Larosa. Darkly handsome and oh-so-mysterious, Derio tests Amber’s patience and will at every turn—not to mention her hormones.

But when her position as teacher turns into one as full-time nanny at the crumbling old villa, Amber finds herself growing closer to the enigmatic recluse and soon has to choose between the safety of her life back in the States and the uncertainty of Derio’s closely guarded heart. 

6. Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan

5 beautifully emotional stars! I have a love/hate relationship with Sheridan's writing, but this story was absolutely breathtaking.

When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.

Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.

5. Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez

5 "Reality and Wildest Fantasy" Stars! Oh, but this book was incredible. Just. Fucking. Amazing.

 Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to?

I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice.

You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one.

They both happened anyway.

Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.
Fighting for my career.
Fighting the impending silence.
Fighting for her.

Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her.

I think that's the sound I'll miss the most.

4. Love, In English by Karina Halle

5 intense, thought provoking stars! I had such rigid ideas about the topics in this book before reading it. After I finished, I found all my careful black and white thoughts completely shattered in the wake of this novel.



 He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter.

I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now. Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.

***

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks. 

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

5 "Fuck a Duck and Smack a Rapper" stars! This story was hilarious, heartfelt, sexy, and wildly entertaining.
My Review
PS: Did anyone else see where the duo is doing another in this series, with a different couple?! Epic fangirling is happening!!!


 New York’s Finest
Blogging as *The Socialmedialite*
April 22
LADIES AND GENTS! I have an announcement!

You know that guy I featured on my blog a few months ago? The really, really hot Irish rugby player who plays the position of ‘hooker’ in the RLI (Rugby League International)? The one with the anger management issues, the body of a gladiator and the face of a movie star? The one with the questionable fashion choices leading me to ask whether he was the lovechild of a leprechaun and a hobbit? Ronan Fitzpatrick? Yeah, that guy.

Well, I have a confession to make…

THE HERMIT

Annie Catrel, social media expert extraordinaire at Davidson & Croft Media and clandestine celebrity blogger, can make anyone shine in the court of public opinion. She is the Socialmedialite, anonymous creator of New York’s Finest and the internet’s darling. Virtual reality is Annie’s forte, but actual reality? Not so much.

THE HOOKER

Ronan Fitzpatrick, aka the best hooker the world of rugby has seen in decades, despises the media—social or otherwise. The press has spun a web of lies depicting him as rugby’s wild and reckless bad boy. Suspended from his team, Ronan has come to Manhattan to escape the drama, lay low, fly under the radar. Only, Ronan isn’t easy to overlook, and he can’t escape the notice of the Socialmedialite…

THE PLAN

When Ronan is sent to Davidson & Croft Media to reshape his public image, he never expects to cross paths with shy but beautiful Annie, nor does he expect his fierce attraction to her. He couldn’t be happier when her boss suggests pairing them together. 
What lengths will Annie take to keep her virtual identity concealed? And what happens when the hooker discovers who the hermit really is? 

2. Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

5 hilariously charming, sexy stars! One of my favorite books of the year. This tied with the below for #1. Where is my Simone?!

The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she's gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor's nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy's athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise.
So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly...

In a delicious mix of silly and steamy, Alice Clayton dishes out a hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight... 

1. Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren

5 "Oh, Ansel!!!" Stars! Another one that will be on my list for best books of the year. I loved every single thing about this book!
My Review

One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away. 

That was exceedingly difficult! What about you? What are some of your top contemporaries for 2015?

- The Bibliophile Babe