thewritefox

Now that we’re past the halfway point of 2015, I thought I’d share some of my favourite reads of the year so far. Hopefully at the end of the year I’ll remember to do another post for books I’ll read in the coming months.

For now, here are four of my favourites:

RECLAIMED by Sarah Guillory (YA)

Reclaimed was the first book I read in 2015 and what a way to start the year! I can’t rave enough about this book. It’s beautifully written and it kept me riveted from beginning to end. I didn’t want to put it down and I had a book hangover that lasted several days after I finished it.

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

Jenna Oliver doesn’t have time to get involved with one boy, let alone two. All Jenna wants is to escape her evaporating small town and her alcoholic mother. She’s determined she’ll go to college and find a life that is wholly hers-one that isn’t tainted by her family’s past. But when the McAlister twins move to town and Jenna gets involved with both of them, she learns the life she planned may not be the one she gets. Ian McAlister doesn’t want to start over; he wants to remember. Ian can’t recall a single thing from the last three months-and he seems to be losing more memories every day. His family knows the truth, but no one will tell him what really happened before he lost his memory. When he meets Jenna, Ian believes that he can be normal again because she makes not remembering something he can handle. The secret Ian can’t remember is the one Luke McAlister can’t forget. Luke has always lived in the shadow of his twin brother until Jenna stumbles into his life. She sees past who he’s supposed to be, and her kiss brings back the spark that life stole. Even though Luke feels like his brother deserves her more, Luke can’t resist Jenna-which is the trigger that makes Ian’s memory return. Jenna, Ian, & Luke are about to learn there are only so many secrets you can keep before the truth comes to reclaim you.

SUEDE TO REST by Diane Vallere (Cozy Mystery)

I absolutely love cozy mysteries and I’m always happy to discover a great new series like this one. Suede to Rest is the first in Vallere’s Material Witness series, and it’s a super fun read with a great main character and plenty of intrigue. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series in the future.

Blurb from Amazon:

When Poly Monroe was little, she loved playing in her family’s textile store. But after a fatal family tragedy, Land of A Thousand Fabrics was boarded up and Poly never expected to see the inside again. Now, as inheritor of the long-shuttered shop, she’s ready to restore the family business. However her two new kittens, Pins and Needles, aren’t the ones causing a snag in her plans…

Not everyone wants Poly back in San Ladrón, especially a powerful local developer pressuring her to sell–and leave town fast. But even when the threats turn deadly, she’s not ready to bolt. Because Poly is beginning to suspect that the murder behind the shop is tied to a mystery in her family’s unsettled past that she’s determined to solve…before her own life is left hanging by a thread.

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD by Kristi Belcamino (Mystery)

Blessed are the Dead is the first in a mystery series featuring San Francisco Bay Area newspaper reporter Gabriella Giovanni. This page-turner of a book is absolutely gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I’m definitely going to continue reading the rest of the series!

Blurb from Amazon:

San Francisco Bay Area newspaper reporter Gabriella Giovanni spends her days on the crime beat, flitting in and out of other people’s nightmares, yet walking away unscathed. When a little girl disappears on the way to the school bus stop, her quest for justice and a front-page story leads her to a convicted kidnapper, Jack Dean Johnson, who reels her in with promises to reveal his exploits as a serial killer. But Gabriella’s passion for her job quickly spirals into obsession when she begins to suspect the kidnapper may have ties to her own dark past: her sister’s murder.

Risking her life, her job, and everything she holds dear, Gabriella embarks on a quest to find answers and stop a deranged murderer before he strikes again.

THE LAST LEAVES FALLING by Sarah Benwell (YA)

Reviewers of this book have use words like beautiful, haunting, memorable, and moving — and I agree with all those descriptors. I devoured this book in one day and it definitely made a lasting impression on me. I’m looking forward to reading more from Benwell in the future.

Blurb from Amazon:

Abe Sora is going to die, and he’s only seventeen years old. Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), he’s already lost the use of his legs, which means he can no longer attend school. Seeking a sense of normality, Sora visits teen chat rooms online and finally finds what he’s been longing for: friendship without pity.

As much as he loves his new friends, he can’t ignore what’s ahead. He’s beginning to lose the function of his hands, and soon he’ll become even more of a burden to his mother. Inspired by the death poems of the legendary Japanese warriors known as samurai, Sora makes the decision to leave life on his own terms. And he needs his friends to help him.