Best Books of 2015

Hey! 

It’s that time of year again! 

IT’S ME LOOKING BACK AT 2015 AND DECIDING WHICH 10 BOOKS WERE AMAZING!!

And here they are (in no particular order):

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard ••• My Review ● Goodreads

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani ••• My Review ● Goodreads

The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Every Day by David Levithan ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Shutter by Courtney Alameda ••• My Review ● Goodreads

Journey by Aaron Becker ••• My Review ● Goodreads

There’s definitely quite an array of books here–so many genres, and even a picture book! I would definitely have to say though that my favourite book from last year was Grasshopper Jungle. Andrew Smith’s writing is absolutely BOMB and this book was so different from anything I’ve ever read.

Check out all the books I read in 2015 HERE.

Well, that’s all from me. Hope your reading was amazing in 2015, and here’s to another year of amazing books! Feel free to share your top books of 2015 blog posts or picks down below.

A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

Release Date: April 15, 2014
Illustrated by: Iacopo Bruno
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: The School for Good and Evil, Book 2
Rated: MG/YA 12+
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website (Series) ● Website (Author)

Read my review of The School for Good and Evil HERE.

In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected. 

When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.

Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.

I’m so glad that I decided to pick up this series this summer–both have been my best reads this year so far! After finishing The School for Good and Evil, I was desperate to start reading the second one immediately. But I thought it would be best to put it off a little bit, because too much time in one world usually makes me get tired of it, and I didn’t want to get sick of this world. So finally, after agonisingly pushing it back on the TBR pile, I’ve finally read A World Without Princes. What a fantastic follow-up! While I did enjoy the first book more, because as readers we were introduced to the world and there was that huge twist at the end, but this one DEFINITELY met my expectations.

In this book, I liked Sophie a lot better than I did in the previous book. She was absolutely awful in The School for Good and Evil, and while she still is kind of selfish and thinks mainly about herself, she’s a lot better. Agatha is still my favourite character out of the two, for sure. There are quite a lot of returning characters, as well as a few new ones–who are deliciously evil–and it all makes for a wonderful twist on the conventional fairy tales. I do love how satirical it all is at times, and the humour is very well done.

The world has changed since we left The School for Good and Evil, and so when Sophie and Agatha return to the school it’s no longer a fight between Good and Evil, but instead Girls and Boys. I couldn’t help but feel that this fits so much with the whole feminist movement and the misconception that feminists don’t need men or that they hate on men. I don’t know whether or not it was the inspiration for the story, but I couldn’t help but feel that sort of message coming through in this book.

Blast this book’s conclusion! Now I desperately need The Last Ever After in my hands–I HAVE TO KNOW HOW IT ALL ENDS. A World Without Princes was even darker than the first book, and it sucked me from the first page–I’m obsessed with this remarkable series. Soman Chainani is a marvellous storyteller and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

▪ ▪ ▪ Thank you so much to Megan at HarperCollins International for sending me a copy for review! ▪ ▪ ▪

If you like this, try...

• City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster ● Goodreads
• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige ● Goodreads

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The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Release Date: May 14, 2013
Illustrated by: Iacopo Bruno
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: The School for Good and Evil, Book 1
Rated: MG/YA 12+
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website (Series) ● Website (Author)

This year best friends Sophie and Agatha will discover what it is to be a student at the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairytale heroes and villains. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale...is to live through one.

I received this one quite a while back, but for some reason, I never picked it up. Then, roughly a year after, I went to Boston for university, and I heard Soman Chainani speak about The School for Good and Evil at Boston Book Fest 2014. I was super excited to start it after hearing more about the inspiration behind it, but even when I came back home for winter break, I didn’t pick it. It’s only now, two years or so after I received the first book for review, that I finally picked it up. To be honest, I was expecting a pretty straightforward fairytale-esque book for children.

What I got was something completely different.

The School for Good and Evil was brilliant. Even though it took me a while to get through it (trust me, this book is HUGE), I couldn’t stop reading it. And when I had to stop reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Yes, it’s one of those books–the one you can’t stop thinking about for weeks after you finished it. The book hangover strikes again! Honestly though, I felt like I spent way too long looking at the cover. I own a hardcover and it’s GORGEOUS. And it’s not just the cover. The hardcover spine, the map inside, the illustrations–too much beauty to handle for my mere brain, clearly.

This book revolves around two characters: Sophie and Agatha. The perspective constantly shifts from one girl to the other, and from this it was really easy to get a grasp on the world that Chainani has created. Because both Sophie and Agatha are dropped (and I mean literally dropped) into these environments that completely oppose their characters, being in a strange place where you stand out amongst the others becomes a great lens to view this world. When it comes to the characters, I had a few ups and downs. For instance, I constantly oscillated with my feelings for Sophie. I hated her one moment and then I’d feel bad for her the next. Obviously, I think this was intentional since she really isn’t a pleasant character to begin with. But holy smokes, she has the biggest transformation EVER. It’s a little frightening to watch and I did end up somewhat sympathising with her. Agatha, on the other hand, I loved. She’s the most level-headed person in this story, and I like my characters who know what they’re doing, and more importantly, who are both kind and strong.

As I mentioned before, this is a really thick book, so a LOT happens. Several plot twists, plenty of room for character growth, as well as introducing different snippets from well known fairy tales. What I was really happy about was that it wasn’t JUST fairy tales–there were a lot of myths and stories involved too! There was one particular thing that got me excited: there’s a character in the School of Evil called Ravan. I don’t personally know much about Hindu mythology, but I definitely got the allusion to Ravana, especially when it came to his character performing his talent. That little tidbit got me super excited, because YAY FOR DIVERSITY!

A bewitching story of two girls trying to understanding who they really are, The School for Good and Evil was a phenomenal debut that left me yearning for more. Soman Chainani skilfully refines popular fairy tales and tropes into a remarkable novel that is unlike any other. If I didn’t have A World Without Princes on my shelf, I would have surely gone mad with the anticipation of having to wait for the next book. The School for Good and Evil is definitely one of my favourites this year: it's innovative, it's dazzling, and it’s bound to enchant readers from start to finish.

▪ ▪ ▪ Thank you so much to Sarah from HarperCollins International for sending me a copy for review! ▪ ▪ ▪

If you like this, try...

• Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen ● Goodreads
• Enchanted by Alethea Kontis ● Goodreads
• Fablehaven by Brandon Mull ● Goodreads
• The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket ● Goodreads

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