Top Ten Books I’ve Read in 2014 so Far

Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
The Humans – Matt Haig
The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable novel about alien abduction, mathematics and that most interesting subject of all: ourselves.

Throne of Glass – Sarah j. Maas
In the dark filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen year-old-girl is serving a life sentence. However, young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament.

Grave Mercy – Robin LaFevers
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the Gods of old. Here she learns that the God of Death himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts – and a violent destiny.

Lost Lake – Sarah Addison Allen
Suley, Georgia, is home to Lost Lake Cottages and not much else. Which is why it’s the perfect place for newly-widowed Kate and her eccentric eight-year-old daughter Devin to heal.
Sea of Shadows – Kelley Armstrong
In the forest of the Dead, where the empires worse criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.

The Program – Suzanne Young
Sloane knows better than to cry infront of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in the program, the only proven course of treatment.
Scarlet – Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #2)
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison – even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealths most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Beniot’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother of the grave danger she has lived in her whole life.
Cress – Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
In the third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Throne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who has only ever had her netscreens as company.

What Happened to Goodbye – Sarah Dessen
Since her parents’ bitter divorce, Mclean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move – four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mothers new family, Mclean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva, but now for the first time, Mclean discovers the desire to stay in the same place and just be herself.

Book Review: Lost Lake

Lost Lake
Sarah Addison Allen
Fiction, Contemporary
Published: January 21^st, 2014
5/5

 

                Suley, Georgia, is home to Lost Lake Cottages and not much else. Which is why it’s the perfect place for newly widowed Kate and her eccentric eight-year-old daughter Devin to heal. Kate spent one memorable childhood summer at Lost Lake, had her first almost-kiss at Lost Lake, and met a boy named Wes at Lost Lake. It was a place for dreaming.
                Kate doesn’t believe in dreams anymore, her Aunt Eby, Lost Lake’s owner, wants to sell the place and move on. Lost Lake’s magic is gone.
                As Kate discovers that time has a way of standing still at Lost Lake can she bring the cottages – and her heart – back to life? Because sometimes the things you love have a funny way of turning up again and sometimes you never even knew they were lost… until they are found.

                I feel like I had to wait a million years to read “Lost Lake”, I had pre-ordered it but had also pre-ordered another book at the same time and they made me wait until they released the second book before they’d send me Lost Lake, which was unfair, considering they sent them separately. Not understanding why it had to be that way, but “Lost Lake” was definitely worth the wait at either rate.
                “Lost Lake” is the first book that Sarah Addison Allen had released since her diagnosis of Breast cancer in 2011, I’m happy to report that she has since beaten cancer and is currently in remission, which means that she’s (I’m assuming) happily writing again. When I heard that she was releasing a new novel I was over the moon excited and “Lost Lake” was well worth the wait.
                Sarah Addison Allen writes contemporary novels infused with magic, good food and strong family ties. “Lost Lake” has all of her staple elements and she pulls it off brilliantly. I loved hearing about the wet, humid, hot summer of Suley Georgia. I was able to imagine the whole setting without a hitch, the old dusty, faded cabins, Aunt Eby, the lakes mysteriously imaginary alligator, the hanging lanterns and I was able to even smell the delicious meals that were cooked by Lisette; a troubled young woman that Eby and her husband had met on their honeymoon in Paris.
                This book was over abundant in delightful, eccentric characters. I wish they all had their own books just so I could learn more about them. Never have I read a book with so many fulfilling, engaging, and fantastic side characters. I was enthralled with all their stories, all their backgrounds and the glimpses we were given into each of their lives.
                I loved how everyone came together in the end, and that even characters that didn’t seem like they were invested as much as others helped pull everything together and create a fantastic ending, to a fantastic novel.
                There is just something about Sarah Addison Allen’s books that resonate with me, they fill my heart full of hope and promise and we live in a world where there isn’t enough of that. Her books are perfect to curl up with and read all afternoon.
                I think if I had any issues with “Lost Lake” it would have been the length. It was really short in my opinion and I felt a little cheated. As though I wasn’t able to spend enough time at Lost Lake and I felt as though I missed out because of that. She’s never written very long novels, but Lost Lake felt shorter than all her others and part of me wonders if that’s because there was such an amazing cast of characters. I just wanted to know so much more about all of them, and spend more time with each of them.
                However, my expectations were met and exceeded and I’m already eagerly anticipating her next novels. In the mean time I am planning on re-reading some of her other novels… and I’ve re-read all of them 2-3 times.