My All-Time Favorite Books (2015)

Hello, lovelies!

I've read a lot of books in my sixteen years of life, but there are some that I come back to whenever I think about my favorites. Already, I know there's going to be some books that I just forget or don't think of, but I'm going to do my best to include as many of my favorites as I can.

Feel free to comment below some of your most favorite books/series; I'm always looking for new ones!

NOTE: These are in no particular order, so the order I talk about them doesn't affect their "ranking". The last one in my list is no less loved than the first, so just keep that in mind. (:

* * *

Jack Blank trilogy by Matt Myklusch

This trilogy was the first trilogy to have a book that I rated at 5 stars (The Secret War, to be precise). Myklusch is amazing at plot twists and making a hardcore fantasy world come to life, and I've always loved the mixture of action and humor in these books. They were probably the first books that made me realize just how good fantasy could be under the right author.

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

I was never the biggest fan of Sarah Dessen, but I adore this book. It's realistic fiction, but I love it just as much as my fantasy favorites. There's so much love between the families in this book, and I love that they stick together even though they're all struggling so much. (Also, Mac's story behind the reason he wears his necklace is really sad, but also inspiring.)

The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare

I have raved and fangirled over this trilogy probably too much, but it's my most favorite trilogy EVER. (It's the prequel trilogy to her Mortal Instruments series, but I highly recommend that you don't read the final MI book until you finish this trilogy.) She did a brilliant twist with the traditional love triangle thing, and I loved it. She also created my favorite male character of all time (*coughcoughWillHerondalecoughcough*), so there is that. I just reread the trilogy again for the second time this past week, and the author somehow made me cry at a different part than before, which shocked me. But I love how I can pick up new things every time I read it. (PS: this is a fantasy trilogy.)

Lost by Jacqueline Davies

I normally don't adore historical fiction, but this book was amazing. It's set during the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire (early 1900's), and it follows the story of a girl who's working at that factory while still wrestling with her family life at home and a past she can't cope with. There's also some really cool mysteries that happened at the actual time of the fire that the author combined in this fictional story, and the result was really fascinating. If you read it, be sure to read her author's note about the missing girl at the end.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is such a classic, but I love these books. Although I think the movies are just as good, if not better in some ways, reading this trilogy was magical. (I still think that Sam should've gotten more credit for everything he did.) I loved the characters and the overall journey, and it's also very satisfying when you finish the entire trilogy.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This book made me bawl my eyes out. It's historical fiction, set during the time of the Holocaust in WWII. It's such a beautiful piece of literature, and there's so many emotions that come with reading it. It's narrated by Death, which is a little strange at first, but it's also a very cool perspective. There's one point where I just broke down sobbing, and I don't normally cry that hard when reading a book. I just adore this book, and because of that, I haven't seen the movie. I'm worried it won't be as good as the book, which is why I've held off.

Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

This trilogy holds so much depth to it. There's a ton of complicated underlying themes and ideas, and I was astonished by the complexity of it all. Elend and Vin are such strong, amazing characters, and the entire fantasy world is mesmerizing. I'm always surprised by Sanderson's range of ideas, because I've read some of his other books and they're so different from each other in their worlds and characters.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This is such a beautiful book. It's a love story, and yes, I'm a sucker for those. But it's also a really good advocate for mental health awareness, as one of the characters struggles heavily with a mental illness. I sobbed at the end of this book as well, simply because of a picture. You can see on the cover of this book there's a drawing of a finch and a little violet on the sticky notes, and those pictures reappear in the book. And then you get to the ending, and the notes reappear, but with way more significance behind them once you realize.

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

The queen of fantasy reappears in my list once again! I wasn't a huge fan of the first couple books in this series, but the last few books were amazing. City of Heavenly Fire connected to the Infernal Devices at the end, and it made my little heart sing. These books are very intense, but I love them for it. They're not everyone's cup of tea because, like the Infernal Devices, they can be very dark at times. But they're also hilarious and lighthearted as well, so it's not depressing at all.

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

"Yer a wizard, Harry." Need I say more? I read this series for the first time at the end of middle school, and it's a classic. There's so many things hidden in the pages that you wouldn't realize right away if someone hadn't pointed it out to you, which is super cool. Some might think HP is overrated and overhyped, and while I see their point, I've too much of a Neville Longbottom fan to care.

The Magyk series by Angie Sage

These books are more of a cute fantasy, but I love them. There's lots of lore and different characters in the story that makes it always interesting. Each book holds a new little adventure in the grand scheme of things, and I love how there's little illustrations of the characters at the beginning of chapters. (And they look almost exactly how I pictured them, which makes me happy.) I think it's also really cool how magical words are spelled just a little bit different than usual (ex: fire vs. fyre). It makes the whole thing feel just a little bit more magical.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

This book is actually really sad. It could be realistic fiction, I think, but that just makes it sadder in my mind. It's a story about children, and how sometimes we want to grow up so bad that it causes us to lose our childhood because of it. She tells a wonderful story, and I love that it's a stand alone book. Sometimes I get so caught up in series and trilogies that I forget about the just as good stand alones like this one.

The Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye

This is not a very well-known series from what I've heard, but it's actually very addicting. It's full of fantasy goodness, and they're also really funny and very heartwarming at times. I was actually intrigued to read them because of the title of Leven Thumps, and also I kept seeing book #3 in my library (The Eyes of the Want), and I couldn't get the cover out of my head. Even though they can be really lighthearted, there's also a sense of urgency and mystique to them that I love. The different character ideas (from a toothpick to a little guy that looks a bit like a squirrel on the covers) surprised me, and I'd love to own these books someday.

Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick

I actually sent the author, Heather Vogel Frederick, fan mail in the past, and she was kind enough to do a guest post on my blog a while ago. These books were my favorite when I was in middle school, especially because of all the bookish things the girls did. I also adored the couples that showed up later on in the story (especially the British dudes *wink wink*). I was a little sad that Wish You Were Eyre had a repeat cover of a girl that was on one of the past books, but I suppose she was going to run out of main characters to put on the covers eventually. They're pretty easy reads, but the friendship and family ties in them are lovely.

The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke

Pay attention to the titles on these books. Funke does some very cool with them in the final book of the trilogy, and I thought she was brilliant to use the titles how she did. I'm currently rereading Inkheart, since I bought it secondhand from a lovely little bookstore up north. I love the idea behind these stories, where someone has the power to read a book and make characters from it come out of the story, and all the side effects that has. The characters in this story are amazing, and Funke has always been a master storyteller in my opinion.

Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott

I'll be honest. I don't remember exactly what these books were about, but I remember the final book in the series, The Enchantress, being amazing. It features a brother and sister duo who get sucked a magical prophecy after a powerful book is stolen from the man they work for. There was so much magic and adventure in these books, and the magical auras that people had each had their own distinct smell, which I weirdly thought was brilliant since I remember senses really well.

* * *

I've been rereading my list of favorite books a few times now, and I have the feeling that I've missed a few. (I'll probably do an updated version of this in a year and see what my favorites are then, since a year can hold lots of lovely books.) But for now, those are the books I know I'll always love.

That is all.

Cheers,

Sea