With my reading challenge over, I feel like Super Mario, super-star blasting through bonus books like crazy! While I didn’t document each and every one that I read this month, I did happen upon a lovely little gem that I’ll share soon… But first:

Highs & Lows! — Where I name my Top 5 favs and not-so-favs from this past year. Rather than rank in the traditional sense, (because I can’t make up my mind) I’ll state the book and a brief ‘why.’ Obviously, go read my favs. 🙂

Favs:
Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan. — Inspirational, in the non-preachy sense. Timely. Also: it’s David Levithan. Gold.

The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black. — Beautiful characters and imagery. Also (spoiler): The gay boy gets his prince. It’s about time!

Mort(e), by Robert Repino. — Insert picture of a crazy badass cats wielding machine guns. Also: Friendship is love too.

Anything Could Happen, by Will Walton. — Debut author with a voice as brilliant as a sparkler. Also: An updated coming-of-age/coming-out story.

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. — Courageous, sorrowful, yet completely necessary. Also: We need to feel the feels.

Not-So-Favs:
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. — It’s Shakespeare, and I have flashbacks of english classes. Also: Don’t even bother watching the movie. (I didn’t.)

The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. — Saw the twist from a mile away. Popular for the sake of being popular. Also: Don’t drink.

Killing Lincoln, by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard. — Historically inaccurate. Also: Seriously? The Oval Office wasn’t even build yet!

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. — Drilled into the ground because of racial topics. Also: Skeptical of sequel.

The Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks. — The story ended right as things were getting good. Also: Writing thousands of pages doesn’t make an Epic Fantasy.

BONUS:
I’ll Give You The Sun, by Jandy Nelson. — Hidden gem of the year! I’ve heard many talk about this book in the past, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it… but holy moly! (Winner of the Stonewall Book Award.)

Fraternal twins Noah and Jude tell the story, in alternating chapters at two different periods of time, of their parents divorce and their mother’s death… but it’s SO much more than that. The twins are both a creative but face troubles of their own, such as romantic interests and grief. Also: Noah is adorable in his admiration of a boy…

I’m getting a metal taste in my mouth. Brian’s reading the titles of the spines of books on the shelves like he’s going to be tested on it.
“I love you,” I say to him, only it comes out, “Hey.”
“So damn much,” he says back, only it comes out, “Dude.”
He still won’t meet my eyes.

Never before have I taken pictures of passages of text and shared them with friends as often as I did with this book. This was made exponentially more special when I received a signed copy for Christmas. *Beaming like the sun*

A must-read, for sure.