My Top Ten Reads of 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme sponsored by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's Top Ten list is all about our favorite books that we read in 2013. 

I spent a lot of time reading in 2013 and finished over 250 books (Some great, some ok and a few not so good) so narrowing it down to just 10 is not an easy task for me.   But to help me make my choices, I'm going to choose my 10 from the New Adult romance genre.     So here we go, in no particular order, because ranking them by which I loved most would be impossible to do. 

  

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski I loved Camryn and especially loved Andrew Parrish!! I think I went through an entire box of tissues at the end of this one!!! I have not read The Edge of Always yet but that's high on my list of must reads for 2014!

Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Camerson  I received this to review and I absolutely could not put the book down to the extent that I think my kids had cereal for dinner that night.  I loved Lottie but I really loved Zan.  Once I found out the secret he was keeping, I loved him even more.  Faster We Burn (book 2) is another one of my must reads for 2014!

More Than This by Jay McLean  This is another book that I received for a review and it just had so much intensity and so much emotional turmoil but it grabbed me and would not let me go.   Once again, there's a Book 2 in this series (with a book 3 coming out in 2014) that is on the must read.

                    

Where I End and You Begin by Andra Brynn   Another read for a review book that blew me away.  Bianca was just so broken and Daniel was just so lost and even when I thought I knew what was going on, there was just so much more! 

Omission by Taryn Plendl (has been retitled as Lies of Omission  I had gotten this as a freebie on my Kindle and just chose it to read at random but it was well worth the read.  It's a shorter story but packed so much emotion.  This book has one of my favorite quotes that has stuck with me, even months after reading it. "Sometimes walls aren't built to keep people out... sometimes they are built to see who is strong enough to bring them down."

Pieces of Me by Ann Garner    Another book that I'd gotten as a read for a review and another book that had me ignoring all else until I was finished with it.   My heart broke for Delaney but I loved Cole and how badly he wanted Delaney to let him in. 

                    

Someone To Love by Addison Moore   I loved Kendall and Cruise.  Gotta love when the characters think they can 'play' the game and keep things casual and those true feelings make their way out.   Someone Like You (Book 2) is due out in January 2014 which I'll be excited to add to my must read list.

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy   One of my favorite romance themes is a pretend 'relationship' and this one did not disappoint.   Drew's secret was heartbreaking and combined with Fable's own issues made for an interesting journey.    I'm behind on reading book 2 (Second Chance Boyfriend) and book 3 (Three Broken Promises) just went live this week  and book 4 (Four Years Later) is due out in February so I will be finishing up this series soon!

Off Sides by Sawyer Bennett   As a romance fan and also a bigtime hockey fan, chances are if you throw the two together into a book, I'm going to love it.   I loved Danny and her issues and I loved Ryan and how he ultimately didn't let his friends' and family's opinions influence his decisions.   This was a quick read and I've reread it already at least 2 more times beyond my original read!

Lost & Found by Nadia Simonenko   I was given both books to review together, so counting this as one book.  Another heartbreaking tale that required lots of tissues.  I was lucky enough to read this pair this summer during a heatwave where my sons wanted to go to the pool everyday where there's lifeguards on duty, so I could read read read to my heart's content while they splashed around.  Maria and Owen were each carrying so much baggage but it gave me so much hope to watch each of them become stronger on their own and work towards healing each other. 

Wow!  That was definitely hard to decide which 10 would be at the top of my list.  How many of my favorites did you read and were any of them in your top ten?   Inquiring minds want to know!

(This post includes my Amazon affiliate links - thanks for your support, should you decide to purchase one of these books.)

Review:  BookRooster (Offering Books to read in exchange for an honest review) 

This past year I discovered the wonderful world of receiving ebooks directly from authors (or their publisher) for free in return for reading and then writing a review and posting it on Amazon and Goodreads.  One of the connections that I use quite often is called BookRooster.   With BookRooster, you sign up and indicate your preferred genres to read and then when they have a book available that you might be interested in, they'll email you with a short blurb about the book and an invitation to review it.    Then it 's up to you to decide if you'd like to read and review it or pass on it.   There's no minimum amount of books that you need to commit to and you only read the books that you accept the invitation to.  Just be sure to respond to the invitation quickly because they only have a certain number of books to send out and if you wait, they may have already sent out all available reviewing copies! 

You can sign up as a reviewer or as an author who is interested in having your book put out for review.  Simply go to BookRooster.com and click on the appropriate tab and sign up!!  

Review:  Down To Business (Business Series #1) by JC Alexander

About the Book: 

While everyone else headed off to college, small town girl, Autumn Malone, stays behind to help manage her family’s failing restaurant. Two years later, when a scholarship at Adelphi University comes her way, she can’t resist the chance to start a new life. The one thing that she isn’t planning on…is falling for irresistible Vinny Mazzola.

To outsiders, Hamptons born Vinny Mazzola has it all: good looks, money, and an esteemed reputation. While studying business at Adelphi, the last thing he expects to do is fall in love with awkward Autumn Malone, who forces him to ask himself what is really important in life.


When the opportunity arises for Autumn to work at Vinny’s family-owned Italian restaurant, Mazzolas, it seems like a perfect way for her to get to know him better. That is until she meets his over protective mother and his conceited ex-girlfriend who both want nothing more than to get rid of her. Between frats, family, friends, and foes, when it comes down to business, will Autumn and Vinny have to sacrifice everything for a love they can’t live without?

My Rating and Review:
✶✶✶✶✶

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review and I loved this book!! I made the mistake of starting it after midnight one night when I wasn't able to sleep and at 2:15, I had to force myself to put the Kindle down because I had to be up in a few hours and needed to get at least a little bit of sleep. Fast forward to morning and I hurried to get ready for work so that I could try to get to the end of the book, which I'm happy to say I did!

There were a few times that I wanted to slap Autumn for being so wishy-washy on having a relationship with Vinny, but I get that her insecurities came from having to deal with the ex-girlfriend, who I wanted to actually punch, not just slap through the majority of Autumn's dealings with her. Vinny had a lot to deal with with his family and the restaurant and that ex-girlfriend so there were a couple instances where he too could have used a slap, but he definitely won me over.


Down to Business does end with an event that has the reader wondering what happens next so I'm hopeful that J.C. Alexander will do all of us fans a favor and get the second book in the Business series written and published quickly! 

Review: Patch Up (Patch Up #1) by Stephanie Witter

About the Book: 

Skye followed her long time boyfriend to Seattle for their first year of college, but he dumped her after only a week. The relationship brought only pain and destruction in Skye's life, and yet, she can't bring herself to open up and live her life.

"What if I am already broken into pieces?"

She hates to be touched, hiding under her oversized shirts and behind her wild frizzy hair. Even her bubbly roommate can't reach her. And yet ...

"I'm the guy who knows how you can hurt so much that your insides feel like they're cut and bleeding."

The tall, handsome, and tattooed TA in her psychology class changes everything when he literally collides with her and confronts her. For the first time in a long time, she wants to try and open up to this guy whose dark, intense eyes can't hide his own pain despite his dazzling smile getting to her.

However, just when she's starting to live again, her ex-boyfriend comes back, breaking her time and time again, making it all the more complicated.

She wants to fight for herself and for this building thing with the TA, even when he pushes her away, but can two broken people patch each other up?

"I never thought colliding with someone could change lives, but it is possible."


* Due to some shocking scenes, this novel is for readers of 18 and up.

My Rating & Review
✶✶✶✶✶

I received a copy of Patch Up from the author and I love Skye and Duke's story. It definitely had a lot of dark moments so some parts where difficult to read but I was so invested in both Skye and Duke that it never would have occured to me to put the book down for something lighter. My heart broke for Skye and for Duke so many times and all I wanted was for them to recognize that they could be the one's to heal each other.

Welcome to Let's Get Lost in a Good Book

Ever since I can remember, I've enjoyed reading.   As a young girl, I loved Beverly Cleary's tales about Ramona Quimby  before I moved onto Nancy Drew's adventures and fellow sleuth's Trixie Belden's books.   As a teenager, I can remember waiting anxiously for the next book in Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High series to come out or begging my mom to buy me the latest Silhouette First Love book whenever I went grocery shopping with her.     Lucky for me, she was a big fan of the Silhouette and Harlequin romance books, so she could never say no to me when I asked for a new book.   Oh, how I wish that was still the case, 30-odd years later!

Based on what I used to read as a teenager, it should come as no surprise that when I choose a book to get lost in, chances are it'll either be a romance or a mystery.  Contempory romance, New Adult romance, Young Adult Romance, or cozy mysteries are definitely my most often read genres.   Here at Let's Get Lost in a Good Book, I'll be sharing my views on the books that fall into my hands and I hope I'll help you find great books for you to get lost in!!

Thanks for taking this journey with me!