As the year comes to a close, it becomes clear that there have been so many amazing reads I've picked up in 2014. To celebrate some of my favourite books, in this feature I'll be sharing my best picks from various genres.To fit in with this year's theme, each book will have a description of 14 words. Today I'll be sharing some mysteries and thrillers that I loved:

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Not the usual 'whodunnit' mystery, but a twisted and tenacious story that wowed me.

Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas

This has an eeriness which manifests itself as a puzzle that is completely captivating.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This is darkly compelling novel is one with many changing directions and screwed-up characters.

Pandora Jones: Admission by Barry Jonsberg

This book has you chasing answers the whole way through – and I loved it.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This book stayed with me long after turning the last page – what a shocker!

The Fever by Megan Abbott

The threat of contagion and hysteria along with dynamic characters makes this book enthralling.

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

This portrays the complex relationships in even the most idyllic of families and households.

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

The cheerleaders in this book aren’t just simply ‘mean girls’, they’re something darker altogether. 

Find Me by Romily Bernard

An intelligent techno-thriller with a romance that doesn’t take centre stage and fascinating mystery.

Cooper Bartholomew is Dead by Rebecca James

A book where you know the ending, then find out how it all unfolded. 

As you can see, Megan Abbott and Abigail Haas were big stand-outs for me, with multiple novels that made the list. What have been some of your favourites?

Genie's Weekly News (14)

Hi everyone and welcome to my weekly blog feature to recap the week with bookish news and what to expect coming up! So without further ado...

*Reading Right Now*

*Previous Posts*

• Blog Tour: Faking It by Gabrielle Tozer - Review/Confessional
• Review + GIVEAWAY: True Calling by Siobhan Davis  
• ARC Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven  
• Review: Shiver the Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus
• Best Books of 2014: Contemporary 
• Best Books of 2014: Australian Fiction  
• Review: Breakdown by Sarah Mussi

*Recommendation of the Week*

This is my first 2015 release read, and let me tell you - it is well worth the hype.

*From The Interwebs*

• Stacked Books posted about the 2015 YA cover trends so far
• Jess @ My Reading Dress discussed whether we feel compelled to read seasonally
• Mel @ YA Midnight Reads questioned what makes a book character a hero
• Ebony @ Daring Damsels shared some bookish stocking stuffers for this holiday season
• Joy @ Thoughts by J gave advice on where you can read and publish stories online for free
• Emily @ The Loony Teen Writer did the heroine tag
• Jeann @ Happy Indulgence shared her top 10 books of 2014

*Haul*

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Australia for the ARC of Magonia!

• Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley - I got SO EXCITED to find this package waiting on my doorstep this week, and can't wait to read this very unique-sounding novel.  
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl was one of my top reads of the year, so now I'm checking out more of this author's work.

*Other News*

This week Rachael Craw's #SparkArmy really took off! If you want to find the banner or buttons which I made for it, they're here.

Best Books of 2014: Contemporary

As the year comes to a close, it becomes clear that there have been so many amazing reads that I've picked up in 2014. To celebrate some of my favourite books, in this feature I'll be sharing my best picks from various genres.To fit in with this year's theme, each book will have a description of 14 words. Today I'll be sharing some contemporaries that I loved:

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang



WOW is all I had to say about this. It was achingly, devastatingly beautiful.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins



A cute contemporary in a foreign city which we all know makes romantic reading.

This Is Falling by Ginger Scott

The first book in the Falling series, this is NA contemporary done really well.

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson



A fantastic YA contemporary with a strong focus on friendship that earned four stars.

Walking On Trampolines by Frances Whiting



This shows how friendships can last a lifetime, leaving an impact on our lives.

Searching for Sky by Gillian Cantor

I haven't read a book so unique or utterly picturesque for a long time.

The Year of The Rat by Clare Furniss

Clare Furniss has written something thoughtful and poignant with The Year of the Rat. 

Golden by Jessi Kirby

A novel of self-discovery, fate’s impact on life, and the inevitability of change.

Every Day by David Levithan

 This book makes you think appreciate the continuity that life has to offer us.

Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood

 A sad tale of friendship, first love, loss, and the immeasurable importance of family.

What have been some of your favourite contemporary reads of the year - YA or otherwise?

Review: Breakdown by Sarah Mussi

Breakdown by Sarah Mussi
Released: 2nd October 2014
Published by: Hot Key Books
Genre: YA Dystopian
Source: Publisher
Pages: 418
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Goodreads | Bookworld | Book Depository

It is 2084. Nuclear radiation has poisoned the country. Society has fallen apart. Starvation is rampant, and power shortages have resulted in piles of obsolete gadgetry. Necessity has driven those who've survived to complete self-reliance, if they have the means to do so. For Melissa and her Nan, survival is just about possible, so long as they can guard the tiny crop of potatoes in their back garden and find enough fuel to cook on - and as long as they are safely barricaded inside their home by curfew.

 For after dark, feral dogs hunt, and violent gangs from the old Olympic Stadium (now a miserable ghetto) roam to loot and plunder. If they catch you, they are not merciful; so when Melissa falls into the hands of Careem's gang, her prospects look bleak. But Careem soon realises that she might just be more valuable alive, as a ransom victim. However, he hasn't reckoned with Melissa's resourcefulness. Soon part of his young gang are completely beguiled by Melissa and her story of a hidden valley in Scotland - a place that sounds like a comparative paradise, if they can get there. But apparently only Melissa knows the way, and only she can lead them there. But Melissa is hiding a secret. She has never been to Scotland in her life, let alone a mythically Elysian valley there. Can Melissa's stories keep her alive long enough to escape - or will they get her killed?

Thank you to Five Mile Press Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The General is evil. He ravages the beautiful. Like Aristaeus in the Greek myths, he desires what is not his.

Breakdown is a gritty and somewhat unsettling read exploring how societies would react in a world where nuclear radiation has devastated life as we know it. With a cast of well-developed characters, inclusion of some Greek mythological references and subtle metaphors, this is a dystopian novel that stands out from what we've seen before and brings something new to the table. 

The bees died because of mankind's greed. It was a penalty for our misuse of the natural world. Man's excesses upset the balance of nature, brought death, brought destruction.
Wasted populations.

The references to the bees which in many ways I felt represented how individuals in Melissa's time trying to exist in this derelict civilisations, were interesting ones. Although it certainly isn't the focus of the story, it did add that unique touch which you come across every now and then, and it gives you something to think about. Another aspect which I really loved was the Greek mythology that was a running theme. This comes into the story through Melissa remembering her Nan's stories, and what Sarah Mussi has achieved is weaving in the various myths to reflect what was happening in the actual plot at those times. It was fascinating to find this in a dystopian novel, which you wouldn't normally expect, and it really appealed to me. 

Only the strong survive. And the weak ones know it. They'll drag you down. Don't show them your secrets. Starvation makes monsters of us all. 

Our protagonist Melissa is someone who you can't help but side with - despite her powers of manipulation for the sake of survival. She matures throughout the book and always attempts to assert herself - even when faced with brutal gangsters who she finds herself in the clutches of. Her journey to try and find a piece of idyllic freedom in a situation where such a thing seems impossible is by no means an easy one. Tarquin and his younger brother Lenny who become her companions also have their distinct character quirks, and since most of the novel is focused around the three of them and their dynamic, it is explored thoroughly.

We're gonna hold back the underworld...We'll carry the Torch that'll never go out - just like them.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Breakdown offers a glimpse into a possible futuristic reality where the human race is pushed to its limits and survival is the only goal. It's refreshing to find a futuristic dystopian novel that doesn't follow the conventional formula, and is executed to a high standard as well.

Review: Shiver the Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus

Shiver the Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus
Released: 6th November 2014
Published by: Hot Key Books
Genre: YA Mystery
Source: Publisher
Pages: 337
My Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Goodreads | Bookworld | Book Depository

After months of bullying and romantic heartbreak, seventeen-year-old Aidan Flood feels just about ready to end it all. But when he wakes up one morning to find that local beauty and town sweetheart Sláine McAuley actually has, he discovers a new sense of purpose, and becomes determined to find out what happened to her.

The town is happy to put it down to suicide, but then one night Aidan gets a message, scratched in ice on his bedroom window: 'I didn't kill myself.' Who is contacting him? And if Sláine didn't end her own life... who did?

Thank you to Five Mile Press Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Shiver the Whole Night Through didn't quite tick all the boxes for me, but the chilling setting in the woods and Irish influence, along with a darker paranormal twist towards the end did give it some positive points.

Unfortunately one of the reasons why I didn't rate this book higher was Aidan's character and the narratorial voice. While I can understand that writing with his colloquialisms made him more of a realistic teenager in his situation, I did find that his attitude towards his peers and the situation itself was irritating at times. He didn't exactly appreciate his friends or had much respect for the ones who had died, which irked me - though I do get the feeling that perhaps he wasn't 'meant' to be likable in the first place. In any case, I'd leave that one to you to decide if you get to reading this book.

The woods were more than a collection of trees and wildlife: they were some kind of eerie dreamscape, a hellish netherworld into which I'd been drawn. Mysterious, ambivalent, unreal, yet strangely comforting too. The forest, I remember someone writing once, was everything those fairy tales made you feel. 

What I did find interesting was the Irish cultural references and glimpses into their history. It's not very often that I've come across novels with this setting, and in combination with the site of Sláine's death being in the creepy Shook Woods I could tell where the author was coming from in setting the ominous atmosphere. There's even a guide to the pronunciation of Irish Gaelic words on the first page which was helpful and showed that there was research that had gone into this book to try and make this aspect authentic.

The paranormal element didn't quite work for me, and the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. Nonetheless, what saved the ending was the darker twist which I wasn't expecting, and the folklore came to life. By the end although I was glad that I'd finished it, this book still was able to portray an eeriness and space for you to wonder where Aidan and Sláine would end up next.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Shiver the Whole Night Through may not be my favourite murder-mystery novel, but that doesn't mean that it won't work for you. If anything, I'd still say to give it a try if you don't mind a more casual writing style and are looking for a snippet of Irish culture.