Nat's Top Ten of 2014

It's that time of year again.  Time to share our favorites of 2014.  As always, it was a difficult decision.  But I forced myself to choose and I'm pretty happy with this list.  What were your favorite reads this year?  Share in the comments below!






Here Without You by Tammara Webber 

An excellent ending to the Between the Lines series.  I've always loved how Webber made me fall in love with the one character I hated most.  In this final installment, Reid gets the opportunity to improve relationships with all the important people in his life - his dad, mom, Dori.  AND he has the opportunity to meet his very young son.









The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn

I had already read most of the 2nd Epilogues in this book.  And I won't lie.  Re-reading them was an absolute joy.  But the reason this book made it to my Top Ten is due to the included novella, Violet in Bloom.  I've always wanted to read Violet Bridgerton's (everyone's favorite matriarch) story and boy did Julia Quinn deliver. I cried and I laughed and it was so, so beautiful and heartbreaking and, and, and...So, yeah.  If you are a fan of the Bridgertons and you haven't read this one, you must.  You simply must.






The Bells of Time Square by Amy Lane

Oh, Amy.  I never think it's possibly for your books to get any more amazing. And then you throw this at me.  An exquisite story about the forbidden love between two American soldiers during the height of WWII.  You know from page one that there is no happily ever after for Nate and Walter.  But just as in the case of the Violet Bridgerton novella, the absence of a happily ever after doesn't take away from the beauty and wonder and hope of Nate and Walter's love story.






Oxford Messed Up by Andrea Kayne Kaufman

What a lovely surprise.  This one had been sitting on my TBR shelf for almost three years.  I don't know what made me pick it up but boy am I glad I did.  A captivating story about a young woman with extreme OCD and her new loo-mate that triggers her anxiety in every possible way.  They fall for each other over a mutual love of Van Morrison.  I loved that this book took the heroine's  mental illness so seriously and did not condescendingly try to make the reader believe that falling in love was a cure for her daily struggles.  Also, I learned to absolutely adore Van Morrison thanks to this author.  Thank you, Ms. Kaufman!




Take Me On by Katie McGarry

I've loved every single Katie McGarry book to date.  But I never thought I would love one more than Pushing the Limits.  I was wrong.  This was amazing.  A young, female, non-paranormal MC that is both emotionally AND physically strong.  An entitled young man that has had enough of his dysfunctional home life and makes the decision to live without the privileges he is used to.  McGarry doesn't pull any punches when portraying the lives of people that struggle daily to have the very basic of needs met.






Unstoppable by Shannon Richard

This book was absolutely precious.  The heroine, Melanie, is the kind of girl I always admire.  The one that is both driven but also very domestic.  And the love of her life was stinkin' adorable. Shannon Richard managed to take the cluelessness of a Jill Shalvis' alpha male and the steady traits of my favorite forever boys and create an extremely likable and amusing hero. This one got an immedidate re-read and will definitely be one I go back to when I'm looking for a satisfying comfort read.






#scandal by Sarah Ockler

This is a wonderful satirical look at high school and the pitfalls of social media.  #scandal was often funny and sometimes uncomfortable.  It was also fast-paced.  I found myself being anxious to see what happens next.  I would recommend this book to pretty much any reader of any age.









In Your Dreams by Kristan Higgins

This was the first Kristan Higgins book I ever read.  And because of it, I quickly devoured the others in the Blue Heron series.  This one remains my favorite in the series.  Emmaline might be my favorite heroine of the year. Plenty of self-deprecating and physical humor in this one.  It was a great mix and had me laughing non-stop while still keeping me on edge with the romance.







What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Huntley Fitzpatrick has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary YA authors.  This is a realistic and thoughtful novel about how we can survive and move on from our mistakes and how those mistakes don't have to be the only thing that define us.









The Moment of Everything by Shelly King

Yep.  I saved the best for last.  This was my absolute favorite book of the year.  A story about an unemployed woman discovering herself while forming relationships with the people that all share a love of the same used bookstore.  I could go on and on about how perfect this book is.  But, instead, I will just point you to my review of what I consider to be THE BEST book of the year.

Nat's Review of The Best Book of the Year

Waiting on Wednesday (130)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.


By Amy Lane
Publication Date:  December 15, 2014

Every New Year’s Eve since 1946, Nate Meyer has ventured alone to Times Square to listen for the ghostly church bells he and his long-lost wartime lover vowed to hear together. This year, however, his grandson Blaine is pushing Nate through the Manhattan streets, revealing his secrets to his silent, stroke-stricken grandfather.

When Blaine introduces his boyfriend to his beloved grandfather, he has no idea that Nate holds a similar secret. As they endure the chilly death of the old year, Nate is drawn back in memory to a much earlier time . . . and to Walter.

Long before, in a peace carefully crafted in the heart of wartime tumult, Nate and Walter forged a loving home in the midst of violence and chaos. But nothing in war is permanent, and now all Nate has is memories of a man his family never knew existed. And a hope that he’ll finally hear the church bells that will unite everybody—including the lovers who hid the best and most sacred parts of their hearts. 




By Alexis Bass
Publication Date:  December 31, 2014

If you want more, you have to give less.

That’s the secret to dating in high school. By giving as little as they expect to get in return, seventeen-year-old Aubrey Housing and her three best friends have made it to the second semester of their senior year heartbreak-free. And it’s all thanks to a few simple rules: don’t commit, don’t be needy, and don’t give away your heart.

So when smoking-hot Nathan Diggs transfers to Lincoln High, it shouldn’t be a big deal. At least that’s what Aubrey tells herself. But Nathan’s new-boy charm, his kindness, and his disarming honesty throw Aubrey off her game and put her in danger of breaking the most important rule of all: Don’t fall in love

The Bells of Times Square by Amy Lane

*****

Every New Year’s Eve since 1946, Nate Meyer has ventured alone to Times Square to listen for the ghostly church bells he and his long-lost wartime lover vowed to hear together. This year, however, his grandson Blaine is pushing Nate through the Manhattan streets, revealing his secrets to his silent, stroke-stricken grandfather.

When Blaine introduces his boyfriend to his beloved grandfather, he has no idea that Nate holds a similar secret. As they endure the chilly death of the old year, Nate is drawn back in memory to a much earlier time . . . and to Walter.

Long before, in a peace carefully crafted in the heart of wartime tumult, Nate and Walter forged a loving home in the midst of violence and chaos. But nothing in war is permanent, and now all Nate has is memories of a man his family never knew existed. And a hope that he’ll finally hear the church bells that will unite everybody—including the lovers who hid the best and most sacred parts of their hearts.

Review:

It’s New Year’s Eve and Nate Meyer’s favorite grandson insists on taking his wheelchair bound grandfather to Times Square.  Why?  Because Blaine’s a good boy that has long recognized his grandfather’s need to make the annual trek to Times Square on NYE.  That AND he has a secret that he wants to confide in his grandfather before he tells anyone else in his family. 

Due to a stroke, Nate has been confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak for a while now.   But that doesn’t stop him from feeling excited about going to Times Square on NYE.  He’s also tickled pink that Blaine’s “friend”, Tony, will be accompanying them.  Nate has already guessed Blaine’s secret and he is desperate to find a way tell Blaine that he understands and that he gives his love and support.  But Nate can’t speak so he comforts himself by listening for the Bells that will likely never play and reliving the memories of finding his first love during the dangerous and troubling chaos of WWII. 

On a somewhat “routine” mission to take aerial photographs Nate’s plane is shot down.  At the cost of his own life, Nate’s pilot miraculously lands their plane in a wooded area.  Amazingly, the plane is found by a young American soldier who takes Nate to safety.  “Safety” is a small abandoned home in the middle of the forest.  Walter, who is MIA and is believed to be dead, has been squatting there for months.  As Walter nurses Nate back to health (you can’t crash a plane and not sustain some pretty major injuries) the two become close friends and eventually lovers.  But in German-occupied France, nothing is safe and nothing is permanent.  Soon Nate and Walter have no choice but to move locations and attempt to make it back to Allied territory.  Only the hope of a life together after the war is what keeps them both going as they attempt to make it out of France in one piece.

Nate is one of my favorite types of heroes. Here I go again with my “forever boy” love (sorry, not sorry).  He is kind.  He is steady.  He is quietly passionate.  Those traits make his story all the more touching. The book starts out with Nate ruminating over his grandson, his late wife, his daughter….so you KNOW the likely outcome of his and Walter’s relationship.  That still doesn’t prepare you for the pain for which Amy Lane is so well known. Because what she does and build these amazing characters that you grow to know and love as if they are your closest friends.  And who doesn’t want the most for their friends?  And who wouldn’t be devastated when their friends are irreparably hurt?

Did I cry while reading this?  You know I did.  As expected, there is a lot of emotion in this story.  And not just between Nate and Walter.  One of the most moving scenes for me was between Nate and his future wife.  I wish I could say more but that would just give too much away.

It’s no surprise that I love everything of Amy’s that I’ve read (I could recommend more than 20 titles just from Dreamspinner Press alone).   And up until now I would have said Chase in Shadow is her best work.  But this?  The Bells of Times Square?  I have to put this up there with Chase in Shadow.  It might even be better. Particularly if you are historical romance fan like me.  It’s powerful and it’s beautiful and it will break your heart in a way that only a cruel and amazing author like Amy Lane can do.

If you are a fan of m/m romance and/or historical romance set during WWII, this is a MUST READ.  Don’t wait to purchase this wonderful story.  It releases form Riptide Publishing on December 15 ,2014.

Nat